Tomorrow morning we will be heading out of town, and spending Christmas with Ryan's family. I'm off from work until January 2nd, so I'm not sure if or how often I will update until then. I will be soaking up every moment that I can of this time with my hubby, for the time he is off, and my sweet daughter. I so adore my family. This year I have been exceedingly blessed.
I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope that your Christmas will be filled with special memories, and that you will feel His peace and joy!
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord ~ Luke 2:11
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins ~ Matthew 1:21
What a weekend. :) On Saturday, I was able to get out of the house and go see a movie with my brother's girlfriend, Joanie, after Ryan got back home from playing football. We saw Twilight, which everyone had told me I needed to go see.. so, I can say now that I have. :)
On Sunday, our church had a live nativity set up outside with lots of little pet-a-pet animals for the kids--donkeys, goats, sheep, a calf, rabbits, a rooster. Brooke was in HEAVEN. She ran from animal to animal, loving on them, and just BEAMING--completely unafraid. I'm so thrilled that she loves animals as much as her mama. :)
Last night was our early Christmas with my family, since we will be out of town spending Christmas with Ryan's family this year. It was such a nice evening, and such a special time with my family. I am so blessed. Of course, I have pictures to share... so, I'll just move right along to those. :)
Ready to open presents!
HAHA.. child, where is your Christmas spirit?!
Brooke's new stuffed lambie ~
Our family ~
This shot will be an annual tradition to show how much she has grown!
I give you Exhibit A... Brooke Avery, 16 months old ~
The difference a year makes! Brooke Avery, 4 months old ~
Brooke unwrapping her first present ~
A piano! She LOVES this ~
Yesssss... a BOX!
She really got into the whole unwrapping thing..
Our big, blue eyed girl ~
New toys!
Her cute giraffe from Joanie ~
Her favorite gift, hands down!
I'm in love! My new Dooney & Burke "It" purse--in PINK!!!
Ryan's new PSU sweatshirt! (what AM I doing?)
Brooke's new Veggie Tales DVDs! :)
My new Canon Powershot Elph! :) I HAVE A CAMERA AGAIN!
Our family is definitely ready for Christmas! I knew the time would go by fast, but really, Christmas is only 9 days away?
Brooke is so excited by all of the decorations, and, in spite of our initial fears, has been a perfect angel with our Christmas tree once we set the basic ground rules! There's absolutely no touching the tree, ("we look at the tree. Isn't it pretty?") no playing with ornaments unless Mommy gives one to her to see for a few moments, etc. There are several character ornaments which she loves to give kisses. (Then again, she gives EVERYTHING kisses.) She is thrilled with the Christmas lights--so much so that we decided to leave our tree on pretty much all weekend. :) Thank goodness for energy-efficient LED lights!
Santa drove by our house on Saturday night. :) I can't even tell you how exciting it is that it happens in our neighborhood, because it was a major event that we used to look forward to when my brother and I were little! Growing up, our fire department drove one of their firetrucks through the neighborhood, decked out in Christmas lights, blasting Christmas music, and with Santa, Rudolph and Frosty the snowman characters on top, waving to us. We found out that our fire department would be driving through our neighborhood at 6:25 on the dot this past Saturday, so we got all bundled up, and headed outside. It was a little different than my childhood memories--they used FOUR firetrucks, with Santa on the last truck, and no Rudolph or Frosty--but you should've seen how excited Brooke was! We got it on video. :)
Christmas really IS better with Brooke here. I didn't know that was possible, as much as I love Christmas, but it's a night and day difference.
We're practically done with Christmas shopping--just have my brother-in-law left, but I'm leaving his gift up to Ryan. :) We didn't spend a lot on Brooke this year, as she really doesn't NEED a lot yet. She'll be 16 months old ON Christmas day, and right now she's most fascinated with stuffed animals and the most mundane household items. We're getting such a kick out of her. ;-) There are some bigger things that would be nice to have for her, like a toboggan sled, or a pull wagon meant for little ones. However, those things are just not necessities!
I get nearly two weeks off from work for Christmas, (Christmas Eve through New Year's Day) nearly all of which will be PAID for, which is really amazing considering I'm a part-timer. I'm certainly earning my time off, though, as we've had major meetings going on since the beginning of last week, for which I'm solely playing hostess, requesting and organizing all of our data, and lots of other boring duties which no one is really interested in but which is keeping me insanely busy. I can't remember the last time I've been this busy. Oh yeah! When I was a full-time, stay-at-home Mom. ;-) Oh, I miss it.
Well, I have some pics to share!
Our girl ADORES her baby doll
*sigh* She doesn't look like a baby anymore, does she?
Yesterday was our third wedding anniversary. It's funny, because it seems like we've been married a lot longer than that. :) This year was certainly eventful, full of extremely trying times and extremely joyful times. This is what we signed up for: taking the good with the bad. It has caused us to grow together, and appreciate each other more, and for that, I feel extremely, undeservingly blessed.
It rained all day yesterday, and was altogether pretty dreary outside, but I looked at the bright side--at least it wasn't like that on our wedding day! In fact, we even had snow on the ground, which was exactly what I had prayed for, but didn't really expect to get. :) Our anniversary was a lot more peaceful than last year's! It had been our first time leaving Brooke--she was only 3 months old--and she wouldn't take a bottle from my parents. (We hadn't really gotten her accustomed to them) I had made a nice, candlelit dinner at home for Ryan and I, and we had planned on going out to see a movie together, but had to scratch it and pick up Brooke. THIS year, we were able to go out to a nice dinner, and enjoy some time together, just the two of us. Perfect. :)
It probably goes without saying, but NYC was AMAZING! We had such a fabulous time, and it really is the best time of year to be there. I'm swamped today, but I just wanted to share our pictures! I'm breaking them down between our NYC trip and our Christmas tree hunt on Sunday afternoon. :)
~ New York City ~
This was 2 hours into the trip--AFTER we got coffee!--around 7~
First things first, we went to Macy's!
Look familiar? The New Year's Eve ball!
Macy's window display--Miracle on 34th Street theme
SantaLand :)
Horton Hears a Who!
Next, we were off to Times Square!
My two favorite places, NEXT TO EACH OTHER!
Em & Em in Times Square ~
Em D. in Times Square :)
Me in Times Square ~
I LOVED this billboard ~
Empire State building ~
Isn't this pretty?
Radio City Music Hall--you should've SEEN the blocks backed up with people in line here!
L-O-V-E
Em's got LOVE
I loved the horses, obviously...
Statue in Central Park~
Central Park~
Prettiest part of Central Park~
Loved the wreaths in the windows, and the lit trees around the fountain~
SWAROVSKI crystal snowflake on 5th Avenue~
Lastly, the tree in Rockafeller Center ~
~ Christmas Tree Hunting ~
Sunday turned out to not only be freezing, but extremely windy-- 25-30 mph with gusts of 40! Needless to say, tree hunting at the farm would've been pretty miserable for Brooke--and for us! Rather than wait until next weekend to go, (and miss out on having a tree all week) we opted for a really nice, local nursery which carries Canadian Frasier firs and Noble firs. While Ryan was out picking out our gorgeous 7 foot Frasier fir, Brooke and I explored their Christmas shop inside.
This year I have been exceedingly blessed.
