Have yourself a Merry little Christmas!
The past two weeks have been CRAZY BUSY to say the least! Since Brian has been off school, we have been non-stop and loving every minute of the Christmas Season! Here is our Christmas 2012 wrapped up into 74 photos and two videos!
We have been keeping busy with all Christmas things including Christmas Crafts! These are what we made for both of Brian's grandparents this year for Christmas!
What a treasure!!
We were also invited to attend Brian's Dad's work Childrens Christmas party!
Carter had a lot of fun once he got over his initial "shy" first few minutes! He wasnt interested in sitting in the chairs watching the magic show or anything.. but he parked his little bum right beside the cooler filled with drinks... front row seating.. and was super happy there!
Southgate always hires the classic... "Dan-the-one-man-band" for entertainment for the kids. Last year, Carter was TERRIFIED of him... this year... he LOVED him!! He danced the entire time like a champ! Here is a little bit of Carter's amazing moves!
Then it was time for SANTA! Bentley did good.. but I didnt really think he would really even notice at all...
As for Carter, I tried so hard to explain to him that Santa has a present for him.. and that when he calls Carter's name... we will go and I will stand right in front of him and he will sit on Santa's lap... He seemed like he would be just fine.. but when the time came.. and Santa called Carter's name... disaster struck!
And I ended up sitting on Santa's lap again this year.. lol
maybe next year he will be brave enough.
We also made more chocolates the week before Christmas with my family! Since my grandparents are in town .. and since my Grandma is as addicted to chocolate as I am .. we taught her how to make them! What a fun tradition this will be!
I started with the dipping...
While my Grandma rolled the fondant for me...
My Dad manned the melting chocolate to make sure it didnt scorch...
And my Grandpa was the all around helping... bringing the chocolates in and out from outside... getting more wax paper for us.. and all the little jobs that we needed .. he was a great help!!
Every body had a turn at learning how to dip!
Grandma LOVED IT!
And Amanda and Dad took on the coconut rolls!
We made a ton of chocolates including... olympian cream, peppermint, coconut, orange, lemon, cherry, coffee, maple and caramels! I think we made close to 1000 chocolates which is really good for our first time doing it together! It was so much fun and a memory I will always keep close to my heart!
On Friday December 21st, Brian and I got together with some friends for an "Ugly Sweater Christmas Party" it was so much fun! We all met at the cattle Barron for dinner then back to our house for pot luck treats! It was super fun to see everyones funny sweaters!
Christmas Eve was here before we even knew it! We always spend Christmas eve at Brian's Grandma Reed's house. Its a fun tradition that we do. Carter was ECSTATIC when his big cousin Marsden walked through the door and for the rest of the afternoon and evening the boys were happy to play trains!
One fun thing we always do at Grandma & Grandpa Reed's house on Christmas eve is the Nativity.
We all dress up... Marsden first wanted to be a shepard..
So Carter wanted to be a shepard...
Then Marsden wasnted to be a sheep, so we tried to get Carter to be a sheep with him...
Nope, not impressed.. lol... So carter was the "floater" we will say... he was everything lol. All the cousins are such good sports! We all get right into it and put on a little performance for Grandma & Grandpa!
This year, Lena & Jarren were Mary and Joseph.. and Bentley was Baby Jesus!
... lol heres our little "Floater"....
And well into the evening everyone started to get a little sleepy as bed times came and went...
So we headed home around 9:30pm to get ready for Santa! Unfortunately this Christmas Eve was a VERY late night... Carter I think Had WAY to many treats at Grandma Reed's house... plus teething... and he wasnt sleeping until 2AM!!! Yes, I said 2am!... That was not a typo! NEVER AGAIN! lol
Im pretty sure Santa even came while Carter was awake... but he didnt see him.. of course!
This year, Carter decorated the cookies for Santa...
He was really more interested in eating them as he decorated them... so thats why the tree is half missing and the stalking is half eaten lol funny guy!
But Looks like Santa loved them anyways!
And the stalkings were filled! Bentley's was filled with Diapers! Thanks Santa!!
Christmas Day was a bit of a blur! We had to be up and at Brian's parents house by 8am because his brother Steven who is serving a mission in France was going to skype home with everyone.. we were SOO excited but super sleepy! Steven sounds great! He is such an incredible missionary and we couldn't be more proud of him! For Steven's Christmas gift this year we decided to make him a little video!
What a treasure it is to have! Our favorite part is when Carter says... "I Can Run FAST!" and squints his eyes! And of course when Chubby Bentley is sitting beside him!
