sugar bowl 2011!!!

 I'll let Nate share his comments on his fabulous sugar bowl experience...but here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Adelie's first Christmas!

 We had a wonderful Christmas together as a family. I wish I had more time to write about it...but it was filled with lots of love & joy! I absolutely love Christmas time and this year was the best Christmas yet. Nothing better in the world than enjoying the holiday spirit with my loving husband and adorable daughter. She loved all the excitement & had a really fun time! Here are some photos from Christmas morning...Nate surprised us Christmas morning by decorating the front room with streamers & fun festive decorations...Adelie loved opening her presents and Nate & I enjoyed my favorite 'special-occasion' breakfast (ebelskivers!!!)! We had a great time on Christmas Eve together & finished off the holiday weekend at my parent's house with a nice Christmas dinner & Adelie's first sled ride!!!! So fun.

The post below also has a picture of the stocking I made Adelie...it turned out really cute! Loved Christmas!!!!

more Christmas photos...

santa claus...not the jolliest of men

 

I was so excited to take Adelie to see Santa for her first time! We decided to take her the Macy's in downtown Minneapolis. I'm really happy we went there...hopefully we can take our kids there every year. It was a really fun experience. Each Christmas, Macy's creates a themed holiday display. This year's theme was 'the life of an elf'. It was truly incredible!! I was in awe the entire time as we walked through an 'elf's life'. It was really detailed & super fun!!!! Macy's has it set up so that you walk through this amazing holiday-fantasy-land and then the finale is the Santa's visit. The finale in our case was not so exciting! Santa was super lame. Adelie didn't even get close to smiling! He was just kind of dull. It was still a really fun experience & we loved seeing Adelie enjoy the elves!!!

daughters!!!!!!!!

Here are a couple pictures of our family at the hospital before we found out that the newest Cartwright addition is a baby girl!!!!!! We had an early morning appointment (7:15 am) on December 21st for the ultrasound. It was incredible! What a wonderful way to start the morning!!!!! I was thrilled to hear the news! I know Adelie is going to absolutely love having a little sister. It was the best Christmas gift I could ask for. Nate is amazing with Adelie & I know he will love being surrounded with all of us girls!!

Baby girl #2 looks a lot like Adelie (at least in the ultrasounds....).

See for yourself:

Adelie:

Baby girl #2:

I can't wait to meet this darling little girl!!!!! I love being a mom to Adelie and I know life will be more & more blessed with this newest addition!

our Christmas tree!!!

 

I love our Christmas tree! We had so much fun picking out the perfect tree & cutting it down. It was SUPER cold...but really fun. Nate is a fantastic Christmas-tree-cutter! Adelie LOVED it!! We had such a great time together. It's one of my favorite Christmas traditions. We are decorating it this weekend (we're getting another huge snow storm). It will be so cute & colorful once it's done. I love, love, love Christmastime!

big sister!!

We are so excited to find out if Adelie is going to have a little baby brother or sister!! 20 weeks done...20 to go! This pregnancy has actually gone really quickly! The baby moves ALL the time now! It's so fun & exciting. Last night, I was laying in bed waiting for Nate to get home from basketball and Adelie was asleep on my tummy & the baby in the belly was going crazy!!! It was as if the baby knew Adelie was there laying with us...so cute. All 3 of us snuggled up together. I was in heaven! I can't wait to find out if it's a boy/girl. We will find out a few days before Christmas....best Christmas gift I could ever dream of!!!!! I am so excited. I love being a mom & I can't even imagine the joy that will come with having two little ones!!!

new highchair for little A!

Adelie got a new highchair!!! She loves sitting in it! Such a happy little lady. Eating is so much fun for her now! Plus...she now has 6 teeth!!! 2 up top...with 2 more about to poke through...and 4 on the bottom! (Nate says she has 'big teeth' like me...unlike his little teeth! Ha!)

As you can see, eating bananas and oatmeal and green beans and sweet potatoes has never been so much fun!