Carter's first Christmas

The outfit Carter is wearing is the same one Connor wore his first Christmas!
I will have to say that this Christmas has been the best BY FAR! Connor totally understood who Santa was, how he got here by sleigh and reindeer, comes down the chimney and leaves presents after eating a couple cookies. Christmas morning he came running in at 7:30 telling us everything Santa had left for him and Carter under the tree. Connor got to "help" open Carter's gifts as well and I think Connor liked Carter's gifts just as much as his own. We really enjoyed seeing the joy in both of the boys eyes as they played with each new gift. Here are a few pictures from that wonderful day.





After all of Santa's gifts were opened and cleared, my parents and Uncle Neil came over for a big meal and more gift exchanging. Connor idolizes his Uncle Neil, so he was in heaven having him over.


"What do I do with all of these gifts??"



One gift Connor has been asking to have for 4 months now was a Dragon Castle (Imaginex). Nana told me she got it for him in September and it has been the #1 gift on his list when anyone asks what he wants for Christmas. He even told Santa he wanted it and we later told him that Nana called Santa and told him that she wanted to give it to him so he wouldn't be disappointed Christmas morning. He knew exactly which gift it was and saved it for last to open. He was beyond excited!


Both boys passed out way before their bed times. They both had such an exciting day!


We hope everyone had as joyous of a Christmas as we did. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Santa!

We took the boys to see Santa. Before leaving Connor said "Wait, we need to make cookies for Santa." I explained why we will do it Christmas Eve and he was fine with that. When we walked up Connor had the biggest smile on his face and said, "There's Santa!" and asked "Will Santa give me my presents now??" I told him how this was his chance to tell Santa what he wants so Santa can make sure to bring him those things on Christmas. So when it was our turn Connor climbed up on Santa's lap and told him everything he wanted with a huge smile on his face. "I want a dragon castle, tiger pillow pet and Thomas fix it." I placed Carter on Santa's lap and he just had this look the entire time like "Who is this guy?!?!" He didn't cry or get scared, so the visit was a success! I was very impressed with how great this Santa looked... made me believe!

Done with the decorations

We are officially D-O-N-E putting up all of the Christmas decorations... finally! This year we did a few things different. I wanted to have a theme inside, so that meant buying a lot of new stuff, which I had fun doing. A lot of my buys came from trips to Canton, my second favorite place in the world. The theme is red, lime green and silver with lots of glitter! Here is our mantel:

Another new thing we did was put lights up on the house. I always do the bushes and call it done. Joseph has begged every year to put up lights on the house and every year I give him the big N O. Well this year he put his foot down and said he was doing it. By the way, Joseph is VERY afraid of heights! So I stepped back and let him live out his dream only to have to finish it for him b/c he didn't have the nerve to climb up a tall ladder (I have no fear of heights). So he did the parts he could safely reach while laying on the roof and I did the rest on the ladder. We are very happy with the way it turned out!

Christmas in Houston

Over the past weekend we had the pleasure of going to Houston to attend a wedding and celebrate Christmas with the Hudson's. Although our visit was short, we had a wonderful time. Connor loves visiting his Ninnie and Poppa. The boys had a great time playing with their Uncle's. Connor got to watch X-men with Uncle Pete and camp out in the game room with Uncle Jason. He was in heaven!
The boys especially loved opening their gifts and playing with everything. We had a full car on our way home! Everyone came out with great gifts! Thanks again Ninnie and Poppa!!!

One gift that Ninnie had delivered to our house for the boys was matching Pottery Barn chairs with their names on it. Connor already had one, but they no longer made the color of his older one, so she sent a new cover to match Carter's new chair. They LOVE these chairs. They both lounge, climb and play on these all day.

Christmas time is here

Every day Connor asks "Is it Christmas time?" We always respond with "Yes it is!" and he gets so excited and asks where his presents are. We then have to explain that Santa is not coming for X number of days. Luckily the number keeps shrinking so he is starting to get it a little better. Yesterday we decided to start a tradition and let Connor decorate a gingerbread house. This year we bought the pre-made kind so he could just get straight to adding the candy. I spread the icing where he told me to and off to work he went.




Not bad for his first gingerbread house!

A couple Christmas's ago my mom gave Connor a bear that tells the entire story of The Night Before Christmas. When I unpacked it from the box I turned it on for the boys to see. The bear turns his head back and forth while telling the story. Carter was completely mesmerized and sat listening to it through the entire story!


No Christmas would be complete without playing in a box!

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to reflect on what we have been thankful for over the past year. This year has brought us many wonderful joys and the best of all was welcoming Carter into the world and watching Connor form into an awesome big brother.
For our Thanksgiving this year we were able to celebrate with my mom's family. We enjoyed lots of turkey and yummy vegetables from her garden... the only way to eat veggies! We left feeling stuffed and loved.
It has always been a tradition for Joseph and I to put up all of the Christmas decorations on black Friday. No I am not one of those crazy people that hits the stores at 4am. This year we were asked by friends to go to the Parade of Lights in downtown Fort Worth. This was Connor's first experience seeing a parade and he was so excited! We got reserved seats to ensure a front seat to all of the floats and action. Connor sat wide eyed in amazement the entire time watching everything go by. He waved to everyone and said "Merry Christmas" like a broken record. Carter had the best seat practically in the parade! We got to enjoy a lot of horses, fire engines old and new and old cars as well as some very creative floats.













Once we got home from the parade, the tradition was still on and we got out all of the Christmas stuff. Connor loved helping put everything out and the ornaments on the tree.

I LOVE decorating for Christmas! We also had our Christmas card pictures taken at Portrait Innovations (our 3rd year going here) and I am so thankful that we got a couple good pictures.






The last exciting thing that happened this weekend is Carter turning 10 months old! We can not believe how fast time has flown by! This past week Carter has discovered how to clap and does it at every moment possible. He is so proud of himself as he cheers himself on!


We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is as joyous as we are to be entering the Christmas season. Happy Holidays!

Best way to have breakfast..

This morning Connor wanted a picnic with his breakfast. He laid out his blanket, we filled a bowl with cheerios and Connor also asked for a banana. Carter was SO excited to be having breakfast with his big brother on the blanket.


Connor has started a new season of soccer. (He actually was playing on 2 teams for the last 2 weeks b/c the seasons overlapped) He is on a new team, the Raptors. We decided to continue with it b/c he really seemed to enjoy playing and is starting to get the hang of it. The other boy was on his last team as well, his buddy Lane.


Here are a few more recent moments we have captured on camera:
Connor being a great big brother putting Carter's socks on.

Sleepy baby!

Wearing daddy's hat.

Our sweet Carter.