Is it to late too post my Christmas Letter?

I hope it isn't too late to post our Christmas letter, Mama and I have been busy packing up Christmas stuff and getting ready for my BIRTHDAY!!!  Blogger won't let me upload any photos right now so you will just have to make do without one...Sorry folks!


Merry Christmas!
Once again, Mama and Daddy have put me in charge of writing the Christmas letter, and once again, we have had a VERY busy year. 
The year started off with a party to celebrate my first birthday. It was great having all of my Grandparents, Aunties and Cousin there to celebrate. I even had a special party to celebrate with my good friends. I have had a year full of growing. I love to talk and sing and play with my baby dolls. I love puzzles, reading and playing outside. I still go to the same great day care and love spending time with my good friends there.  I am still a very happy and easy-going kid.
Mama and Daddy are still working at the same place, Mama at Federated Insurance as a Programmer, and Daddy at Truth Hardware as an Engineer.  They both enjoy their jobs and have had very busy years. Daddy still loves golfing in the summer and snowboarding and curling in the winter.  Mama still enjoys making crafts and has started digital scrapbooking. Mama has also joined an indoor volleyball league this year which she is enjoying. We spent a lot of time together this year playing at the lake, swimming at the pool, going for walks and playing at the park.  We also got a membership to the Minnesota Zoo last year so we made lots of trips there too.  We sure did spend a lot of time in the car, but it was worth it to have all that fun.
This year has been filled with a lot of ups and downs. In May Grandpa Bob was diagnosed with Brain Cancer. As of right now, he is doing very well and we are lucky that treatment hasn’t been too difficult for him. It has been hard but we are trying to enjoy the time we have together and it has reminded us to always count our blessings. 
Grandpa Bob and Mama always talked about eating Lobster on the Beach so in July we took Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Bob on a vacation to Maine. We enjoyed all of the beautiful sights, saw whales and puffins, and ate PLENTY of lobster! It was a great vacation and I am glad to have gotten to spend such great time with my grandparents.  Mama and Daddy also took another special weekend trip with Grandpa Bob to Kansas City to see a NASCAR race.
Remember to count your blessings every day, hug the ones you care about, and you can never say “I Love You” too many times.  I pray you had a year full of love and may 2013 bring you joy.
With love,
Linden  (Mama and Daddy send their love too!)
Dave, Amanda and Linden Aarsvold
Jake, Bella and Turk too

Christmas is for Families

This Christmas I got to spend Christmas Eve with Mama's side of the family, and Christmas Day with Daddy's side.

For Christmas Eve we got all dressed up and went to Church.

We got a really great family picture...Don't we all look pretty  :-)

Afterwards we came home and got to open presents!!!  I loved helping everybody out...

This year Papa Bob got me a bitty baby doll, I named her Katie.

I sure do love my Katie.  Thanks Papa Bob!!!

It was a lot of fun having everybody around.  It was fun helping everybody open presents and getting to spend time together as a family.


After we were done with dinner we cleaned up, got in the car, and drove to Alexandria to see Grandma Carolyn and Papa Tim!!

After nap on Christmas Day we got to open more presents.  Everybody was there and it was a lot of fun.  Auntie Megan and Tommy got me a cute pink soccer ball, Megan even taught me how to play.

Grandma Carolyn and Papa Tim got me a fun doll house for my Little People.  It was a big box, and I made sure to get all of the paper off before seeing what I got.

Here is a picture of all of the girls...

Before bed Grandma Carolyn read me a bedtime story, "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

It was a great weekend full of all the people I love.

Merry Christmas,
Linden

Christmas Came Early

There are a lot of Christmas pictures to catch up on so this is going to be a long one...

Last Saturday Mama, Daddy and I celebrated Christmas together.  After I woke up from my nap Mama and Daddy told me to go downstairs...

I got my own Kitchen!!! Mama and Daddy didn't wrap it, but that was fine, I couldn't wait to play with it!

I loved playing with the pots and pans and making food for Mama and Daddy to eat.

There is even a place for my favorite puppy Jingle!!

Mama and Daddy couldn't have gotten me a better present.

The next day I woke up in the morning and Santa had come.

Guess what...He drank ALL my milk!!  And ate ALL my cookies!!!  I was not very happy, he really should have shared.

Mama and Daddy pointed out that he brought me presents so I decided to forgive him for drinking my milk.

Somehow Santa knew that Mama and Daddy were getting me a kitchen because he brought me dishes and more pots and pans!  Santa just knew I would love my kitchen!

That's it for tonight. More Christmas pictures tomorrow,
Linden

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Tonight is Christmas Eve Eve and evidently the big guy is coming to visit me tonight, that's right, Santa is coming to my house on Christmas Eve Eve!

