On her feet

Because Hannah could do this...


...Daddy did this today.


Yes, Jason lowered Hannah's bed today. She's not yet pulling herself up, but she's getting closer and closer every day. Just another sign that our baby is growing up.

Oh Christmas tree

When we got home on Saturday, the first thing we did was set-up our new Christmas tree. Oh, it was so much easier than our real tree from last year!! Once we got the sections figured out, it went up very quickly. It fits perfectly in our living room. We're looking forward to enjoying it for many years.


Hmmm.... something doesn't look quite right...



Our nice, new tree


Santa's little helper


I can already see that this is going to be an issue


Trying to catch the Polar Express

Practice makes perfect

With Todd and Courtney expecting their first baby this spring, they're getting in some good practice time with Hannah right now. Todd volunteered to change his first diaper (no pictures allowed!) Friday night, they both gave Hannah a bath. Unfortunately, Hannah was way overtired, so it wasn't the best experience. They still did a great job. She came out clean as a whistle :-) It's so cute watching my "little" brother becoming a dad. Both he and Courtney are going to make wonderful parents.


Uncle Todd and Aunt Courtney tag-teaming on the bath


How many Cramers does it take to change Hannah's diaper???

Thanksgiving with the Cramers

After having Thanksgiving dinner with Jason's family, we headed out to join my family for dessert. My brother Todd and sister-in-law Courtney hosted for the first time ever, and they did a fantastic job!

Uncle Todd and Hannah kicking back after dinner


Grandpa showing Hannah how to walk like a big girl

We had some pumpkin pie and then my dad set-up the old 8mm movie projector to watch old family movies. Watching these movies reminds me of how important it is to capture Hannah on video while she is little.


After all of the excitement of the day, Hannah was beat!

Eventually, the night wound down, and we went back to my parents' house for the night. I'm not sure what i was thinking, but I decided that since I was in the Birch Run area, I wanted to go to the outlet mall for Black Friday midnight madness. Madness was definitely the right word. Courtney and I got there a little before midnight, and the place was a madhouse! Cars were lined up for a couple miles down the expressway just to get off at the exit. Lines literally wrapped all the way around stores. The line just to get into Coach was 5 stores down! It was crazy! I was exhausted by the time I got home at 3:15. I did find some good deals, but I'm definitely not in a hurry to do it again anytime soon.

The day after Thanksgiving has traditionally been the start of tthe Christmas season for us. However, to make things complete, we needed a tree. After last year's Christmas tree fiasco, we have been on the hunt for the perfect fake Christmas tree. Where better to look than the home of world's largest Christmas store, Bronner's!?! Fearing a packed house, my parents watched Hannah. Thankfully, our trip was a success! We walked out with a new 7.5' pre-lit Christmas tree, along with a few new ornaments. For as crazy busy as the place was, they know how to check people out. We walked right up to the cashier and were out in a matter of minutes.

Yup, I've become a total tourist in my former hometown. I made my husband pose for a picture with a fake Santa at Bronner's.

We're not alone in getting our house ready for Christmas the weekend before Christmas. My mom had her house almost all decorated by the time we arrived on Thanksgiving night. She still hangs our stockings up and has added more as we've gotten married. Hannah even has her own special stocking that my mom made for her this year. Abby, my parents' dog, apparently thinks she deserves a stocking to be hung as well. She kept going after the stocking hanging on the bottom. At first we thought it was b/c the stocking had a cotton-y ball on it, so we swapped that stocking for one with a bow. She then proceded to try to pry that one off as well. My mom may have to give in and get Abby her very own. I wonder if JJ will get one, too....


Abby caught in the act of trying to sneak away Courtney's stocking

Giving thanks

We started off the holiday weekend on a sad note. A very good family friend, and the pastor who married Jason and I, passed away on Sunday evening, so we took off for the other side of the state on Tuesday night so that I could attend the funeral with my parents on Wednesday. It was somewhat ironic that just 3 years before on that same date (11/26) our friend was marrying us. The service was truly a celebration of his life and the assurance that he is now singing and dancing with his Savior in Heaven (2 things he loved to do, even with his lack of rhythm and tune :-).

