Christmas 2013

Christmas always makes me realize how blessed we are to have each other and to have the wonderful family that we do! However, this Christmas was not as "merry" as we would have liked. We spent most of the holiday sick unfortunately! Courtney had taken the entire week off and our plan was to head up to Iowa on that Monday before Christmas and return Saturday after Christmas. Well, it all started the Saturday before Christmas when Gavin woke up with a cold and runny nose and then Sunday Courtney got the stomach flu. We ended up cutting our trip to Iowa short, we headed back on Tuesday and were home by Friday afternoon! It still was a great trip and we are so glad we got to spend some time with everyone! However, with Gavin being sick the entire time it was a little hectic to say the least!

Saturday December 21st:
We did manage to squeeze in our own little family Christmas that Saturday morning before everyone started to feel bad. We decided to let Gavin open is stocking and his "big" gift from Santa.....he was thrilled!

Wednesday December 25th: Christmas Morning with Gigi and Papa Steve:
We spent Christmas morning at my mom's and despite Gavin's cold he had a smile on his face most of the morning ripping into all the packages. It was so much fun watching him this year....

Grabbing a little breakfast and some coffee before all the fun started!

Even Ellie got a gift from Santa...she could not wait to get her paws on it!

Merry Christmas from our family of three!

Wednesday December 25th: Christmas Day with Dudie and Papa's: 

Christmas afternoon we headed up to Sumner to spend the day and evening with Courtney's family at Dixie and George's house. Vicki came up with this crazy idea for everyone to wear "ugly sweaters" ;)

so that is exactly what we did! Everyone looked great! However, our evening got cut short when Gavin ended up running a fever of 104.7. We were able to get his fever down with a cool bath (which he hated), but we decided to head back to Waterloo and stay at mom's just in case his fever spiked again and we needed to get him to the hospital. My mom only lives minutes from Covenant. It was a crazy and scary night, but everything turned ok. We still enjoyed our day at Dudie and Papa's and Gavin LOVED all the John Deere tractors that he got from Dudie and Papa! 

Thursday December 26th: Celebrating with Grandpa Pat and Grandma Rose:

On Thursday we headed back to Sumner for the afternoon to celebrate a quick Christmas with Pat and Rose since we did not make it back at Thanksgiving when they celebrated Christmas with the rest of the family. Unfortunately, I woke up that morning with a nasty cold and Gavin was also still not feeling well on Thursday. He was running a slight fever, so I did not get a chance to take any pictures while we were there. All he wanted to do was sit on his mommy's lap! Gavin was a very lucky boy this Christmas....he got an all oak table from Pat and Rose to complete his table and chair set! Since we have been home he has enjoyed playing with his new tractors at his new table. 

Later that night back at my mom's we were able to spend some time with Michael (Steve's son) who came back from Arizona. Courtney's sister Vicki also stopped by for a quick glass of wine since our "partying" time with her on Christmas night was cut short due to Gavin's high fever. We all had a great night finally relaxing and drinking some good wine! Gavin even sported his new pj's from Gigi and Papa Steve. 

Friday December 27th: GOING HOME!

Friday morning before we loaded up and headed back to Olathe...Steve's parents stopped by for a quick visit to see Gavin. It was nice seeing them and Gavin enjoyed his Mickey Mouse book set from them!

I'm not sure if the trip back was a fast three days or a long three days....lol! Either way we are happy to be home and sick in our own beds! ;)  I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Despite us not feeling well a Christmas spent with family is a perfect Christmas!

Tis' the Season....

Well, with Christmas just around the corner we have been busy getting into the Christmas spirit! After Thanksgiving we came home and started putting up our Christmas decorations. I love decorating for Christmas with some music going and a glass of wine....doesn't get much better. Gavin was even a big help with putting some of the ornaments on the tree. I really enjoyed decorating this year since this is "our" first house. Now, we don't have much decorations on the outside. So, my plan is to get some on sale after Christmas this year. We will be ready to compete with the neighbors next year. LOL

What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to visit Santa. I have been looking forward to taking Gavin to see Santa this year now that he is older. Unfortunately, with Courtney still traveling it was just Gavin and I. I thought I would test him out with Santa during the week since the crowds are less, and he did great! So, we may try to go back on Saturday with Courtney if we have time. I had heard that Bass Pro had a really neat "Santa's Wonderland" display, so I decided to take Gavin there. It was awesome....they had lots of activities and displays for kids to do. So, Gavin got to enjoy some coloring at the North Pole, riding the carousel, and of course sitting on Santa's lap. He also really enjoyed the talking reindeer....lol. 

Last weekend Courtney and I headed to Branson to get into the Christmas spirit. His company Crossland had their annual Christmas party on Saturday, so we headed down on Friday for a nice weekend getaway. This was the first time we had left Gavin.....and it was kinda tough! Luckily, he was in great hands with my mom (Gigi), and I know the two of them had a blast. Courtney and I enjoyed the time away together and celebrating with his coworkers. Here are a few snap shots taken during the weekend. 

