her first christmas...

kevin had to work christmas day... so i told abbi that santa knew that her daddy had to work so he was going to make a special trip back to logan ... just for her!!

not that she cared ... being only 5 months old ... but it mattered to us!! :)

kevin also had to work on the 26th, but when he came home we celebrated christmas!! we did our traditional opening of the stockings... and then instead of breakfast, we had dinner! :)

abbi loved getting a play mat, teething rings, a book and crinkle fabrics from santa!

please notice her beautiful stocking!! i designed it and my mom made it!! i love it!! it is sooooo perfect!

then after dinner we opened presents!! so fun! daddy helped her... it took her a minute to get into the swing of things... and then! it was like ok dad!! i got this!! give me some more paper to tear!! :) so funny!!


she had a good time! very exciting!!

... have i mentioned that she loves opening presents? :)

i love this little santa onesie! so dang cute!

after all the madness, we piled all of the wrapping paper all around her!

she was such a good girl!

i think she had a good first christmas!!

the little family ... first christmas... 2010

merry christmas...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

may all of your christmas wishes come true...

ours did this year....

christmas eve...

i love spending time with friends and family!!

we had our traditional christmas party with the gang on xmas eve and it was so fun!!

this is the 2nd year that we have drawn names for each other. and then everyone bought for abbi! so fun!!

abbi really enjoyed opening the presents... or at least tearing the paper!! she got such cute things from everyone! toys... clothes... bibs... books... stuffed animals... very neat stuff!!

this little monkey is so fun!! he talks! and abbi loved it!!

and she loves her grandma maryann...

look at all of our loot!! we were sad that kevin wasn't able to be there... but he opened his presents later that night when he got home.

love love love celebrating life with these gals!! :)

5 months...

i can't believe my little girl is 5 months old!!

here are some of the highlights of her 4-5 month...

* she is eating cereal! :) she is doing pretty well... but she goes from thumb to thumb after each spoonful!

* she is quite the chatter bug! she love to talk and hear her voice!

* abbi still LOVE LOVE LOVES her thumbs!

* and her toes!! :)

* abbi took her first plane ride! and did amazing! kevin, abbi and i flew out to michigan to see my dad the week after thanksgiving. it was a 5 hour flight both ways... and she did great! we were so proud of her!

* abbi loved spending time with papa! it took her a few days to get used to him.. we are not around many men... but once she warmed up to him, she did great.

* she is starting to find her tongue... she sticks it out all of the time... she even has a super cute grin that she sticks her tongue out!

* she is teething... but no teeth... however, there is LOTS AND LOTS of SWABBA!!! (slobber) :)


* she will chew on anyone's fingers/thumbs/hands...

* actually anything that is put in front of her she will try to put in her mouth.

* she loves the swing... i don't always fasten the bar and she has learned to use her legs and kick it up. she loves hearing the toys rattle on the bar when it falls back down.... ya, i now ALWAYS fasten the bar!

* she is learning to play with toys more... her favorites are: the plastic chain links, her fabric crinkle that nanny made for her and the "love bug" that aunt carol sent her- it has a fun jingle to it!

* we also had our first family pictures taken for our christmas card! she did so well! even though it was getting a little chilly... by the end her nose was a cute pink color...





* when she sees mom or dad abbi's total body is excited!! her face lights up and she kicks and kicks! it is nice to know that she knows who we are... :)

* abbi is such a happy little girl! sometimes she smiles so big that her nose will crinkle up and her eyes will squint! it is darling!

* she has the CUTEST little giggle that she does when she is teased or tickled...

* abbi is starting to notice her hands and their movements.

* she likes to be standing when she is being held. she wants to be up and moving!

* abbi loves her daddy!! it is so cute to see them together! when he is in the room she watches every move he makes! her eyes never leave him...

* she had her first thanksgiving! we all went over to grandma maryann's house! it was fun! she wore her "my first thanksgiving" onesie! so darling!

* she is starting to really blow raspberries and blow bubbles! anything funky with her mouth!

* abbi really squeals when she is excited!

* when we call her name she still will not look over at us... but turns when she hears our voices.

* crying or not... this darling is so cute!!

* socks are really hard to keep on her because she is always kicking!!

* KICK KICK KICK!! one day i went to get her after her nap... she had kicked her pants right off!! crazy girl!

* when i am nursing her or giving her a bottle she will groan or growl a little... it is quite funny...

* abbi will hold her head up really high when she is on her tummy. she likes to look around and see what is going on!

* she really loves her bathtime! she splashes and splashes!! i usually get just as wet as she does!!

* she loves music!! when she hears any music she will usually quiet down and listen. she has a little pillow that you can wind up and it plays "lullaby and goodnight"... her favorite! we usually wind it up when we are getting her ready for bed.

* while we were in michigan we were able to go to the worlds largest christmas store... bronners!! amazing! we were so lucky!! cuz santa clause was there the day we went!! so abbi was able to meet santa for the first time! she did really well on his lap. a blank stare ... but better than crying! :)

* my dad gave abbi a little outfit that says... "santa's favorite"! i love it!! and it is sooooooooooo true!! :)

we love you abbi! you are the light of our lives!!

50 FREE Christmas Cards!!

It's time for me to check off one of my favorite tasks on my Christmas TO DO list, CHRISTMAS CARDS!!

I have always loved finding the perfect card design and then making each card by hand. I was proud of the fact that I made all 200 cards to send out to my loved ones. Last year I ended up only making 100 and ordering 100. This year is a bit different! Abbi somehow takes up the majority of my time! And I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Lucky for me this year, Shutterfly has an amazing offer to get 50 free holiday cards. Who wouldn't like to take some holiday photos, pick out a fabulous card, and then get 50 cards mailed to you free of charge? Thanks to the generosity of Shutterfly this offer is open bloggers like you and me.

Recently I was checking out what kind of options were online for photo cards and I really loved what I found at Shutterfly! They have some amazing card options.

I love love love christmas trees! So when I saw this card it jumped out at me!

I love the brown with it too!

I am all about including a Christmas letter in my cards. This card is perfect for that!

I like being able to put more than one picture on the cards!

With Abbi being so dang cute it's hard to choose just one picture! :)

This is one of my favorites because of the tradition red and green. Nothing says Christmas like red and green stripes!! So fun!!

I love this classy look! Very pretty card!! And scrapbooky looking!

There are so many to choose from! But that is half of the fun!!

Check out some of these fabulous things Shutterfly has to offer:

Christmas Photo Cards- tons and tons of fabulous cards!

Photobooks- my personal favorite! I think photobooks make great gifts and look terrific!

Christmas Gifts - lots of cool things to give to your loved ones!!

If you want to know more about this fabulous promotion for 50 free holiday cards click here. The deadline is December 15th. The only catch is that you have to write your own blog post about this offer. A very small price to pay for checking off one of the most daunting holiday tasks off your to do list this year!

st nicholas

In Germany, Nikolaus is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel (Nikolaus boot) outside the front door on the night of 5 December. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets overnight, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (Rute) in their boots instead.

Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good (sometimes ostensibly checking his golden book for their record), handing out presents on a per-behavior basis. This has become more lenient in recent decades.

my family is of german decent, so my uncle steve sent abbi a box from st nicholas. there was a letter from st nicholas and presents to put in abbi's shoes. she doesn't really have shoes right now, so we put out her slippers instead. :)

st nicholas sent her... a book, socks and a little stuffed hedgehog! so fun!!!

thanks st nicholas!!

(uncle steve!)

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!