Christmas Eve Pt. II

After everyone left we opened our stockings. I couldn't wait. I knew my Christmas pj's were in there and I was dying to change into them. I was cold. : ) We opened stockings and our matching pj's. 

We sat around the living room talking and discussing plans for Christmas day. Mom and Dad got Ascher a recordable storybook. I had mentioned it to Mom how cool it would be and look at that---she did it! So she got The First Christmas and they recorded themselves reading it. Another memory I am sure he will cherish.

Before long it was time for bed. We had all had a long busy day and tomorrow would be Ascher's 1st Christmas morning!! I could hardly wait!! : ) 

Christmas Eve Pt. I

* Determined to get done with Christmas posts before the new year* (Blog book purposes)

Christmas Eve day flew by so fast! We woke up and started planning our day. Dad kept saying four o'clock is gonna be here faster than you know it and sure enough it was. Before getting dressed I made Ascher's hand print. I had some left over plaster so I made Pip's paw print too.  : ) I got a little hand print kit at TJ Max so I didn't even have to make dough. 

my babies hand/paw print

After that we cooked and hung out and before we knew it - it was time to get ready for church. We went to the 4pm candle light service. We got there like five minutes late and we had to go to overflow seating. I was not pleased. Part of the candle light service for me is the atmosphere. The overflow seating was the choir room. We had 20 baptisms and every person came through there and all the kids for the nativity were in there as well. Not to mention the lights were bright and no one was singing. I was quite the grump about it. However, it worked out better because it was much easier for Justin to walk out with Ascher when he started talking/laughing with people. I told my mom I was proud though-Justin didn't leave because he was fussing-- he left because Ascher was talking and laughing. I have such a happy boy. He is always smiling!

after church

When we came home from church I made Justin stayed dressed so we could take pictures in front of the tree for my Christmas scrapbook. (blog on that too come). So get ready for picture overload...

Then we put on his blazer...I mean how cute is this little boy in a big boy jacket??

Then we have Jessica, Roy and baby Hadley. Oh how I adore her. She is so sweet and little. You can lay her on the couch and she stays there. Haha

Now I think these just might be my favorite photos from the whole holiday season. I just know that one day these pictures will hold such a special place in Aschers heart. My dad has a matching Polo sweater that looks just like Aschers so we took pictures and look at the pure joy on both of their faces. 

Before long the rest of the family got there (Parkers & Moores) so we had to take some more photos.

We ate dinner, opened presents from each other and just enjoyed family time. Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year!!

"Linner" with Nana

Saturday afternoon we headed to Carla & Kason's to eat and celebrate Christmas with Nana, Justin's grandmother. We got there and before long the Cokers and KDan & Gigi with Nana got there. We all sat around and chatted for awhile and then ate dinner. Carla is quite the host. She made sure there was plenty to eat and we even ate on fancy Christmas china. 

After we ate we took pictures and chatted some more. We watched the kids play. Emerson and Ascher both wanted to be in my lap- it was so cute. They are gonna be so much fun next year- oh the arguments they will have! : ) Its gonna be great!!

Once we took pictures everyone packed up and headed out. I fed Ascher one last bottle and put him in the car and headed to Kingwood. We thought about spending the night with Kason & Carla but it was just so much work to unpack we figured we might as well just head to Kingwood. We had a wonderful lunch/dinner with family and one last time to wish everyone Merry Christmas! 

Holiday Fun Begins...

Our holiday fun began Friday afternoon when we drove to Houston to spend the night with the Jamesons. We got there and headed to eat dinner at Subway before going to second's crazy kid show at the berry center. Ascher did so good once we got in there. Granted he is doing this whole roll around when you change him so Justin was not a happy camper when he came back from changing him. : ) Good thing I called "not it" 

Anyways- the show was puppets, dancing and Christmas music all about the TRUE meaning of Christmas. When it was over they were dancing as everyone was leaving and Ascher was having a blast. He would jump up and down on Justins lap and scream of happiness. (I took a bunch of photos but they are on my phone and it is dead- I'll add them when I connect my phone)

After the show we headed back to the house. It was getting late so we let the kids play for a little while before getting everyone ready for bed. He was so excited he would not go to bed. Finally around 10 we all decided we would go to bed.