Thanksgiving 2013

For Thanksgiving this year we headed up to Nebraska to celebrate the holiday with my dad and Kim and my grandparents. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip with a great BIG surprise! My birthday fell on black Friday this year and the Hawkeyes just happened to be playing Nebraska in Nebraska. So, what better birthday gift than tickets to the football game!!! It has been years since I have been to a game and I LOVED every second of it. Thanks dad and Kim for the surprise tickets! It was such a great day....I got to spend the day with my hot/sexy husband, the Hawks WON, I got to spend the evening celebrating with my family, and then gifts and chocolate cake. What more could a girl ask for? It was a wonderful birthday! 

The rest of the time we spent taking gator rides, sitting in a deer stand, and eating lots of great food!!!! I even made "turkey" cupcakes.

It was so nice spending time with my parents and grandparents.....I love watching my dad with Gavin too. Gavin seems to really like Grandpa D. It is always great spending time on the farm and of course Gavin can't go to Grandpa D's house without wearing his "pioneer" hat.

November Recap

When I think about this past month I realize how much I have to be thankful for. So here is a quick recap of November and all the wonderful people in my life that I am very thankful for.

Friends: I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life. Some of my KC friends took me out for sushi and a night on the town to celebrate my 30th birthday. It was a late night, but thanks girls for a fun and crazy evening!

Family: Courtney and I are so blessed to have such wonderful parents and siblings. This past month my mom celebrated her 50th birthday (she looks FABULOUS by the way) so my brother Curtis and I along with Gavin made a surprise trip back to Waterloo to help her celebrate. It was a short, but great trip. We even got to spend some time with my sister-in-law Vicki. We love spending time with our parents and try to take advantage of these special moments.

Gavin: I can't even begin to explain how thankful I am to have the privilege to be this little boy's mother! He is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me. He is such a joy to be around; always smiling and laughing! I love him to pieces and I can't stop kissing his sweet chubby cheeks. I love waking up everyday knowing he is in my life....I love you to the moon and back Gavin Bo! Here is my sweet, silly boy in November....

My Husband: Lastly and most importantly I'm so truly thankful for my husband Courtney. He is my EVERYTHING....I can't imagine one day without him in my life. He truly is my better half and makes me a better person. He is such an amazing father to Gavin! I always knew he would be a good dad, but I had no idea he would be this great! I have two wonderful boys in my life and I thank God for them everyday.

Running Naked

Well, now that we are getting settled into the new house....so is Gavin. His new routine before bath very night is running around the house naked. I guess he likes the "freedom"....such a cute little behind!

Happy Halloween

We have been so excited for Halloween this year...it was extra special since we are in our new home and we actually had trick-or-treaters this year. We have been getting ready for Halloween all week by setting up our fall/halloween decorations, carving pumpkins (which you can't do without some wine), baking ghosts cookies, and reading some of our new halloween books at bedtime.

Real quick let me just tell you....when we moved into this house I could not believe all the Halloween decorations people had set-up on our street. Our neighbors across the street had an entire yard set-up as "Pirates of the Caribbean". He even had flaming pumpkins last night all up the driveway. I guess another neighbor did a raffle and gave away an Ipod to some trick-or-treaters. So, I guess one could say our street takes Halloween pretty serious....and I hear Christmas is even bigger! So, looks like Courtney is going to have to get real good at hanging lights if we are going to compete. lol

We had an awesome day that started out with dressing up as "Herky the Hawk". We headed to music class in the morning where we celebrated Halloween with some of our friends. Isaac (who we meet at swim class this summer) has become one of Gavin's buds. Isaac was a very cute dinosaur! The two did great the first part of class, but started to get cranky at the end, it was passed nap time!

Once 6:00 hit our street came alive!!! So, the thing to do in KC is for all the adults to "tailgate" in the driveway while the kids run around crazy trick-or-treating. Now, I did not know this until about 5:55pm when I noticed some of my neighbors (in costumes) sitting in lawn chairs in their driveway with their spooky Halloween music playing, fire-pits going, and drinks in hand!  It was crazy, however it was the perfect opportunity for Gavin and I to go around and meet some of our new neighbors. Since I could not decide what Gavin should be for Halloween I got him two costumes....so last night for trick-or-treating and for meeting the neighbors he was a "roar-some" dinosaur! I think his favorite part of the night was greeting the trick-or-treaters at our door....but he was a little unsure about some of the costumes. He also really enjoyed emptying the candy bowl and then filling it back up...over and over and over again. I heard our street had over 500 trick-or-treaters last night....so I guess you could say I under bought this year. However, next year we will be ready....in costume and all! Happy Halloween!

Our New Home!

Well, it has been a crazy month, but we are all moved in to our new home. We closed back on the 7th and officially were moved in on the 12th. It took us a week to get the new house cleaned and ready for us to move in....not mention we had to take quick trip back to Iowa for a funeral that same week. Anyways, we made it all work and owe a big thanks to my mom and brother for coming to help us! Here are a few pictures of the house now that we are mostly settled, we do have a finished basement but I have not taken any pictures yet. We still have a few things left to hang and do, but for the most part is it starting to look like HOME!

My favorite part of moving was watching Gavin follow Courtney around....whatever Courtney was doing Gavin wanted to be doing. He is such a big helper! :)