Sunday, January 22, 2012

Christmas in Texas

 One last celebration for what seems like a never ending Christmas. This one is Texas style, we had to make a special request for Santa to come back down to Texas New Years Eve, and he came through with our request. I guess that must only mean one thing. Our little man was on the "Good List"  Although, it was New Year's Eve, we didn't skip any of the Christmas traditions. We left cookies for Santa.( Not homemade ones, but Oreo's and Santa was pretty pleased with them.) scrambled around trying to get all the gifts either wrapped or put together all before Hunter woke up from his afternoon nap. It was a mad dash to the finish line, but have no fear we did it !!!!!! And watching Hunter opening his gifts was a priceless moment in time. While in Colorado I thought for sure Hunter would be riping into every one's gifts faster than the speed of light. But he was so over whelmed with everything and didn't really open any gifts. But here at home, it was a whole different experience. He was riping the paper off, and moving onto the next box. Such a fun thing to watch.

 Welcome to the World of "Some Assembly" required....... Not such a good idea to leave something with pages and pages of instructions to the very last minute. Maybe next year Santa will send a couple of Elves to help with the assembly process.
 Santa came, Santa came....... I want this one first
 Much easier to look over everything from the comfyness of your own couch.....
And the high light of the afternoon..... Hunter's train table !!! Everything goes "woot woot" now.And I've been schooled in "all things trains" since then.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!!!

Happy Holiday's from Sea World

 After returning back to Texas from our trip to Colorado, we decided to brave the crowds of Sea World to see the amazing lights and festive shows. It was a beautiful night, nothing like a little chill in the air ( and by that I mean it was probably 60 that night) twinkly lights, Holiday music and of course Shamu to put you in the Christmas spirit. Even a full week after Christmas !!
 Wow, this picture sure did look better on the camera than it does now. Oh well, we were going for the lights, so just ignore the goofy looks on both our faces.
 I think the excitement of seeing Shamu was all Hunter had in mind. Stopping to pose for silly pictures was not in his agenda that night. I guess we'll get a few good laughs over these pictures in about 20 years.
 Waiting for Shamu's big show, and way past someones bedtime. But he did really well that night, he was so excited to see his buddy Shamu who makes big splashes. (and he'll tell you that)
 And Finally the Star of the Show !!!!!
Merry Christmas from Sea World and a Very Happy New Year !!!!


Christmas in the Rockies

Merry Christmas from Colorado

 Phewwww, this post has been a long time in the works. I think I started it about 2 weeks ago, and had trouble uploading photo's so I gave up several times and said I'll try again tomorrow. We'll, now at least 2 weeks later, I finally get the photo's to upload only to have them all out of order and I'm not going to mess with rearrange them at this point. I've got some many more post's in mind, I just want to get the Christmas one posted before next Christmas.  So please excuse the randomness of the photo's.
As most of you know, we spent 12 days in Colorado over the Holiday's. Although, it was rough and tough at times we had a great time with family,  eating mom's home cooking, the glorious snow and in general the feeling of "being home"!
Hunter had a tough time with the transition of not being home and in his "normal" routine and turned on the "terrible two's" in full strength. Which made some day's very intersting, and a whole lot a rearranging my parents house. Pretty sure, most of it ended up in the garage where it was "safe" from the Texas Torando !!!  A broken vase, lot's of spilled milk, and a Christmas tree that took the brunt of the Torando. I'm hoping we're still welcome to visit?????
 "Good Morning Mr. Snowman, did Santa come to see you too?" Hunter was in LOVE with this snowman- in general Snowmen were a big hit this Holiday with our little man.  When we first walked into my brother's house and saw it, I thought for sure Hunter would be totally scared of it. He tends to not like dressed up people or costumes (just like his Mommy) but they had an instant bond that continued to grow ever time we went over there.
 Only in Colorado ( On Christmas Day) do you see golfing in the snow with NO coats !!!!!
 And then there's Greg, screaming "I'm from Texas, give me a break about the shorts" 
And the day we all waited for....... And No it's not Christmas morning, or the turkey dinner, or the gifts under the tree. But NORDY'S BBQ.... Oh, I'm craving it, just looking at this picture. They by far have the best BBQ ever, and it's a must to go there when your in Loveland. (Already, looking forward to going again in September)
Like I said at the beginning, these photo's are all out of order. Above was a few days after arriving and Hunter's first time in the snow. It was so nice out that day, that we were out there with no coats. Poor Hunter was probably sweating to death. But we managed to build a "little" snowman for Hunter, carrot nose and all. Hunter had a great time in the snow, and had to be lured back inside with a cookie. Yep, he's a Garvey !!!!
Every morning Hunter would run to the back door to make sure his snowman was still there.