Saturday morning Ragan and I got up and met Chelsea for breakfast/coffee at Starbucks. I just adore Chelsea. She was my college roommate and best friend. Ragan is Chelsea's big sis in our sorority. I love that we all are still in touch. We met and talked for two hours. We shared good news, bad news, funny news, etc. and they are both gonna come to College Station on Friday to go shopping!! We got home and headed to Kason & Carla's for lunch with Nana. 

Celtic Women

On Tuesday night Justin and I had a Christmas date night. It was absolutely beautiful. The Celtic Women came to OPAS. Natalie had asked if Justin and I would want to go with them and of course I said YES YES YES! But by the time we committed it was too late to get seats together : ( However, I am so thankful for her because we probably would not have gone without her so I am so happy that we still went even though we didn't get to sit with Issac and her. 

We went and ate dinner at Blue Baker (so romantic- not enough time to go anywhere else). After dinner we headed up to campus to park and get our seats. If you ever have the opportunity to see them in concert- do it. They are flawless and breath taking. My favorite song they sang was Oh Holy Night. I just closed my eyes and listened to the symphony playing along with their amazing voices all perfectly on pitch. It was so moving. The night of our dear saviors birth....

It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit and I have been trying to sing like them ever since Tuesday- haha! I haven't quite mastered that yet but Celtic Women Christmas music blaring through the house who can hear my voice over that? : ) 

We are in trouble now.

Sunday we watched church on TV, did some shopping, hung out with our neighbor and took it easy. However, did he not look so cute!? 

Monday was the big day. Mom was babysitting for us Tuesday night so I told her to just come on Monday and hang out. She was so happy she did because Monday evening after a day of playing with Grandma he crawled across his room 4 times to get to his Christmas tree. He has been crawling for a few days but it is mostly just a little at a time and he would stop and sit back up but Monday night he realized what he was capable of. He was so proud. I would pick him up, put him back in the corner by his crib and go sit by the Christmas tree and tell him come on! and away he would go! He was so proud of himself. 

We are in trouble now. It is like he realized he doesn't have to stay on the rug anymore- there is a whole house he has yet to explore. I can't leave him alone for a second. I am having to rethink my baby proofing for sure. 

Tuesday we were out most of the day so he didn't have much time to practice. However, Justin and I went to Celtic Women and mom said he would not go to sleep. He was too excited to sleep. She said he would flop over and pop back up. When we got home he was still awake. We tired to put him to sleep and he wanted to crawl. He would crawl from one of us to the other and look at us like come on praise me. Justin was like ok Ascher we get it we are proud you can crawl- now go to sleep. 

Wednesday he followed me to the laundry room and has discovered the door stop along with dog food. Now the second you stop watching him his little butt starts crawling to the laundry room to get his hands on the dog food. Bad news bears. We are in big trouble. 

I can't wait to hold Hadley. Random you say? No- I can't wait to hold her because she will just let me hold her and lay still! Haha! : ) But really I am super excited to have a baby on the move- he is so fun to watch as he explores new things and tests his ability. 

Ascher meets Santa

Saturday the 15th Ascher met the man in red. Justin worked that morning so we took him when he got home. Probably not the best idea because it was right around nap time. We took some pictures before we left of this momentous occasion. We took bets on whether he would smile or cry. I said smile. Justin said cry.

We knew it was one of the last Saturdays before Christmas so we figured the line would be long. Nope. Granted, we live in a small town but there was not a single line. We walked right up. 

Santa was not a jolly old man. He was an old man with a legit Santa beard but he was not happy. He looked extremely bored and didn't even talk to Ascher. I get that Ascher is a baby and maybe he didn't want to scare him but come on old man...smile. Speaking of smiling...Ascher would not. He didn't cry but he did NOT smile. We tired everything. He just looked at us like we were crazy.

I'll take it though. I would say a picture with Santa not crying is a success. I can't imagine how he will be next year!