Anyway, on to the first post of 2012 – which is actually a recap of Christmas 2011… We did have a really busy Christmas season this year – cutting down our tree in early December, decorating the house, me risking life and limb to hang icicle lights from our second story, Lukas’ preschool Christmas pageant, finding time to shop for presents and make cookies, Heidi having to work til 2 days before Christmas, me procrastinating on building Elsa’s Christmas present (a kitchen with oven, fridge, and sink) and having to work 50+ hours in the 12 days leading up to Christmas to finish it, etc. I feel like December ran right past us without us even seeing it.

But I can’t really say enough good things about this holiday season either. The kids were both really excited this year, and Lukas especially is really starting to get the real meaning of Christmas. He would tell us all about Baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph, and was fascinated by the little manger scene we have. Of course he was also looking forward to presents, but hey, he’s only 4 And little Elsa was so cute, it seemed like every day she saw the Christmas decorations and lights was like the first time she was seeing them again. Even today (over a week after Christmas, and when the tree and decorations are about to come down), she was pointing out all the pretty ornaments to us. All in all, despite all the rushing around and seemingly endless last-minute errands, we had a really wonderful holiday season, and we really enjoyed having time to spend with our family (one more week would have been great!). We feel truly blessed.

Thank you for checking in, and we wish you the best in 2012.

Hauling the tree back to get wrapped up and strapped onto the 4-wheel drive sleigh

Elsa loves checking out all the ornaments

Lukas takes his decorating job very seriously

Our little angel – he sang great in the Christmas play!

The kids in some silly hats

Elsa didn’t help make the cookies this year, but she sure loved licking icing off the beaters!

Boone thinks he is going to get some icing

Lukas helped make the kolacky this year – his Great Grandma Kriz’s recipe

Elsa was beside herself – all the people, all the presents, and staying up past bedtime!

One of the many (many, many) presents Lukas was excited about

Elsa’s kitchen – hope she likes it

Lukas on the streetcar

Elsa on the streetcar

Burger Cheese!

New PJs (complete with tutu…) and new hat

McQueen, we have you surrounded.

So here are some moments from our party…

Checking out her presents and cards

"I’m so cute"

Birthday decorations

The spread

Elsa’s cake – pretty flowers!

Elsa and Mommy

Singing "Happy Birthday" (and Lukas blows out the candle…)

Alright, we’ll just pretend Elsa is blowing out the candle…

"Ok, you took off my clothes, and you have me wearing this silly flower hat. Where’s the cake?"

"Hmmmm, this cake stuff is pretty good!"

"Alright, it’s in my hair, on my arms, and all over my face. There might even be some in my mouth. I’m done."

Time for a bath – who knew there would be so much cake everywhere.

Elsa, Lukas, and Caroline hanging out in Elsa’s new "Secret Garden" playhouse.

Lots of presents, but Elsa always had a card in hand (for chewing on…)

And, if you’ve come this far, why not take a look at the slideshow we put together with some moments from Elsa’s first year. It’s about 30 minutes long, so why not sit back, relax, and enjoy?

So the tradition continues with our family, though I’ll admit that so far, the gifts for our kids are coming from Grandma and Grandpa Kriz (thanks Mom & Dad!)

Here are a couple photos of Lukas and Elsa after they opened their gifts. Notice they’re still in their PJs and a little groggy looking

A nice red bow for Elsa

Lukas got a cool Slinky Dog from Toy Story

Elsa got her first purse, complete with makeup and money

The site hasn’t moved. We’ve just moved. Twice. This year. And we had a baby in February. And we decided it would be a good idea to do some remodeling in our new house before we moved in June. This year has moved by so fast, but we do have a lot of memories with Elsa and Lukas that have made it a very special year amidst all the chaos. Even though those little stinkers are the driving force behind most of the chaos…

So here are just a few moments we’ve captured – there are plenty more this year, but it would probably take me a year to get them all included here… We promise that this time it will not be so long before our next post. Really, I’m serious, you just wait and see.

Our little Elsa is sure growing up fast!

Smiling 3-month-old Elsa

Just chillin’ in the pack-n-play on the deck

Elsa escapes from her PJs like Houdini escaped from a straitjacket

Not too sure about these carrots mom, you have any fruit for me?

Happy little girl in her Marshall gear

Sometimes we wonder what happened to “baby Lukas” – he’s all boy now!

And he sure loves his sister, and she can’t get enough of him and his antics either.  It’s so much fun to watch them together.

