Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Monday, January 4, 2010

The holidays

Phew! We've had an exciting few weeks! December 18th was my parent's 36th wedding anniversary AND my mom graduated from UF making her officially a Gator! We went up to Gainesville to meet my dad, Eddie, Crystal, and Ella to see mom graduate and then we went out to dinner to celebrate.


The following day Cayden and I went with my parents to cut down their Christmas tree. It has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Also a tradition is for someone to bring up the time Eddie and I dragged the tree through dog poo....


This year, sadly, Eddie and his family could not join us. But I was happy when Allan showed up and surprised me with Hunter and Trent! This was the first year that I did not participate at all in the actual cutting of the tree. Allan and the boys did it all. Then the boys dragged the tree out all by themselves (actually Trent did most of it alone!). I can't believe how fast they've grown up! The next day we celebrated their birthdays: Hunter turned 5 on December 16th and Trent turned 4 on December 27th.

Allan and I have always celebrated Christmas together on December 23rd. Since it was a Wednesday Allan had to work, so by the time we were able to eat our "Christmas" dinner and open presents and watch Christmas movies Cayden was already sleeping. Here is us in front of our tree, with Kudos making an appearance behind us.
On Christmas Eve, again, Allan had to work. I spent the day trying to fit all of the Christmas gifts into Allan's truck. Then Cayden and I went to mass (his 1st time!), went to pick Allan up from work, and headed to Ocala to his mom's house where we ate dinner and opened Christmas presents. It has always worked out really great for us to be able to spend the evening there. And as a bonus, my parents joined us.

Cayden with Nonni, Grandma Bear, and Oma. Notice his outfit!! A rockin' Xmas!


       Cayden's Christmas jammies and Jen sporting a ribon headband                                    
                                                                                                  
Then we were off to Guy and Jen's house where we waited for Santa to drop off his incredible amount of toys! Hunter and Trent must have been really good this year! Here they are showing off some of their new things. Below are Allan and me with Cayden and then below and to the left (I can't figure out how to put pics where I want them) is Cayden being entertained by crazy Uncle Guy!

 Once the boys opened their gifts we left for my parents' house for more presents and food! Here is my dad playing with Cayden. Notice Cayden's knee. Cute!
December 26th we went to Gainesville to spend the day with Eddie, Crystal, and Ella! Unfortunately we didn't get to spend nearly as much time as we'd have liked. And also we didn't bring a camera! I am awaiting pictures to be emailed from that day and I'll add them then. We saw Ella's awesome new pink bike! What a big girl she is! She is so smart and pretty and funny! I really love that she is starting to recognize everyone. We don't get to see her that often so it is really fun that it takes her less time to warm up to us than it used to. And she loves Cayden! I can't wait until Eli is born! Cayden will finally have a playmate. These get togethers will be super fun then!
                   
Before heading back home we stopped by Jen's house one more time so she could take Cayden's 4 month pictures! As usual, she did a beautiful job! Here are some of my favorites.
                            

Then it was back to work for a few more days before it was time to celebrate the New Year! Chenel, Richard, and Baby Richard came over but left before midnight. Here are the two of us as it turned in to 2010 (and as the stupid camera died!). It was quite a year!                            

So far 2010 has already been exciting! January 1st Eddie, Crystal, and Ella came. We spend the day playing together and watching football. Both our teams won! My parents joined us and brought the traditional black-eyed peas and turnip greens dinner. We really enjoyed getting to see everyone and having them stay so long! My parents stayed until almost the end of the Gator game and Eddie and Crystal decided to spend the night! Cayden gladly gave up his room for them and his crib for Ella, although she didn't appreciate it as much as he wanted her to. Again it was a great time with them. We played this game, Apples to Apples. It didn't sound fun and I was hesitant to play, but it was great fun! I recommend it highly! We also got to witness as Ella is being potty trained. Everything she does, even sitting on the potty, is adorable! I LOVE her! Her little voice is so sweet. She is always saying, "Mommy I miss you! Daddy I miss you!". SO cute.  This weekend we'll be going to Ocala again to celebrate Allan's grandma's birthday. Hopefully I'll be able to go to Gainesville and see her again. We're so lucky to have such loving and supportive family who live so close. I hope to see everyone as often as possible this year!

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