Merry Christmas!!

It's finally here!!!

Merry Christmas!!
I am so grateful for everything in my life. I really couldn't ask for more! Of course there will always be wants and desires, but really... I am very lucky to be where I am and have what/who I have in my life. I hope I put that out there enough, because I really do love my life :)

I hope everyone has a magical, safe, and beautiful Christmas!!

P.S. Holdyn's favorite Christmas movie this year is The Grinch. His very favorite part (and the part I make him constantly repeat) is when Cindy Lou Who asks the Grinch, "Why are you taking my Christmas tree? Why?"

It really might be the cutest thing Holdyn has ever done :) Thank you Fate... for giving me the most fun little boy that makes Christmas as magical as it should be!

Sneak Peak

Just a little sneak peak of what's to come in 10 days!!!!

I can't stinking wait!

Happy Everything!

Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas! Happy decorating and doing all of the fun things that come along with the holidays! And Happy New Year!

Whew! We've been busy and it's only getting better! I cannot express the magic and fun we experience with Holdyn during the holidays. This was one of the things I was not prepared for when I had Holdyn. Every year, I get more and more emotional this time of year. It is just more fun than I can handle! I am so grateful for the overwhelming emotions I feel for my family during the holidays. It reminds me of all that I have and how lucky I am.

Thanksgiving was so great :) We started at the Montys'...

Holdyn and Ryn pretty much keep each other occupied which is very nice for the moms! They love playing together...

The kids had their own darling table complete with Pilgrim hats, turkey finger puppets, and olives for their fingers...

Then we headed to my mom's and Holdyn got to play with 2 of his very favorite people...

We had a great day :) Thank you to our parents for all of the hard work that goes into Thanksgiving dinner.

Cory usually makes me wait until the end of Thanksgiving weekend to get a tree, but now that Holdyn and I can gang up on him together, we convinced him that we should get one the day after Thanksgiving! Holdyn was on a tree hunt...

We quickly found the perfect tree and hurried home so Daddy and
Holdyn could put the lights on...

Next, it was Mom and Holdyn's turn to decorate...

Holdyn loved pulling out all of the decorations and ornaments. He found lots of Christmas stories in the Christmas box...

And made a train of ornaments...

We have a tradition that every year we get at least 1 new ornament. Typically we get the ornament on whatever vacation we go on that year. Here's one of our new ornaments...

(Playa Del Carmen)

And here's Buddy's ornament...

But this is my favorite of the year!

I want to go back to Disneyland right now!
The final product!

(Seriously, doesn't this face just bring you back to how magical Christmas was when you were a kid?!)

So much more fun to come! Enjoy the holidays... they always fly by :)

Daddy's Shadow

I really want to record this time in your life, Holdy... This time of you being Daddy's shadow! (I am desperately hoping you will get done with this phase soon so you can be my little man again ;)

You and Dad are never far from each other. You like to help him cook, fix the motorcycles, go to the snowboard shop, go on motorcycle rides, work on the park, or just sit with him! You love when Daddy has "sleep-overs" on your floor in your room. Just the other night, Mommy was really sick so you and Daddy had a "sleep-over/pizza party" in the basement by the fire so I could have plenty of quiet time upstairs. You are very lucky to have such a great Dad and he loves you soooo much! But I think it's time for you to be Mommy's shadow now :)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thanks husband :) For making mommy life a little easier on me!

Halloween

Holdyn was so fun this Halloween! He loved helping me put up decorations and talked about them all of the time. He would be so happy when we came home and all of the Halloween decorations were on. He seemed to like them, but all of a sudden, we're having "Scary Monster in my room at night" problems. That took a couple of weeks to go away! Cory told Holdyn they were just shadows he was seeing and taught Holdyn how to do shadow-puppets. That was all it took! Now he tells me that sometimes the Cookie Monster is with him at night, but that's okay... he's a "fun monster!"

Holdyn fell in love with Buzz while we were in Disneyland. He would carry his Buzz doll and gun around with him everywhere. It was darling :) He kept telling me he wanted to be a pumpkin, no a monster, no a bison! Then his aunt Amber gave us Jordan's old Buzz costume and Holdyn fell even more in love :) So, guess what Holdyn was for Halloween?

Apparently the Buzz spirit really infected him because a few days before Halloween, he jumped off of his changing table. He bit into his bottom lip and rammed his top teeth into his gums. It was pretty brutal looking, but he acted as good as new the next morning! His Dad, on the other hand, may never recover from that injury. Poor daddy :( Anyway, this is why his face is swollen in all of the Halloween pictures. So swollen, that he had a pig nose for 3 days because his upper lip was so swollen. I promise we don't beat our kid ;) Poor little muffin...


We started our Halloween off with the Monty Pumpkin Carve. Lane makes yummy chili and breadsticks, and the kids carve/paint pumpkins and they get an award in a special category. Holdyn had so much fun :) Than on Halloween, we trick-or-treated at the grandparents' houses. We did a lot of trick-or-treating in my grandma's neighborhood with Maddy and Jordan. Thanks Maddy for being Holdyn's trick-or-treat buddy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Cory's 9,131 Day

October 23rd, 2009 my hubby turned 25! Damn he's old :)

We had a couple family bday parties for him the week before his birthday, but on the actual day, we were so excited to celebrate with him! Right after work, we rushed home so we could help Daddy open presents!! He got lots of clothes, a new razor, and some money to buy new running shoes...