Can’t you just see the love there?

Riding in the helicopter at King’s Island

Just out for a drive

Having a snack by the fountain

And just a few shots with mom and dad – this was our trip to the pumpkin patch.

How do we look? I’d have to say not too bad, considering…

Mom and Lukas and Elsa at Shaw Farms

Dad and the kids and the pumpkins

Oh, and I just had to post this – Lukas has become quite the daredevil on his Strider bike that Maria and Marcos gave him last year. Once he gets pedaling down, he’ll be ready for a “big boy bike”, no training wheels required!  (You’ll have to excuse some of the baby sounds and general shakiness in the video – I was holding Elsa in one arm and the camera in the other, while Heidi was rustling up Boone since he was going nuts outside)

Here are a few photos of our last day in the hospital, and Elsa’s first hours in our home.

All packed up to go (you’d think we were on a weeklong trip…)

Mommy, Daddy, and Elsa

Cute Little Smile

Asleep on the Boppy Pillow

Mommy, Lukas, and Elsa

Daddy, Lukas, and Elsa

Lukas has been taking it all in, and he is so much more aware of (and excited about) everything going on this Christmas. He’s taken on lighting up the trees and the house as his job. As soon as he walks out of his room in the morning, he turns on the Christmas trees, and uses the remotes to turn on the lights. He gets really proud of himself when he finds the right button to push to turn on the lights. “I did it daddy, I turned on the lights! Wow!” It’s pretty cute.

We also had to go out Christmas shopping for him without taking him with us. It’s funny – last year we bought his presents with him with us, and when we got them home, we left them sitting out, unwrapped, and he couldn’t have cared less. This year, we are pretty sure he’d rip open any presents under the tree, and I don’t even want to imagine the scene if he found one of his but couldn’t play with it!

So a couple days ago, we made sugar cookies, and Lukas got to help ice them. While it didn’t hold his attention for too long, he did keep coming back to the table and wanting to help. And surprisingly, it wasn’t too big of a mess either.

Stirring the icing, and, as usual, hamming it up for the camera

So serious…

Of course, we get to lick the beater before we start icing (still not too excited about really sugary stuff like this though…)

Steady, steady…

After we got home from the Christmas tree farm, we started decorating the house, putting up the lights, etc.  We had a to do a little yard cleanup, to get rid of the last of the leaves (finally) before putting lights on the bushes and trees.  Lukas “helped” with that – he took his rake and pushed a pile of leaves into the street, and then when I raked them back up, he decided to play in them.  What a nut.  He’s so much fun now though.

Then on Sunday, we decorated the tree (including Lukas’ little tree), and finished up the rest of the decorating.  I really can’t stand winter, but Christmas is probably my favorite time of year in spite of that.  I just love looking at all the lights and decorations – it is well worth the time and effort to get it all done.  And our boy is beside himself with all this stuff in our house and all around.  I love watching him take it all in with huge eyes and lots of statements like “Wow, look at that daddy! Look at all those lights!” or “Look, there’s a star, and another star, and a snowman!”

This is going to be a great Christmas!

Found our tree, time to saw it down

Mom & Lukas

Hauling the tree to the 4-wheel-drive sleigh

Lukas loved feeding the goats & sheep

Playing around in a small leaf pile

Some "garland" with cars, trucks, and planes on it

Putting the garland on the tree (It was kind of clumped on there, so we fixed it later…)

Decorating is finished!

Our home, decorated, and "blanketed" in the first snowfall of the year – all 1/8 inch of it

And another thing Lukas really loves is water. When he goes to Granny’s, he gets to take cups of water and basically dump them everywhere. He doesn’t get to do that at home. That’s how it’s supposed to be, right? Anyway, now that the weather is warmer, we’ve been spending more time outside, and we can let him play with water outside. Here are a couple shots of our (soaking wet) son playing with the pail that Grandma and Grandpa gave him.

One last thing Lukas loves is to imitate anything you say. This is better captured on video, but since I didn’t have the camcorder out, this photo will have to do. This is our son yelling “James!” at the top of his lungs. He heard Heidi yell for me, and decided to try it too. He had to yell really loud to try and drown out the lawnmower running in the background.

There are a lot more things he loves – peas, Goldfish, Thomas (the train), George (the curious monkey), and on and on. These are just a few of the things we have photos for. He sure loves Mommy and Daddy too, and that’s what really makes you realize that even though raising a child is a LOT of work, it has so many rewards and is so definitely worth it. We love you Lukas!