Happy 1st Birthday, Annamarie!!

To the avid followers of frevelyn (aka Mom), my apologies for the absence of posts throughout the month of January. I don't really have an excuse...
I'm ready to get back at it, so hopefully you will be bombarded with an avalanche of posts over the next couple of days. To get things started, here we are at Annamarie's first birthday party, way back in early January. Can you believe she's one already?!

Somebody loved her red velvet cake!

So grown up!

Hard to believe how much they change in one year!

The girls actually slept in the same bedroom while we were at Chris and Kendra's. We had to go in and break up the party at one point. Annamarie was 'holding court' while standing in her crib. Evie was down in the pack-n-play, hanging on her every word. Probably not the last time they'll be up chit-chatting into the wee hours.

We were so thrilled Grandma and Grandpa Schroeder made it down for the birthday weekend!

Eight Months Old

One of us is 8 months, the other is 30 years...

Happy New Year from our family to yours!
May the Lord bless and keep you in 2010 and always!

"Crawling Around the Christmas Tree"

Evelyn gave Mommy and Daddy an early Christmas present(we call it a present, all you Veteran parents have told us otherwise...) when she started crawling on Christmas Eve. If you talk to Grandma Helvey, she'll take the credit for getting her to go. :) Here's a video of our mobile munchkin.

Note to viewers: Disregard the doting parents! And, if you hear the background music, don't think Harry Connick, Jr. was there to witness the event.

Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed celebrating Evelyn's first Christmas with my family in St. Charles. She wasn't too taken with the decorations or the gifts, but she sure loved being around Grandma and Grandpa and her aunts, uncles and cousins.

She could pass for Mrs. Clause with those cheeks!

Grandma and her littlest elf

Evelyn had a good time watching everyone decorate cookies at Aunt Jessica's house. Here she is thoroughly enjoying the spatula that cousins Emma and Taylor gave her to lick.

MarcE and Madeline caught in the act...

We were thankful for the opportunity to get together with friends over the break! Here we are with new Mommy, Allison, and baby Caleb and soon-to-be Mommy, Sarah. So good to see you, Ladies!

Evelyn wasn't too interested in opening presents, but she sure loved climbing around in them. When she did open a present, it was only long enough to pull off a little piece of paper to put in her mouth.

Sophia, Evelyn and Madeline looking too cute in their matching Christmas PJs

Rudolph, I mean Cousin Ian, warming up in his new MU snuggie after a long night of pulling Santa's sleigh

Do not be fooled - the big red 'N' does not stand for 'Nebraska', it stands for 'NERD'!!!!

On that note...We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a blessed celebration of our Lord's birth!