There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

 Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas at home this year. I had NO idea how much work it would be to make all the food, buy/wrap presents, and establish family traditions. So although I can let out a sigh of relief now that it's over, it was a wonderful time and we shared some special memories celebrating together at home in Milwaukee.

 We were supposed to have Thanksgiving dinner with our friends and neighbors, but since the girls ended up being sick (and had been sick since Halloween), we decided to spare everyone from a terrible bug and took turns running back and forth to bring over our food and fill our plates. It was a scrumptious feast and we felt so blessed.

My first homemade French Silk Pie - Yum!

 Oh, and did I mention that Thanksgiving happened to land on my 25th birthday? I can't believe I'm getting so old... I love having birthday pie!

 After Thanksgiving, we wasted no time in getting ready for Christmas. The girls loved decorating the tree!

 This family picture was taken at the ward Christmas party. There was a lovely dinner, a nativity program, crafts for the kiddos, and a Santa!

Lydia making Christmas cookies

I was pretty proud of how our Christmas cookies turned out. Lydia was a big helper, and by that I mean that she ate everything she touched.

Christmas Party with our fellow M3 families!

 The countdown is over - it's Christmas Eve!

 Christmas Eve dinner of clam chowder, homemade rolls, sweet potato casserole, salad, sparkling cranberry juice, and mint brownies for dessert. Perfection. (Despite the fact that I burned the rolls...)

 The girls were pretty excited to have a special candlelit dinner

Growing up my family would color a page of a "Twas the Night Before Christmas" coloring book every Christmas Eve. That was one of those unique family traditions that I absolutely loved and it seems that Lydia enjoys it as well :-)

 Christmas morning just before going to see the tree!

 For some reason oranges always taste best when they've been in your stocking...

 Lydia loves her new Frozen nightgown. We had a very difficult time getting her to wear anything else.

 Austin got an R2D2 nutcracker

 Opening the Santa gifts!

 Lydia was so excited about her princess crowns that she insisted that we all be princesses for the day. She even made Austin wear a tiara. We spared him from a photo.

 Brynn was so sleepy that she passed out right in my arms. Baby snuggles = heaven.

 Christmas breakfast included a Swedish tea ring, honey baked ham, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and orange julius. Once again, I made way too much food but it was amazing.

Highlights of Christmas Break

Grandma and Lydia on the carousel at Nickolodeon Universe - both having the time of their lives!

Lydia kept saying "choo choo!" She sure loves trains :)

Daddy and Lydia on Blues Clues

The bus was kinda scary...

"Watch out, we're coming through!"

Everyone enjoyed our sushi dinner for Lee's birthday

The sushi chefs

Loving her first Japanese dinner. She's definitely a Burdge!

Lydia's Aunt, Ashley, made her this awesome Totoro towel for Christmas. She loves looking in the mirror after bath time and recognizing herself as her favorite movie character "Toto!" 

Lydia's first snowman!

Walking in a winter wonderland

Lounging in the snow. She's definitely living up to those MN roots! (Or maybe she just couldn't get up with all that snow gear on ;) 

The view from our 36th floor bi-level suite in the downtown Minneapolis Marriot Hotel

The preggo belly keeps growing... Baby's only two months away!

We stayed at the Marriot Hotel in downtown Minneapolis for a night and were upgraded to the two-story suite. What a wonderful Christmas present - thank you Lee and Joni! It was fabulous to get away for a day.

It was quite a unique experience descending the steps to Hell's Kitchen. Those are knives hanging from the chandelier. 

Would definitely recommend this place, it's actually quite cozy

The food's absolutely sinful, too!

We celebrated New Years Eve at the bowling alley where I set a new gutter ball record...I blame it on being off-balance due to the baby belly. Lydia loved the balloons and hanging out with Grandma.