It was a Very Merry Christmas (only a month late!)

December went by so fast! And now it is almost February. I think time goes by twice as fast when you have a baby. I never attempted to blog the week of Christmas. I just uploaded a ton of photos off of my camera and decided to go ahead and post some from the holidays.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We slept in... even Harper! We had so much fun watching Harper open up his gifts from Santa. After we showed him how to unwrap one gift, he helped unwrap the rest! It was adorable. And every time we pulled a gift out of the paper he would chuckle. It was one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed. We got it all on video, I am going to have to share that this week!

Erik's parents came over and had an early Christmas dinner with us. We had a wonderful time. Then we headed to my parents house and had another Christmas meal. The food was so incredible that we managed clear our plates twice! 

Here are a few photos from the day. Harper seemed to love all of his gifts. And boy was he spoiled. One of his favorite gifts was the Rock n' Roll Elmo. He still plays with it on a daily basis. 

Our tree. It has such a pretty shape it almost looks fake!

His new Pottery Barn chair and doggy puppet. 

With "Mimi and Papi"

He just started feeding himself with the fork recently...talk about a mess!

Loves to sing and play the keyboard with Elmo!

He always gives me sweet kisses. Love that baby boy!

These were the overflow of presents from his stocking from Santa.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Last week (yes we are VERY behind) we finally went and got a Christmas tree. We wanted to go up to North Carolina and cut one down but we were pressed for time so we decided to go somewhere local. We found a cute tree farm in Greenville called Elves Christmas Tree Farm.  It was great! We normally buy a Fraser Fir and they had some available that were pre-cut but we decided we wanted to cut our own and go with a local type of tree. We ended up with a Leyland Cypress. It has a beautiful shape! We really love it. I highly recommend checking out Elves Christmas Tree Farm if you live in the Upstate! It is fun to enjoy in the old Christmas tradition of choosing your own Christmas Tree in the field. They always offer FREE Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Candy Canes and free hay rides are on the weekends.

Here are a few photos from our adventure. It was such a gorgeous place, next year I want to do folks family photos at the tree farm!

A Christmas to Remember!

Harper's first Christmas was just perfect. Can you believe we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!? Although little mister is still too small to enjoy the snow, it was so beautiful and fun to see it fall on Christmas morning. We started off the day at our place. Erik, Harper, and I opened our gifts and stockings. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast made by my sweet husband. And we tried to capture everything on video. Now that was a little tricky. I had to hold the baby in on arm and unwrap gifts with the other arm while Erik filmed everything. We had a blast. Santa was very good to Harper this year. He brought him a Radio Flyer wagon, a ton of books, and more toys than we know what to do with. 

Next, we drove to Greenville to spend Christmas afternoon with Mimi and Papi. Nonnie, Brad, Chastity, Rayne, and Skylar joined in the fun. We ate a traditional turkey dinner with all of the fixings. Yum! And once again Harper was spoiled with a ton of gifts. We can't wait to see him play in his Baby Einstein jumper! It must be nice being the first grandson. Actually I am the first grandchild on both sides of my family, so I can relate. Haha! 

After Mimi and Papi's, we headed to Nana and Papa's in Spartanburg. We opened gifts first. There were so many gifts under the tree that the actually trickled over the couch and all the way underneath the piano. And lets just say a good majority of these were for the baby. He got all sorts of awesome toys. Auntie Jenna got him a Seasame Street walker, an awesome frog that projects the constellations onto the ceiling and plays nursery rhymes, and a ton of other fun things. Nana and Papa went a little crazy with the gift giving. I think they really enjoy buying baby things. He got a monogrammed baby chair. It is adorable!! A Leapfrog music station, play mats, an elephant gym, a V-tech 3-in-1 learning walker, DVD's, books, toys, rattles, and the list goes on an on. Mom decided to cook prime rib this year. It was amazing. We had a mint chocolate cake from Stroussner's Bakery for dessert. One of the best cakes I have EVER tasted. It was incredible. 

Now all the traveling on Christmas is slightly stressful but it is so worth it. We feel very blessed to live close to both sides of the family. We are so excited that Harper will get to grow up around so many people that love him. 

And although the food, festivities, family, fun, and gifts are wonderful it is also important to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Luke 2:8-12; 13-14

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.""

