For the sake of posting the last official post of 2007...

I wish you all a safe and happy New Year!

Thank God I made it through 2007!!!!

See you next year!

December 29

Christmas has already come and gone!! Hope you had as great a Christmas as me! All the activity wore Cooper out.

Who works Christmas Eve?

Apparently no one...except me. I opted to come in and put in my four hours (basically checking my email and backing my cube), since I took last Friday off and I'm taking this Wednesday off too. I'm so bored....

Only two hours to go!!

A Very Balow Christmas

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Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Apparently, all of my blog posts today have to be a song. The other title I was thinking was "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas," but no need to dream, we definitely have a white Christmas. These pics and video are from five minutes ago or so -- basically, a live video of the weather conditions here in Shakopee, Minn. As you can see, the dogs love it!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

Actually, she needs 4 front teeth...

Traditions!

Of course the whole reason why we celebrate Christmas is important, but what I think really makes the holiday season the best is all the traditions we have. Each year we make the time to do our family traditions, and it's great to be part of a family that wants to spend time with each other and keep the traditions going year after year. I was just looking at some of my photos from the last couple of weeks, and as busy as they've been, it's been a wonderful time. Every year, especially during Christmas, we make the time to do our family traditions. And each year, we make special memories. And this year is extra special, because it's the first Christmas in two years that we've all been together. I don't know why we don't do more special family things throughout the year -- we should, but Christmas is one of the few times during the year that all my sisters are home. Spending time with the people I love really makes his time of year special.

Our 2nd Annual Holiday Dinner

The Holidazzle Parade

Amanda's B-day

Making Cookies Someone let the girls sprinkle (pour) the sugar...

26 degrees Farenheight

Yep, that's as warm as it got yesterday. 26 degrees. It didn't make it to the freezing point. Not that I really expected it.

I noticed something really funny when I went to weather.com to check out yesterday's high. In case you didn't know, for today, Indoor Heat is Needed. On a scale from 1-10, the need for indoor heat is 10 -- very high. Duh!

Finally some good news...

Okay, finally I have some good news to report. I read it this morning in the Star Tribune.

Today, the temperature might (keyword: might) reach the freezing point. Yes, you read that correctly -- the "high" temperature may hit 32 degrees in Minneapolis today! :)

According to the article, the last time the high temp was above freezing in the Twin Cities was Nov. 26, the Monday after Thanksgiving and 22 days ago...

Let's keep our fingers crossed, so that it gets that warm today!

Of course, by posting this, I probably just jinxed myself. I'll keep you posted...

Photos!

Here's some recent photos of Otis and Cooper...

The Balow Brothers

Emily and Amanda love Cooper Joe. In fact, Amanda said, "I love Cooper. I don't care about Otis anymore."

Cooper Joe's first bath.

Kissses

Cooper's First Christmas

Balow Dance Party

You'll have to turn your head sideways to watch this one. I accidently filmed the video in the wrong direction. But the entertainment is well-worth the crink in the neck.

Done and Done

Yea! Business law is done. I turned in my paper and delivered my presentation. Just in time for Stevie to come home and make Amanda's watermelon b-day cake -- the unofficial Miller girls' b-day cake. It doesn't even taste all that great -- but it's cute and the girls' love, so I make it.

Someday soon I'll add more photos. I've taken some photos, but haven't taken the time to put them on the computer. Maybe tonight...I won't have any homework to do. :)

Have a great day!

woo woo!

In less than 10 hours, my Business Law class will be over! My paper will be turned in and my presentation will be completed.

Hurray!

It's that time of year --- BUSY

Yes, it's that busy time of year.The Holiday Season. And I'm definitely busy this year! Besides all the Christmas hoo-ha of Christmas parties; hanging out with friends; family baking cookie day; shopping, ordering and buying Christmas gifts; sending Christmas cards and Christmas itself; throw in my mom's and Amanda's birthday, two puppies and all the other stuff I've got going on right now (finishing my Business Law class and job searching), I am busy. But I'm really not complaining. I'm enjoy it all, well except the b-law class and job searching.

Anyway, the tree is up, most of my shopping is done and the cards are in the mail. So all is pretty much going well. As of Wednesday, my b-law class will be over -- hurray! Then Stevie comes home Friday and the holidays can officially start! woo woo.

So what's new...

Not much.

There's still snow on the ground. It's still cold. There's still more snow on the way.

Growing up so fast...

Cooper is growing like a weed!! He's so big already! He told me he wants to be bigger than his big brother and be the alpha dog of our family. It's going to be tough, Otis isn't going to give up his throne very easily.

Cooper's first snow

Saturday was the first time Cooper experienced snow. At first, he didn't like it. He didn't like the cold stuff on his paws. Then he saw Otis running all crazy- and hyper-like through the snow. He took off after his brother and realized he loves the snow just as much as his brother. Here's some photos of the day!

This snow stuff is delicious!

Dashing through the snow...