And of course, it's not Christmas unless you make cookies ( Aunt Sue's famous Sugar Cookies)  However, they never do taste as good as hers. Very close this time though. Someday, maybe we'll get her to tell us the secret to her yummy cookies (hint hint)
The Official cookie taste tester...... it's a tough job but someone has to do it !!!! And boy did he taste alot of cookie while at Grandpa's. First thing every morning, a cookie from Grandpa (before breakfast snack I guess)
Here Hunter is schooling Grandpa on "Toy Story" This has been a favorite of Hunter's for a long time. He just loves Buzz and Woody. At the gym, he has no interest in any other movie they have playing unless it's Toy Story, then it's game on for watching it and getting him out of there without a melt down.

Helping Mommy shovel the back patio after "the big snow fall" I was so excited to get out there and shovel, but it only took a few minutes to realize I never really liked to shovel, it's a lot of work. But watching Hunter play around in the snow was worth it all. He is such an outdoorsy kid, doesn't seem to matter if it's 110 or 5 he loves to be out.
This is my FAVORITE picture of our trip. So a little snow bunny !!! Go times in Colorado, many thanks to everyone for all the great gifts for Hunter he loves them all. And the food was amazing, but most importantly spending the Holiday's with family was the best part. Love to you all !!! (and thanks for putting up with our cranky little one, we're working on the tantrums and listening, so hopefully he'll be a much happier little man in September.)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Hunter Goes to the Movies

Our little man went to his first movie !!!  Our local theater plays a "kidtoon" movie on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It's only an hour movie and only $2.00 tickets. So if things aren't going well, you don't feel too bad leaving early. Hunter did really well for the about 45 minutes. The day we went we saw a movie with Olivia the Pig. It was a really cute Christmas movie that kept the attention of our very active little man.
Who needs Pop corn when you have Goldfish crackers !!!!
Out in the lobby they had life sized chipmunk characters. Who I thought would be cute for a picture. Hunter on the other had wanted NOTHING to do with them, and couldn't get away fast enough. At least I got a picture with all of them, not necessarily what I was going for, but we got something. Fun times !!

Build A Bear Morning

A New Family Member is Born

A morning with friends and building our "newest" member of the family. What could be funnier than that? When we all walked into the store ( 8 mom's and 8 kiddo's all under 2) I'm not sure who was more intimated. Us or the workers .... But the kids did so well, we all walked around and picked our bears, dogs or bunnies and then stood in line and waited for our turn at the stuffing machine. That was Hunter's favorite part of the whole experience. He will still tell you that Charlie went round and round. ( meaning all the stuffing was going around and around in the big machine)
Above, Hunter is stepping on the foot pedal and helping the lady stuff his dog "Charlie" Hunter also got to pick out a heart and give it a little kiss before it was placed inside Charlie. Super cute moment !!!!
Charlie is all stuffed and ready for the next step in the process. The first BIG hug between one very excited little boy and his new friend Charlie. Who is now his night night buddy. Ahhhhh !
Bath time for Charlie, it was alittle scary for Hunter with the sound the of the air blowing out, but he did enjoy brushing his buddy.  A forever friendship was created that morning with several of our friends and play buddies !!!! A great success, only thing that was missing was having Daddy there with us. (next time)

Mr. and Mrs. Garvey

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