Happy 2010!

Okay, so clearly keeping up with a blog during the holiday season with 2 kids is not an easy task! (Thanks to Elizabeth for a couple more pictures I needed to complete this entry!) The end of 2009 was full of blessings for us. We are thankful that:

1. We got out of Germany and into the US without any weather or security issues.

2. The kids were unbelievably good on the plane. (Mark slept for 7 1/2 of the 9 hours and Gianna just played and took in all the interesting facets of air travel!)

3. We got to reunite with our ENTIRE family the day we arrived (except for Nick, but Elizabeth did surprise us by being there with the kids).

4. We got to meet our nephew Jack for the first time. (This picture is not from our initial meeting, but isn't he so cute?!)

5. We celebrated Christmas with both our families.

6. Mark and Jack were baptized two days after Christmas and we got to see even more family members.

7. We decided to go back home to NJ a little bit early (we loved spending so much time with our families, but we were anxious to get home and for Gianna to have a consistent and familiar sleeping environment; let's just say jet-lag and strange places did not make for restful nights for any of us!)

8. We took a day trip to visit Doug's family, including 3 grandparents (great-grandparents for Gianna and Mark). It was so great to see everyone again and to introduce them to Mark and he started smiling just in time, see the picture with Great Grandpa Ray.

9. Staying up till midnight is not important to us...we all got a good night's sleep on New Year's Eve. What a great way to ring in 2010!