Christmas Fun

This year was WAY fun with Gav for Christmas. He really got into the whole opening presents thing and was just delighted to see the tree, and lights, etc. He would open a few presents and then get pretty distracted because he thought he really needed to play with the ones he had already opened. He LOVED this dinosaur that he got, and he got a Tickle Me Elmo that he thought was really funny until it would fall down and he's cry, "Elmo conk!" He really DID NOT like that Elmo fell down. Then Elmo would get back up on his own and Gav would say, "Big Boy!" We enjoyed spending time with family all day and LOTS of good food! Okay, mostly LOTS of good gravy....I contemplated just drinking that instead of punch.....anyway, here's a few pictures!

My Happy Christmas Boy!

Pretty excited about this dinosaur....

Now he has a cool motorcycle like Daddy....

3 cousins on my side of the family....

And just because she is new and so dang cute...Myah!

Twins...

On Christmas Eve my sis had to work and needed someone to tend me adorable niece...naturally I jumped at the chance! She's so much fun! When Brit brought her over she was wearing the shirt my parents got her on their disney cruise. They got Gav the same type of shirt only obviously Mickey instead of Minnie. Naturally I just HAD to dress him in it to match! It was cute, but I couldn't get them to both look at me directly to take the pictures. They played so well together and I even braved taking them both to the grocery store to grab a few last minute things. They were good, but I decided twins would sure be a lot of work! Luckily I only had one by the end of the night :)

I'm an Aunt..AGAIN!

I would like to proudly announce my beautiful new niece....Myah! She was born yesterday weighing 7lbs 1oz and 19 in long. Isn't she beautiful???? I couldn't be more proud! Chelsea did so great and had a pretty easy labor and delivery. I'm so proud of her! And I'm proud of the papa too! I loved seeing my brother look at her when he got to hold her FINALLY for the first time. I don't think there is a moment more magical that a parent looking at their newborn baby. Here's a couple of pictures....please keep in mind it was about 2 in the morning that I finally got to see her and that is why I look soooooo lovely...but you won't be looking at me anyway! And sorry, no picture of my beautiful sister in law....I thought she looked incredible for just having had a baby, but I don't know that she would want me to post a picture. Oh yeah....I'm her favorite aunt....

A night with my sisters....

forgot that I had invited my sisters to spend the night on Friday so I thought I'd better make good on my promises and have them up tonight....little girls don't forget :) I always have so much fun when they come stay with me and they are such good girls and such a big help. We broke out Guitar Hero and did some serious rocking out tonight! It was a blast! I'm always up for a good game of Guitar Hero, but our new game combined with these 3 ladies had to be one of the best times I've had! It was funny to see the girls like some of the songs that I liked when I was their age. They each have such different personalities and they are growing up so much. I can hardly think of them as my 'little' sisters anymore. So after a lot of trash talking (Logan: I am SOOOOOO rocking you out, Janelle.) and tons of giggles we're finally calling it quits. Thanks for such a fun night girls! I love you all so much! (P.S. We missed you Britt, or should I say Burt?!)

Rockin Out....

My Guitar Hero...(She was so good!)

Apparently she was SOOOO rocking me out.....

Our "Groupie"I am posting this very unflattering picture of me just to say I was there.....

Milk for my horses...

I've got to get away from titling my blogs using a play on country song titles....LAME! Anyway, Gavin sooooooooo loves animals, especially horses. He woke up this morning and called for me. As soon as I went in his room he asked for some milk. He didn't want to get out of his crib yet, so I went and got him a sippy and he immediately started feeding it to his horse! He's so funny! Not only does he love to take care of Baby Jesus and change his diapers, but now he's feeding his horse! What a sweet, kind boy he is! Maybe we need a baby around here...apparently I would have LOTS of help! (PS, all grandmas currently reading this blog...NO THAT IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT!)

Wrapped in swaddling size 4 Kirkland Brand Diapers.....

Finally the tree is up. My sister in law watched Gav for an hour yesterday so I could brave the huge task of hauling all the junk out from under the stairs. After much sweating (and swearing) I was able to claw my way back out of the storage, Christmas stuff in hand. Today I decorated it all and fought with the lights. Gav woke up and was so excited to see the tree. He liked turning the lights on and off (they are wired to a light switch). No sooner had I put the last ornament on the tree and turned around, but Gav broke an ornament and cut his hand. We got that cleaned up and I start packing up the mess and he breaks a little snow globe. Seriously, and you people wondered why I hadn't put my tree up yet!

HOWEVER, had I not put all of this up, I would have missed quite possibly the cutest moment so far in Gavin's life....I was on the computer and I heard him go into his room and then back out into the family room. Being the wonderful mother I am (ha) I thought I'd better go check on him. He was being just a little too quiet...and behold, much to my surprise there was Gavin trying to put the Baby Jesus from my Nativity set in a diaper! I assure you that these pictures are authentic and I in no way recreated this moment! He was SOOOO proud of himself and I am so glad I got these pictures!

These are my people...

I was trying to think up a clever title for my post and got a little corny thanks to the country song playing in the background :) I took some pictures for my dad's family this weekend and had a blast! I was a bit intimidated seeing as how my dad is usually the one behind the camera, but I don't think he'd tell me I screwed something up even if I did. And I've got to say it....I think I far from screwed up this weekend! It was so fun to take pictures of my own, "people". I really don't think my great camera skills (haha) had anything to do with these pics. I think I can attribute it to the fact that I have the most adorable siblings in the world! Alright, Dad and Amy are pretty cute too, but these kids sure made it easy! I love you guys! Thanks for the fun time (and dinner!).

These are my people.....

Isn't this beautiful???? She wasn't even trying to pose!

She is the happiest girl I've ever met in my life.....

Tristin...my TEENAGE sister, man I feel old.....

Here's a rugged manly picture of none other than Uncle "Coco" :)

Scrooge....

Yep, that's me....according to Carlie! Alright, so I haven't put up my christmas tree yet. I mean, come on....is there really a good time for a mother of a 20 month old to put up a tree? And isn't he just going to pull everything off of it?

That does sound very scroogish...but do you know how much work it is to get to my tree? Forget that I probably have the smallest house in our neighborhood that has the LEAST amount of places to store things. All of my poor Christmas decor is hiding as far back as possible under my stairs. I would have to move food storage, maternity clothes, luggage, zero to whatever month you can think of baby clothes, just to get to it. And here's the kicker....December 26th, I've got to figure out how to get it all back in there!!!

So the ghost of Christmas past is really pushing for me to just leave it in there and not fight the good fight this year, and he's very tempting. But then ghost of Christmas future says, "Think how much fun you'll have seeing Gav sit by the tree opening present Christmas morning???" VERY tempting. And what does the ghost of Christmas present say? "GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT AND PUT UP YOUR TREE FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD!"

And then it hits me....I really am just being lazy. But seeing as how it's 2:15 in the morning, I'll settle for posting a picture of our tree from the first year we moved here...

Show me your cheese...

Today I was sitting at the computer and Gavin came over and started saying, "Cheese". I turned to go get him some string cheese and noticed that he was trying to grab the camera. Smart boy, huh? I have a little old camera that I let him play with so I asked him, "Where's your cheese?" and he looks right at me and gives me this HUGE grin! I wish so badly that I had been pointing the camera at him to capture that precious moment. Instead I had to settle for these recreation pictures...but hey, he's cute no matter what way you look at it!

I am aware that his face may be just a little dirty......