Christmas 2010

Hard to believe Christmas is over already; although this year it felt a little different.  I don’t know why but at times it just didn’t really seem like Christmas.  I guess it’s because the year went by so quickly and it seemed like we had just celebrated Gabby’s 1st Christmas.  Overall it was a lovely holiday, as always, and we are truly blessed with some amazing family and friends.  I went way over budget this year and that has me pretty glum (since my maternity leave is unpaid) but there’s really nothing I can do about it now.  Seeing the reactions on my children’s faces as they opened their gifts was just wonderful and watching my family members open their special gifts was truly heartwarming.  I love the Christmas season and will be sad to see it go.. but if Christmas 2011 arrives as fast as Christmas 2010 did it will be here in about 5 hours ;o)  Here are some special photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

        

Love & blessings!

Merry Christmas!

I pray everyone has a very Merry Christmas ;o)

It’s hard to believe this was our family last year..

I would have never imagined this would be our family just one year later..

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! – 2 Corinthians 9:15

another TVP giveaway!

I didn’t win the last one so I thought I’d give this one a shot.  The Vintage Pearl is doing a giveaway, the winner gets to pick any piece of jewelry up to $100 and they will rush deliver it just in time for Christmas.. how awesome is that?!  I am keeping my fingers crossed ;o)

siblings.

I love watching my children interact with each other.. it just melts my heart.  Gabby has really taken an interest in Gage; she says ‘baby’ and gives him smooches all the time.  Gavin and Gabby enjoy playing with each other and Gavin is always a big help with his baby bro.  I really do have adorable children!    

SMOOCHES!!!

updates.

so.. here are a few updates since my blogging skills have seemed to have slipped away for a little big..

• Gage slept through the night for the first time on December 11th – he slept from 10 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. and it was marvelous! Since then he has had some 6 hour stretches but 4-5 hours seems to be the norm for now.  That’s alright with me, it’s certainly beats 2 hours stretches!
• He smiles like crazy now and it’s so freakin’ adorable.  He has the most amazing dimples ;o)

• Gabby took her first steps last night.. TO MOMMY!!!!  I was on the couch and she took one step to me.  A few minutes later she took a couple steps to her daddy.  (she hasn’t taken any yet today but the day isn’t over yet!)
• I am in an air cast.. Gabby and I took a tumble down the stairs on Tuesday afternoon.. don’t worry, Miss Gabby is fine!  I on the other hand am not so fine =)  I had x-rays done yesterday and they found a fracture on my right ankle so they splinted my leg and I was off to an orthopedic doctor this morning.  There I learned that the fracture was an old injury, so I’ve been strollin’ along with a piece of bone floating around in my ankle, sweet!  The fall caused a severe sprain and possible ligament tear.  My ankle was too swollen for the DR to give a good diagnosis so I have to go back on Thursday for a follow up.  Until then my ankle is wrapped, I have an air cast and was told to use crutches.. good times!

Gabby’s Winter ONEderland Party!

I am finally getting around to posting about Gabby’s 1st birthday party!!  Her party was on Saturday, December 4th and we had about 30 family and friends celebrate with us.  The party was held in the community room of my mother-in-law’s development.  The room was absolutely perfect for Gabby’s party and I am certain we will use it again.  Thank you Lil!  Her theme was Winter ONEderland and the color scheme was pink and green (with a touch of snowflakes!) and I thought it all looked pretty stinkin’ sharp together!  Thanks to my mom for all the advice with the colors; I was so indecisive!

I made most of the decorations for the party, which was really out of my comfort zone but I gave it a whirl anyway.  I’m really not creative or ‘artsy’ but I did my best.. with the help of paper punches and my computer ;o)

Gabby did great on her big day, considering her silly mommy scheduled the party for 1 pm which is nap time, oops!  She had a special shirt and I had even ordered her a special hair bow to match her shirt and the color scheme but it did not arrive until the Monday after her party (even though I ordered it 3 weeks in advance.. grr!)  We had most of your basic party foods – fruit salad (thank you mom!), potato salad (thanks Lil!), veggies, ring bologna and cheese, chips and pretzels, little smokies, pickles, olives and of course.. cake!!  The cake was simply adorable!

Okay, now on to the photos.  I took some and our friend Travis took a ton! (Travis and his wife Natalie are the best friends of my brother-in-law Chris and sister-in-law Christy – we now call them Aunt Natalie and Uncle Travis because they do so much with my husband’s side of the family and they are wonderful people!)  I had asked Travis before the party if he would mind photographing Gabby’s special day and he of course agreed.  He took some truly beautiful photos and it was so so so nice to be able to focus on being Mommy and not shutterbug all day ;o)

 

I had everyone put in their guesses for the candy – the watermelon slices and jelly beans match the color scheme and of course, we had to have gummy bears!  I asked everyone to write a little note to Gabby and put them in the glass bowl; these were her Winter ONEderland wishes!  Our party favors were pink and green mint snowflake candy that my husband and I made!  And of course I had to have a photo of Miss Gabby with her Great Grammie =)

        

          

sorry for the photo overload but I had a hard enough time going from the 126 images to just these!  A huge THANK YOU to everyone for celebrating this special day with us ;o)  And of course a big thank you to Travis for capturing these wonderful memories for us. Now, time to get started planning Gage’s 1st birthday because, let’s face it, it’s going to be here before we know it!

Love & blessings!!