A perfect Christmas Day!

We had a wonderful Christmas with just the three of us this year! Last night we read the Christmas Story with Matthew and sang some Christmas hymns. Then we let Matthew open the gifts from my parents and sisters. My parents gave Matthew this little dog that fetches a ball and a slipper and he loves it!!! We can't wait until we can get him a real dog!


My family has always had a tradition of new pajamas on Christmas Eve, so we have carried that tradition on in our family and all three of us got new pajamas.

I love this picture of Matthew with the wrapping paper in the air...that's what happened all day today! :)


After Matthew went to bed, Scott and I set up this Christmas train that we bought before Santa came. We had fun setting it up together. I don't know who loved it more...Scott or Matthew?


When Matthew got up this morning, we were excited to find that Santa brought Matthew a brand new tricycle!!! We thought we would be jumping on it right away, but he was completely mesmerized by the train...he refused to open any presents, so we decided to let him play with it for a little while.


Even after playing with the train, it took a while before he got into opening presents. Mommy and Daddy opened our presents to try and get him going, but he just loved that train. Until we finally got him to open Mickey Mouse.

Matthew LOVES Mickey Mouse and the show on Playhouse Disney, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he got the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and all the friends! All the friends talk and move! He totally loves it...he played with it for most of the day.


After eating a big breakfast and playing with his Clubhouse for a little while, Matthew was rearing and ready to open the rest of his presents! He was so cute and genuinely excited about each present he opened! Check out his face in some of these pictures...he is either saying "WOW" or "COOL"!!!





Matthew got an inflatable tee-ball set! For those of you that don't know Matthew...he loves sports, so this was perfect for him! We showed him how to do it and he caught on and before we knew it, the ball was flying! We would have gone to the park except it was raining most of the day! Luckily the ball is inflatable too, so it won't do any damage! :)

We stayed home and played all day...it was so much fun just to be together! After an awesome dinner, we went for a drive around the neighborhood to look at all the Christmas lights. Here is a picture of Matthew actually looking at the camera and smiling in his Christmas PJ's! For some reason he look so little here!


Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! We spent a lot of time on the phone with family, including a call from Scott's brother Brent who is serving a mission! We were so happy to just be together and relax...we hope you all had a perfect Christmas!

A new hair cut....FINALLY!!!

Our anniversary is next week and Scott gave me an early anniversary present...a much needed haircut and highlight!!! I was so excited! All week I have been counting down the days until yesterday! I desperately needed it! There was only one thing that Scott asked...I couldn't cut it short, so since I wanted to try something different, I decided to get some long bangs! So far I love it!
Thank you Scott....I love you so much!

What a BIG BOY!!!!

That's right...my baby is now sleeping in a "Big boy bed"! Well...his first nap didn't start out in his big boy bed....


Yes, he quickly discovered that he can get out of bed all by himself and do whatever he wants! I put a gate up on his door, so he couldn't leave his room. I tried a few different approaches to him getting him to stay in bed and fall asleep: putting him right back in his bed without saying anything, rubbing his back, laying in bed with him (although I didn't want this to become a habit, luckily, he didn't like it!)...nothing worked! I even tried putting him back in his crib, but before I could leave the room, he had both legs up on top of his crib! (Which defeats the purpose since this is the reason we had to get a big boy bed.) So, after getting some advice from my awesome mom, I decided to just ignore him! And half an hour later...


...notice how he's asleep in between the two beds! :)

I did pick him up and put him in his bed:


Bedtime went much better (thank goodness)! He fell right to sleep and even slept in this morning until 8am! (Although I don't think it was the bed, he's been doing that since we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, but still!) Look how precious...

He makes sure all his friends are all around him: Mickey (currently his favorite thing!), "Muggles", Bear, Doggy and Pooh! And two blankies! :)

We are so lucky that Matthew adjusts to new things so well! All of these pictures are from yesterday and today, nap and bedtime went perfectly! When I ask Matthew, "Do you want to sleep in your crib or your big boy bed?" He says, "My bed!"

I can't believe how big he's getting and what a sweetheart he is! I put him down for his nap today and right after I left his room, Scott came home for lunch. Matthew didn't know he was home, but while Scott and I were eating we heard Matthew's sweet voice on the monitor saying, "I love you Dada. I love you Mama. I love you Dada. I love you Mama." It was so incredibly sweet...both Scott and I were beaming!
We love our big boy!

Decorating for CHRISTMAS!!!! :)

This is my FAVORITE time of year...I LOVE Christmas!!!! I love everything about it, but most of all I love the feeling when I remember the reason for the season! I love when everyone is thinking about our Savior and His life! I am also a HUGE fan of traditions and ever since Scott and I got married, we have tried to create as many family traditions as we can! So this year we decided that every year, we would set up for Christmas the Sunday after Thanksgiving and then have "Christmas breakfast" for dinner that night. (breakfast for dinner is another tradition on Sundays) Here is our first "Christmas breakfast for dinner":

Matthew had a blast decorating our tree. Every morning he wakes up and says, "Christmas tree on!" The light bulbs will be dead by the time Christmas comes because he wants them on all day (and I don't complain!)


We also bought him a tree that would be his to decorate and do whatever he wants to. His ornaments are "shatter-proof"! (Our not-so shatter proof ornaments are up high on our tree!)


I love his little profile...look at the shadow...man he's cute! :)

Isn't he just adorable??? (His PJ's say: What Santa doesn't get me, Grandma will! :)

We were playing Christmas music while we were decorating and I caught these cute pictures of the two loves of my life dancing! I am so lucky....I love them soooooo much! (Make fun if you want, but I love what a wonderful daddy Scott is!)



And here is the finished product (so far):
I love our Christmas tree, but my favorite is our nativity scene. My mom and dad got it for us for our first Christmas and I love it! This year I bought Matthew his own (again, to try and keep him from playing with the big one). He really loves it! He brings all his little toy animals to see baby Jesus just like the sheep and donkey! It's very cute!

And of course our stockings...love the stockings! Also a HUGE tradition in my family!

We are very excited about Christmas and teaching Matthew all about the reason for Christmas...the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas!

Our Thanksgiving...

For Thanksgiving, we went to visit Scott's sister and her family! We haven't seen them for a long time, so it was fun to hang out for a few days! Matthew had a blast playing with his cousins! He also liked having girly toys around! Especially the baby doll stroller! Here is he with Buzz in a pink stroller sitting on the couch watching a movie!



I took some adorable pictures of Matthew playing in the bathtub with Ethan and Sara, but Matthew found the memory card that had the pictures on it and now I don't know where it is!

The day after Thanksgiving, Leslie and I left the kids with dads and went Black Friday shopping...one of the greatest days of the year! :) Our day started at 2:45am and although we planned to take a nap, it didn't happen! It was so much fun! I love going shopping...it's one of my weaknesses! I have 98% of my Christmas shopping done!

Here are some pictures of Matthew killing time on the drive home...his favorite thing to do...color! :)



We had a great week...thanks again Ashby's for a great week!