Graham Christmas - Monday 12/24

Celebrating Christmas Eve with the Brooks is another fun tradition. Jeff's homemade meatballs and the Italian sausage sandwiches have now become a Christmas tradition at their house. Mmmmm (I cannot put enough m's). Then it is tracking Santa via NORAD and opening up presents.
It was the year of the Hawkeye for Olivia - all sorts of Hawkeye clothing from us. And we have been amazingly lucky the past couple of Christmases getting Alex gifts that she loves. This year it was a super soft sleeveless vest, a sled, sparkly shirt, boots and some mittens that say OMG and LOL.

Arnold Christmas - Sunday 12/23

It's Christmas time. Time to put a lot of miles on the car.
First was to Cascade on the Arnold side. Sr. Pat and Rosie were able to come out for brunch. It was so nice to be able to celebrate with them. They even got in on the family pictures with all of the grand kids.
This year Cali understood Christmas a little better. She was awesome - she handed out gifts and was very patient to wait for her own. We'll see if it is the same next year once the younger ones get in on the act. This year the new babies were just busy eating and sleeping.
We got a lot of great gifts - Iowa Wms Bball tournament tickets, kitchen gadgets and money to use on vacations.
As a gift for taking care of Lilah when I was gone, Michael and I gave Mom and Dad a Nexus7 tablet. They seem to be doing great with it so far. Sending emails, playing games, searching via voice commands and even video chatting! I hope that they will enjoy it. I love hearing about the things that they are already doing with the tablet. They are becoming so "techie". :-)

Family keeps on grwoing

Todd, Ann, Cali, Jay

Meredith didn't quite make it in the picture

Mom and Dad

Rosie, Jay, Melissa, Cali, Johanna, Sr. Pay

Tony, Johanna, Shell

Holiday make Meredith tuckered out too

Johanna

Cali popping bubble wrap with Michael

Family Christmas Picture - HA!

Christmas approaching means a family photo to send to friends and family. And just like human kids, furry kids are just as hard to get to sit still....

Finally an acceptable picture!

Carver and Meredith

Meredith seems to have adjusted well as seen by the photos. :-) And Carver has done great in adjusting to a dog that is not nearly as mellow and tolerant as Lilah.

Arnold Thanksgiving Saturday 11/24

We celebrated Thanksgiving the Saturday after. Another good meal, but just as the last 2 years, and probably from now on, the holiday focuses on the grand kids. So this post will be all pictures. :-)

Graham Thanksgiving - Thursday 11/22

Wow, I haven't posted in a while! Had a wonderful Thanksgiving even though the celebrations weren't long enough. We spent Thanksgiving day with Michael's family for their wonderful meal.
Normally we go to Dennis and Ellen's on Wednesday night, celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends and then do the big Day After Thanksgiving shopping at too-early-in-the-morning AM. This year, the "big" rivalry football game between IA and NE was in Iowa City, which means Michael no longer gets to celebrate his favorite holiday as he wants to. :-( But we still enjoy the time we had. And luckily the weather was good to travel - actually it was 50+ degrees! I ate my Thanksgiving dinner outside. Who ever heard of a Thanksgiving picnic?

Johanna needs pictures too!

I never knew why parents always measured their kid's age in months.  As a new aunt, I now understand.  Kids change SOOO much in just a few months, a few weeks even!  So here are some new pictures of Johanna. 

Arnold-Kluesner Family

What a smile - she looks a lot like her Daddy

Too cute!

Cali is 2

Cali turned 2 on October 9th.  I had to post some pictures because she is just so darn cute. 

Our New Addition

No, we're not having a kid.  Michael and I adopted a new dog on Friday, November 16th. She is a black lab mix named Meredith (we didn't name her, but she knows her name).  We actually got her from Rock Island, IL.  I came about a link for her in a very round-about way that I won't even bother explaining. She was at a vet office in Rock Island.  Meredith had been tied up for most of her life and her collar had become embedded in her neck.  The vet office did surgery on her to remove the collar, spay here, pull a tooth and remove a couple of lumps on her belly.  She has recovered really well and all of the hair on her neck had all grown back.  She had been at the vet office for about two months recovering.  They think that she is 9 years old based on some old records that they have.  But she acts very young.  She likes to chase tennis balls.  She does sleep a lot, though.  She doesn't want to get up in the morning.  I literally have to pull her out of bed!  We took her to Thanksgiving on both sides and she did really well.  She and Carver get along okay.  They aren't best buds or anything, but they tolerate each other pretty well. 

Jason "Jay" Michael Arnold - Thursday, Nov 15

The first grandson for the Arnold family was been born: 

Jason "Jay" Michael Arnold

11/15/12

7lbs 8 oz  21 inches

12:26pm

We can't decide if he looks like an Arnold or a Kluesner.  He's definitely not as much Arnold as Cali is, but I can see a little of Todd in him. 

Newest addition to the Arnold family

Jason Michael

Jason at home

A Brand New Car

We decided to sell Michael's car and be a one car family while we saved up for a second car.  We sold his car and were able to pay off that car loan but unfortunately we were only able to save for 2 more months before the Civic started acting up.  Since we wanted to have a new car before the holidays we thought we would play it safe and buy a car now.  We bought a white 2012 Ford Fusion SEL the first week of October.  It had just over 30,000 miles and has the Sync system (like bluetooth).  So Michael loves that it is all "techy"  I don't get to drive again until February because of my seizure at the end of July.  So I won't get to test it out until then. 

Typical Carver

Dust bunnies on his head, perched at his favorite place on top of the couch, looking at me like "I've been here the whole time, Lady, and you can't prove otherwise."

Johanna came to visit - 11/4/2012

Johanna is one month old today! She and her mom and dad came for a visit. It was fun to get a little aunt/uncle time in.

Johanna, Jen and Michael 

Shell changing Johanna's diaper - luckily only #1

Our third wedding anniversary - 10/24/2012

My wonderful husband sent me some flowers to work for our 3rd anniversary. The time has gone by so fast, yet it feels like we've been married much longer than three years - but in a good way. :-)
The flowers are from Heaven Scent; A local floral shop run by sisters. They also did our wedding flowers. They are so talented, so sweet and funny-crazy.

Tailgating before the Hawkeye game 10/21/2012

I joined Jeff and Sarah while they were tailgating at the Iowa vs Nebraska game. It was so great spending time with them. It's been way too long since I last saw them-and there was so much to catch up on.

Here's... Johanna!

October 4, 2012 - Little Johanna is born!  Congrats to Tony and Shell!

Johanna Marie Kluesner

10-4-2012

4:16PM

6lb 12 oz

20 in

I got to see her for the first time on Sunday Oct. 7 while we were on the way back from the Schuettes.  Michael was even able to get off work early to come out to see her.  Such a tiny little girl.  She looks like an exact replica of the baby dolls that Melissa and Shell had when they were growing up.  And about the same size too!  Shell and Tony were exhausted but doing well.  I think this Arnold-Kluesner baby will look more "Kluesner" than "Arnold".  As opposed to Cali who looks far more "Arnold" than "Kluesner".  :-)

Looks like a little doll!

Proud aunt and uncle