Following the funeral, I rejoined Jason and Hannah at his parents' house in Owosso. They had a fun day going to all of Grandma Davis' hot spots in town. Later that evening, Jason's parents babysat so that we could go out and celebrate our anniversary (3 years!). We had a very nice night on the town - dinner at Owosso's newest "it" restaurant called the Wrought Iron Grill. Very good! Then, we stopped by one of Jason's old watering holes, Jumbo's, for an after dinner beer-in-a-plastic-cup. Ahh, the night before Thanksgiving! We still had a taste for something sweet, but since the sweetest thing on Jumbo's menu was Blue Moon with an orange, we decided to hit up Eddie O'Flynn's for dessert. A brownie sundae hit the spot! It was a delightful evening!

The next day we celebrated Thanksgiving with Jason's parents and grandparents before heading to my family's celebration.

Hannah gets some cuddle time with Great-Grandpa and Grandma Ocedek

Jason's mom made a fantastic meal with all of the traditional fixings - turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes... Mmmm!

A beautiful Thanksgiving table

Jason's dad sneaking a taste-test

After dinner, Jason's grandpa broke out a bottle of wine that he bought the day that Jason was born. Was he trying to tell us something with a pink label??? :-)

Three generations (four if you count Hannah in the background)

Happy Thanksgiving from the Davis/Ocedek Family!

Tis the Season

With Thanksgiving being a bit late this year, we got into the holiday mood spirit early by heading to Frederik Meijer Gardens to check out their Christmas trees. This is something we enjoy doing every year, and we were especially excited to take Hannah with us this year. The trees are beautifully decorated with themes from around the world.

Just a sampling of some of the gorgeous trees.

Hannah enjoyed looking at all of the pretty lights.

We just happened to visit on a day that Santa's reindeer were making an appearance. They're really gentle, sweet animals.

Our little teddy bear.

How can you not get into the Christmas spirit at such a beautiful place?!?

We were so excited for Christmas after all our day at the Gardens that Hannah insisted on wearing her new Christmas p.j.'s. We're definitely looking forward to this Christmas season.

Not just one but two...

...teeth, that is! 2 little bumps have been on her bottom gums for quite some time. Both of them finally popped through on Wednesday. She's been a real trooper. No real fussing, fever, or any of the other typical symptoms.

Look closely - You can just see those two new teeth just through the bottom gums.

8 months old!

Yes, Hannah is 8 months old today. She's starting to lose that "baby" about her, but each age we move into has its own fun about it. She is definitely a busy girl these days-

• She is getting up on her knees and really starting to rock. She's even starting to move backward. I'm amazed how far she goes when I lay her down on the floor. We are definitely going to have to start baby-proofing the house very soon.
• She has rhythm :-) Well, I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's not uncommon to find her bouncing along to music. She really seems to like her children's nursery rhyme CD and Christmas music.
• You can see she's filling out. I put her on our adult scale, which I'm sure isn't very accurate for her, but it showed that she was at 15 lbs! I can definitely feel it when I'm lugging her around the house!
• She loves games - Patty Cake, Peek-a-Boo, and drop and fetch in particular.
• She seems to have developed a bit of an attachment thing lately, especially when she's on the tired side. Sometimes I set her in the living room, and when I walk out of her site she screams bloody murder! You'd think something was seriously wrong, but as soon as I walk over to her, she stops screaming and raises her arms up. Although this is somewhat flattering, we are certainly not going to be getting into this little routine!
• Her favorite toys are plastic blocks. She loves to bang them together. When she's done with that, she chews on them.
• Her bottom 2 teeth are so close to popping through. I can't believe they're not in yet. Seems like they've been hanging out there forever! Until then, the drool continues...

Hannah is such a good baby. It's so much fun to watch her grow and change. She's really becoming her own person. We're so excited for all that lies ahead. A child truly is the biggest blessing.

