Andrew Turns One!

Andrew George Dickon Lane turned One on December 28th. One day after the Lane Family Christmas and one day before his daddy's birthday on December 29th.

Here, Andrew enjoys a relaxing snack. He finally drank from a sippy cup......much to the delight of his excited mommy.


A "candid" shot of Andrew opening his birthday present from Nana and Uncle Todd. It was a monkey and a book about Noah's ark. (Photograph curtesy of Cousin JD).



It appears that he likes the monkey.

Yes........yes........he LOVES the monkey!!!!

A very tired One year old........taking a much deserved nap in his mommy's lap.

Christmas With Sonja's Family

We were able to have another Christmas celebration with Sonja's family on December 27th. It was a full house!!! Mom Lane decked the halls as usual. She also cooked and baked all sorts of goodies. We had sloppy joes, some of those yummy Lil' Smokies and wonderful shredded turkey, compliments of Sonja's sister-in-law Denise. We watched a video of Leonard Lane, Sr. reading the Christmas story from the Bible, sang some Christmas Carols and then it was "Rip and tear........rip and tear........ as the kids opened their presents. A fun day was had by all.

Our niece, Tiffany, has a true artist's hand. Here she shows off the cake she decorated all by herself. We are so proud of her. She is so talented. Way to go, Tiff!!!

Tiffany's Christmas cake.


A close-up of the cake. It was Evan's idea to put "snowballs" on the penguin's head. Evan is just as creative as his big sister.

Maddie was so excited about her first Christmas!!!!

The boys in Grandma A's playroom. From left: Evan, Nicholas, Justin, Brenden and Tyler.

Tyler always has something to say.

The family enjoying Christmas goodies. From left: Kim, Anthony, Denise, Heather, Angela.........and Eric's knee.

The "boys" ponder the true meaning of Christmas. From left: JD and his dad Jeremy, Nicholas and his "papa" Leonard. Nicholas also recited his prayer from the Christmas Program at their church.

Brenden performs for the family. He sang a song from the Christmas play he was in at his church.

Justin's turn. He performed his favorite song. He was a wiseman in the Christmas play. He was "Wise Garth.......the 'king' of country." Justin has quite the dramatic flare..........in all that he does.

Andrew George Dickon Lane...all smiles..... just one day before his first birthday.

Brenden and JD admire the new electric guitar that Nicholas received from his Aunts and Uncles for Christmas.

Grandma A admires the "Happy Birthday Jesus" ornament she received from Todd and Sonja.

Our little Christmas "elf" Evan.

Uncle Todd and Andrew......taking it easy!

Tiffany and Maddie. Two beautiful girls!!!!

Tyler helps Nana put together his Christmas present.

It's a 'Pengin'!!!!.......Tyler loves penguins.

Maddie admires the cute blanket that Nana made for her.

Tyler takes some time to help his little sister with her reading. What a good big brother he is. He just loves his "May May".

Maddie and her Uncle Eric.

Tyler and his Uncle Leonard.

Tiffany and JD play the Taboo game she got from Nana and Uncle Todd. Tiff especially liked the little purple guy that came with the game.

Grandma A actually chopped down her Christmas tree this year. It came from her very own back yard.

Christmas With Todd's Family

We went up to Duluth to celebrate Christmas with Todd's family. It was a lot of fun. Here Uncle Kevin and Uncle Todd watch our niece Sophia, open the cross stitching that Sonja made for her. It has Sophia's birth date, birth weight as well as a baby picture. Sonja stayed up all night on Christmas Eve to finish the cross stitching for both Sophia and our other niece Emily. As you can see by Sophia's face........she was so surprised. She just loved it!!! It made Sonja's "all nighter" worth all the effort.

Here Todd's dad, Larry and Grandma Vi enjoy a laugh after Christmas dinner. Dad was playing with the Christmas napkin rings and Grandma thought that was pretty funny. We should have bought some napkin rings for dad. Who knew he'd have so much fun???!!!



Sophia shows off her Cross Stitch, made with love by Auntie Sonja. Todd's mom, Jan, is pleased with the results as well.

Emily with her Cross Stitch. Todd's sister, Jamie, is hiding behind the picture.




Emily, 7, and Sophia, 10, by the Christmas tree!!

Our Own Merry Little Christmas at Home

We celebrated our Christmas, just the two of us, on December 23rd. We were so busy with the North Heights Christmas production that we didn't have time to put up our big tree. So Sonja put up our little "M&M" Christmas tree. It really looks small with our presents underneath it. :)

Todd & Sonja by the little M&M tree. Merry Christmas!!!!!

The Christmas Window 2008

The Christmas Window (our Christmas production at church) was a great success. We had great audiences for the 7 shows that we did and many lives were touched with the story of Jesus' birth told in a fresh new way. We just wanted to show you a few of our costumes from the production.
For the 1st scene, Sonja has her own coffee shop. This was a surprise that they did for me last year when I had back surgery at the end of October and was determined to at least be able to fulfill my role as the coffee shop owner. They surprised me with painting my name on the coffee shop. :)

We also sing the song, Be Our Guest, where we are waiters with many trays of treats. Mmmmmmmmmm!!

This was from the dance for the Victorian Christmas Ball where we danced to the song Ding Dong Merrily on High. Sonja's mom is in the Chorale group that sang the song while we danced. This was our toughest move in the dance.............called The Keyhole. It was a lot of work, but we also had a lot of fun dancing and were glad we tried out and were chosen to be dancers. :)

In the second half of the production, Todd was one of the Three Wise Men and I was an angel. I actually had 3 different angel costumes for different songs................but this one was my favorite. :)

Sophia turns 10!

Our niece, Sophia, turned 10 on December 5th. We went down to Chaska to watch the boys & Maddie on 12/11 so Jeremy & Kim could go to a Christmas party. Since Sophia & Emily live in Chaska, too, Todd picked them up to spend a few hours with us & playing with the boys. Then we could also give Sophia her birthday present.


Sophia & Tyler.

Sophia with her Word Hangman game & Tyler.

Brenden & Tyler playing on the floor.

Emily, Sonja, Maddie & Sophia.

Maddie likes playing under the Christmas tree. Don't worry......they are plastic ornaments. :)

Sonja's Birthday ~~ 12/9/08

Yesterday was my 42nd birthday. Todd came to my work before going downtown to his job & brought me roses, a balloon & some breakfast from Burger King! What a guy! :)

For dinner, Todd took me to Jake's City Grill in Eden Prairie & then we went mini golfing at the Golf Zone in Chaska. It was a really nice place & not busy at all. It was kind of North-woodsy & all of the trees were decorated with white lights. They were also playing a Christmas music. It was very fun! :) Thanks, Todd!

Red lights in the logs made it looke like a glowing fire. :)

I got a hole-in-one on this one! :)