We spent the morning at Mom & Dad Reed's house and then went home to let Carter open his gifts from Santa.. (Seeing as Carter went to bed so late I wanted him to sleep as much as possible.. so we didnt do gifts first thing in the morning before going to Mom & Dad Reed's house) Carter instantly fell IN LOVE with his train table!! We are so lucky... a friend from Church just gave us the table and a few tracks.. and Brian and I cleaned it up .. bought a few more tracks and trains and super glued them on ... thank you SO MUCH Karla!! This was the best christmas gift EVER for Carter!
After Carter played like crazy on his tracks and Bentley "opened" his cute new little music box from Santa.. we headed over to my parents house for Christmas dinner! My mom always puts so much effort into her table settings on special occasions.. and she does such a wonderful job!
I love getting together with all of our family. It really is the most wonderful time of year!
And (of course) I mostly LOVE spending time with the love of my life on Christmas!
Its nice to see my sweet little niece Bella.. she is the cutest thing!
Love her to pieces!
Then it was time to open gifts from Carter's Grandma & Grandpa and Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa! By now.. Carter totally had the hang of ripping the paper!
Looks like Bella did too!
And the second Carter saw the "thomas" logo.. he was in HEAVEN!
-
And my adorable little nephew Taytum.. (Aka: Auntie's Tater-tot).. got spoiled too with his awesome new cars set!
And as for Bentley.. he got an AWESOME gift from his Grandma & Grandpa.. a new Jolly Jumper.. with the stand!! He will be VERY excited about it once he knows how fun it is!
I Love my little Carter so much and I am so happy to have spent this incredibly busy but delightful christmas day with him!
Bentley got kisses all over..
And I couldnt be happier to have this special Christmas as Bentley's first Christmas. He will always be my little Bentley-Bean and I love him to death! He makes me SO HAPPY! Happy 1st Christmas Bentley-Bean. Mommy Loves you!
And right before bed time.. we tried to get a cute cousins picture in their new Christmas pajamas... but Carter had enough.. he was WAY over tired.. and it was bed time...
So Taytum and Bentley took a cute cousins picture!
We put Carter to bed in the playpen where he usually sleeps when we are out and of course this is the day he learns how to climb out of the playpen! ... Great! So after an hour of trying to get him to bed and him begging us to let him sleep on the couch.. we finally gave in and this is where he slept at Grandma's house while we all played games...
And to our surprise.. he stayed there the entire time... didn't try to get up once. What a big boy!
We had another beautiful Christmas filled with love and laughs and good company. We remembered the savious this christmas season and gave thanks for all we have. We are blessed.
Merry Christmas.
We have been keeping busy with all Christmas things including Christmas Crafts! These are what we made for both of Brian's grandparents this year for Christmas!
What a treasure!!
We were also invited to attend Brian's Dad's work Childrens Christmas party!
Carter had a lot of fun once he got over his initial "shy" first few minutes! He wasnt interested in sitting in the chairs watching the magic show or anything.. but he parked his little bum right beside the cooler filled with drinks... front row seating.. and was super happy there!
Southgate always hires the classic... "Dan-the-one-man-band" for entertainment for the kids. Last year, Carter was TERRIFIED of him... this year... he LOVED him!! He danced the entire time like a champ! Here is a little bit of Carter's amazing moves!
Then it was time for SANTA! Bentley did good.. but I didnt really think he would really even notice at all...
As for Carter, I tried so hard to explain to him that Santa has a present for him.. and that when he calls Carter's name... we will go and I will stand right in front of him and he will sit on Santa's lap... He seemed like he would be just fine.. but when the time came.. and Santa called Carter's name... disaster struck!
And I ended up sitting on Santa's lap again this year.. lol
maybe next year he will be brave enough.
We also made more chocolates the week before Christmas with my family! Since my grandparents are in town .. and since my Grandma is as addicted to chocolate as I am .. we taught her how to make them! What a fun tradition this will be!
I started with the dipping...
While my Grandma rolled the fondant for me...
My Dad manned the melting chocolate to make sure it didnt scorch...
And my Grandpa was the all around helping... bringing the chocolates in and out from outside... getting more wax paper for us.. and all the little jobs that we needed .. he was a great help!!
Every body had a turn at learning how to dip!
Grandma LOVED IT!
And Amanda and Dad took on the coconut rolls!
We made a ton of chocolates including... olympian cream, peppermint, coconut, orange, lemon, cherry, coffee, maple and caramels! I think we made close to 1000 chocolates which is really good for our first time doing it together! It was so much fun and a memory I will always keep close to my heart!
On Friday December 21st, Brian and I got together with some friends for an "Ugly Sweater Christmas Party" it was so much fun! We all met at the cattle Barron for dinner then back to our house for pot luck treats! It was super fun to see everyones funny sweaters!
