Christmas In Midland

I should be embarrassed that I'm still talking about Christmas, with it being nearly Spring!!!  What can I say, these little cutie pies keep me busy.  To be 100% honest it's not even that.....over the last 6 months I've gotten back into a couple of my favorite TV shows (Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor).  One day, I decided with all the running around I do (taking care of everyone else) that I deserved some ME time.  So there.  I watch trashy TV.  And. I. Love. It. 

Back to Christmas.....the week before Christmas Gordon's mom came into town to celebrate with us, since they were spending the next week in Chicago.  William had a blast with his mimi, Uncle G and Aunt Em.  His aunt and uncle know him too well.  They got him an awesome soccer goal for the back yard.  I swear they buy him better gifts than we do.  :) 

We got to spend Christmas in Midland this year.  Anna Grace didn't know what was going on but William was so much fun!  He was so excited about Santa bringing him a big truck, a firetruck and bunchums.  On Christmas morning we all gathered around the tree in our comfy PJs, with our coffee, and opened gifts.  William would pick up one and say, "This one says my name?"  If he saw a "W" any where on the package it was claimed his.  :)  After church that day, we were able to play outside and enjoy the nice warm temperatures (nearly 80 degrees!). 

After opening presents we headed to church for my favorite service of the year.  We've made it a point to constantly remind William that Christmas isn't about Santa, but about baby Jesus being born.  Every night when the Christmas lights came on William would proudly say, "It's baby Jesus' birthday!"  Yes sweet boy, HE is the reason for the season. 

Church with my sweet family of four | Playing with his toys after church | Family :)

These two! | Decorating cookies | He is so in love with "Fifi"

Tummy time and play time | This look of concern washes over his face when she cries | Cookies!

We had such a fun Christmas in Midland!  Gordon and I got to get out one night to see some friends.  We took William to a movie.  The cousins got to play together.  We got to see GG and Pop.  It snowed!  Gordon surprised me with an awesome Christmas gift.  Little lady went to her mama's favorite restaurant, Luigi's, for the first time.  It is a Christmas I'll remember forever!  There is nothing better than being "home" for Christmas with your favorite people, family. 

Snow Days

On our last scheduled day in Midland, over Christmas, we woke up to snow flurries!  By 10am our flight back home had been canceled and we found out we wouldn't be able to fly out until the next day at 7pm.  This gave us lots of time to enjoy the SNOW!  My mom woke up sick that morning.  :(  We made sure to take lots of pictures and videos to send her.

Since we knew we'd be trapped in the house for the next 40 hours Gordon and I decided to take William to an early movie.  The boys had already seen The Good Dinosaur, but William would never turn down going to "the big movies".  Baby girl went with us too and took a nice little nap.  By the time we got out of the movie a couple of inches of snow had fallen and it was COLD!

To say William had fun playing in the snow is an understatement.  He was in heaven.  His gloves were a bit big but he didn't mind at all.  Thankfully, Nana had bought some snow boots the day before, so is was all set to play!  Gordon played with him on the first day and I did day 2.  This kiddo is going to love skiing when we take him next year.  Not once did he complain about the cold.  He just played and played and played.  He really loved breaking up the big pieces of ice on the sidewalk and thought throwing snowballs was hilarious.  

These were two days I'll never forget.  It was so pretty, quiet and peaceful outside, and William was so happy.  It doesn't get any better than that!  We had spiced apple cider, made snow ice cream and did lots of snuggling by the fire.  Now when it's foggy and/or cold outside William says, "The snow is coming!"  HAHA, I wish we got snow this far south.

Getting Ready For Christmas

I am just dying looking at all of these adorable Christmas pictures!  There is just so much cuteness going on!!!  Christmas is by far my favorite time of the year.  I love decorating our home, listening to Christmas music on the way to work, teaching our kiddos what the true meaning of Christmas is and spending extra time with friends and family.  