Toasting the Season

This weekend we spent our first weekend away since last year's birthday trip to St. Louis. My parents came over to our house on Friday afternoon to stay with Hannah for the weekend while we headed up to Traverse City with our friends Eric, Jill, Sara, and Brian.

After what seemed like a particularly long ride (it really wasn't but felt that way), we arrived at the Park Place Hotel. What a beautiful, old building. We had a "bay view", and I guess you could call it that as we were on the 5th floor and could see the bay through the buildings in front of our window :-) The hotel is in a great location for hitting the strip. We walked to dinner at Bubba's, a burger and beer joint, just a few blocks away. Since the night was still young, we stopped by Poppycocks for drinks after dinner. Who knew that Cosmos were so delicious?!? After finishing off our drinks, we walked back to the hotel where we ended the night at a small piano bar at the top of the hotel. The place was packed, and we all had a lot of fun. So much fun, in fact, that we were even treated to some disco and robot dance moves by the dance master himself :-)

Saturday morning was a bit rough for some in the group, but nothing that a little bacon and eggs from the Omelette Shop couldn't fix. After a hearty breakfast, we headed to the Leelanau Peninsula to participate in the Toast the Season event at the local wineries. Upon our event check-in, we got a gift bag with several wine souvenirs, including the wine glasses that we used for tasting along the route. We started out at Leelanau Cellars and from there went to Good Neighbor Organics, Gills Pier, L. Mawby, Ciccone Vineyards, Black Star Farms (a group favorite!), Willow Vineyards, and Chateau de Leelanau. Of all of the wines we tasted, I actually liked the apple cherry hard cider from Black Star the best. They served it warm, which was perfect on such a cold, rainy day. After the first few wineries, we started slowing down on the wine tasting but each of them also had a sampling of some great food. Our favorites were the eggplant parmesan and apple and peach cobbler with vanilla fondue.

The ladies toasting the season

The whole group - Us, Jill, Eric, Brian, and Sara

Us at Ciccone Vineyards

After wine tasting and eating all afternoon, we headed back to our rooms for power naps and freshening up for dinner. We made reservations at Trattoria Stella, an Italian restaurant in the basement of a former mental hospital that is in the process of renovation. Actually, the restaurant has been there for over 4 years, but the place is absolutely massive. They're in the process of adding more shops and condos, but there are still some sections that haven't been touched. Literally looks like scenes from a horror movie! Our waiter even shared a couple of ghost stories with us. Creepy!

Eric and Brian walking through a construction zone outside part of the hospital.

Thankfully, dinner was absolutely the opposite of horrific. We had a wonderful meal. Let me just say that as strange as it sounds, pumpkin lasagna is amazing! Somehow, we managed to find room to eat birthday cake after dinner, courtesy of my mom. After all of that food, we pretty much went into a food coma and headed to our rooms early.

Anticipating the fantastic meal ahead.

To top the weekend off, we woke up to snow this morning. I must admit that although I'm hoping we don't have another rough winter like last year, it was a nice change to see the snow clinging to the trees. Here's hoping for a white Christmas (and then it can go away!).

We had a fantastic weekend with all of our friends, but we were definitely ready to get home to our little Miss Hannah. From the sound of it, she had a great time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. She tells me she's already looking forward to her next slumber party with them :-)

Can you believe this weather???

What a fabulous November day! I was shocked to look at the thermometer to see this:

As hard as it is to believe, this thermometer is typically right on.

We took advantage of the afternoon and went outside to play for a little while. I wanted to get a few pics of Hannah, but she seemed more intrigued by the grass than the camera.

We took a timeout from the grass to read some books on a blanket.

Even JJ got in on the fun.

Enjoy the weather before it snows!

Future Voter

What a beautiful day to get to the polls! Hannah and I walked over this morning to cast my ballot for (hopefully) the next president of the United States. What a great country we live in that we get to elect our the leaders. Regardless of who wins, we'll be doing lots of praying for our new leaders. I hope you'll do the same. Please get out and VOTE!!