And Holdyn painted him a monster truck "money bank" for all of Daddy's spare "moneys" he leaves laying around the house ;)

After all the presents were opened, Holdyn went to Grandma's to have a campfire and a sleepover :) Because mommy and daddy were ready to party! Desi's bday was the weekend before so we decided to have a joint party at our house. We had so much fun!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband who makes me laugh right when I need it.

Happy Birthday to the best daddy Holdyn could ever ask for!
We love you!

Disneyland

Oh Disneyland! I miss you!

We went to CA for a week at the end of September and we had so much fun! It was "HalloweenTime" at Disneyland and I am so glad were able to go during this fun time! I will try my hardest to not post every picture we took :)

Holdyn loved the plane ride. As we were taking off, he was giggling and telling us his tummy felt funny.

It was hilarious :) Having him makes every tiny thing so much more fun. He got a little restless by the end of the flight and started telling all sorts of stories...

His poor little ears started to hurt when we were landing, but he did such a great job!

Day #1 at Disneyland
We got Holdyn some pumpkin ears and off we went!

The lines were perfect and we never waited longer than 15 minutes. Holdyn's favorite rides the first day were Pooh, Small World, Teacups, but he could not get enough of BUZZ!!!


Holdyn even got to ride the Matterhorn!

We met Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Jazmin, Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger.

The fireworks at the end of the day were absolutely amazing! I have never seen a better fireworks show. Most of the Disney Villains were included in the show and it was spectacular! Holdyn slept through the firework show the last night we were there and he still talks about missing it! It was that good :)

It was such a great day!

This was how Holdyn travelled the majority of the time :) Bre was such a good auntie! If he wasn't on Bre's back, he was in the stroller with Gracey. They had more fun in that stroller than on some of the rides!

I am so grateful for how well Holdyn napped in his stroller. This was one of the things I was dreading the most. As long as he had is bink and his Elmo blankie, he was golden. Most days I had to wake him up or he would have slept for hours and hours! He is a good little boy :)

Day #2 at Disneyland
Some of Holdyn's favorite rides were Nemo, Peter Pan, and he loved Toon Town!

We got to see Mickey again!

My favorite part of the day is when Holdyn danced in the parade. I mean, come on; look at his face! Damn, he's cute...

Day #3 at California Adventure & Disneyland

CA Adventure was decorated sooo cute! We rode Monsters Inc., and visited Bug's Land where we rode lots of rides and played in the fountains...

Holdyn's favorite ride in CA adventure was definitely the carousel.

Cory and I both loved Soarin' over California! It was probably our favorite ride. I also reaffirmed that the Tower of Terror is my least favorite ride and I don't know why I torture myself by going on it.

This boy certainly loves his daddy :)

I love Cory's face on this one! He was about to shoot 180 feet in the air in 4 seconds!


We were able to get through CA Adventure and get back to Disneyland in time to ride more rides including the carousel and Dumbo!


And get a picture in front of Snow White's Castle!


Day #4 in Palm Desert
We left Disneyland late Friday night and drove to my grandparent's place in Palm Desert. Holdyn found some dirt to dig in...
And eat!
We swam and rested and ate!
We had such a nice visit... Thanks Gma and Gpa!

Day #5 at Seaworld
...We saw 2 Shamu shows...

Rode Sesame Street rides


Met Elmo and Zoe...
2 Handsome boys on the rope course

We had a delicious lunch with Shamu and it was so neat! We were 6 feet away from the whales as they jumped and played with the trainers.

I finally had to wake Holdyn up so he wouldn't miss the whole thing!
Do you see that water behind me? Yeah, the whales would come right up and we were that close! It was so amazing!
"Where are you Shamu?""There you are!"

We fed seals
Saw penguins
And touched sting rays

We also touched starfish, saw a 4D Sesame Street show, bounced, and saw every kind of fish you can imagine!

Day #6 in San Diego
On our last day in CA, we were able to sleep in a little, have a quiet breakfast, and go swimming! Then we had a nap and went to the beach!
We love the beach :)
Holdyn was chasing waves and then they would chase him back!
This one knocked him over :)


Holdyn made a "Mud Monster"


After the beach, we got cleaned up and headed to the airport :( Holdyn was so tired by the end of the trip, he kept asking me to "hold me." But we were landing and I couldn't get him out of his seat. So he asked me to "half hold me." So he fell asleep with his face in my hand :)


We had such a great time. I really have never been more sad to come home! Holdyn made that trip so much fun and every single day, it was so exciting to see how magical everything was in Holdyn's eyes. He loved spending time with his aunties Grace and Bre. Thankfully we had 2 sets of grandparents with us so Cory and I got to ride the big rides together and act like little kids again :) It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back!
Thank you mom and dad for such a great vacation!