William was really anxious about going to see Santa.  He was clinging onto Gordon for dear life.  But, as soon as we set him on Santa's lap he gave a big smile and told Santa just what he wanted for Christmas.  #mycuprunnethover  What was on William's wish list this year?  Bunchums, a big truck and a firetruck.

I mean, could this little girl get any cuter?!?  We are all SO in love with her sweet, calm little personality.

My Christmas babies at 8 months and 3 months

Sometime at the beginning of December, before I went back to work, William spent the day with his Uncle G and Aunt Em.  They had a fun day at the tree farm while this mama and daddy went on a day date to the movies.  Little Anna Grace stayed with a sitter for the first time and did great.  :)  That night we had dinner over at Emily and Grant's.  Just when William thought our fun night was over....the smores came out!  He had a blast....and was a little too into the fire for this mama.  haha.

Looking back at these pictures makes me so happy!!  There is definitely a reason for taking a million pictures every month.  :)

Christmas Lights In Style

The last Friday of my maternity leave we had a super fun night with friends looking at Christmas lights!  After snacking on some pizza and drinking some yummy, homemade, hot chocolate we loaded everyone into the limo!  4 grown men, 4 pretty ladies, 8 kids and an infant = one fun limo ride.  As you might expect, the kids got a little antsy, so we made a stop at City Center to let everyone stretch their legs.

We had a lot of laughs and made some fun memories with some of our favorite friends!

Gaylord Texan

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we made our way to Dallas for a fun night at The Gaylord Texan.  Gordon only hung around for lunch and a quick visit with my family (and then headed home to go back to work).  Since I was still on maternity leave, the three of us took advantage of the time off and stayed the night in Dallas and then went on to Midland the next day.
Last year William didn't do so great in the ICE exhibit.  So, this year we skipped ICE and did the tube rides since he was tall enough.  To say he had fun is an understatement!  He made this mama drag the double tube up the stairs 12 times!!!  Before we were even to the bottom of the slide William would be yelling, "One more time, mama!"  We were able to get William away from the tube area with promises of looking at the train.  The Gaylord, at Christmas time, really is a magical place for a child.  That evening we had a fabulous dinner at the steak restaurant in the hotel, and the next morning we did some exploring before loading up the car.  

{View from our room} {Say Cheese!}

{Look Papa!} {Choo, Choo Train Watching} {He made the cut}

{Tubing} {"This is my friend, mama."} {Breakfast with mama}

Last year was fun, but this year was much better.  I can hardly wait for next year! :)

Christmas 2014

Another Christmas is in the books!!  This was the first Christmas that William really understood what was going on.  He would open a present and say, "Oh wow!"  It was hard to get him to move onto another present since he was already busy playing with the first.  [I hear this will change in a few years] 

SANTA!!  *this green chair was my dad's as a child!*

We flew into Midland on Monday evening so we had 2 full days and most of Christmas to spend with my family.  On Tuesday, we took William to Pop and GG's house, in Big Spring, to see the turkeys and goats.  He even got to feed the turkeys some corn!  On Christmas Eve we took William to see his first movie at the theater!!  When we walked up he said, "It's BIG!"  He was even more excited when he saw that the concession stand was overflowing with popcorn (also known as "toptorn").  We went to see Penguins of Madagascar and it didn't disappoint.  It was super cute and kept William's attention.  He did a great job and talked about the movie the whole way home.

After opening presents on Christmas morning we headed to mass and then spent the afternoon relaxing and taking his new car for a spin.  Whenever William would see a stick on the sidewalk, that he may run over with his car, he'd get off his car, pick up the stick, hand it to me and then get back to driving.  I hope he's this cautious when he's 16 years old and driving for real!  Unfortunately, our flight home on Christmas evening was delayed.  Instead of getting to Houston at 8:30 we didn't land until 10:30.  I finally put William into his crib at midnight.  Whewwww.  Long but good day!

