Christmas Time is Here!

I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve! Wasn't summer just yesterday? Well, I guess not because baby is 3 lbs. heavier and 3 inches taller since his first birthday. Sooo many awesome things have happened this past year for us. I'll have to include a post about these amazing things on New Years Eve.

Anyways, we decided to have three special Christmas breakfasts--for Christmas Sunday, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. For Sunday, our menu was gluten-, grain-, and sugar-free cinnamon rolls with a "cream cheese" frosting, bacon, eggs and baked cinnamon apples with walnuts and raisins. I've never cooked a breakfast in my life that has smelled so REAL. Not that we don't eat good breakfasts, but this one just smelled amazing. All the different scents made a great combination. I will admit that this second time I made the cinnamon rolls, they didn't turn out like the first time I made them (they had a soggy texture--which led me to a great learning experience making this mistake) so I didn't even bother asking Andrew to try one. I'm making a new batch sometime later this week. They're THAT worth it!

Now that it's Christmas Eve, Christmas feels more real. I'm more excited about it, and so happy that our little bug is old enough to open his presents this year :)

Wow. It sure is a different {tough, yet fun} experience preparing for Christmas with a baby. I threw perfectionism out the door! And I'm okay with that :)

This morning, Andrew wanted crumpets with jam and more bacon. I had my typical breakfast {scrambled eggs with spinach and onions} with some grapefruit. So my breakfast wasn't as special, but it's definitely a breakfast I could eat every morning for the rest of my life! Baby enjoyed eating four different foods all at once, haha. All different textures and tastes--fun!

Sunday Morning

 

 

Christmas Eve Morning

 

 

Gift Wrapping

This year I chose simplicity and wrapped presents with

jute, tulle and floral/plaid wrapping paper.

{Brown. Red. White.}

 

 

We can't wait to spend tonight and tomorrow with our families! :)

 

{MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE}

For our Christmas morning breakfast, we had cinnamon apple french toast casserole with sour dough bread. To accommodate my gluten/grain-free diet, I used my sunflower seed bread recipe for myself. I was kind of worried it wouldn't turn out, but the bread held up just fine and it tasted great! What's interesting is that I used a different kind of coconut milk this time, and it turned my bread green. Why this happened I have yet to find out. But it sure fit the Christmas color spirit!

 

 

My green Christmas spirit bread. It usually looks like this:

 

Happy Birthday Valerie!

Today is Valerie's 21 birthday! We hope she enjoys this very special birthday with her family and friends. She loves to read fantasy books in her spare time, but lately she has been spending more of her time working at her new jobs, which she has been enjoying very much. If you ever need a hug, see Valerie. She always gives the best ones :)  

Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma!

This past Friday was November 9th -- mom's birthday! She had a wonderful weekend with dad as they spent their anniversary (November 10th) at a lovely bed and breakfast. Mom loves to cook for her family, garden, read, and spend time with her happy, active grandson! We hope she enjoyed this birthday!

Family Picture 2012

We were able to take a picture on Saturday while the sun decided to finally come out during sunset. With a broken camera, we were stuck with only 4 images to choose from, but it's better than nothing :) Look at the progression since last Fall. Our little bug isn't so little anymore, but at least we got our beautiful, golden leaves back :)

Fall 2012

Fall 2011

Fall Days

Friday (October 19)

Our first day of winter jackets! Our tree is yellow, so we plan to get an updated Autumn family picture this weekend :) Hoping for blue skies like last year. Today is our first day of winter jackets. Baby looks so cute in a big, puffy jacket :) 

Autumn is Here!!

That means it's time to decorate in the gorgeous colors God chose for fall. The color-rich trees and spice-flavored foods are inspiring me. I am in love with this color combination: burnt orange / chocolate brown / pea green. Our leaves are up throughout the apartment, and we're feeling warm and festive again this year...especially with our happily-running, energetic, counter top-touching, whirlwind, baby Drew! Now all we're missing is a spice-scented candle, pumpkin desserts and some hot apple cider. (Too bad dad Andrew hates pumpkin and apple cider.)

I wrapped our spring wreath in one of my crocheted scarves. I loved this 10 minute project.

We ran out of leaves! Will have to get more.

Of course,
I must also mention that today is baby's Happy 13-Months Day! With a broken camera, I've been making use of the phone on my camera. For now, here's an updated 13-month photo:

Happy First Birthday, Andrew Jr!

Wow! It has already been ONE YEAR since our little Andrew was born!!

He is our favorite little boy in the world!

This morning, he got a birthday treat :) -- a yummy banana cupcake.

{But without the whipped cream and chocolate--he will get to experience all that at his party!}

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FAVORITE ONE-YEAR-OLD!!

Walk, Stare, Swing

This morning, we did just that! We had a good morning walk, which was when little Andrew spotted a group of geese nearby. After our walk, we had fun swinging.

  A beautiful view from the path. God is the ultimate artist.

 This was when he noticed the geese. We stopped for a minute so he could watch them walk away from us.

And he gave such an intense stare -- too funny!

After I captured this image, he laughed the entire time I pushed him.

What's More Typical These Days?

--Baby is known as Hurricane Andrew; he makes messes faster than you can clean them up
--He walks from one end of the apartment to the other without falling now
--He climbs onto the TV table (he fell off of it backwards on Tuesday)

This morning, baby's room looked like the photo on the left :)
Within 5 minutes, it looked like the photo on the right. Wow!

Our Two-Year Anniversary

Andrew asked me to be his girlfriend on March 18, 2008.

 {He was 21; I was almost 20)

 Since then, we've spent almost every day together.

It feels like just yesterday when we were engaged on June 17, 2009.

And then the wedding day came sooner than we thought it would on July 17, 2010!

Five months after our wedding, on December 29, 2010, we found out I was pregnant!

{We were parents-to-be and didn't even know it on Christmas! He was our Christmas gift.}

 {taken in February}

 {taken in May)

{and, yes...I gave in to Andrew's pleading and let them tell us the gender...not happening next time.

We were very happy to expect a boy though!}

 ***

Our first anniversary was very special. I will never forget what it was like trying to sit inside a booth at Olive Garden while pregnant. We came home and ate some of the top of our wedding cake.

It tasted very good!

{July 17, 2011}

 He was born on August 27, 2011 :) :) It was such a great day.

And he's been doing nothing but growing, exploring, and smiling :)

{11 days}

 {4 months}

{9 months}

On July 17, 2012 we got to celebrate our second year of marriage with our little love bug. It was awesome :) Earlier in the car, Andrew told me we will make it to our 50th anniversary. If that's part of God's plan, then I look forward to it :)