Christmas Eve and Christmas

Well this year was by far the most quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas I have ever experienced, but it still was wonderful and I really did enjoy every minute of it with my new little family and our very best friends the Mercier's. Christmas Eve I had everyone over to our house and I decided to make homemade wedding soup and Ann made shrimp chowder and I also made buffalo chicken pizzas. It was all so delicious and we snacked on our amazing cookies and also apple crisp.

We had a nice little dinner and then we all got our PJ's on and relaxed a bit. Ann and I made hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and we loaded up in the trucks and went to look at this neighborhood that was all decked out in Christmas lights. It took about an hour to get through the whole neighborhood and let me tell you, I haven't seen that many Christmas lights in one place in a long time. It was really pretty! Will, the baby, and I came back to the house and snuggled on the couch then we ventured to bed because Santa was going to be here any minute :o)

Will read "The Night Before Christmas" to the baby and I and then we went to bed. I was just too excited to sleep because it was our very first Christmas as a family. It was something I was looking forward too for a long time!

Christmas morning was very relaxing and we weren't in any hurry to do anything. I got the kitchen cleaned up from the night before and then we opened presents. All in all I can say it was a pretty successful Christmas. The baby got lots of fun new toys, Will got a "Hickory Farm" beef and cheese gift set that he has always wanted and never got until this Christmas, and I got an awesome new camera. I was not expecting it at all, I was so excited. We sat around playing with our new stuff, and then we got ready and went over to Joe and Ann's house for Christmas dinner.

There we had a nice visit and we exchanged presents and ate TONS of food. We had a wonderful time with them even though we were all exhausted. When we left there we came home and before I even got my shoes off Will was passed out on the couch. It was a great Christmas even though it would have been nice if we could have gotten back to PA but I wouldn't traded it for the world. I had everything I needed right here, my sweet baby boy and my wonderful husband.

2010 Lunar Eclipse

I was pretty excited to know that there was going to be a lunar eclipse because I have never before seen one. I was even more excited because it was in this year, 2010, the year our baby boy was born, to me that's pretty cool! It was the first for a lunar eclipse to fall on the winter solstice since 1638 and they say that there isn't going to be another one for like 19 years or something like that. I got most of it on my camera, my camera isn't too good, but they came out alright I guess.

Christmas Pictures

**Merry Christmas**

William's First Smile

I have been waiting for the day that I see our baby smile, it happend and it was such a great feeling! It was such a beautiful sight! He was about 4 weeks old, but when I caught it on camera he was just about 5 weeks. I was pretty excited because he seemed to only smile right in the morning when Will was already at work and I would tell people I didn't think they fully believed me, but NOW I have proof! He is such a sweet, happy boy and I love him more and more everyday.

William's First Time Meeting Santa

So we finally got to see Santa Claus, since the last time we tried the mall was closed. Ann, Joe and the kids came as well. We were the first ones in line and I was so excited because it was William's very first time meeting Santa. Last year I went with Ann and the kids to see him and Skyler asked him for a baby for me and Will, and what do you know, we have one this year. She totally knew! All the kids did great with him as expected and it was so much fun!

Homemade Ornaments

Ann found this recipe to make your own ornaments and we thought that it would be fun to do William and Gavin's hand prints and footprints since they are so darn cute. So we tried out the recipe and they turned out pretty good. All they involve was flour, boiling water and salt... tooooo easy! After we got them all pressed out and baked we painted them and they were perfect! Skyler also wanted to help and she got to do her hand print as well. Gavin than discovered the flour and he wanted to participate in the kitchen too. Who needs toys when you got a cutting board, flour and a rolling pin? Not Skyler and Gavin that's for sure! They were having so much fun and Ann and I were having so much fun watching them!



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'Tis the Season For Desserts

Baking is my favorite, and Ann and I LOVE our sweets! Since this year Will and I didn't get to go back to PA we decided that we would celebrate with the Mercier's. Ann and I of course wanted to make a whole bunch or yummy treats for us to snack on, so we chose to make M&M cookies, Hershey Kiss cookies, "Puppy Chow" a.k.a Reindeer food (since it's Christmas time), we also made buckeyes and sugar cookies. The guys went hunting that weekend and we hung out and planned out our Christmas activities so that when the guys got home we would be able to tell them what we were going to do and they had no choice.