Decorating Cookies  |  Too cute  |  Playing with his new train  |  Checking out his big truck from Santa  |  Santa Came!  |  Opening presents with Mimi on the 26th  |  A choo choo from GG and Pop  |  My future drummer  |  Taking his car for a spin  |  2 handsome fellows

I'm sure Christmas next year will be even more fun!!!  I secretly hope he still calls Santa "HO HO HO".  Cheers to Christmas being on a Friday next year....this means there's no way I'll have to work the next day.  :)  

ICE!

In mid December William and I made a trip to Dallas to meet my parents for ICE!  I love holiday traditions so I'm excited to add this one to our list.  We definitely learned a few things this year that will make trips to come more fun.  The first is location.  We decided to stay 2 miles down the road at The Embassy Suites.  If we did it again, I think we all agreed, we'd stay at the Gaylord where ICE! is held.  There are so many other fun kid activities you can enjoy besides the ice show.  I don't know about you but my toddler needs a nap.  Every. Single. Day. At. The. Same. Time.  Unfortunately, his nap falls right around noon.  If we are out and about running errands and decide to grab lunch somewhere things can get nasty.  And by that I mean someone can have a nasty attitude!  Sometimes William does great but there are others when he's so tired and grumpy. 

Anyways, back to ICE!  By staying at the Gaylord you avoid the parking garage (and the walking involved in that) and you can come and go as you please.  William was super pumped about the ice slide (when we were just talking about it).  He liked the slideshow that was shown beforehand and he really liked the man made snow that came down before we went into the ICE area.  Unfortunately, that's where the happiness ended.  Little man does not like wearing a jacket.  In a 9 degree room this is a problem.  William got cold and fast.  He did wise up and put on the jacket, a hat and mittens....but he was too far gone.  But hey, you live and learn.  We did have fun.  My dad went down the ice slide and we took some fun pictures.  It's hilarious to ask William about our ice adventure. 
Me: "William, did you like the ice slide?" 
William in his most dramatic voice:  "No, it's coooolllllddddd!"  As he pretends to shiver. 

Looking at the snow coming down |  Getting excited to go into ICE!  |  Things were getting cold  |  ICE! with Nana and Papa  |  Papa going down the ice slide  |  Beautiful  |  Almost tall enough  |  Mesmerized by the tall guy  |  Bass Pro Shop  |  Riding a Reindeer

After our ice adventure we had a yummy Mexican lunch with my aunts, walked around the beautifully decorated hotel for a little bit and then headed back to the hotel to visit/nap.  That evening we had fun running around Bass Pro Shop looking at all the cool stuff they have!! 

I can't wait to see how he does next year!!  He'll even be tall enough to go on the snow tubes.     

Baby's 2nd Christmas

It's hard to believe that Christmas was almost a month ago!  We were busy bees on Christmas day and since then we've gone out of town twice.  One day I'll catch my breath.....
Christmas morning was so much fun with William this year.  He was so excited to see what Santa had brought him.  His little face was priceless.  To say he loves his new blue truck is an understatement.  We can hardly get him off the thing!  His nana, papa, mimi and grandad did a great job getting fun stuff for William's new playroom.  He's a lucky little man.
Here was our Christmas day agenda:

• Late breakfast with my parents, Gordon's parents and Emily.
• Headed to the other side of town to hang out at Grant and Emily's new house with some of her family.
• Back home to get ready for Christmas dinner with the Wilson's (thankfully my mom was there to help with the cooking!)

We love having the Wilson's right down the street.  :)  The kids play great together which means the adults can sit back and (semi) relax.      

• Before Christmas Eve Mass and dinner at Escalantes
• Santa visited our house
• He loves his belly button!
• Papa taking William on a ride in his new truck
• Hey, what's in this things?
• Christmas morning
• Let's open some presents guys!

• OMG!  This face cracks me up.  He's always SO excited and happy.
• Finding the first of many surprises on Christmas morning.
• Aunt Emily is too funny
• Playing at Grant and Emily's 
• He loves his daddy
• A teepeeeeeeeeee!!
• Truck. Check. Elmo. Check. Reindeer. Check.  Life doesn't get much better than this.
• Best picture we could get of these little rascals.
• The next Iron Chef, ladies and gentlemen!

