Christmas Eve
Braden had so many gifts he was going to get on Christmas morning that we thought it would be fun to give him a gift that we could use on Christmas Eve since Jess had the rest of the week off & we could have a fun family day! We got this great trike for $7 on craigslist & it was such a hit!! He absolutely LOVES the thing! We thought before investing in a trike/big wheels we would let him get used to one & see what he prefers...and in the meantime save a lot of $$! Jess picked it up in SLO the night before and we had it in the garage as a surprise...and Braden was SOOOO excited when he saw it. Many of his buddies have bikes/trikes so he must have remembered seeing them there because he knew exactly what to do with it - he got right on!! ...the downside is he has our short genes so when the pedals are fully extended he can't reach...so for now he "scoots" along. We ended up on a 2 hour bike ride ...well, him on the bike, us walking along :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!We had such a memorable Christmas & nothing quite beats waking up in your own bed and getting to relax at home. The first 7 childless years of our marriage we traveled to see family on Christmas & we decided long ago that once we have kids we will no longer travel ~ Jess always traveled on Christmas growing up & I never had to travel...and we decided it would be best to have the kids in their own home, their own beds & get to play with their toys once they open their gifts.Christmas Eve we carried on a tradition we did as a family growing up ~ you got to open one gift & that gift was always jammies...Jess had never heard of such a thing, but I always thought it was fun!! So, Braden opened his 1st gift - jammies with cars on them! :) And then he opened another (some books) because we are suckers and were having so much fun watching his expressions!! Once he was in bed we excitedly got all the gifts downstairs & got to play Santa! I seriously got no sleep that night because I giddy as a kiddo awaiting my kiddos expressions when he got up in the AM!! I love that now being a parent we can live vicariously through them :) Oh, and we totally forgot to put the cookies & milk out for Santa...ooops.
Braden LOVED Christmas! The second he saw the downstairs he started doing his "whoa" noise - jaw dropped, finger pointed - the whole nine yards!! When I was growing up it was tradition to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on our way downstairs to the Christmas tree and last year we kept this tradition going with our little family...of course Braden can't sing it, but eventually he will be able to & it will be a sweet tradition to carry on, because after all - it is Jesus' BIRTHDAY! Braden's favorite thing in the entire world is BALLOONS! he LOVES them & every store we go into he is quick to point it out & if the sales clerk is nice enough they catch on & give him one...so Jess & I decided to fill a big box with a few helium balloons (which are still by the way floating in our living room & Braden STILL plays with!)...Jess also thought to attach a few to the tree - which is now a tradition since it was such a GREAT idea!! this was quite the hit of a gift. he LOVED it! one of the things we got Braden was a front bike seat so we could continue our bike rides as a family...we decided to take an intermission after breakfast to go on a family ride & test out the new seat...Braden LOVES going on the bike!!! we have since taken many family rides & I'm sure it's quite a site seeing a 7+ month prego gal riding. He went down for a little nap & then finished opening the rest of the gifts before & after dinner...yes, it was an entire day event because every time he would open a gift he wanted to play with it for like an hour - which I can't say that I blame him!! he got a lot of gifts, the Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunties & Uncles all sent him awesome stuff - he loved it all! we had an amazing Christmas & are so very blessed for all that the Lord has provided us with - we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!!
trying to put on Mama's new headbands! haha :)
Jesse had this ornament made for me & I just LOVE it as it has our lil fam on it :) xoxo
MERRY CHRISTMAS!We had such a memorable Christmas & nothing quite beats waking up in your own bed and getting to relax at home. The first 7 childless years of our marriage we traveled to see family on Christmas & we decided long ago that once we have kids we will no longer travel ~ Jess always traveled on Christmas growing up & I never had to travel...and we decided it would be best to have the kids in their own home, their own beds & get to play with their toys once they open their gifts.Christmas Eve we carried on a tradition we did as a family growing up ~ you got to open one gift & that gift was always jammies...Jess had never heard of such a thing, but I always thought it was fun!! So, Braden opened his 1st gift - jammies with cars on them! :) And then he opened another (some books) because we are suckers and were having so much fun watching his expressions!! Once he was in bed we excitedly got all the gifts downstairs & got to play Santa! I seriously got no sleep that night because I giddy as a kiddo awaiting my kiddos expressions when he got up in the AM!! I love that now being a parent we can live vicariously through them :) Oh, and we totally forgot to put the cookies & milk out for Santa...ooops.
Braden LOVED Christmas! The second he saw the downstairs he started doing his "whoa" noise - jaw dropped, finger pointed - the whole nine yards!! When I was growing up it was tradition to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on our way downstairs to the Christmas tree and last year we kept this tradition going with our little family...of course Braden can't sing it, but eventually he will be able to & it will be a sweet tradition to carry on, because after all - it is Jesus' BIRTHDAY! Braden's favorite thing in the entire world is BALLOONS! he LOVES them & every store we go into he is quick to point it out & if the sales clerk is nice enough they catch on & give him one...so Jess & I decided to fill a big box with a few helium balloons (which are still by the way floating in our living room & Braden STILL plays with!)...Jess also thought to attach a few to the tree - which is now a tradition since it was such a GREAT idea!! this was quite the hit of a gift. he LOVED it! one of the things we got Braden was a front bike seat so we could continue our bike rides as a family...we decided to take an intermission after breakfast to go on a family ride & test out the new seat...Braden LOVES going on the bike!!! we have since taken many family rides & I'm sure it's quite a site seeing a 7+ month prego gal riding. He went down for a little nap & then finished opening the rest of the gifts before & after dinner...yes, it was an entire day event because every time he would open a gift he wanted to play with it for like an hour - which I can't say that I blame him!! he got a lot of gifts, the Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunties & Uncles all sent him awesome stuff - he loved it all! we had an amazing Christmas & are so very blessed for all that the Lord has provided us with - we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!!
trying to put on Mama's new headbands! haha :)
Jesse had this ornament made for me & I just LOVE it as it has our lil fam on it :) xoxo