The guys got home on Tuesday morning and Ann and the kids came over to my house and we started the baking. It went smoother than i thought it was going and we had a great time doing it as well! We baked our butts off and then everyone was starting to get hungry so I made up some of my mom's famous pizza dough and made a pizza and even a rolled pizza. Skyler even got to join in on the fun and she made her very own personal pizza. I figured she would enjoy that because my nephews and niece love to make their own and help grandma every week when she makes pizza.

The next day we finished our sugar cookies and got them frosted and they looked so cute. We then did our weekly thing and went for tacos at Hudson's. After we had the funniest night at Hudson's (thanks to Skyler), Will and I went to look for some Christmas presents for our little guy.

One of my neighbors told us about this Christmas play that was going to be happening right around Christmas time and I have heard nothing but good things about it so we decided to check it out. We figured Thursday night would be the best night to go since we had already made plans for Christmas eve. We made sure to get there early and good thing we did because it was already packed an hour early. They had turned away 700 people and it was a packed house with 4,000 attendants. This church was very large and it is the 38th largest church in the United States, it was pretty amazing. The play was great! There was even real animals and the angels were flying from the ceiling.

My Extremely Creative Sister

So my older sister Rachel is so creative that she decided to come up with a way to get her stuff out there so she turned to the Internet. She started a website for all to see and for people to purchase her items. She has some items up already but trust me and keep the website because it's going to be FULL once she gets rolling! I still haven't figured out how she comes up with this stuff but let me tell you she is pretty good!! So check out her site and you might just find some inexpensive last minute holiday gifts. www.rachelscraftroom.etsy.com

He has a Bellybutton!!!

There for a while we thought he was never going to let go of his umbilical cord, the doctor said about 2 weeks after birth it will fall off. Well, two weeks came and went and this thing was still holding on real good. He turned one month old and it was still on!!!! I just couldn't believe it, I have never known any one to have their cord that long, just unreal. Finally it fell off, he was one month and two days old, right before we went and got pictures done and I was so happy because I didn't want that nasty shriveled up thing in our pictures. Now he has a cute little "INNY" bellybutton. We can finally take REAL baths, instead of sponge baths, so exciting!

1 Month Old

Our little man was a month old on the 5th which was this past Sunday! It really is amazing how fast time goes by. He is such a great baby and we love every second with him! He is still sleeping pretty much of the day/night, there are some rough days, but that can be expected. He surely is growing, he is starting to out grow his newborn clothes, and he is just about to grow out of the newborn diapers and go into size 1. It kinda makes me sad, but it's going to be so much fun watching him grow up.

This past weekend we thought that it would be a good idea to start decorating for Christmas ((since Will had off work)) and we had to go out and buy everything because we had absolutely nothing! We figured this year we wanted to go all out because it's our baby's first Christmas. We went out and got a tree with the Mercier family, Will put up lights on the house and we even planned on going to see Santa at the mall, but around here the mall closes at 6 on Sundays, yeah pretty stupid if you ask me especially around the holidays, I mean isn't Santa suppose to be working overtime??? oh well we are planning on getting back there this week, hopefully tonight! I don't think I have ever been this excited before about any holiday, but I am now because we have our baby boy to celebrate with. We really wanted to get back home for the holidays, but I just don't think it's in our cards this year financially. Hopefully shortly after the holidays we will be able to make it back, I know everyone is dying to meet the baby.

Our boy is starting to smile a little bit when you talk to him, it's mostly right when he wakes up and it's just the sweetest thing in the world, it makes my heart skip a beat. I haven't been fast enough to catch it on camera yet, but I don't have a very good camera either, maybe I will ask Santa for a new one ;o) We also just got some holiday pictures done and I will post them as soon as we get them back, they are so stinking cute i cant stand it, our baby is just too sweet for words just you wait and see. Ok enough bragging, but I do get bragging rights now that I'm a mom right? Well i hope you all enjoy the new photos and like i said the holiday ones will be here in about a week so check back soon. i hope everyone has a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas because I know I will. God Bless!