In their Christmas JAMMIES!  Hopefully they'll be best friends forever!

 William loves his kitchen and new teepee.  It only took this mommy and daddy a mere 3 days to put the kitchen together (his excitement made it all worth while).  You would think putting the thing together would have made me want to strangle Gordon....nope....just the opposite.  He was hilarious.  "Lindsey, just put piece #350 over in the corner.  I'll be getting to that at sunrise."  HAHA.  Good times, great memories.

Kisses for Baby Jesus

 But, the most important thing of all during this entire Christmas season is loving Baby Jesus!!!  

Getting Ready For Christmas

The days and weeks leading up to Christmas were so much fun!  I said this last year and I'll say it again.....things sparkle more with William around.  The excitement he has over the simplest things (like turning the lights on the Christmas tree) makes me smile from ear to ear and fills my heart with so much happiness and joy.  If we could bottle up a baby's happiness and laughter the world would be a better place!   
I did a blog post last year for TCH about our family traditions.  I'm happy to say we were able to do all the things we wanted this year (even with our crazy house stuff).  I had to decorate the tree by myself since poor Gordon had strep throat and an upper respiratory infection.  So, I poured myself a glass of wine, listened to some Johnny Mathis Christmas music on Pandora and decorated away.  While doing that, my mind wondered back to my childhood.  I can still remember making strands of cranberries and popcorn over at my grandma Morrow's house.  Hopefully we can add that tradition to our list when William gets older!!        

William loves his Elf on the Shelf!  Every evening when we got home he wanted to go look at his Elf and give him a kiss. 

Gordon and I had our 2nd annual movie date/Christmas shopping night out.  We started this new tradition last year and it's so much fun!  This year we went to a fun movie theatre/bowling alley/bar/arcade to see The Hunger Games 2 (which I loved, loved, loved).  Afterwards we headed to Target to get baby boy some Christmas gifts!  I love everything about this night with Gordon.  :)

• Climbing up the stairs like a big boy.
• Reading in some of his Christmas jammies!
• Reading with his daddy.
• William loved playing with the presents under the tree.
• Giving his favorite ornament a kiss.  He never messed with any of the other ornaments....shocking.  I'm sure next year will be a different story. 
• He even liked reading The Elf On The Shelf book.
• Some of William's Christmas books and toys.
• Such a cutie!

This past month has been so much fun.  Next Christmas has a lot to live up to!!

Santa!!!

Well, it's safe to say that our visit with Santa went much better last year versus this year.  Poor little William was terrified.  He loves talking about Santa, looking at Santa, reading books about Santa, wearing clothes with Santa on it and saying HO, HO, HO.  He'll even give fake Santas a kiss.  Put him within a few feet of a real life Santa and you have a different story.  He becomes a clingy, emotional wreck.  Regardless, he sure does look cute.  Maybe next year we'll have better luck.  If he's anything like his momma he'll be crying for another couple of years.  :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!! 

Ornament Decorating Party

A couple of weekends ago Teddy's mom invited the gang over to do some Christmas ornament decorating!!  Nicole did such a great job getting everything together.  The kids had a lot of fun making a mess and the moms got to visit and catch up with each other.  William loved seeing all his "old" school friends and he made some super cute ornaments for our tree. 

• Gingerbread making :)
• The whole gang
• Teddy spoils our little William...always letting him ride around while he pushes him. 
• Busy at work!
• Britton giving Christmas kisses
• Playing with his buddies

We are so lucky to have such fun friends.  I sure do love this time of the year!  :)

Big Boys Don't Cry

I'm happy to say that when I dropped William off at daycare today he DIDN'T CRY!  Yipppeeee!  I knew this day would eventually come....and I'm so glad that it did.  I hate leaving him when he's sad.  They say he calms down right away and he's always happy when I pick him up.  :) I think we are all starting to settle into our new routine.  Now if we could all stay healthy!  Poor Gordon just got over an upper respiratory infection and Strep.  This mama has been chugging OJ and taking lots of vitamins!  

