Our Christmas...

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. My brother and his soon-to-be wife drove down from Minnesota for the holiday and we all had a blast hanging out. It was nice for Aspen to spend some time with her Uncle Matt and Auntie Corry since we don't get to see them as much. 

We spent Christmas Day over at my Dad's house. That morning Jason, Aspen, and I opened a few presents for each other. It was so much fun to see Aspen opening her couple of presents. She loves unwrapping the gifts and put on a show for everyone at my Dad's house. 

 

 Aspen's Poppy got her a "Rody" for Christmas. It's an inflatable bouncy animal and Aspen just loves it. It provided some good times for everyone once we saw on the box it holds up to 400lbs. Everyone had to give it a shot!

Check her out playing with Rody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SON3xGdY_oM

 Santa dropped off some gifts for the adults too, which is always nice! Jason and Corry got a puzzle to work on that afternoon. It was quite the popular activity. However, Santa got the last laugh when the last piece of the puzzle was no where to be found. The only conclusion we have come up with--Aspen fed it to Kima (Matt and Corry's puppy). 

Santa also gave everyone a scratch ticket--even Aspen! Out of the six of us there wasn't one winner, but it was still a good time.

 It was a great Christmas and a delicious dinner. I unfortunately forgot to take any pictures of dinner, but that probably wouldn't do it justice. My dad made a whole leg of lamb and there was an array of wonderful vegetables on the side. Matt and Corry finished it off with an awesome cranberry apple crisp.

 The next morning everyone came over to our house for a huge breakfast because that's what the holidays are about--right? Stuff our faces for a few days and then don't eat for a few weeks! Aspen became very fond of Matt and Corry's puppy Kima. She was so sweet with Aspen!

A couple of different times when we were all together Aspen would love just going around the room and giving everyone  hugs. It was so nice watching her be such a sweet girl. She became very fond of Corry while she was here and I think they have a little bond with one another.

 The weather was pretty cold over the holiday, which was nice for getting into the Christmas spirit. However, it was a little chilly to go to the park. Yesterday it finally warmed up enough for us to take a ride in Aspen's new wagon from Santa. She had a great time riding all the way to the park. I still have the Radio Flyer that my brother and I used when we were kids. I hope Aspen cherishes her wagon as much as we did!

Matt and Corry left this morning to head back home. Last night they came over to say bye to Aspen before she went to bed. We went out to dinner to celebrate their last night in town. I'm so happy my brother came into town. There were so many great memories made and I love getting to watch Aspen spend time with her Uncle and Auntie. Thanks for making the trip!

What A Great Christmas!

We had a wonderful day and I'll do a post soon that includes more details, but we wanted to wish everyone a very, merry Christmas and share a couple of pictures.

Also, Jason got me a new camera for Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I'm so excited Christmas is almost here!

Aspen joined in on some caroling this morning...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Time Is Here

This weekend we were super busy. Trying to get all the Christmas decorations up in and outside of the house. Plus trying to clean up our yard--raking, raking, and more raking of leaves. It was a lot of hard work (with the help of my dad and his leaf blower--thanks you!), but we got it done and now it's so nice to sit back and enjoy the Christmas cheer.

We got our tree on Saturday morning. This year I almost broke down and bought a fake tree. Part of me didn't want to deal with cleaning up the needles everyday. Lazy I know! Jason snapped me out of that quickly and I'm so glad we got our real tree because the house smells great and our tree is gorgeous. While I was putting the lights on the tree I was trying to "involve" Aspen. She decided to put some of her favorite "stuffies" under the tree. I thought it was pretty cute and they look pretty nice hanging out under our tree.

I think Aspen wanted Bella to go under the tree too. There was no way it was happening, but Bella really does love this little girl---for all the abuse she puts up with :)

I don't have all my ornaments up yet, but I'm going to have to make sure the breakable ones stay towards the top of the tree this year. When I was hanging a couple up today, Aspen seemed very interested. Lately she loves being given little tasks: putting things in the trash, putting her book in the book draw, helping pick tomatoes and putting them back in the bowl, etc. So I gave her a kid ornament to hang up. I love that as she gets older we will decorate the tree together.

It was a busy weekend, but a good one. We are looking forward to a busy next few weeks--Yay for the holidays!

Not So Sure About Santa

Last year Aspen was only 4 months old when we went to see Santa. You can see from the picture that she didn't even have time to realize who was holding her and if it was scary or not. Well this year didn't turn out the same unfortunately.

Aspen with Santa last year.

 

I thought I had a great plan. The mall Santa opened at 11am and I would arrive right away during the week to avoid lines. I got her all dressed up in a little Christmas dress.  We arrived and I was right no lines! Aspen took one look at Santa and started the death grip on me. I tried to warm her up to the idea, but as soon as I put her in his lap--let the screaming begin! Thankfully they didn't make me pay for a picture. Hopefully next year she will be more excited to sit with Santa.

She was pretty happy to come home and I at least got a nice picture of her in her cute dress. 

She Sure Knows How to Give Me a Good Laugh...

Thanksgiving in Midland

This year we headed out to west Texas for Thanksgiving to Jason's hometown, Midland. It was a nice, low-key holiday--just the kind that I like!

Last year Aspen was still just nursing, so this was her first year that she got to chow down on the Thanksgiving feast. My sister-in-law, her husband, and their two boys were also there for the holiday. I think all the kids really enjoyed the meal. Aspen's favorite thing was hands down the cranberry sauce. Once she tried it, it was the only thing she wanted!  

