Alayna is 34 months old today!

I can't believe she will be 3 soon! We just sent in her registration for preschool this fall. She will be attending Little Saints in St. Peter on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-11. It should work out well as I can drop her off before work and then she will ride a bus to Erica's (her daycare). She is SO excited to use her backpack and ride the bus. There is an open house next Tuesday and we are looking forward to it.

Alayna........

• Can spell her name out loud and almost MINNESOTA
• Can count to 20
• Can say ABC's
• sings (fave songs are Jingle Bells, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old McDonald, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle)
• eats really well, there isn't much she won't eat!
• says 7+ word sentences quite clearly plus asks a lot of questions
• knows green means go and red means stop and is quite the backseat driver. I got scolded for turning on a red so I had to inform her about right on red
• reads books to her babies and plays with her dollhouse
• gets dressed by herself
• helps mom cook
• feeds dogs with dad
• picks up her toys and is a good helper (we hope to savor this stage as long as possible!)
• helps herself to Gogurts in the fridge or Freezie pops in the freezer
• can have quite the attitude and is a typical 2-3 year old (independant)
• names Brad's entire family in a picture (that is a lot of people, LOL)
• Enjoys playing with her friends at daycare. She names her friends when we ask who she played with that day.
• Wears headphones and a CD player then runs around singing songs.

ABC's

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Sesame Street Live

Last Tuesday night we took Alayna to see 1-2-3 Imagine with Elmo at the Verizon Wireless Center. She had a blast and I felt like a big kid too since I grew up watching the same characters!

We were in the second row from the stage and had an up and close view of the characters. It was neat because they would run around the floor too so she could give high fives to Grover, Bert & Ernie, and so on.

Snow

We definitely missed dad but Alayna & I had a nice time when he was up north. Alayna helped me clean the downstairs and then I cleaned out the garage (both were MUCH needed). The only issue was the snow and cold temps but thankfully he had asked one of his co-workers to plow our driveway if it snowed while he was gone. I definitely appreciated that!

I went to a movie with Uncle Dan's wife, Karen and had a nice meal at The Neighbors. The wine tasted pretty good! It was fun to talk about our Hawker men and hear about her grandbabies and various trips. I actually got home a few minutes after Brad who was in the shower, haha. That might be TMI (too much information) but it was actually very funny because I had realized that he hadn't had a shower since Monday!

Brad shoveled the snow off both decks plus our roof. Some landed on our back deck and the dogs.

Here are Hunter & Deja and the pile of snow on our back deck!

Lake of the Woods

The guys headed up to Baudette, MN the first week in January for their annual fishing trip at Lake of the Woods. This year their Uncle Dan Hawker joined them.

Nikko, Brad, Bill, Dan, Jeff

Brad's eelpoutNikko, Brad, Jeff, Bill, DanUncle Dan and his catchThe guys weren't having much luck so they had the Sportsman's Lodge bomber move it. They were actually in it and QUITE the ride. I heard that they almost lost a pole, tackle box as well as Bill and Nikko! They caught a few nice ones but no trophy wall mounters this year which was a bit disappointing but there is always next year. Plus they had quality time together with no wives or kids, plenty of beverages and lots of food. They sure ate well up there (thanks to their brother-in-law, Nikko)!

Brad brought home some walleye filets and they were delicious!

Backyard visitor

Sunday, January 3rd

As we pulled up the driveway, I noticed a large white thing in the trees behind our house.
I said, "That looks like a bald eagle!"
Brad replied, "Yea it is!"
So we ran in side quick and I grabbed my camera. He was gorgeous!