Happy Birthday Daddy

Yesterday was Karl's birthday and we just had a low-key celebration at home after work. He cooked his own seafood feast for dinner and Ally and I picked out a special cheesecake birthday cake and got him a few small gifts. You will be able to see the evidence of Ally's little meeting with the concrete step over the weekend in the photos but don't worry- she is totally fine and it looks better every day. Happy Birthday Daddy, we love you!

Miss America 2030?

I let Ally stay up a little later to watch some of the Miss America pageant last weekend. She was very excited to watch the pretty girls and even dressed herself up for the event. Watching the pageant has always been one of my favorite traditions I had with my mom and hopefully Ally will enjoy it too. Although I am not involved with the program like I used to be, I will still always be a supporter of the largest scholarship source for women in the country. I didn't let Ally stay up to the end but it was exciting to see Miss Wisconsin win. We are not pushing her into Toddlers & Tiaras or anything but when she turns 18 and decides she has the talent to earn some college scholarships, we certainly wont prevent her from trying! If you ask her now what her talent is going to be she says basketball so sort of ironic she is wearing a jersey and crown at the same time. That's our girl!

Shuffle Board

While we were at my parents, Ally had fun playing shuffle board at Players. I guess its never too early to learn the Wisconsin bar tricks.

Holiday Recap: New Years

We had to send Corey back to Vegas before New Years and I had to work during the day so we just planned on a low-key night at home with other friends that were stuck in Peoria because of work. Ally always has fun when friends are over. Karl grilled and everyone brought sides to share. We watched some of the holiday specials and Ally was out a few hours before midnight. We celebrated on both eastern and central time and enjoyed the day off on Monday by taking a quick trip to Champaign to watch Purdue women's basketball take on Illinois with Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Henry. Ally wasn't being so cooperative so I didn't get hardly any pictures of her on New Years Eve. She looked super cute though!

Holiday Recap: Christmas

We were very busy over Christmas but had a lot of fun visiting family and playing at home. We went to West Lafayette to have the Kraebber Christmas in early December because of work and travel schedules. Ally had fun ripping into everything and especially loved her Princess Dress up and art station. Uncle Corey flew into Peoria on December 22 and we all drove up to Wisconsin on the 23rd. We got to spend time at Grandpa Joel's house and had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with Great Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Paul and Aunt Judy. Ally was in full entertainer mode and loved all her new toys. Not sure who like the Muppet from Aunt Judy more- Corey or Ally! On Christmas day we opened presents with my dad then went over to my mom's for a whole day of family. Ally loves all her aunts, uncles and cousins and was worn out by the end of the night. She played with all her new toys and helped everyone open their gifts. She is one lucky girl! We had two cars and good thing we did because we would not have made it home with all the new toys and clothes. Uncle Corey got to stay with us for a few extra days.