We are trying to stay warm!

AND, we are ready for Christmas (well kinda!).  

Christmas Cards and a New Year

It's hard to believe that 2012 is gone.  Time has never flown by so quickly!  Thanksgiving and Christmas are the best part of the year.....well, honestly I love something about every part of the year but the holidays are filled with family time, Christmas lights, yummy food, cooler weather and Christmas cards....and nothing makes me happier!  Although I'm sad to see it go I am glad to have a calmer calendar ahead of us.  Having something scheduled every weekend makes the normal day to day life even more hectic! 



William has been a busy bee!  He gets his creativity from his daddy. :)

As you can see in the picture above we have a little artist on our hands.  HAHA.  I don't think I'll ever be able to throw this stuff away!  When I opened the card from William I cried.  Yep, I sure did (motherhood has turned me into an even bigger softy than I already was).  His teachers got us an ornament with a picture of him and this home made card.  It's the best gift I got all year.  Seriously.  That little boy couldn't make us any happier!  We're also so glad and grateful he's able to go to a school where they love him and take such good care of him while we are working. 


Moving forward....here's a little recap of our New Years and getting Christmas cards in the mail....

I'll start with our first family Christmas card.  We had pictures taken while we were in Texarkana over Thanksgiving and really loved how they turned out!  I ordered the cards a couple of weeks before Christmas but encountered a little bit of drama trying to get them delivered to our house.  FexEx said they had been delivered to our house but we never received them.  :(  I called TinyPrints to let them know and was surprised when they said they would give me a refund.  Long story short FexEx discovered the cards had been delivered to the wrong house so I went by and got them (by then it was only a few days before Christmas)!  The cards went out a little late but I figured it was better than never.  When we got back in town from Midland I called TinyPrints to let them know we ended up finding the cards and to please recharge me.  The lady was a little surprised and ended up only charging me half of the original price.  The story gets better.....yesterday I got a handwritten letter in the mail from TinyPrints! 
Here's what it said:
It was an absolute pleasure assisting you today.  Thank you so much for calling us after receiving your order and letting us know.  Your honesty is commendable and truly appreciated.  Thanks again for the reminder that there are still good, honest, upstanding people in the world.
I will forever order from TinyPrints!!  Not only were they willing to refund me for a mistake they didn't make but they sat down and took the time to hand write a note thanking me for calling.  Great company in my opinion!!!

Gordon and I got to have a night out together on New Years Eve.  It was our 5th year to go to dinner at Sonoma Wine Bar on NYE.  2009 we went with Whitney and Chris, 2010 we got engaged that night!, 2011 was our first married NYE, 2012 we went with my parents and I was preggo, and 2013 our 8 month old baby was at home!  After a yummy dinner and some delicious Cakebread we went to a new bar in our neighborhood.  I had some champagne and G had a beer, we ran into some old friends and at 10:00 we headed home to see our sweet baby boy....who was surprisingly still awake!!  I guess he knew it was a party night.  Don't worry, after snapping a few pictures on an iPhone, William and I were off to bed and asleep by 10:30.  haha

"Guys, what is on my head?"

 

Most days he drives me crazy but I couldn't love him any more!

We had a relaxing New Years day.  I slowed cooked some black eyed peas, we lounged around in our PJs and William made a new year's resolution to sleep through the night!  :)

YEAH for 2013!!!

Christmas (Part 2)

 

Christmas morning we woke up and lounged around in our PJs drinking coffee and eating waffles before we started opening presents. William picked a great time to start sitting up on his own.  :)  We had so much fun watching him "open" presents....really he was more interested in the bows and wrapping paper (and all the dogs running around).  Later in the morning we went to church and then spent the rest of the afternoon laying around.  We had some family game time, watched some Christmas shows and I did all our laundry before packing up all of our stuff so we could head back home!  Thankfully, William did great on the flight back and he didn't have any problems with his ears after we landed.  His mimi got into town that night so she could watch him the rest of the week while Gordon and I worked.  The two of them had a fun couple of days together! 
As always, we had a great time in Midland!  I love that Gordon gets to get outdoors and do fun stuff while we are there.  I also love that William adores my parents, Dustin and Skye.  I hate that we live so far away but thankfully everyone gets to see him at least once a month.  I have about a million pictures of William sleeping in Dustin or my dad's arms.  Guess I should call them the baby whisperers!  Dustin will be an excellent daddy one day.