Christmas Eve was here before we even knew it! We always spend Christmas eve at Brian's Grandma Reed's house. Its a fun tradition that we do. Carter was ECSTATIC when his big cousin Marsden walked through the door and for the rest of the afternoon and evening the boys were happy to play trains!
One fun thing we always do at Grandma & Grandpa Reed's house on Christmas eve is the Nativity.
We all dress up... Marsden first wanted to be a shepard..
So Carter wanted to be a shepard...
Then Marsden wasnted to be a sheep, so we tried to get Carter to be a sheep with him...
Nope, not impressed.. lol... So carter was the "floater" we will say... he was everything lol. All the cousins are such good sports! We all get right into it and put on a little performance for Grandma & Grandpa!
This year, Lena & Jarren were Mary and Joseph.. and Bentley was Baby Jesus!
... lol heres our little "Floater"....
And well into the evening everyone started to get a little sleepy as bed times came and went...
So we headed home around 9:30pm to get ready for Santa! Unfortunately this Christmas Eve was a VERY late night... Carter I think Had WAY to many treats at Grandma Reed's house... plus teething... and he wasnt sleeping until 2AM!!! Yes, I said 2am!... That was not a typo! NEVER AGAIN! lol
Im pretty sure Santa even came while Carter was awake... but he didnt see him.. of course!
This year, Carter decorated the cookies for Santa...
He was really more interested in eating them as he decorated them... so thats why the tree is half missing and the stalking is half eaten lol funny guy!
But Looks like Santa loved them anyways!
And the stalkings were filled! Bentley's was filled with Diapers! Thanks Santa!!
Christmas Day was a bit of a blur! We had to be up and at Brian's parents house by 8am because his brother Steven who is serving a mission in France was going to skype home with everyone.. we were SOO excited but super sleepy! Steven sounds great! He is such an incredible missionary and we couldn't be more proud of him! For Steven's Christmas gift this year we decided to make him a little video!
What a treasure it is to have! Our favorite part is when Carter says... "I Can Run FAST!" and squints his eyes! And of course when Chubby Bentley is sitting beside him!
We spent the morning at Mom & Dad Reed's house and then went home to let Carter open his gifts from Santa.. (Seeing as Carter went to bed so late I wanted him to sleep as much as possible.. so we didnt do gifts first thing in the morning before going to Mom & Dad Reed's house) Carter instantly fell IN LOVE with his train table!! We are so lucky... a friend from Church just gave us the table and a few tracks.. and Brian and I cleaned it up .. bought a few more tracks and trains and super glued them on ... thank you SO MUCH Karla!! This was the best christmas gift EVER for Carter!
After Carter played like crazy on his tracks and Bentley "opened" his cute new little music box from Santa.. we headed over to my parents house for Christmas dinner! My mom always puts so much effort into her table settings on special occasions.. and she does such a wonderful job!
I love getting together with all of our family. It really is the most wonderful time of year!
And (of course) I mostly LOVE spending time with the love of my life on Christmas!
Its nice to see my sweet little niece Bella.. she is the cutest thing!
Love her to pieces!
Then it was time to open gifts from Carter's Grandma & Grandpa and Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa! By now.. Carter totally had the hang of ripping the paper!
Looks like Bella did too!
And the second Carter saw the "thomas" logo.. he was in HEAVEN!
-
And my adorable little nephew Taytum.. (Aka: Auntie's Tater-tot).. got spoiled too with his awesome new cars set!
And as for Bentley.. he got an AWESOME gift from his Grandma & Grandpa.. a new Jolly Jumper.. with the stand!! He will be VERY excited about it once he knows how fun it is!
I Love my little Carter so much and I am so happy to have spent this incredibly busy but delightful christmas day with him!
Bentley got kisses all over..
And I couldnt be happier to have this special Christmas as Bentley's first Christmas. He will always be my little Bentley-Bean and I love him to death! He makes me SO HAPPY! Happy 1st Christmas Bentley-Bean. Mommy Loves you!
And right before bed time.. we tried to get a cute cousins picture in their new Christmas pajamas... but Carter had enough.. he was WAY over tired.. and it was bed time...
So Taytum and Bentley took a cute cousins picture!
We put Carter to bed in the playpen where he usually sleeps when we are out and of course this is the day he learns how to climb out of the playpen! ... Great! So after an hour of trying to get him to bed and him begging us to let him sleep on the couch.. we finally gave in and this is where he slept at Grandma's house while we all played games...
And to our surprise.. he stayed there the entire time... didn't try to get up once. What a big boy!
We had another beautiful Christmas filled with love and laughs and good company. We remembered the savious this christmas season and gave thanks for all we have. We are blessed.
Merry Christmas.
