Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2009 was pretty good to us. The biggest event of the year was definitely Nolan's birth! He has been a true blessing to us all this year. A friend of mine recently said that I am more peaceful than she has seen me in a long time. I guess that is true - having Nolan now changes my perspective on so many things. He is great! And I feel truly blessed that the Lord gave him to us. It is so fun to see him grow and learn new things. We celebrate his every accomplishment right along with him. In 2009 Nolan learned to survive outside the womb. He also learned to eat, sleep, poop, hold his head up, got his first bath, first smile, and more. 2010 is going to be an even bigger year for him! If you think about it, in 2010 Nolan is going to learn to sit up by himself, eat solid foods, grow teeth, crawl, walk, talk, run, dance, sing, laugh, and more. It's going to be a great year!

Wishing you all the best as 2010 begins. Thanks for being a part of our lives!

(the picture is of Nolan on New Year's Eve - complete with tuxedo shirt and converse style socks. He couldn't stay awake long enough to see the ball drop, but he sure looked cute!)

The End of a Decade

With the new decade upon us, it seems only appropriate to reflect on all that has happened in the past 10 years. For me personally this has been a pretty pivotal decade. From the year 2000-2009 I have (not necessarily in this order):

Graduated high school; gone to college; met lifelong friends; grown exponentially in my relationship with Jesus; Graduated with a B.S. in math at VT; Got a master’s degree in education at VT; Got my first boyfriend; had my first kiss; Fell in love; Got engaged; 
Became legally able to drink, buy lottery tickets, and rent a car; Got married; Bought my first house; Got a dog, Boomer (the best); lost 3 cats; Started my first real, full-time job; Won New Teacher of the Year; Led WyldLife (middle school); Led Young Life (high school); Grieved the loss of Gran; Grieved the loss of my first child (miscarriage); Celebrated the birth of a child – Nolan (a true blessing); Realized the miracle of childbirth; and many more I'm sure!

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I think it is safe to say that everyone in the Donohoe household had a great Christmas! We are very fortunate to have such wonderful and generous family and friends. A lot of things felt different this year... for starters we now have Nolan! He adds so much joy to our lives. I think most people will agree that holidays are even more special when there are little kids involved (no matter how old they are)! Nolan had a great day yesterday - apparently even 3 month olds get exhausted on Christmas. It will be interesting to see how next year goes when he is a year old!

Another thing that was different about this year was that we had a white Christmas! I can't remember the last time that's happened around here. I kept looking out at the snow thinking "this is how every Christmas should be!" It just felt right.

Anyway, we hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Lazy Saturday

Nolan and I had a nice relaxing Saturday today. Nolan was dressed for a lazy day too... notice the slippers :) We started the day off hanging out and watching Christmas Vacation together. Then we did some baking while listening to Christmas songs. It was a good time. Nolan wasn't much help in the kitchen, but he was great company. Now if only I could train him to clean up the mess we made... oh well maybe we should work on walking and talking first!

This weekend we have a few Christmas parties to go to... should be fun! I'm sure we'll post more pictures soon!

1st Snow of the Season!

Last week we were fortunate enough to get some snow. For some that might not be a big deal - but we were all pretty excited around here! It is always fun to get snow in December. It makes getting ready for the holidays even better! Plus everything is more fun with kids around. Even though Nolan is not old enough to care, I was still pretty excited for him to see his first snow! We were going to go to the Christmas parade on Saturday but decided not to take Nolan out in the cold and snow. Instead we just got him dressed up and pretended we were going to go play outside (See pic below) but stayed cozy and warm inside!

More Thanksgiving Pics

I think these are mostly self explanatory...

Nolan's 1st Thanksgiving:

Donohoe family:

4 generations!

Family pic:

Thanksgiving!

This year marked our 3rd year of having Thanksgiving at our house. It is hard to believe that we have been living here for 3 years! We are lucky to have this place because it means both families - Donohoes and Massey's alike can gather for one delicious Thanksgiving meal. And a great meal it was! You can see the turkey Jack cooked in the picture... it was really good! Everyone chipped in and brought different dishes. I have to say that overall, this was probably the best food I've ever eaten on Thanksgiving. We had pretty much everything you could think of to eat - and lots of pie too! But enough about the food...

As to be expected I think Nolan stole this show this year. He may not remember any of it but I think he had a pretty great 1st Thanksgiving. Here is a glimpse of what the day looked like for him:

Taking a little morning snooze while mom & dad (Katie & Jack) cooked and cleaned:

Hanging out with Omi (Nolan's great-grandmother!)... I don't think she put him down the whole time! I'm glad they finally got to meet and spend some time together. I think they both enjoyed it.

Hanging out with Uncle Mike after dinner... this spot on the couch is Nolan's new favorite. He is only 2 and a half months old and already a regular little couch potato!