Our Life Back in Texas!: 1/1/12

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Christmas - Part 2

This Christmas was so special as it was our first one with Joseph. It was such a joy to experience everything with him and begin teaching him about Christmas.

Now that we have Joseph, we decided to stay home at our house for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Michael and I had a lot of fun discussing traditions from both of our families and trying to decide how to combine them and come up with some new traditions for our little family of 3!

So...Christmas Eve, Joseph and I made cookies for Santa! Ok, I made the cookies and he "supervised" from the exercauser. We had the fire going and Christmas music on...it was perfect! We made Chocolate Peppermint Crunch cookies and sugar cookies (apparently those are Santa's favorite). Then, that afternoon we got all ready and headed to Mass at 4pm where it was standing room only. Not easy to do with a little guy but he had fun looking at the statue of Mary...plus it's always amazing to see the church that crowded. That night we put out the cookies for Santa and Michael got hard to work putting together Joseph's Christmas present.

Christmas morning began when Joseph woke up around 7am. It was so fun bringing him out to see all the gifts that Santa brought. Santa gave Joseph an interactive doorframe thing that makes all kinds of noises and sound effects. He also got some stacking cups, linking rings, and 2 little books about going to Mass and the saints. Michael got a shop vac, step stool and the new Zelda game and I got a new blender, some pj's and a gift card for a massage! After gifts, Michael made us some homemade donuts for breakfast - yum!

Making cookies for Santa

Finished batch

After Christmas Eve Mass

Love my baby boy

Joseph with Daddy

Our sweet guy all dressed up!

In his Christmas jammies we put out cookies with milk for Santa (and Mrs. Claus)

Santa was hungry!

Look what Santa brought

Having so fun with his new gifts

Daddy showing Joseph his stocking stuffer

Michael making homemade donuts

Yummy breakfast!

After breakfast, we headed to my grandpa's house where we met up with the rest of my family. We did a dinner there and a gift exchange. We also gave my grandpa the picture of all the great grandkids that we had taken back in November - he loved it! Then we headed back to my parents house for a couple of days. We had so fun all being together and when the kids went down for the night, we played mexican dominoes which was super fun. And not near as many fights as Pictionary normally stirs up! :)

My mom holding Joseph for his nap at Grandpa's house

My Grandpa - he said he was a reindeer in this picture :)

Me, my sisters, cousins, and cousins' wives - the mothers of all the great grandkids

The next weekend, we headed to Temple to celebrate our Christmas over New Year's weekend with Michael's family. We had some great meals and had lots of fun with our gift exchange there. Unfortunately Joseph came down with a bad cold at the time and was running fever the whole weekend. :( But he acted ok for the most part and we enjoyed more great family time.

Joseph with his cousins on Michael's side (Noah, Micah & Kristopher)

Joseph playing with his new piano he got from his Grandma Z

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Christmas Recap - Part 1

Happy 2012 and I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

I am clearly super behind on blog posts given the busy holidays lately, so I'll post our Christmas in 2 different parts.

The week before Christmas, I took Joseph to see Santa at the mall! Unfortunately we got there 2 minutes after Santa left for his lunch break, but it worked out ok since I had more shopping to do. When Santa came back, Joseph did well sitting in his lap! I was really worried he would be scared or cry but no tears! He didn't really smile either, but I was just thrilled he wasn't upset. :) After the lady took the picture (below), Joseph just turned and looked up at Santa trying to figure out just who he was. It was so cute and I wish I had a picture of it!

That week, my mom was off work for the week, so she came and spent a few days with us. She was such a great help and was able to watch Joseph for me while I had a dr's appt and dentist appt. So much easier to do that kind of stuff while not having to entertain the little guy. ;) Mom is so great with Joseph and he just loves her. She was also a great help for me and helped me wrap all my Christmas presents! :) It was so nice to have those days with my mom!

The day after my mom left, Michael's parents came in town for a couple of days! We had a wonderful Christmas dinner over at Michael's sister Lauren's house and enjoyed spending time together. Joseph had a blast with Faith & Jimmy as well and had fun playing with them while I made my holiday fruitcake (Michael's grandmother's recipe). Michael smoked us a brisket the last night and we had a yummy dinner together and watched a movie after Joseph hit the sack!

It was so fun to have time with our parents prior to Christmas. It brings me so much joy to see them interact with Joseph and it's amazing how much they love him and he loves them. Joseph is so blessed to have 4 wonderful grandparents!

Check back in a few days for part 2!