Holiday Cookies

Growing up my Grammy always made Christmas sugar cookies which all the grand kids would frost and eat. Well this ear we were planning on doing it when Grandma Denise and Grandpa Jim were here, so on the night before we had planned to do it Justin surprised me with my birthday gift... a new KITCHENAID MIXER! We had so much fun. And next year I'll note that a full batch is wayyyy too many cookies for just us. 

Happy Easter 2013!

Olivia's first Easter was a blast. I forgot to take any other pictures, but this is her enjoying the graham cracker bunnies from the eggs she found in her first egg hunt. 

Happy Valentine's Day 2013

A girl and her donut; now that's love.

Traditions

When I was a kid my grandma had a tradition of making her cookies for the grandkids to frost at Christmas time. Now she lives far away so I was left to carry on that tradition -- with a little twist. This year I invited some friends to join us in a Christmas cookie decorating party.

Avery had so much fun helping me make the cookies to get ready and even more fun at the party. Thanks to my friend Christina for the photos on party day. 

Olivia meets Santa

I have never been fond of taking my kids to see some smelly old man dressed in a Santa costume who has nothing better to do the other 11 months of the year where he has time to sit all day at the mall for the month of December.

This year the Town of Yountville where Aunt Stacy works had one of the firemen (who happens to be a friend of Aunt Stacy) dress up and arrive at the tree lighting on a fire truck. While he may not be the most "authentic" looking Santa, the girls are young enough still not to notice and knowing the person dressing up made me a little more comfortable with letting my kids sit on Santa's lap.

Unfortunately Avery was not a fan. She wanted nothing to do with Santa other than to wave at him from a distance similar to those enforced by a restraining order. Olivia on the other hand was a ham. She loved his beard and looking at him. She was even accommodating in sitting on his lap for a photo op.

Thanksgiving 2012

 Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite holidays. I am so lucky to have been able to spend it with some of my most favorite people.

 

Halloween 2012

The Princess and the Giraffe

4th of July 2012

Father's Day 2012: Pictures

This Father's Day was Justin's first Father's Day with two daughters. Aside from Avery not feeling 100% we made the best of it. It was such a fun day.

Father's Day 2012

Last year I took some pictures with Avery holding the letters to spell D-A-D. Since Olivia is a little young to hold any letters I wanted to find something to do craft with the girls. I saw something like this on the internet and I thought it was so cute.

I love the way it turned out.

Ho Ho Ho

Yesterday was Christmas and I have to say while Avery only sort of understood the concept of presents and opening she was mostly overwhelmed with the gifts. By about half way through she decided she was done and wanted to eat her bacon instead, so Justin and I opened the rest of her gifts and she was more than happy to play with them all once they were out of the wrapping.

In the afternoon she got to play with her cousins from Alabama and thought they were pretty cool -- especially Tessa who is just about a year older than her. We only had one fight over a toy between the two of them and I think that was pretty successful.

All in all I think Christmas 2011 was a hit!

Christmas Tree 2011

Today we went to the Christmas tree farm and picked out our Christmas tree. We love this place because it's the only place around here that you can still cut down your own tree. We took Grandma Nunley with us and it was so fun! Once we got home Avery took a nap since she was exhausted while Justin and I put the tree up and got it all set with lights. Once she was up she alternated back and forth from helping me decorate and watching the football game with Daddy. After the tree was all set up Lola snuggled under it to take a nap.

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Happy Halloween!

This year Avery was Wonder Woman for Halloween. It started with the shirt we found at Six Flags this summer. I made the cape and the tutu and the shoes were courtesy of Aunt Stacy. She had so much fun trick or treating and even got some candy she can actually eat. She was even asleep in the car before we got home. 

Pumpkin Patch 2011

On Friday Justin and I took Avery to the Stanley Lane Pumpkin Patch to get our pumpkins. It's the same pumpkin patch we took her to last year. This year was much different than last. She loved to run around in the corn rows and climb the hay bale pyramid. She really wanted to touch the pigs, but the sign said not to so she was a little disappointed when I wouldn't let her. All in all we got three pumpkins -- one for Justin, Avery and me -- and some small decorating pumpkins for the house.

