Show Us Your Christmas Tree

Last year I was oh so very pregnant and oh so very tired. It was our first Christmas in our new house, but all I put up was a tree and our stockings. Yes, we had lights on our house, thanks in no part to me because I didn't have anything to do with it. So, this year, I have purchase a lot of decorations and am busy trying to get them all up, and try to get Ella to leave them up. It is hard to decorate with a ten month old following you at your heels. But, she is the reason I am going all out. I want her first Christmas to be a lot of fun filled with great memories.

Okay, so onto the tree. I am STILL not finished decorating it. I just put the ribbon on this morning and I need to get some god twiggy things to stick out of it and I need to do something with the top. I am thinking a ton of twiggy things bursting from it. It is a monochromatic tree, all shades of Amber. See, you can tell I am not done yet because in the bottom left hand corner there is a picture frame with no picture in it. Yes, I did have these last year and yes I never put a photo in them. I left it that way for the whole Christmas season, but I am not going to let that happen this time. Ella's beautiful face will be right smack dab in the middle of these!

I love the deer ornaments. Yes, I am married to a hunter so it only seemed appropriate. I also love the feathers on the birds tail.

And since I only have one tree, I thought I would go ahead and show all of the dining room. I will save the rest of the house for the Christmas Decorations tour though in two weeks. Plus that gives me more time to go shopping!

I love to hang ornaments from the chandeliers. I am buying more beads this Saturday so it will be more full. I also just bought this Santa on the table on sale and thought he was so pretty. And I love the HUGE ornament in the bowl on the table.

Here is Santa up close and personal. What a cute guy!

I do plan on buying Ella a Christmas tree and getting her some cute pink and brown ornaments, plus a baby's first Christmas ornament. Wow! I have a lot left to do and time is running out! Thanks for stopping by!

My Sweet Girl

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Thanksgiving In The Falls

Well, Trey, Ella and I packed up and headed to Wichita Falls on Wednesday night. We arrived around 8:00 at night, ate and then went to sleep. Thursday we went over to Trey's parents for Thanksgiving lunch and stayed over there all day. Thursday night my brother, Jennie, and Hunter got to town and we chatted, played with the babies and finally went to sleep around 11. I say finally because the boys were going deer hunting the next day and were going to be waking up at 3:30 so they could drive two and a half hours to their deer lease and get in a morning hunt. Trey had about 4 hours of sleep, so I know he was exhausted.

Friday Jennie, Hunter, me, Ella and Mom finally got the babies up, ready, fed, and happy at about 2 in the afternoon. Ha! None of that Black Friday waking up at 4:00 a.m. nonsense here! We did actually go do a little shopping though. Not really for any deals, just to get out of the house and do something. I got a cute pair of shoes, Ella two outfits (because we all know she doesn't have any!), Jennie got some Christmas presents for her family, we ate at Olive Garden and came home around 5 to put the babies back to sleep. That night my sister and her son drive to Wichita and boy was the house crowded. Two babies, one rambunctious three year old, four adults, 5 dogs, and 100 toys all strown around the house!

Saturday I went over to the in-laws house and let them play with Ella for a little while before it was nap time again. We went home, she napped and Jennie and I headed to Toys R Us while Mom tended to the babies and we did a little Christmas shopping for the kids. This is what my parents are going to give her for Christmas. I think it is so cute and I can't wait to play with her in it!

That night I went out to eat with to of my best friends, Beth and Julie and we had a great time. Ella wore her new outfit and was a hit at the restaurant!



Sunday the boys returned from the hunt and we finally had our Thanksgiving lunch. With four more adults added to the house it was even more crowded and turned into a crazy house! We also celebrated my brother's 29th birthday!

Ella wasn't very interested in the presents, but she sure loved the boxes!

She also loved swinging.

Hunter was wearing my favorite shirt! I bought this for Caleb when he was a baby and now it has been passed on to Hunter. Yes, it does say 'Mmmm...Boobies'. Perfect for a breastfeeding boy! Well, really any boy for that matter. I think it might be tacky though if Trey walked around with a shirt like that!