We opened presents with Mimi on the 26th after having dinner with Grant, Emily and Emily's mom.  Gordon and William got me a beautiful necklace!  G and I had talked about it for my "pushing present" but instead I got some fancy shoes that I never thought he'd actually ever buy me!  William's birthstone was supposed to be emerald so I'd looked at that originally...since he was born 8 weeks early his birthstone ended up being a DIAMOND!  So, I thought a blue stone would be perfect to represent our blue eyed baby boy.  I'll remember our perfect first Christmas with William every time I wear my necklace!  Gordon of course got a new truck, money towards a new gun, some new shoes and clothes.  My parents got us a great new vacuum that will make cleaning the stairs a breeze!  I also got some beautiful pictures frames from the Goodings and new boots, work shoes, earrings and a phone cover from my parents.  The little buddy got lots of toys, books, puzzles, clothes, a new backpack and lunch box. 

Needless to say, we had a wonderful Christmas week!  I think the best part is having extra time off work to spend together.  There is nothing better than cuddling on the couch with my boys.  I decided to take it easy until after the new year.  I spend most of my free time when William is napping running around the house cleaning or doing laundry.  Instead, Gordon and I got lots of movie time in.  We have only watched a few movies since William was born but that all changed over the break!  If William was napping we were on the couch watching either a movie or one of our favorite cooking shows.  I'm already looking forward to our next "staycation"!

We are so lucky to have the families that we do!!!  We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.

Christmas (Part 1)

The Friday before Christmas we loaded the car up and headed to the airport for Midland!  We got our bags checked and through security in record time.  We even had time to grab a burger for dinner.  William did great on the flight...he and I even fell asleep towards the end.  Unfortunately, this is where our luck ended.  The poor little guy's ears were hurting so he screamed the whole drive home and then proceeded to vomit all over me once he was out of his carseat.  This continued on for about an hour.  We gave him a bath, bottle and some tylenol and he finally calmed down and fell asleep.  He woke up the next morning happy as can be! 
Saturday morning I had an amazing massage while Nana watched William and daddy hunted with Papa.  My mom and I finished some last minute Christmas shopping, ate lunch at one of my favorite Mexican food joints and bought the cutest rodeo outfit for William at a little boutique.  That night we went to another of my favorites, Venezias, for dinner with my parents.  There was a couple about my parents age sitting next to us....when in walked in their son dressed in his military uniform.  The mother jumped up hugging him tight and cried.  Their son had obviously come home from duty and surprised them.  I then proceeded to cry as well.  I just can't imagine being in her shoes.  She must be so scared and so proud all at the same time.  My sweet mom and dad picked up their check that evening.  THANKS TO THOSE THAT SERVE! :)  After getting William down to bed G and I headed out to have a little date night and catch up with some old friends. 
Sunday we did lots of relaxing.  G and I were a bit under the weather so we tried to get some naps in when we could.  Gordon and my dad went shooting that day and I made enchiladas for dinner!
Christmas Eve was spent cooking and doing more laying around before my grandparents came over for dinner.  I must say my mom did an excellent job cooking!  We had yummy prime rib along with a million other things.  I even ventured out and made green bean casserole for the first time (using a great recipe from The Chew).  Dustin and Skye got back into town that day so we had a houseful.  William had lots of people to play with that evening!  We had planned on going to church that evening but W started getting sleepy so we decided to go on Christmas day.  So, instead we cuddled on the couch and watched It's A Wonderful Life.  Doesn't get much better than that!!   

Up next....Christmas Day!