After the meal Aspen was ready to watch some football. We taught her how to do the touchdown sign, so of course she had to show her Papa.

These two boys were very happy after the meal. Cameron even lead the group in a song of "10 little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed..."

All the kids really enjoyed running into Nanny and Papa's room. These two found some fun beads to play with. I thought Aspen wasn't going to take these things off ever Of course we had to encourage sharing with her cousins.

At our house Aspen likes to take out the broom and "sweep", but I have to be careful because it's a little large for her. Nanny gave her this little broom that was perfect and she had a blast running around "sweeping" the whole house.

It was hard for me to try and get a photo of Cameron. Every time I would whip out my camera he would run away--so how appropriate that picture I have he is running!

I love this sweet girl. I'm excited to be heading into the holiday season. It's my favorite time of the year. Lots of friends, family, food, and drink--what else is better in life??

Trip to See Grandma

It's been a very busy week and a half for our family. I haven't had a lot of time to do any blog post, so I have to go back in time a little bit. The weekend before Thanksgiving Aspen and I traveled up to Boston to spend the weekend with Grandma (my mom). After almost not going because of plane issues--we got there and had a  great trip.

The first day we arrived late in the evening. After Aspen doing AMAZING on the flight up, she was really exhausted. As soon as we got to my mom's house she went right to bed. In the morning after playing a little bit and having some breakfast we headed over to see Aspen's great-grandmother, Grammy, and her great-aunt, Aunt Mary. She was still tired I guess because she snoozed in this chair for about the first 30 minutes we were at their house.

Of course one of Aspen's favorite activities while we stayed for three days was climbing the stairs. We had to have a little "discussion" about not trying to carry a million things in her hands at the same time. It definitely was some good exercise!

The second day we were there we headed to my Uncle John and Aunt Dora's house. As a kid I spent a fair amount of time at their home. Lots of fun memories were had in their backyard. Aspen had take picture on the "big rock" with Grandma while giving some high fives.

She also got to explore and burn off some energy before we had dinner.She loves to be outside no matter if she has a playground to play on or not. She was just content walking around everyone.

Love this face!

My cousin Jill was giving Aspen some lessons on how to tie a togo for future college years. I thought it looked pretty nice! It was great to see Jill and her husband Steve and catch up with them both. Last time we saw them was for there wedding this past July. As the bride and groom they didn't have much time to chat. I'm glad they got to spend a little time with Aspen.

 And of course being in New England, they were trying to sway my child...

The last day we spent most of the day around my mom's house. Aspen had a pretty stuffed up nose and I didn't want to be running around right before heading out of town the next day. Grammy came over for lunch to see Aspen again and she was nice enough to share her quiche with her great-granddaughter. 

Thankfully as the day went on she seemed to be feeling fine. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to fly with a sick baby. I'm so glad my little girl was feeling better.

It was a really fun trip to see my mom. I was so proud of myself flying with a toddler alone. Aspen did great both ways and it's nice to know that we can do more traveling with her in the future. Thanks for letting us crash your house for the weekend Grandma!

Taking the Dog for a Walk

On Saturday night Jason's office had a work party, so my dad came over to babysit. He got to our house early enough for all of us to go to the park before it was too dark. I've noticed as kids get into the toddler stage they can become "obsessed" on one certain thing--trucks, birds, cell phones (I've noticed this in other kids). Well, Aspen I think has found at least one of her favorite things--dogs! She has to befriend every dog we meet. At times we wonder if she thinks she is more like Bella than like us.

Aspen walking her first dog...
(keep in mind she knows this dog--it's basically her second pup, Layla)

 

Yesterday Jason, Aspen, and I drove up to the Fort Worth area to see our nephew for his 1st birthday party. We arrived early because of daylight savings. It was nice for the cousins to spend some time together before the big party. Trevor was very excited for the big day--aren't those shades cute? My sister-in-laws house is so nice because upstairs she has a whole open area with all the toys for the kids. Aspen had a blast playing with this tunnel. She was totally entertained going through it over and over again.

 I always love to try and get all the cousins together for pictures when we see them. Of course trying to get three young kids to sit still and look at the camera isn't an easy job. Cameron did the best out of the three!

Take 1:

 

Take 2:

Take 3: Got it! (although no one is looking very happy by now)

Sarah and Brian did a great job with the party. The theme for Trevor's big 1st birthday was cowboy. They had a great food and pretty good size group of people. I think everyone had a great time.

 Trevor looking the part for his theme...

Aspen sporting her hat...

Trevor and Aspen spent a good part of the day together and I didn't realize until this trip, but I think they kind of look alike. They were playing so well together, which was nice because lately Aspen doesn't always want to "play" with others. Trevor was eyeballing Aspen's grapes.

Guess she was to slow.

No worries here--just a couple of happy babies!

Sarah did a great job on the cake. Homemade red velvet cake with of course cream cheese frosting. Yum! Trevor wasn't sure about it at first.

He got over that once he gave it a try!

Unfortunately because of work we had to head back that same night to Austin. It was a short trip, but a lot of fun. Aspen fell asleep in the car on the way home and we just moved her into her crib when we got home. She did great for such a full, active day. Of course she had to give her Nanny some hugs and kisses before we left.

Happy Birthday Trevor! Hope you enjoyed your party as much as we did :)