Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Christmas

We Wish You A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.....
Merry Christmas friends and family. We sure hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We sure did !!! Had to be the BEST Christmas in my books. Being a parent sure puts a whole new spin and adventure to the whole Holiday Season. I can not wait for the years to come when the magic of Santa comes to life in our home. Although, Hunter was too young this year Greg and I still played out our roles to the fullest. From the shopping, to wrapping and hiding gifts, stuffing the stockings, baking the cookies, eating the cookies and sneaking the gifts under the tree after everyone has gone to bed. I think this dress rehearsal went pretty well- might need to make a few modifications to next year ( like start shopping and wrapping much earlier) Overall, we had such a great time with family this past week, it was one Christmas I didn't want to end.
Trying to get a few good shots for our Christmas cards... Not to bad for the first attempt of the day.
Santa made a stop at the Garvey's. The view of the tree from the stairwell. ( If Hunter was old enough to coming flying down the stairs at 3:00 am this is what he would've seen).

All the stockings were hung with care.

What's a Holiday without a goofy Family Photo.

Us ladies were pleasantly surprised when the guys offered to clean up the kitchen after dinner. Yes, girls that's right... we were told to fill up our wine glasses and go have a seat in the living room. Jealous !!!!!! what a great ending to a wonderful day and dinner. Thanks guys, and you all did a good job ( so far nothing has come up missing)
Wishing I would have taken a picture of the table before dinner, kind of a sad photo...... 6 VERY full adults, one messy child and a whole lot of dirty dishes... but boy, was the prime rib tasty !!
Christmas morning, Hunter decided this was his moment in the spot light and took his first few steps while holding onto the gift above. What a bitter sweet moment, super excited for him, but sad that my little guy is growing up so quickly. But the best part was his Grandparents got to share in this milestone with us. Priceless memory for all of us.

Hunter, just like his Daddy got his first train set for his first Christmas. I have a feeling in the years to come, we will have to set up several tree's in order to accommodate all the different train set's. It was fun to sit back and watch Greg playing with Hunter and the trains. I can only imagine what Christmas time will be like once Hunter has an understanding of trains. Chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug choot choot...... whoot whoott...... Maybe I need my very own train set....Just kidding, I think we will have more than enough for all to play fairly.
Greg, Grandpa Garvey and Hunter playing with the train set.

Out to dinner, after a fun filled day of shopping in Fredericksburg. Great way to end a super week with family.
Grandpa Steffen helping Hunter walk around the family room with his new toy from Santa. (sure wasn't expecting him to start walking so soon, Yicks..... am I ready for this crazy adventure to being)?
Santa brought Greg his shirt and my Dad got the same one for his Birthday. Two Pea's in a Pod, is all I have to say. I'm taking beats as to which one will cause the most trouble by wearing this shirt. It's a tough call, could go either way........
Santa also brought Hunter a little scooter. And it sure didn't take to long for Hunter to figure out out how this thing works. He LOVES being pushed around the house, and making frequent stops for interesting items to put in his trunk (which he's holding open, to show you) What fun, we've been having discovering his new toys and what lessons we can start to teach him. He's now clapping his hands, waving hello, and from time to time will sign "more" usually meaning more food. This was by far the BEST Christmas, and it was so awesome to have family with us. Thank you to my parents and Greg's Dad and Stepmom for making the loonnnngggg drive to Texas to spend the Holiday's with us. We love you all, and miss you terribly. Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Healthy and Happy New Year !!!
















Saturday, December 25, 2010

Twas The Night Before Christmas

OH MY GOODNESS MOM ~ we have a ton of errands to run this morning.
Eating breakfast at Panera before a little Christmas shopping
It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone already. Seems like it was yesterday, when I looked at the calendar in July and thought to myself "Is it Christmas yet?" The weeks leading up to Christmas were extremely busy for us. We had my parents coming in from Arizona as well as Greg's Dad and Stepmom from Illinois, to help us celebrate Hunter's first Christmas.
Not only were we excited about the Grandparents coming to visit, but Hunter also figured out how to get up on his hands and knee's in preparation for crawling. Although, he hasn't totally figured out the process, he's getting really close.

Christmas Eve, cooking,cooking, cooking and more cooking..... then church for an hour and half. ( Really not sure what they were thinking by holding such a long service with little kiddo's present) However, Hunter did amazingly well during the entire service. We had the diaper bag loaded with snacks, juice,books and toys. Along with our plan for a quick removal of a screaming baby. Which I might add, we didn't have to use. After church we came home and started our Christmas traditions as a family. Hunter got to open his "first" gift from Mommy and Daddy. His Christmas Jammies. Then Grandpa Garvey read "The Night Before Christmas" from the same book that he read to Greg as a young child. Pretty cool tradition to keep going.

For almost 10 months old, Hunter figured out the riping of paper pretty quickly. But wasn't sure what to do with the treasure once all the paper was torn off.

Modeling his Christmas Jammies, before heading off to bed so Santa could make his grand entrance.
Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house........ thanks Grandpa Garvey for reading the story to Hunter for the first time. He may not remember the moment, but Mommy and Daddy will always remember that special part of his first Christmas.
Ready or Not Santa is on his way. Greg and I had such a good time playing Santa on Christmas Eve. We placed all the gifts under the tree with such care, rearranged the living room to make sure there would be plenty of room for the coming morning festivities, hung stockings for our parents and filled stockings for the dogs and Hunter, along with leaving cookies and milk for Santa. Playing Santa is alot of work...... Growing up, you never realize how much planning,shopping, sneaking around and late night wrapping went into making Christmas morning so magical. I'm thinking I need to start now for the coming year.

I think Santa liked his cookies. One tradition that I have with my Mom is making sugar cookies (and not just any sugar cookies, but my Aunt Sue's famous cookies) together whenever we are together for Christmas, and this year was no exception. This year we had some special help from Greg's Stepmom Judy. The three of us spent a WHOLE lot of time in the kitchen and it was awesome sharing recipes, traditions and stories. Thanks ladies for making my Holiday so special !!!









Mr. and Mrs. Garvey

Mr. and Mrs. Garvey
Our Wedding Day- October 13, 2007