 

How did I get so lucky to have Santa visit me early, it's simple, Mama wrote Santa a letter, explained that we won't be home on Christmas morning and asked nicely if he could come a day early. 

 

Mama and I made all sorts of yummy cookies and I picked out the best ones to give him, we even left some caramel corn for his reindeer!! 

Even though Santa is pretty cool, it is still important to remember why we celebrate Christmas.  Last year Grandma Nancy got me a Nativity to play with.

I love playing with it.  Mama told me that an angel came to Mary and told her that she was going to have a very special baby.  Mary and Joseph had to walk a long way and when they got to where they were going they didn't have a hotel room.  Daddy said they didn't have cell phones back then so they just had to knock on doors, the last place that was available to sleep was in a stable with the animals.  The best part of the story comes next, the very special baby is born, Baby Jesus!

After Baby Jesus was born three wise guys came and brought him baby gifts.  Mama said they walked a long way to get to where Baby Jesus was, but I thought taking a tractor would be a better idea...

So that is the story, I think it is pretty cool!

Off to bed, Santa doesn't come until you are fast asleep!
Linden

We Interrupt Normal Programming to Bring you This Announcement...



We. Got. SNOW!! 

 

It. Is. AWESOME!!!!!!!

 

Not only did we get snow, but I also got the thing that every little girl dreams of...

 

I. Got. A. SHOVEL!!!!!!!!!! 

 

A girls first shovel is a pretty special thing, I couldn't wait to use it.  Daddy and I cleared the driveway not once, but Twice!  I wanted to go out a third time but daddy insisted that HE needed a nap...

Not only did I get a shovel, but I also got a wagon.  Mama calls it a sled, not really sure why...You sit in it, somebody pulls you, it is a wagon! Mama and Daddy both took turns pulling me around the yard, I especially liked the parts where I tipped over into the snow.

In addition to all of the snow we also had a weekend full of curling!  Mama and I wore our Owatonna Curling Club shirts, but we forgot to get a picture.  Daddy and his team were the 4th Event Runner-Up, sounds like last place to me, but at least they got a medal...Maybe it was a participation award...(that is my daddy throwing a stone in the background...)

It was a pretty great weekend, I can't wait to see what is in store for this week!
Linden

Every Time I Wake Up There is Another Tree: Part 3

 

What do you get when you take a plain green tree...

Add some awesome decorations...

And top it off with a one-of-a-kind star?

The GREATEST Christmas Tree Ever!!

This is part 3 of my Tour of Christmas Trees, and yes, they are all inside my home.  The is by far my favorite tree because I get to touch it! 

Mama made the tree and a bunch of really great ornaments out of felt...Here are some close ups, these are some decorated ball ornaments...

Mama made my name out of lights...

Here are some other fun shaped ornaments...

Some striped and button ornaments...

And a couple of Bows and Candy Corns (that's what I like to call Candy Canes).

I can't wait to play with it again tomorrow!
Linden

Every Time I Wake Up There is Another Tree: Part 2

Part Two, Ladies and Gentlemen...

 

Mama and Daddy and I went to the tree store to buy a tree one night.  Daddy likes REALLY big trees.  I wasn't sure what we were going to do with it but I was pretty sure we picked a good one.

 

The next morning was definitely surprised to find the tree INSIDE!!  You heard me right, we had a Tree In Our House!!

Mama and Daddy are pretty good decorators!  All of the ornaments are really shiny and pretty...

We even have a special ornament from Great Grandma Joan!

And to top it off, there is a sparkly Angel on the top.

 

If you want me to be completely honest, my favorite part of tree decorating is climbing the ladder.  When I saw that the tree was decorated I was worried that I missed out, but Daddy to the rescue, he left the ladder out so I could climb it a couple times!!  :-)  He wouldn't let me go very high though...

 

Hope you all had a good Tuesday, more Christmas Tree fun to come,

Linden

Every Time I Wake Up There is Another Tree: Part 1

Mama LOVES the Christmas Season!  She and Daddy love to decorate and make everything look festive.

 

Christmas Trees take up the bulk of the holiday decorating that happens in this house...for a couple days straight it seemed like every time I woke up there was another tree...And here is #1...

 

 

After waking up from my nap one day I went downstairs and found a TREE in my house!  It was a pretty plain tree, but that didn't last for long!  We had an entire BOX of decorations to help make the tree look pretty. 

I really enjoyed all of the shiny balls.  We even have ornaments with Tigger, Mickey and Minnie on them!  The best decoration of all came at the end though...

I got to help Daddy put the Star on top of the tree!!

What I didn't know was that after you get all of the ornaments and the star on the tree, that is when the Magic begins...The Lights are Magic!!

I think it turned out to be a pretty great tree!

I think it is going to be a pretty great Christmas!!
Linden