Granny getting in a few snuggles before they headed home. I love going home for the Holidays, but this year it was very stressful with a baby who only likes to sleep in her bed, lots of errands to run, and a three year old who seems bound and determined to hurt my baby. I think I only got about 4 hours of sleep a night because I too like my own bed and when I would finally fall asleep Ella would wake up. Every time I would wake up though I would see the light from under the door across the hall so I knew Jennie was awake too! We were both exhausted come Sunday!


I have caught up on sleep though, Ella is still working on it. I have also almost finished decorating for Christmas and I am so excited about my new decorations. I can't wait to post pictures once I finish!

Doesn't Get Much Better Than This

My handsome husband and beautiful baby. This is a picture from our recent Christmas Card photo shoot. More to come soon!

Thankful For My Parents

These are my parents. Yes, they look like your average set of parents & grandparents, but they are not. They are both way beyond average. I would say a lot closer to amazing. And for them I am so thankful.

I am thankful that when I was 16 and wild and crazy that they did not kill me. Yes, it is nice to still be alive.

I am thankful that when I told them where I wanted to go to college they said okay, and when I finally realized that was a stupid mistake, they came and helped me move to Texas Tech.

I am thankful that when I got into a wreck for the fourth or fifth time, they would still say, as long as you are okay that is all that matters. The car can be fixed!
I am thankful because they have been such amazing role models for me as to what parents should do and the role of a mother and father. From my Dad I learned to be strong, affectionate, business savy, and a good b.s.er. Whenever something bad happened, or something unexpected comes up you can count on my Dad to say one of two things. 1) God is in Control 2) God doesn't make mistakes. What a great response to have. But he doesn't just say it, he means it.

From my mom I learned to be a strong woman who can do things for herself. I learned how to have fun, to be sarcastic, to be open and approachable. My mom is real. 100% genuine. Bold and honest. I also learned how to be a mom from watching her. She was an active stay at home mom who would play with us. Not sit on the couch and watch TV or spend all day on the internet and expect us to entertain ourselves. She played with us. She read us books and engaged us.

Just by having her as a Mom I learned how to be a Mom.

I am so thankful that God chose me to be their daughter.

Thankful for My Two Loves

To continue with the things I am thankful for I would like to add my husband and daughter to the top of the list.

My husband is an amazing man, sensitive, giving, affectionate and loving. He was such a good husband, but this year I learned that he is one of the best Dad's also. He loves me and he loves his little girl so much and I am so thankful to him for who he is and what he does.

We are both so thankful for our daughter. For 9 months we prayed for her and guessed who she would look like, what day she would come, how we would be as parents and worried over so many things as well. Now that she is here we pray and worry even more than we did before, wow now I know what my Mom and Dad were talking about!

We are so thankful that she is healthy and happy and we are so thankful that God chose us to be her parents. She has enriched our lives and has brought us so much joy.

The day she was born. We never put her down. I was so tired and so thankful to Trey for changing her diapers and letting me sleep for just a bit. My two favorite people on Trey's first Father's Day.

Throwing his girl in the air.

This is my favorite picture of the two of them. He gives her a bath every night since I am with her all day long.

These two people are the love of my life and I am so thankful and so blessed to have them in my life. Who/what are you thankful for? Thanksgiving has a whole new meaning for me this year and I know it does for a lot of you new Mother's/Newlyweds out there too!

Thankful

With Thanksgiving one week away, I would like to post a thing or two each day that I am thankful for.

This is NOT the thing I am most thankful for, but it is where I will start my list...

I am thankful that I am not as big as a house. Last Thanksgiving I was almost 8 months pregnant and OH SO LARGE and OH SO UNCOMFORTABLE. I wanted to get Ella out of my stomach so badly and would have been so thankful for that! Every time I saw my parents they would say "surely you can't last much longer" or "there is no way your stomach can get any bigger"; however, I consistently proved them wrong and just kept growing!


Do you see that stomach?! Now do you understand why I am thankful?!

(I would like to point out to you that my husband is totally checking me out and looking at my butt in this picture. Either that or he is noticing how large it is? I choose to believe the first.)