Holiday Highlights

We've been busy this holiday season...

Miss Afton's Baby Shower


The first weekend in December, Mama and Miss Audrey hosted a baby shower for Miss Afton. The theme was "Baby It's Cold Outside," and mom went all out by decorating our Christmas tree with pink ornaments in honor of Baby Ratzlaff and hanging garland with baby socks, pacifiers, and rattles. Grandma put together a really cute diaper cake with an angel topper and pink holly berries, and the real cake had a winter theme with pink icing. At the shower, the guests decorated onesies and bibs with fabric paint and started a scrapbook for baby's first year. All in all, I think it turned out to be a great shower! Congrats, Afton and Brandon! I can't wait to play with Baby R in May!

1st Annual Christmas Dinner


The Friday before Christmas marked the first annual MKA (Megan/Kristin/Ashley) Christmas Dinner. Megs and Ash are Mama's best friends and old college roommates. The whole gang got together to celebrate the holidays with a delicious dinner cooked up by my very own Dad. It was a lovely evening with great food and wonderful company. Life's a changin' for these friends....at next year's holiday dinner, there will be a baby (that's me!) and one pair of newlywed DOCTORS (Dr. and Dr. Hiatt)!

The Ahlvin Family Christmas


The day after the MKA Christmas dinner, Mom and I drove to St. Louis to celebrate an early Christmas with the Ahlvin family. We briefly stopped by O'Fallon to see Mama Sarah and drop off Christmas gifts for the MacLaughlin side of the fam. Afterwards, we drove to my Great Aunt Lizzy's house for the annual Dirty Santa game. It was way too short of a trip, but we had fun seeing everyone!

Christmas in Cali



Mom and I drove back to Kansas the next day, packed our bags, and then Mom, Pops, and I flew to California on Monday to visit Dad's side of the family. Highlights include meeting Baby Felix, seeing Wicked in San Francisco, shopping with Nana for mom's new maternity pants (I can finally breathe!), eating lots and lots and lots of fresh fruit, playing with the family dogs, baking Christmas cookies, singing Christmas songs around the chiminea, eating dinner in Mountain View, and spending lots of time with family. We love and miss you guys!

You can click on the links above to see more pictures. Enjoy!

Love,
L.B.