Our Holly, Jolly Christmas

Christmas this year was a bit different than last year.  Last year, Allie slept through a majority of the day.  This year...Allie participated in all the holiday festivities, from dinner and dessert, to opening presents.

Allie made gifts for family this year.  She made Christmas art with her hand print for Grandma and Auntie Ellen.  We hope they like them.  Now, every year at Christmas we'll all get to remember how little Allie's hands were this Christmas.

Allie also made a special gift for Dad.  She was very cooperative when I went to the pottery place to help her paint her plate.  She sat so nicely in her car seat (good thing she still fits in it) while I painted the wording and rim.  Dad loved his gift and displayed it on the buffet in the dining room. I LOVE how it turned out!

I even got a little creative this year and made Todd a fun gift.  Whenever he comes home, he always wants four things...Arby's, Jimmy Johns, Vernors, and Superman ice cream (all the things he cannot get in Boston).  I used a 6-pack of Vernors and hot glued googly eyes and pom-pom noses on the bottles.  I made antlers using pipe cleaners and tied a little scarf on each bottle.  Whaaa-la! I attached a card with a Jimmy Johns gift card and wrote "Michigan Misses You."  Allie and her momma miss him too.

Allie opened a few of her gifts...but Mom and Dad had to help out.  She received a lot of nice things from family.  Grandma, Auntie Ellen and I all had the same idea.  We each bought Allie a recordable storybook.  I really like these books.  I think it's such a nice way to cherish a family member's voice.  Allie will always have her aunt's and Grandma's voice recorded.  Todd and I recorded "Bright and Beautiful" together alternating pages.  Now, she'll always have our voices too. 

Allie and her daddy were pretty sneaky this year.  Allie kept quite the secret from her momma!  For Christmas this year, I received a gift that I've been longing for.  Since the arrival of our Allie (and double rent/mortgage we are paying...and the many $'s we are paying to keep Delta in business), our vacationing has been put on a steady HOLD!  We did take a couple short road trips here and there...but no Caribbean islands or exotic trips were in our near future. Until now!!!  Check out my fabulous Christmas gift from my two favorite people!  Who knew they could be so creative???

We are going to have a blast come August!  Some people probably think "A 1 year old on a cruise...she won't remember it."  You are probably right, but I will have the best memories to last a lifetime...I can't wait!  I'm pretty sure Todd trumped my gift, lol!

Todd and I were so excited to take Allie downstairs in the morning to see what Santa left. I think we might have been a little more excited than her. Allie must have been a good girl this year. He left her a big play kitchen with all sorts of fun kitchen utensils, an octopus toy that lights up and plays music, books, and a bag of animal crackers. In her stocking, Santa left puffs, bubble bath, a sippy cup, more books, sticky bellies for Allie's second year (just in time...she's almost 13 months old) an apple, and an orange (one of her favorite foods).

Allie LOVED her new kitchen.  She especially loved the refrigerator part...opening and closing the door and putting blocks in and out.  What fun!

Allie's Christmas gifts from Santa, family and friends

After we had some playtime, I cooked us a Christmas breakfast.  We all ate fun reindeer pancakes.  I think this will be our new Christmas morning family tradition from now on.  Aren't they cute?

All I Want For Christmas is You

This year, all I want for Christmas...is to be with my two favorite people.  I'm so thankful to spend two WHOLE weeks with my husband and my Allie girl.  Merry Christmas!

I Can Eat With a Spoon...or Two!

Allie recently decided that she didn't want to be fed from a spoon by anyone other than herself.  So, I just gave her the spoon.  When she didn't want to let go, I gave her another one to focus on.  When she sees the new pre-loaded spoon of heaping applesauce, yogurt, or hummus...she will easily part ways with the one she just licked clean.  This is a great system!  See for yourself...

Allie does very well with hummus on the spoon.  It's very sticky.  Applesauce on the other hand is a bit more messy.  She's still working on getting it to her mouth faster (and right side up).

Look Out World! Here I Come!

Our Allie Girl almost has it!  I never imagined this day would come.  A year ago she was a bump on a log.  An eating, sleeping, pooping little thing.  Now she is on the move and into everything.  She loves to see how long she can swivel Daddy's flat screen TV before Mom runs over to her and says "NO!" or how many buttons she can press on the DVR before she programs recording of some random show we don't watch.  Allie is very curious about this world we live in and wants to explore it all.  She is making her momma a very tired momma.  Now that she is walking, she's even faster and getting into trouble.  Look at her go!

