Christmas Part 1

Due to a large, spread out family on my side last year we started a new tradition of having Christmas early to spare us all the running around on Christmas Day. Aunt Kissy (my sister) lives in Marana which is the halfway point for us folks in Tucson and Aunt Patti (other sister) in Queen Creek. We all came together this past Sunday and of course feasted on lots of yummy Mexican food. Aunt Kissy and Uncle Dan made chicken tortilla soup. Aunt Patti and Uncle B-Dawg brought the homemade tamales. Aunt Michelle (other, other sister) brought the beverages. Grammy and Granddad supplied the beans, tortillas and dessert and we supplied the seven layer bean dip and chips.

Of course it's always chaos when you fill a house with ten adults and eight kids but it's the best chaos to be in the middle of....especially when it's family.

The hostess--Aunt Kissy

The tree before the carnage

Granddad can't believe the amount of gifts!

Cousin Mary surprised us by stopping by with Rudy and Haley

Uh oh! Three kids and only ONE sippy cup!

Daddy and LB

Let the unwrapping begin!

And as we all suspected....look what's headed into LB's mouth!

The look on my face is priceless! It says "oh great ANOTHER toy that makes noise"!!

And here is our living room after the first Christmas. I can only imagine what it will look like after Christmas number 2 and 3!

Lots and lots of love for now! SL

Hush little baby....

LB is at the stage where he realizes that he no longer has to take going to bed laying down (pun intended). Over the last few weeks he has developed some new sleeping positions.

WARNING.....

Cuteness ahead.....

Bending over at the waist.

Sitting up with your head resting on the bed.

And the semi-bent over at the waist.

Although these pictures are adorable (aren't they all, though) it breaks my heart when he does this. To see that he just gets so tired that he simply leans over and closes his eyes shows me just how sweet, innocent and precious he is. Do you know how hard it is to resist the temptation to pick him up and cuddle him when he does this???

Lots of Love-SL

Early visit from the Grinch....

We had an early visit from the Grinch this year. Although this Grinch wasn't here to steal presents and end Christmas. This Grinch was here to turn off our gas and end hot showers and a warm house as we know them.

Southwest Gas (boo!) knocked on our door yesterday, December 4th at 1:30 in the afternoon when the temperature was 61 degrees outside to do a "random 5 year check for gas leaks". As it turns out we have a leak and our gas was turned off. We became a little angry given the fact that it's the middle of winter, two weeks away from Christmas....oh and we have a 10 month old BABY to keep warm!

Thank goodness for co-sleeping!

So to put a little cheer in the chill LB and I put up the Christmas Tree this morning!

(Well if help is riping the ornaments out of the bin and eating empty boxes then he was A LOT of help!)

Getting Out the tree

Helping with the ornaments

Helping locate the base of the tree!

Now he's finding where the tree plugs in.

After digging LB out of the tree I finally tracked down a kid gate and locked him out.

(Like the lean of the tree?)
Lots of love~ Slave Labor!

Explorer LB

To my Fan Club members: It's with a very heavy heart that I am announcing my temporary step back from blogging. When I first started this blog I was a mere few weeks old and all I could do was lay around, nurse and poop. I figured I needed something more in my life so I took to blogging. Over the last (soon to be) ten months I have learned to roll over, sit up, worm and now standing. With each new thing I have become more aware of the world around me and how much there is to explore. (Especially when mommy is working and not paying attention to me I love to find all sorts of things to get into.) The Internet is no longer my outlet.

Now that I have you all worried I am happy to announce that I have hired mommy to be my replacement. Hey....you can't beat slave labor. I'll still blog from time to time however I am giving mommy free rein to keep you all up to date on ME!

Before I go to track down where mommy moved the dog's water bowl to I am going to leave you with an update on my first Thanksgiving.

The day started at Grammy and Granddad's house. We had a big feast over there at noon. Aunt Michelle, Aunt Chrissy, Uncle Dan, Hailey, Chase, Great Aunt Penny, Aunt Patti, Uncle Bryan, Jordynn, Jackson and Noah were all in attendance.

Here are all of the cousins

The Aunts and Mommy

After dinner at Grammy and Granddad's we loaded up the car and headed to Scottsdale to be with my Great-Great Aunt Tootie, Grandma, Grandad, Great Uncle Mike, Great Aunt Mary, Great Uncle Jerry, Great Aunt Julie, G. Great Aunt Fran, G. Great Uncle Benny, Cousins Doreen, Darren, Tanner, Addie, Reese and everyone else I forgot....oops.

After a little mingling and sweet treat eating at G. Great Aunt Tooties we headed to the hotel to catch a little shut eye. The hotel supplied us with the worlds smallest queen bed and a paper sack that doubled as a sofa sleeper. Mommy and I put Daddy up on the queen bed and we took the paper sack.

Here I am checking out the digs....

Daddy woke up real early the next morning and did a little black Friday shopping with Grandpa and G. Uncle Mike and G. Aunt Mary at Home Depot. Guess what happens when you drive a fully loaded SUV to Scottsdale and then buy a bunch of stuff???

You cram and cram and cram some more until it all fits. Then you slowly roll down the window and hop into the car.

After eating some pancakes at IHOP we headed back to Great Aunt Tooties. Once there all of the ladies hung the interior decorations...

Helping Aunt Julie

...while the boys stood around outside grunting and farting. (Okay, okay, that is what I did with Mommy). The boys hung all of the outside Christmas decorations. During the festivities we locked Aunt Tootie in the kitchen and told her she wasn't allowed out until the turkey soup was made and Great-Great-Grandma Dolan's bread was cooked.

Waiting for lunch and being silly with mommy

After lunch was done Mommy ran around outside like a kid with Tanner and Addie. They had a good ol' time.

All-in-All it was a long two days but boy was it A LOT of FUN! If I had to pick a favorite moment it would Great Aunt Julie singing me Christmas songs over and over until I fell asleep. Boy, is she a SWEET lady!

Lots of Love~LB