Merry Christmas!

This Christmas, we decided to keep things simple and spend time as a family. On Christmas Eve, we visited Nick's grandma Nancy at her home.

John 3:16 is even written on the bottom!

 

Nick and I got 2 sets of movie tickets, candy, and popcorn!

Next, we went to have dinner with Nick's family. We had a great evening spending time with his grandparents and Nicole was able to play with 3 of her aunts and her uncle.

Christmas morning we went to church (my parents joined us) and then opened gifts and ate lunch. We spent the rest of the day playing with our new goodies (okay, we all played with Nicole's toys) and then joined family for dinner.

Nicole decided to sneak away and open one gift before church.

Look at all those gifts!

Nicole loves her new doll! She loves her so much that the doll received her first scratch.

Grandma Joan is teaching Nicole how to feed her baby.

Nicole got Nick a poster that has the word 'love' written in weapons. I will get it wrong, but I am pretty sure the weapons are as follows: L=handgun, O=grenade, V=pocketknife, E=rifle (or some other big gun). Nicole sure knows how to pick good gifts!

Nicole, the amazing gift-giver, gave another good gift! I got a new Snowbaby for my collection! I was so surprised because they have become hard to find, so I hadn't been expecting one.

Isn't it cute?!

Nicole got building blocks from Kendra, Drew, and Samuel. She loves to knock down the towers that we build.

Our annual family picture. I had been hoping for one at church in front of their well-decorated tree, but Nicole chose to nap during that time and we didn't have the heart to wake her.

Nicole's first Snowbaby!

A toy from Aunt Hannah

Before we got the toy from Hannah out of the box, Nicole gave it a kiss...ouch!

We love our date nights!!! (Not pictured: two more movie tickets and a g.c. for Chili's)

An awesome frame from Nick's parents!

Carrying on the tradition that my mom started: a new ornament for every year.

Poor Piglet! My friend Sarah gave Nicole little Winnie the Pooh toys, she loves to knock them off of our towers!

We pray that everyone had a wonderful time with family and friends as you celebrated Christ's birth!

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

So this year we had to scale way down on our Christmas decorations since Nicole gets into EVERYTHING and we don't want to spend all of our time chasing her around.

Here is why we didn't get a real tree

My all-time favorite collectables (hint, hint, wink, wink)

The tree in its new location

Nicole figured out how to climb the stairs while I was decorating

I hope she will still like helping with dishes in about 5 years!

Always Celebrating

In looking at some of our past posts, it looks like all that we ever do is celebrate! So, in keeping with the trend, here is another celebration! On September 11, Nick turned 25 (or halfway to 50) and we celebrated with a small family BBQ after church. Here are some pictures of our day.

 Nick with his birthday cupcakes.....Yes, the candle is of Spiderman.

 Nick with his birthday gifts.

 Gift from Hannah

 Baby backpack from Nicole

 Nick used some of his Home Depot cards to buy tools for work.

 Nick and Nicole enjoying his birthday gift.

Okay, I know if you are still reading this blog, you are looking for the pictures of Nicole being herself. Well, here they are! Since we have started feeding Nicole homemade baby food, meal times have gotten to be a little messy........okay VERY VERY messy!! She isn't a huge fan of carrots yet, but seems to like green beans so far. She usually has to hold a spoon and sometimes puts a spoon and her fingers in her mouth at the same time.

Nicole is on her soapbox.....hahaha

Here is a video of Nicole eating.

Here's what happens when Nicole sneezes while eating her carrots (at least that explains the carrots by her eye).

Finally, here is a picture of Nick training for the mud run that he will be running this coming Saturday in Lake Elsinore! I can't wait to post pictures after that race!