We endured a long, hard winter with more snow than I've ever seen in Omaha! By the end of January, we probably had over three feet of snow on the ground!
My grandpa, Bernard Stratman, passed away January 11, 2010. He would have turned 85 in July. Though it was sad, it was good to see family members I am not able to see very often.
My baby boy turned ONE in February! Everyone in our family was sick leading up to his b-day!
We "celebrated" Valentine's Day ... in the ER! Kayla fell on the stairs and ended up with seven stiches in her forehead!
Jeff and I had a great time at a weekend marriage getaway! I am so thankful for our strong relationship!
Don and Jane (Ingraham) were able to visit Omaha over Easter weekend. It was great to celebrate Easter with the whole family! (Jeff's sister/brother-in-law, his parents, and our family)
Jeff built a great new extension to our privacy fence last spring. At the rate our fence is going up, our yard will be fully enclosed by the time our kids can drive!
We set up a make shift fence to corral the kids in one area of our yard, and we spent many hours outside last spring and summer!
Kayla turned THREE in May! She LOVES presents and cake!
Jeff and I got away for five days to Florida with some good friends! It was our first trip away from both of the kids! I don't think I've ever been so relaxed in my life! It was wonderful!
We were very thankful for our zoo pass; Kayla and Jacob loved our many outings to the zoo!
As the summer came to a close, Jeff and I geared up for a huge marketing effort this fall. We produced over 125,000 (yes, 125 thousand) pieces of mail and sent the letters throughout the fall. We were very, very busy handling the new business during September, October, and December. Our sweat, blood and tears were rewarded with a lot of good business by the time the year ended.
Kayla started Cubbies, a kids club at church. The focus of the group is memorization of Bible verses, and she loves going each week. Her cousin (my cousin's son) is in her Cubbies room (the "green" room) and she loved seeing Drew so often!
God blessed us with the "perfect" full-time employee! She loves the Lord, is fun for Jeff to work with each day, and works so diligently! Having help at the office has allowed me to be more free to stay at home with the kids.
After four attempts at the beginning level of swimming lessons, Kayla finally was promoted. We finally started bribing her with ice cream if she would just put her face in the water!
After about 14 months of struggling EVERY diaper change with a wild alligator (that would be Jacob), he finally calmed down for at least a couple of changes per day! Also, prilosec was a life saver for us. Jacob would scream-scream-scream for hours each day until we at last prilosec helped his tummy feel better! He still squeals and screams probably more than the average little tot, but the meds made a night and day difference! Jake has grown and changed so much over the past year!
Kayla and Jake have really started to play together a lot, and it is fun to see their friendship develop!
Tobin, Jennifer, Madison and Blake came for a great visit over Christmas! Kayla and Jake loved playing with their cousins! We went to the zoo, to Coco Key indoor water park, to Kobe Steakhouse and had a great Chrismas!
Below are some photos taken through May of 2010. I will post a few more "best of the year" photos soon.
