Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Christmas 2014

We had such a nice Christmas this year!  This was our first Christmas with Pearce that we spent with just the three of us.  It was so fun deciding how we wanted our Christmas to go and what traditions we wanted to start.  The first thing I couldn't wait to do was to bake Christmas cookies with Pearce.  I let Pearce cut out the shapes and then after they were baked, the fun began :)  I just let Pearce ice them and sprinkle them however he wanted.  He actually wasn't too messy, but by the time we finished decorating the cookies, we definitely had fewer than what we started out with!  Right before bed, we put out the reindeer food that Pearce had made at school and set out Santa's cookies and milk.  It was pretty easy to put Pearce to bed.  After he was in bed, Chris and I got busy getting everything set up.  Pearce will always get 3 main gifts from Santa plus his stocking and a few other small things.  This year, he asked for a "Kenai Stick" which is basically a walking stick from a movie he likes, a basketball goal, and a "puter."  Santa got all of those things for Pearce, but Chris and I knew the walking stick was going to be the big hit....Pearce LOVES all sticks and this was a really good one :).  I had collected the stocking stuffers and the small gifts over the past couple months, so we got all of that out and decided what would go in his stocking and what would go in Santa's toy bag.  Finally, we got everything just how we wanted and we just could not wait until morning!  We woke Pearce up around 8:30 and when he came out of his room, he ran straight to the walking stick!  Knew it!  He then dumped out the Santa bag and loved his Buzz Lightyear umbrella and Superman figure.  He then dumped out his stocking and was sooo excited about the giant candy cane and a little toy camera.  We played basketball for a few minutes and then he played with all of his other toys and ate the candy from his stocking.  I just thought it was hilarious what toys he really liked....LOVED the walking stick, the 3.00 plastic camera, and the 8.00 umbrella!!  So glad we did not go overboard with expensive toys!!  While Pearce played, Chris cooked breakfast and then we all ate together.  Then I suggested to Pearce we go on a walking trail with his stick to look for bears....Pearce couldn't get his shoes on fast enough!!  After we played outside for a while, we came back and put Pearce down for his nap.  Chris and I decided our other tradition was going to be Kobe Steakhouse for Christmas dinner.  When I was pregnant with Pearce, we spent that Christmas just the two of us because I couldn't travel and we went there for our Christmas dinner and just loved it!  We had to wait over 2 hours for a table because they don't take dinner reservations, but Pearce was sooooo good!  He played with his Superman guy and played on my phone some and got to drink a Sprite.  Finally, we were able to sit down.  We had a great table with two other families.  Pearce loved watching our chef cook on the table!  I could not believe how much he ate.....he ate almost all of his bowl of fried rice, a ton of chicken, all of his broccoli and our broccoli from our veggies, and the whole time, he sat so nicely!  He definitely deserved a bowl of ice cream for dessert.  Our dinner was soooo good!!  We came home and put Pearce to bed and just talked about how nice our Christmas was.  It was a simple, laid back Christmas with not a lot of fuss, and it was perfect!  






 


 

 









 
On the 26th, we celebrated Daddy's birthday!  Pearce woke Daddy up with our cards and our present and then Pearce sang a nice version of Happy Birthday :)  Chris got to spend the rest of his birthday with friends, which was nice for him, so Pearce and I loaded up the car and headed up to Dallas a day early.  Chris met us on the 27th and Pearce had yet another Christmas celebration with his Dallas family and we got to watch everyone open their gifts from us.  Pearce was the elf who passed out the gifts :)  Pearce got a fun new game from Nathan and Charlotte and a scooter from Mama and Papa!  He loved both!  He has already played the game several times and he is getting better and better on that scooter...especially having Nay Nay to keep up with!

 

 

        









 
 
 
 
 


Monday, December 22, 2014

Christmas Card, Wally, Cookie Exchange, and Santa

Here are just a few miscellaneous Christmas pics from the past few weeks.  I am in LOVE with our Christmas card this year!  My friend Erin did a little photo session with him at the end of November and I just loved all of the pictures!  My favorite is the one with his hands in his pocket, so that's what we used for our card.  I have a girl in Fayetteville, AR who does my cards for me and each time she designs one, I just love it! 



 
 
 
 
I have a mailing place I always go to because it is sooo much easier than going to the post office and there's a shop dog named, Wally there.  Pearce LOVES Wally!!  We decided to bring Wally a new bone for Christmas, so here are a few pics of Pearce giving the bone to Wally.  Wally and Pearce are buddies :)




Last week, our play group met for a Christmas cookie exchange.  The kids all came in their Christmas jammies.  They were adorable!  I made Mama Pearce's Special K cookies.  I think Pearce and I ate WAY too many cookies, but oh well!  Aubrey had a cute photo backdrop set up, so we took a little "selfie" together.


 
On Sunday, after Pearce's nap, we headed to the mall to see Santa!  Pearce was soooo excited to see him.  We practiced in the car what he was going to ask Santa for.  I told Pearce he needed to speak loud enough for Santa to hear him...so he yelled his 3 requests :)  Luckily, when he was talking to Santa, he used his normal voice :)  When it was Pearce's turn, Pearce ran right up and hopped onto Santa's lap and just started talking away.  His requests this year are a "Kenai stick" which is a walking stick from one of Pearce's favorite movies, "Brother Bear."  He also is asking for a "puter" and a basketball goal.  I bet Santa is busy making everything on Pearce's list!  After we saw Santa, we let Pearce ride a few rides at the mall and then we headed home.  It was so fun watching how excited Pearce was as well as all the other kids who were in line.  I just LOVE the magic of Christmas!!