Christmas 2010

This was quite possibly the BEST Christmas Matt and I have ever had! Who knew that having kids during Christmas would be so much fun?!?! We had a couple of different Christmas celebrations this year... The first one started on Saturday, December 18, in Greenwood with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Shell, Uncle Nick, Abi, Brandon, Cami, and Dexter. Here are a couple of pictures from that celebration!

Katie got some WONDERFUL presents from everyone.. Grandma and Grandpa got her lots of books and puzzles.. They also got her a big Fisher Price playhouse! We haven't put it together, yet, but there will be pictures to come!

Dexter preferred to sit in the boxes and play with the paper instead of open presents.. That's the fun part!

We happened to know EXACTLY what Brandon wanted for Christmas.. A Woody doll! Yep, we are the cool Aunt and Uncle!! Auntie Shell and Uncle Nick got KK lots of musical instruments and a cool doctor kit.

Our next celebration was with Josh and Jennifer. They came over on Tuesday, December 21. We made potato soup and enjoyed spending time together. Matt got a gift card to Ryan's Department Store. I got some cute snowmen serving bowls and a Houndstooth shirt. We got the game Apples to Apples. KK got some cute animals with wheels on them and a talking mailbox! She loves to put the animals inside of her mailbox!

She was also REALLY into passing out the presents and then going back to get them back from whoever she handed them to! It was SO cute!!!

On Thursday, December 23, we had our annual gingerbread house making party at Judi's house. This is one of my favorite things to do during Christmas. It's always a silent competition between Hannah, Sarah, and I... I ALWAYS lose, but I still have fun.. Katie even managed to decorate a cookie with Mimi. She much preferred to lick the icing off of her fingers and eat the M&Ms...

Then we did our big Christmas get together with Nanny, Papa, Mom, Dad, Judi, Mike and the girls. This was our first year to do a Secret Santa gift exchange, and it was a lot of fun!!! I had Hannah's name and LOVED buying for her. I got her a great smelling candle and a huge owl necklace. Judi had my name and got me a monogrammed purse from Thirty-One, a Yankee Candle reed diffuser, and $25. Matt had Nanny's name and got her a Willow Tree angel and a Bananagrams daily calendar. She, ironically, had his name! She got him the new John Grisham book and a book about history quotes.

Here is a sweet picture of Katie with her favorite person... Mimi! These are the sweet Christmas Eve pajamas they got K!

After the big get together, we came home to prepare for Santa... It was SOOOO much fun to spend the night at our own house on Christmas Eve and get to start traditions with K. We got a cookie and some milk for Santa and some vegetables for the reindeer and sat them on the mantle for our visitors!

Christmas Eve was the night we had decided would be Katie's last bedtime bottle. It was quite emotional, but I savored every second of this bottle with my big girl. I can't believe how big she looks in this picture... (on a side note... she has done fantastic without a bottle.)

I have a picture of Matt and Katie underneath the tree from last year and had to do it again this year.. What a change a year makes!

I couldn't leave Cooper out!!

It was SOOO exciting waking the princess up on Christmas morning and bringing her downstairs to see what Santa had brought her overnight. Look at that bedhair!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Look what Santa Clause brought our big girl.. A baby buggy and a baby doll! She couldn't get to that doll fast enough!!

After finishing up the Santa gifts and stockings, we drove over to my parents' house to open our actual presents and eat breakfast. Here's Katie and Emma showing off what Santa brought them.. Emma managed to get a discman and has taken it with her everywhere the last couple of days!

Seeing her Lady stuffed animal brought about as much excitement as her baby doll did!! She LOVED it!

Christmas breakfast, we had homemade waffles with the brand new rotating waffle iron we bought Dad! We also had bacon, sausage, and biscuits and gravy. YUM! Matt and I managed to get an AWESOME gift from my parents.. We got a weekend stay at a cabin in Eureka Springs over Valentine's weekend plus a steak dinner for two at a local steak house! WOW!! Mimi and Papa bought Katie a new rug and lamp for her big girl room, a sock monkey, and a puppy dog sleeping bag.

This is a picture of Katie after Christmas dinner. She is obsessed with her baby doll and is constantly kissing it and lugging it around with her.. I hope this is a good sign for how much she is going to love her ACTUAL baby that will come in June!

And, I couldn't resist this picture.. This was taken just yesterday as Katie managed to stand up inside of her baby doll buggy!

It was such a great Christmas this year... It was the first year we got to spend the night at our own house on Christmas Eve, and I loved it. There's just something about waking up at your own house on Christmas morning with your baby. WOW!

We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives that love us so much.. Christmas wouldn't have been the same without all of our wonderful celebrations!

I can't believe that next year I will have a 2 year old and a 6 month old!! That's crazy!!!!!!

16 Weeks!!

Pregnancy Highlights**

How far along: 16 Weeks

Size of Baby: 4-5 inches, 3-5 ounces, size of an avocado

Total Weight Gain: 2.6 pounds

Maternity Clothes: All maternity pants, but I can still wear regular shirts

Gender: Find out on January 21st!!!

Movement: The little flutters have finally turned into gentle kicks and rolls.

Sleep: I wake up once in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Starting to get to the point where sleeping on my back is uncomfortable (VERY SAD)...

What I miss: Being able to stay up past 9:00.

Cravings: Baby tomatoes dipped in ranch dip, sour candy

Symptoms: Tiredness, Good hair!!!

Best moment this week: Sitting on the recliner while Matt and Katie were both sleeping and feeling the baby really move!

**Note to the 2 readers of this blog... I HIGHLY doubt this will be a weekly update, but I will update a few times!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Saturday night (12/11/10) we went on a family date! We took Katie to one of our VERY FAVORITE restaurants from college - Hugo's. It was absolutely delicious...just like we remembered! The only thing missing was the grasshopper crepes, but we knew we were going for dessert later on. Anyways, after leaving Hugo's, we walked up to the Fayetteville Square to look at all the beautiful lights. It was absolutely FREEZING! Katie was well bundled, but we were not. Here's a picture of Little Miss all bundled up in her stroller.

Katie really loved the lights and people singing. Her favorite was the carousel covered in lights! We walked by it two different times, and she stared and stared! It was so sweet.

Matt and I were talking about all the times we had been to the square to look at the lights. Our most memorable trip was probably Christmas 2003. We had just started dating that October. I had been at Pomfret, and we decided to make the drive to the square to look at the lights even though it was nearly midnight and icy roads! We barely made it to the square (ALIVE), but once there it was the PERFECT trip. It started snowing, and we were just about the only ones there. It was beautiful, romantic, and freezing cold. Such a special night for the two of us!

Since this was our first time to take K, we had to have a family picture. We look forward to taking our kiddos every year and building those memories with them!

Pretty sure it doesn't get any more beautiful than this!

On the way home, K was all snuggled in her carseat. She ended up falling asleep. Such a special night for the three of us!