Labor Day BBQ

Tonight we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Nunley's house for the holiday. We had all kinds of foods and Avery found a few new favorites! She loved her deviled egg, watermelon and strawberries. She also devoured her tri tip and pork tenderloin. I think her highness has somewhat recovered from her pickiness. I have noticed, however, that she will only really eat new foods if she thinks it's her idea. I can't hand her new foods, but if I set it on her tray or plate and ignore it she will likely pick it up and eat it. If I can get her to taste it, she pretty much likes anything. We are lucky in that way. 

   

Happy Fourth of July!

We celebrated the holiday over two days. On the 3rd we had a BBQ at Grandma & Grandpa Nunley's with Uncle Trevor. Avery got to play and chase around her bubble bug. After dinner and a rousing game of Spades we came home and Avery, Justin and I watched the fireworks from Silverado Country Club on the balcony. We could barely see them through the trees over the shopping center, but it was 10x better than trying to brave that traffic and risk having a crankypants baby.

On the 4th we just hung out at home, ran some errands and had BBQ for dinner. Avery went to bed early and I caught up on my blogging while Justin watched a movie or tv or something -- I'm not really sure since I wasn't exactly paying attention!

Both days Avery wore her super cute 4th of July dress which I had to wash between days because she, of course, couldn't go a whole day without spilling, spitting up, or falling in water and then subsequently rolling in dirt.

Happy Father's Day 2011!

Today was Justin's first Father's Day. All week Avery and I had been working on this project and finally finished it last night during bath time. Here's how it came out! I think it's pretty neat. 

 

During the day we went to Justin's grandparents' house for brunch. After brunch we went to Justin's parent's house for a Father's Day lunch. We had turkey sandwiches and Avery got to swim in her brand new puffer fish swimming pool! She had a blast.

 

 

After all that she was pooped -- and hot. So we rolled down the windows in the car on the way home and Avery's hair got a new 'do. I kind of like it.

Happy Mother's Day!

This Sunday was my very first Mother's Day with a baby on the outside. After all we've been through to get where we are and to have Avery there are so many things I feel about this special day. Throughout the day I was thinking about what the day really meant to me. Here's what I came up with:

I am so blessed. I mean blessed beyond words. When asked if I wanted something for Mother's Day several things came to mind. I would really like some help around the house. I would really like a new camera.

All of the things I thought about were all things I could use to better the time I spend with A. After pondering that for a while I realized that I already had everything I wanted. The best gift I could possibly receive I already had. The number one gift to get for Mother's Day is the gift of motherhood.

Here's a cute picture of A
while we were shopping!

I know it seems sort of like a given, but in my experience I've learned that just because you celebrate Mother's Day doesn't necessarily mean you are able to be a mother to an earthly child.

But me? I do. And that makes me blessed.

On this day that is set aside to celebrate moms everywhere, my wonderful husband made sure to make me feel appreciated. He knows how hard I've been working on losing weight and how dissatisfied I've been with the way my clothes fit, so he took me shopping. We went to Walnut Creek and after browsing in Crate and Barrel, Barnes and Noble and a few other stores we ended up at H&M.

H&M is my absolute favorite store. I love how cute the clothes are and the prices are perfect. I got a couple of cute pieces and got to spend a great day with my amazing husband and adorable baby girl. It was absolutely perfect.

Happy Easter!

This weekend among many other things it was Easter. On Saturday we went to a town Easter Egg hunt on Yountville, where -- with the help of Aunt Stacy -- Avery found the golden egg! I tried to take a picture of the basket, but Avery wanted to rip into it before I got one. 


Then Sunday we were supposed to have Easter at the park, but we woke up the pouring rain. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Nunley welcomed everyone into their home for the celebration. We were running a bit behind, so Avery was still in her pj's when we first arrived but after opening her two other Easter baskets we got her dressed. 

Check out how much fun we had!

Merry Christmas, Darling.

This is Avery's first Christmas. It's the first of many years to come of seeing Grandma and Grandpa Nunley on Christmas Eve, then having Christmas morning at home and Christmas afternoon at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Gasner's house, then another Christmas at home with Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell.

I could write a novel about all that we've done in the last couple of days, but instead I will chronicle it in a series of photos.