go cyclones!

After a day of gift opening, movie watching, and, of course, lots of food, a few of us headed out to cheer on the ISU Women's basketball team against the University of Tennessee-Martin in the Cyclone Shoot Out Winter Tournament. The women won 63-39!

merry christmas-take 2

We're celebrating Christmas with the Pollmann family this weekend. Everyone arrived in Ames last night. Stacy, Mackenzie, Mark, Mike, Vokey and I started the morning with a run, then joined everyone else for Christmas brunch and gift opening. The afternoon was spent playing with new toys and watching recently received movies.

on the campaign trail

like many american cities, downtown des moines is being revitalized and receiving alot of attention lately. we went to check out the new library, stopped by BNIM's office and met up with stacy and mackenzie for lunch at centro before doing some window shopping in the east village. the iowa presidential caucuses will take place on january 3, and while we didn't catch a glimpse of any candidates, we did see many campaign offices and workers.

these boots were made for walking

Santa Paws brought Vokey a pair (well, 2 pairs, actually) of dog boots for Christmas. Vokey's paws get cut and bleed during walks on ice and snow, so we thought the boots would offer some relief. I'm not sure Vokey sees the benefit since she curls her toes and refuses to walk normally. Here you can see her high stepping her way around the yard!

a new tradition

We're enjoying a quiet Christmas Eve at home this year. We both grew up in families that enjoyed oyster stew on Christmas Eve so we continued the tradition--this time, with a new recipe.

merry christmas!

the elves have been hard at work to bring you some Christmas cheer! enjoy!

julenissen

To help celebrate her Norwegian heritage, we opened our presents from our friend Terese a bit early...and will enjoy using them to prepare our Christmas eve dinner! Here, Mike models a new apron which fits in more way than one! Thank you, Terese!

christmas cookies

baking for friends and family has become one of our favorite traditions. we have so many favorites, but this year we tried a few new recipes. our 2007 cookie collection featured: peppermint bark, gingerbread, world peace cookies, TKOs (Thomas Keller Oreos), butter cookies and almond bars.

artistic afternoon

It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas...a friend and I enjoyed lunch at the Museum Cafe before attending the final performance of the Kansas City Ballet's The Nutcracker.

a few of our favorite things

perhaps one reason that we have been slow to blog this month is that we've enjoyed hearing from people through cards and letters. the holiday greetings have been pouring in. we are blessed to have some many wonderful friends and family members and many are very creative, making opening each envelope an adventure. to date, our favorite comes from heidi's aunt sandy. hers is truly a work of art and inspires us to live better in 2008 by encouraging us to "find connections everywhere--seek belong, not belongings" and to enjoy "car-free, carefree days for biking, walking or riding the bus". The bottom of her "card" says "These little gifts are just a start. Imagine the effect if we all do our part! It's time for us all to do our share, to show the earth how much we care!"

a month

I have a hard time believing that it has been a month since our last post. It seems we just sat down to Thanksgiving dinner and now Christmas is just 4 days away! The month has been busy with holiday parties, holiday cards, holiday baking, work and lots of snow and ice. Thank you to everyone who e-mailed or called to see if we were ok--despite several winter storms we never lost power and we just took a break from the blog!