'Tis the Season

Allie was invited to her very first Christmas party.  Allie's Boston buddies (and their parents) all got together to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.  The babes were all dressed up.  Anja was too cute!  They were ALL adorable!  Allie loves her friends at her second home and feels so blessed to have them.  Allie says thanks to her buddies for the super cute Christmas gifts.  You guys are the best!

Allie's Visit with Santa Claus

Allie went to see Santa today.  Every year, Santa sets up his workshop for a weekend in the park that is located across the street from our apartment.  This was not like the Santa experience you might get at the local shopping mall.  There was hot chocolate and cookies...and you didn't have to pay some astronomical amount for a photo.

It was a little chilly out today, but we only had to wait in line for about 5 minutes.  Santa camped out in his workshop so we were able to take Allie's jacket off for the photos.  You can judge for yourself what you think she thought of Santa.

I'm glad we didn't have to wait in a two hour mall line and pay money for these photos.  Maybe Allie will like Santa after she sees all the goodies he's bringing her this year.

First Birthday Bash

Sign on our front door

All ready to party

Happy Birthday Party Day, Allie!  What a memorable first birthday.  Lots of food, family and friends.  Allie had a great time and only cried once...well, twice.  For Allie's first birthday I made the cake, the desserts and some of the decorations.  Our house looked AMAZING!  We didn't go overboard with the crazy kid parties people have now-a-days...no performers, pop singers or circus acts.  We also didn't have the room for any of that stuff.  Unfortunately Allie will always have an "indoor" birthday party due to the fact that her birthday is in December. 

Allie looked adorable in her pink and black flower print dress, pink polka dotted bow, and patent leather Mary Jane's.  I made her birthday hat myself and had a bib made to match too.



Allie cried when I put on her hat.  I knew when I made it that she would NEVER wear it for the whole party.  I was hoping to just get a few good pictures with it on.  I knew I was in trouble when I did a test drive with the hat a few days earlier.  She cried when I put it on then too.  After a few minutes of tears, and access to mom's cell phone, she soon forgot about it and I managed to get a great photo!

Luckily I have a wonderful friend that let us borrow some really cool decorations.  Allie's birthday "theme" was SWEETS and CUPCAKES.  The house was decked out in lollipops, cupcakes, candy and balloons. 

I made all the desserts and cake for the party.  I also made small snack bags for the kiddos and babes.  Each one was filled with finger foods that any baby (or two year old) would love...goldfish crackers, pretzels, Cheerios, animal crackers and graham crackers.  Each bag was sealed with an "Allie's First Birthday."

I made Allie's first birthday cake...but I had no intention on letting her eat this huge cake in front of everyone.  I had a feeling that she wouldn't be interested in cake in general, so we cut this cake up for all of Allie's guests.  There were also cupcakes for everyone too.

This was my very first attempt at making cake pops...and it was pretty successful.  I made cupcake cake pops to go along with the "cupcake" theme.  I also made some regular round cake pops just for fun.  One cake mix makes a TON of cake pops.  They were really yummy though.  We also had chocolate dipped strawberries and pink marshmallow pops.

Allie did pretty well opening her gifts.  Daddy and Momma helped out.  Allie loved all her gifts she received.  I decided to create a registry for Allie's birthday.  Everyone kept asking what she wanted/needed...I figured it was an easy way for everyone to get her something that she needed...or get an idea of something that she might like.  Some of her favorite gifts she received where blocks, a push walker (just in time...she cruises all around the house with it), a riding inflatable horse, clothes, lots of fun toys that make lots of noise, a potty (yep...I registered her for that and she, and her parents, were so excited to get it) and a puzzle with Allie's name on it.

I set aside one of the cupcakes for Allie.  She had no interest in eating it.  She didn't even touch it!  I didn't think she would.  As of now, she's not a super huge cake fan.  I guess she doesn't know what she's missing yet.  We sang Happy Birthday and Allie just stared at everyone while they sang.  I'm assuming she was wondering why all these people were in her house and singing together to a song she yet didn't know the words to.  After she got tired of looking at the cupcake in front of her, this is where she whined/cried for the second time.

When everyone left, Allie made sure to give them a party favor for coming.  Her friends received a new bath toy attached to a jar filled with animal crackers.  All the grownups took a bag home of cake pops, chocolate covered strawberries and marshmallows.