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

I am dreaming of a white Christmas!!! And it looks like a pretty decent possibility. HOW COOL would that be!? Harper's first snow and first Christmas. So I am keeping my fingers crossed. This is the current forecast and it looks GOOD! It is hard to believe considering it is gorgeous outside today but I am very excited at the possibility.

Today Sunny Hi 45 °F

Tonight Mostly Clear Lo 29 °F

Friday Mostly Sunny Hi 47 °F

Friday Night Snow/Sleet Lo 34 °F

Christmas Day Snow Likely Hi 37 °F

Saturday Night Snow Likely Lo 26 °F

Sunday Partly Sunny Hi 39 °F

Sunday Night Partly Cloudy Lo 20 °F

Monday Sunny Hi 37 °F

In other news, I think little man is teething. This means poor baby and poor mama. We went to Wal-Mart to try to pick up some teething tablets and they have all been pulled from the shelves. Just my luck! And to make matters even worse, they don't know when they will be back on the market. Do you ladies know of anything else that helps ease the pain. We got baby Orajel and a teething ring but that is all they seemed to have. Every mom I know swears by the teething tablets. So let me know if you have any other good remedies. I am kind of surprised he is starting so young. I thought we had another month or so. But he cries, sticks his little hand in his mouth or grabs my hand and bites on my knuckles. So it looks like he has started.

The big daycare debate has come to a close. As of right now I don't think I can send him to daycare. I had a huge scare yesterday and it really shook me up. I researched every daycare in the area and I went to visit a few. I had my top two. One in particular seemed very safe because they had surveillance and allowed the parents to watch their kids online. It was gorgeous facility and I was pretty impressed. Last night I was watching the news and a woman was arrested Wednesday with four counts of lewd act on a minor. She was a worker at the very daycare facility that I liked.  Talk about SCARY!! It made me sick to my stomach to think about. So back to the drawing board. I just can't stand the thought of putting little man at risk. I am sure this is rare but the fact that it was at one of the nicest, most expensive, and what I thought to be "safest" facilities really upset me.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite Christmas card photos with you all. Miss Lauren Gossett took these for us and I thought they came out fantastic.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This holiday season has been wonderful so far. We had a great Thanksgiving. Because both sets of grandparents live so close to us, we have two Thanksgiving feasts. We eat at Erik's parents for lunch and my parent's for dinner. So we are usually beyond stuffed by the end of the day. We decided to do a little black friday shopping but not nearly as much as we usually do. This year Wal-Mart split up their black friday sales. The first sales started at midnight and then the electronics went on sale at 5AM. Luckily, we did not need any electronics this year. When we arrived at Wal-Mart at 11:45PM there were already tons of people waiting in the electronics lines. 6 hours is a LONG time to wait. But they seemed to enjoy themselves. Some people had lawn chairs, some were knitting, others napping. And hopefully they all got what they were waiting for. I was just getting a few fun items. I bought a Shark steamer mop (normally $89) for $29, an electric blanket for $18,  and a few other things. My dad bought me and mom a Cricut machine for Christmas. I am still figuring it out but that little machine is pretty amazing! So it was a successful shopping trip. Plus, the lines were not long at all (I wouldn't want to see the lines at 5AM!) 

We decorated the house for Christmas. We actually went up to Cashiers, NC for the day to get our tree. We had a delicious lunch at a local cafe, Cafe 107,  and then we went to a tree farm and cut down our own Christmas tree. We went to a place called Ty-Lyn Plantation and it was beautiful! It was a little chilly so we wrapped baby up in more articles of clothing then you could imagine. When you arrive at the plantation an old antique fire truck comes to pick you up and take you to the tree field. Then you get a giant measuring stick and a saw and go cut down your tree. It was such a fun day. After you cut down your tree, they bring you hot cider while they tie down the tree to your car. We are going to make the trip a fun family tradition.

I am almost totally finished with Christmas shopping. Shopping for a baby makes is so much more enjoyable. I LOVE getting him baby books. I found a few great books at TJ Maxx...I swear that store has everything. I found great Baby Einstein gift sets at Costco. And I found his Radio Flyer wagon at Toys R Us during their midnight madness sale for & 69.99! And for fun, I bought him a special dvd/book set that teaches little ones how to speak Spanish. I have a feeling it will teach mommy Spanish too.

Here are a few updated photos of the little man. I took these yesterday. He is getting so big and handsome!