Happy 5 Years!

Five years ago we were here.

Crazy to think that we have been married for five years.

There were flowers then...

and Devin still buys me flowers now.

There was cake then...

and I still make Devin delicious cakes now.

There was a beautiful dress then...

and I am thrilled to report that five years and two children later, IT STILL FITS!!!! (Happy Dance!!!)

Ok, enough cheese.  :)
Here a a few more random wedding pictures that most people haven't seen that make me smile.  I love to see how much my family has grown up over the last five years.

It was the perfect wedding.
You know you want to watch the video again, and again, and again. :)
Monday was our anniversary and it was so nasty, windy, and cold outside.  I am grateful that five years ago it was just freezing and not windy.

It is funny every time we go to a wedding reception we always comment to each other that it was nice, but our wedding was perfect.

Here's to another 5, 10,...50+ wonderful years!!!  Love you Devin!!!

Book Worms

I sometimes look at all the stuff other people get done and I wonder, what is my problem, why can't I get as much stuff done?
I think one of the reasons is I live with two extremely cute book worms.  I have a hard time not dropping everything when a cute little person comes up to me with a book.  Nothing is better than snuggling and reading.

Nicholas has become quite the book worm lately.  I love it when they get past the pulling all the books off the shelf stage.  We are now at the pull the books off the shelf and sit and look at them stage.  Yeah!!!

Anna is starting to figure out how reading works.  She knows quite a few sight words and is now able to read a few simple books.

There is always a favorite book at the Baldwin house.  The new favorite book is The Monster at the End of This Book.  It would be safe to say that this book is read at least 4 times a day.  I don't mind, it is such a cute book.

Organization

I crave organization like some women crave chocolate.  We had a simple Christmas, but still had more toys than would fit in our "toy stashing" places.  Thanks to our good friend Ikea we were able to solve the problem with a new toy storage box.  Anna and Nicholas loved helping Devin put it together.

Now we have a very cute, and very organized toy bucket.

Devin's Helicopter

Devin decided he needed a new toy.  He knows quite a few guys that have remote control helicopters and he finally got one of his own.  Needless to say, he is not the only Baldwin who enjoys watching / playing with it.

The New Favorite Game

Anna and Nicholas love to play together.  One of there favorite games is called, "Shoving Whatever You Can Find Under the Door."
This game is played by one person sitting on one side of the door while the other person sits on the other side of that door.  The rules of the game are simple.  Find something to shove under the door to the other person.

The kids usually play this game while I am getting ready for the day.  It is pretty entertaining to see what is going to be pushed under the door next and also the speed at which that object comes.  Thank you new favorite game for letting me be able to brush my teeth in peace.

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas.  We have been having tons of fun all month long.

Anna and Nicholas have spent quite a bit of time being Mary and Joseph.

Anna has become quite the little cook.  Making Christmas treats was so much fun with my little helper.  I love that Anna can do so much to help.  We were able to make fudge, peanut butter fudge, popcorn balls, gingersnaps, sugar cookies, and we are going to make caramels tomorrow.

Anna and Nicholas both love music.  Christmas songs were sung all month long.  The kids love it when I would sing Christmas songs as they were brushing teeth.  

Anna learned two songs to sing with the Primary kids.  She even went up to sing with them on Christmas day in church.  Too bad we have no idea where she was standing, we would have loved to watch her.  She came back beaming, "I sang with the kids!"  Here is the at home performance.  

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is reading Christmas stories.  We had no problem getting 20 minutes of reading in each day.  Reading stories on your own, with dad, or with grandma we really just read all day during Christmas time.

I finally finished our Christmas stockings.  I don't know if I am 100% in love with these, but I like them WAY better than our old stockings.

Devin's parents did the 12 Days of Christmas for us again this year.  We love this!  We took turns opening one present each day.  We are so grateful for all the time they put into this fun tradition.  Several gifts this year were memory books from the Baldwin/Olsen families.  What treasures!  I didn't get pictures of the books, but I do have pictures of puzzle day and jam day.

Christmas Eve we went to my mom's house and did the Nativity.  Anna was the lovely Mary once again.

Nicholas was,  well...something between King Herod, a Wise Man, and the Angel with the Star. (Sorry for the red eye, he was having way too much fun running around, this was the most clear picture we could get, he wouldn't stay still.)

We were extremely grateful for 1 o'clock church Christmas day.  We had plenty of time to open presents, play with toys, eat, and even take a family picture before we went to church.

Anna was pretty excited to finally get her train and fairies.  She had a chance to sit on Santa's lap the week before and she was pretty ticked that when she asked him for a train and fairies that he didn't give it to her right then.  The waiting was worth it.  She can't get enough of them.  Nicholas loves the cars and his little push car.  Both kids love each other's toys.  They are learning to share pretty well.  Anna loves Nicholas's nap time because that means she gets to play with ALL the toys.

We had a great Christmas.  We hope that even with all the fun Christmas traditions that our kids can remember what Christmas is really about.  We loved reading the nativity story each day.  We have a advent calendar that tells part of the story each day.  Anna has the story pretty much memorized.  We tried really hard to focus on the nativity each day so they could remember what Christmas is really about.