Christmas in Santa Rosa

Before we left for Santa Rosa this year we put up our first Christmas tree since we've been married (5 1/2 years!). Our next door neighbors said it looked like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree because of how tiny it is but we just loved our little tree. Tis' the season for decorating!

We headed for Santa Rosa for Christmas which was a treat! We had a great time relaxing and spending time with family and friends. While we were there we visited this amazing house on Christmas Eve, went to the beach, ate lots of yummy food, and had an "Aftershock" reunion/baby shower (the soccer team I was on for 10 years growing up). It was wonderful to see so many of the girls and their mothers.

The Koehle Boys on Christmas Eve

Emi (28 weeks pregnant) & I (18 weeks pregnant) - SO FUN! She is having a little boy too in March!

10 of the "Aftershocks" together

My Christmas Craft - Blinking Santa Bottles. One of my friends at work taught me how to make these and my mom and I had a great time making these together. You take a bottle and stick a strand to 50 white lights inside and then cut out the rest of the parts. Attach with hot glue and wa..la!

Eric's brave brother (Jon) swimming in icy cold Northern California ocean water...burrrrrrr!

3rd Annual Gingerbread House Decorating

Justin, Crystal, Stacey (Crystal’s sister), Eric and I got together at there place and decorated gingerbread houses. This year we bought the “Gingerbread House Village” which I was super excited about but soon discovered that the pieces were doll house size, so we had to supplement our houses with graham crackers. Overall, another fun year of decorating! Thanks guys!

Part of the Gingerbread House Village

Baby Koehle is a... BOY!

On December 12th we found out that little baby Koehle will be a BOY! We are so excited to meet him in May!

The Blind Side

Eric and I went and saw this movie last night and just loved it. If you are looking for a feel good family flick about giving freely to others, this is a movie you don't want to miss!

Mariah: Naughty or Nice?

http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/119287-ekurla

Tis' the Season to Make Gift Bows

I found this idea on Money Saving Mom's blog and loved the idea so much that I tried it out with my 3rd graders today and it was a hit! The kids loved making bows for their parent gifts as much as I liked making them. In fact some of my adorable kids mentioned that they wanted to start a bow making business and asked me if I wanted to purchase some for my Christmas gifts, super cute!

It's super easy with this great tutorial but a bit addicting once you get started because you want to make just one more, great fun though.

Here are the 4 materials needed to begin your bow making:magazine page (or 8 1/2 x 11" paper of your choice), scissors, small hole punch (or a sharp object for poking a small hole), and metal brad

Thanksgiving Turkey Cruise

For Thanksgiving four of the Koehle boys and I went on a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. We stopped at Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. While on our trip we enjoyed eating yummy food, exercising in the gym and outdoor track, rock climbing, being crafty (learning how to make balloon animals, napkin folding classes, and water color classes), swimming in the ocean & pools, building sand castles (I watched while the boys built), trivia on board, reading by the beach, and whale watching. Cruising is a fun way to vacation.

The Mariner of the Sea - Royal Caribbean

Eric and I in our cabin

The cute creations our cabin steward left us nightly

The whale Eric and I saw in Puerto Vallarta

Water color class creations

Dress up night, Jon, Eric, Christian, & Mike

Just the two of us (oh wait and the little one that's on the way, 14 weeks along)

Eric Rock climbing on the ship

Cabo

Lots of reading in the sun

Mike & our animal creations

The Koehle boy's sand castle

Man-Boys building a castle

Baby News & Deals

Eric and I are thrilled that we are expecting our first little baby sometime in the middle of May. We are 16 weeks now and I’ve felt great so far.

Eric and I went to Target a week after Halloween and were browsing the Halloween sale items and couldn't pass up these darling costumes. Everything was 90% off so we bought 4, it was quite the thrill I have to say. We were only about 12 weeks along but thought we couldn't pass up these for the price. Our favorite is the little Pea Pod costumes that Eric found, it's so funny! We were pretty stoked on the grand total of all these items, take a look below...

Target recipe - a grand total of $11.72

11 weeks :) and feeling good!

13+ weeks - Eric and his baby!

13+ weeks with our baby

Some of my sweet co-workers bought me some snacks they thought I might need during the next 9 minths!

New Moon Party

Leanne threw yet another amazing party at her house a couple of weeks ago in celebration of New Moon (the second book in the Stephenie Myer series). As always she did an incredible job with the beautiful decorations, delicious food, and gathering a ton of enthusiastic “Twilight” fans.

New Moon Jeopardy

Lori, Brooke, & I

Leanne made this... can you believe that?!?

Hello Edward!

Minnesota in November

Last weekend my whole family met up in Minnesota where my cousin Derek got married to his cute bride Nicole. I had a great time visiting with family and attending the wedding. We lucked out on the weather too, it was cold but sunny and NO SNOW, couldn't believe it!

Temple in Minnesota
(Left to right - Aunt Kristin, Uncle Scott, dad, mom, Eric, me & Justin

Eric & I

Justin (with his winter beard which apparently is gonzo pretty soon) & I

Cousin Kellie & I

Sweet Aunt Kristin & I

St. Paul, Minnesota

Derek & Nicole, the bride & groom

My brother Justin & his girlfriend Crystal

Eric & I in winter wonderland :)