I can't believe 2012 is here already! I also can't believe that my parents will be in England in less then a month. I am so excited to have them visit us! I'm also excited that Ty will be a year old in only 1 month! He is so big! I only wish he'd sleep through the night...and that I wasn't such a pushover. :)
Well, Christmas has come and gone. We went to Elveden to get our Christmas tree. We had fun looking in all the shops and of course picking out our own tree. We picked a relatively small tree (6 ft). They stuffed it in the netting and Matt carried it to our car. If Ty had been older we would've paid to have one of the Newfoundland dogs that were pulling sleighs pull it to our car. They looked so cute pulling all the trees. I know once Ty is older he will get a kick out of it. Here's a pic of a dog with his wagon.
Ty went down for a nap once we got home and Matt and I decorated the tree. We had just finished decorating the tree when Ty woke up. We turned down the main lights so the tree seemed to glow. Ty was so entranced when he saw the tree. He didn't know what to think except, must touch it, must touch it...It was pretty difficult to keep Ty from pulling off all the lower ornaments and from pulling on the actual tree. Our tree had a natural repellent. It would sprout it's needles at us.
Matt had cut a couple inches off the bottom of the tree like you're supposed to and we watered it but something must've been wrong cause 2 days after we bought the tree it died. No joke. You would barely touch it and needles would rain onto my cream tile floor. Needless to say I hated that tree. I was literally sweeping under the tree twice a day and there would ALWAYS be needles on the ground. I know I said the needles falling were a natural repellent when in actuality 2 members of our family were more intrigued by this. Ty and Gracie loved to either sniff and wag their tail by the tree and therefore cause a shower of needles or wave their hands erratically in an attempt to make the most needles fall off at one time. When we finally took the tree down this was what it left us.
Matt and I both agree that this is our last real tree. Fake all the way next year. Ty had his first Christmas and it was so fun!!! He opened presents and loved all the toys and books he got. He was pretty good at ripping the paper on the first few packages but after that all he wanted to do was play with his new things. He didn't care about all the other boxes with treasures in them, he only wanted what he had already opened. We had a great Christmas full of laughs, love and the Spirit of Christ.
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| Ty playing with ribbon. |
Here are some fun pics of our little guy:
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| He loved wearing the puzzle piece but Grace wasn't such a big fan. |
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| Look at Ty as he cuddles with daddy. |
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| Matt took this pic, I had just gone outside with Grace and Ty wanted to go with. He might be a Momma's boy. :) |
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| My handsome boys. |
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| Gracie love. |
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| He's pooped! When he's tired he lays his head on the ground or bed in this case. It's super cute. |
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| He had just woken from his nap this is how we found him. Somehow he had gotten his arm out of its sleeve. :) |
Gracie and Ty are the best of friends. They love playing with each other and each other's toys. The most recent example is that Ty got a stuffed Big Bird (thanks Aunt Katie) and he really likes it. He'll cuddle and play with it. When Gracie thinks we're not looking she digs it out of Ty's basket and starts nibbling on Big Bird or licking it. Then there's Gracie's newest toy, rubber french fries that squeak (also thanks to Aunt Katie). She LOVES it and goes crazy chasing after it and chewing on it. Ty also goes crazy for it and will try to steal it from her so he can squeak it and when Mommy's not looking chew on it too. So as of now it's pretty difficult to distinguish between Ty's toy box and Gracie's toy box they seem to be one and the same. Here is a video of some Ty and Gracie play time.
You may think my background is very travel oriented and that we really haven't been traveling much. That is all about to change. When my parents come we will be checking off a few destinations on our bucket list. In Italy we'll visit Rome, Florence, and Venice. Then we'll be driving to Germany so we'll pass through France (probably see Paris), Belgium, maybe another random country and Miriam will be showing us a good time near Frankfurt. We're so excited to discover Europe these next few weeks!!
This holiday season has been a time of joy but also of sadness for us. Because usually what makes Christmas and New Years so much fun is family time. Being so far away from our families has made us very aware of how wonderful our families are. We have also missed being near our friends that we've made over the years. Though we definitely had some sad days the phone calls, Skype sessions, and numerous packages kept our spirits high and helped us to feel our family's love for us. Thank you for your love and prayers we have felt the effects daily.
Here's to a Happy New Year!!!
