Christmas 2011

I know, I am so late in the game, as usual. But better late than never... RIGHT?!

We had a very busy and fun Christmas weekend. I am sad to report that I was very bad about taking pictures though. I was really trying to be in the moment, rather than just capturing the moments with a camera.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with some of our dearest friends, Joe and Nicole, and their family. We had a wonderful dinner and gift exchange. I just love how much our friends love Hunter, it makes me love them even more (that's A LOT!).

On Christmas morning, I woke up bright and early in order to put together Hunter's fire/police house that his Grandpa & Grandma Doyle got him, before he woke up. I am not usually the person in our house to put things together... but Jesse refused to get out of bed, so that just left me. I'm happy to say that I did a pretty darn good job! :)






He loves this new toy. I love that someone finally thought to make a "dollhouse" for a boy. Such a great idea.

Then he opened up his Cabela's hunting/fishing set. This was another huge hit.




Then he opened up his books. I got him all If You Give a "blank" a "blank" books. Like a mouse a cookie, moose a muffin, pig a pancake, and dog a doughnut. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was my very favorite book when I was young. But... he was more interested in playing with the gifts he got the night before, go figure.






He got a new North Face hat, which he found absolutely miserable. lol.



He also got three new Lego sets, which he LOVES!









Later in the afternoon, we headed out to my parents house for the whole family get together. I love it when our whole family is together and seeing all the cousins play.

Santa Pictures

Last week, we took Hunter to see Santa. We went on a weeknight and I cannot tell you how glad I am that we did not wait for the weekend. I stopped by the mall and the line was probably a couple hours long. We only waited about ten minutes last Wednesday night.

I thought for sure this was going to be the year that Hunter decided that Santa was a scary, creepy old dude. But, I was wrong! He seemed very excited in line and even busted out a big ole grin for the camera!



I love seeing the changes from one year to another, so here is last year's Santa picture:



He has changed so much! I think he looks like he's about to head off to kindergarten or something this year!

In the Christmas Mood...

So, I will admit it... I am kind of cheating on Thanksgiving by being ready for Christmas already. I've already completed over half of my shopping and am eagerly counting down the days until I get to put the Christmas tree and decorations up in our house (6 days).

I LOVE reading about what other blogger want for Christmas because it gives me new ideas about things that are out there! So I thought I would do the same by sharing what I would love to find in my stocking this year. I think Jesse and I have decided only to do stocking for each other this year, so that's kind of way some of them might seem a bit spendy for a stocking! :)




Starting from the top left:

Starbucks K-cups, Hunter socks to go in my rain boots, cute nail files, iTunes gift card, Hanky Panky underwear, grey nail polish, Real Simple magazine subscription, Mac blush (perferably a pink or coral color), Bobbi Brown lip gloss, Starbucks gift card (duh), Erin Condren iphone cover, Benefit tinted moisturizer, raw hazlenuts (yummy!), Victoria's Secret dryer sheets (if they are even half as amazing at their detergent, I'll be thrilled!), strawberry sour belts, and of course I would LOVE to make a baby in December! ;)

Hope I made it super easy for my hubby!! :)

What would you love to find in your stocking this year?

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I have had Jesus on my mind all day and what His birth meant for us sinners. What an incredible thing to celebrate and be mindful of! I have never felt so blessed in my entire life. God has been so wonderful to our family and we are so thankful for everything we have including each other, our families, our friends, our health, and so much more! Thank you, Jesus! :)

Hunter and I had a wonderful day. Hunter slept in until about 8am. His room was dark so I crawled into his room until I was right at his crib. And whispered "Merry Christmas, baby Hunter!" He was a bit startled but soon had a huge grin on his face. Yes, I understand that I sound like a creepy mom... but Hunter and I love to play the sneak up game! So yeah, he doesn't think I'm crazy!

We went downstairs where Hunter's stocking was waiting! It took him a minute to understand that there were presents in the stocking for him, but he soon had so much fun pulling everything out!














We then had breakfast and got ready to head to my parent's house. We hung out there for awhile with my parents and a few hours later the entire family showed up. We now have 18 people at family gatherings! Jesse was the only one missing today.

We ate lots of good food, including: prime rib, macaroni and cheese, salad, and jello salad. We then opened gifts. There are 5 of us siblings and for the second year we decided to just exchange gifts for the kids. It is so fun to see the six kids opening up their presents and the excitement in their eyes! We had some yummy dessert that I had made: chocolate glazed almond cheesecake and a peppermint fudge pie.

Us siblings decided to do a funny white elephant gift exchange this year for the first time. I ended up with a mini pink Christmas tree that was made complete with matching pink ornaments. Oh goody! (I set it up in my mom's bathroom before I left as a funny.)




















My parents got me some amazing gifts! I got the Timbuk2 DSLR camera bag, countdown until daddy comes home blocks from etsy, and also the Creme de Colarado Cookbook! I love them all! :)

It was a fabulous day spend with tons of people that I love so much. I wish Jesse could have been there to share it with us, but we made light of the situation and had an amazing day!

Christmas Eve

Hunter and I had a wonderful night celebrating with the Hawe/Potts family! Joe & Nicole are some of our bestest friends and we were so blessed to be able to spend Christmas Eve with them and their family. Hunter loves his godparents so much and begged to please, please, please go over there. :)

We laughed a lot, ate a lot, and just plain had a great time. Hunter played with their Bernese Mountain dog, Camille, for the majority of the night. I decided to start the tradition of getting Hunter a new pair of pajamas to open on Christmas Eve, this year Spider Man it was!

Christmas Ornaments

Every year, I look forward to putting up the tree. But... the truth is that I mostly get excited to pull our ornaments out one by one and remember the memories that go along with them. Jesse and I have been pretty good about picking up ornament on vacations, big events, etc. So, I thought I would share some pictures of our special ornaments that bring me to memory lane!


This is the ornament that my grandmother got me for my very 1st Christmas. My mom handed it down to me a few years ago to put on our tree.



Jesse proposed on December 28, 2006. His sister got us this ornament that Christmas, I remember being so thrilled when I saw it. It truly brings back wonderful memories of that Christmas in Minnesota.



This is a wind-up ornament that my mom got us to represent our 1st Christmas together. It plays Trumpet Voluntary which is the song that I walked down the aisle to.



We've also gotten into the habit of getting Henry is own ornament every year. This is the one from his 1st Christmas.



This pirate is from our vacation to St. Thomas, USVI in May 2009 with our good friends, the Hawe's.



This one is from our trip to New Zealand, last November.



This Twins ornament was given to Hunter last Christmas. It has special memories for us because Hunter's nursery theme is Minnesota Twins and he was born during the playoff games between the Twins and the Yankees. (Yes, Jesse was watching the games in the delivery & recovery rooms)



Grandma Kim got Hunter this ornament for his 1st Christmas. As you can see... Hunter was a very large newborn. Haha.



I had this ornament made last year to represent our 1st Christmas as a family.