December activities

Now that I have shared our Christmas post, I thought I should recap the December activities for memory's sake. We had so many fun outings that I couldn't help myself! Our little town is the oldest town in our state, and hosts many cute little Christmas celebrations. From a traditional tree lighting to a Santa and Mrs. Claus who sit on a sleigh on Main Street, no activity is left uncovered. We tried to enjoy as many of these as we could (and as Barrett would allow.) Making memories together is just so much fun!

In early December, we visited the downtown tree lighting. After rushing through our afternoon errands, we made it just in time! Barrett was almost ready to walk alone, so he had more fun running up and down the street than anything else, but it was so sweet to be able to watch him love the lights on the tree!

Hanging with Daddy

And, he's off!

My smiley boy

Beautiful tree

The rest of the month was a bit crazy. With call schedules and normal life, we didn't have time for much else. We did try to keep up with everyone as much as possible. Here you can see a few shots of Barrett doing what he does best - entertaining! He loves to talk on the phone and really had a great time "decking the Hall's."

MUAH!  

Mom, these are soooo cool!

Okay, that's it, I'm busting out of this joint

Daddy and Barrett helping to make things a little festive 

WOW... his favorite phrase when it came to the Christmas tree. Every morning when we went into the living room, he would insist that we turn on the lights first thing. I just love it that my boy already loves Christmas as much as I do!

Walking in Daddy's shoes

Enjoying some yummy dinner

Precious

Visiting with Santa and Mrs. Claus in downtown Jonesborough - he loved Mrs. Claus, but wasn't too sure about Mr. Santa.

Okay, not sure at all about Santa...

Maybe I'll just send him a letter instead.

We also have the most WONDERFUL group of friends. They are really more like our little Resident Family. We get together to celebrate all sorts of special occasions and help each other out any way that we can through this five years of crazy. These are a few shots from our "Resident Family Christmas."

Barrett entertaining all of us with a song...

Maddie, B, and Ellie

These last few are especially for Grandma. I just thought she might like to see how much Barrett loves the rocking chair she brought for him this summer. He loves to climb up in the chair and just rock away. I still have a hard time believing that he is old enough to do this, but I guess time flies when you are having fun!

Just rocking away and looking so cute!

Another of his favorite activities is carrying things around. This is a Christmas box that we used to wrap a gift, but Barrett found it the PERFECT size for toting around the house!

 

Exchanging a few gifts with Maddie and Jon Michael - so precious!



WHEW! December was super busy and super fun. I think I will plan a little better next year so I remember to get things going early!

Christmas Time

Christmas 2011 has come and gone (over a month ago), but I wanted to preserve some of our special memories. Although this year was a quiet Christmas for us with no traveling, we certainly enjoyed the few days off we had together as a family. Ryan's Mom came to visit and we had a wonderful time with her!

It is always fun to make new Christmas traditions and watch Barrett enjoy the magic of the season. We celebrated Christmas all month long with several special activities and new traditions. I will just do a quick recap for you in pictures.

We spent most of our time together at home, just enjoying each other's company. We made a quick trip to the mall and Target for some last minute things, AND made a special stop at Starbucks for a special ingredient to make Ryan's favorite- Caramel Apple Spice - at home! It was a recipe on Pinterest and soooo delicious!!

threeyearsofdeath.blogspot.com

Nanna joined us for a trip to the mall - and some successful Santa pictures!

Little strong man carrying around his tractor

Nanna - you are funny!

Barrett loved playing with the Christmas tree - especially pointing to all of the sparkly ornaments and saying "ball" - we had to remind him that the ornaments stay ON the tree, and for the most part, he was great about leaving them there...but sometimes, they were just too hard to resist! :)

Playing with the Christmas ornaments

Up and down the stairs - Barrett's favorite!



Just taking a little break

Breakfast time for these boys

Sportscenter fanatics already - LOVE it!

Mommy, see how cute I am?

On Christmas Eve, we went to our church's Candlelight Christmas Eve service. It was beautiful and so special to start this tradition with our little family. I still have a hard time believing that we are all grown up and get to start our own fun traditions.

All dressed up after church

After church, we invited our friends Lynne and Ellie Moss over for a few snacks. Lynne's husband Chad works with Ryan and was on call Christmas Eve. Ellie and Barrett are such sweet friends and had a wonderful time playing together!! Ellie was all ready for "Ho Ho" to come and so very precious in her Christmas dress and her "Ho Ho" outfit! We enjoyed a few snacks and a little visiting before getting everyone tucked in to bed.

The littles enjoying some snacks

Posing for a Christmas shot - so sweet!

Hamming it up for Mom

Ellie, please don't go! Ho Ho will come here too!

Before we knew it, Santa had come to visit the Hall household as well. Barrett really must have been a good boy! This is a picture of the tree before he started the fun! He loved opening the gifts and tearing the wrapping paper. We had such a fun Christmas morning!

He made a beeline for his new chair! I would say it was a BIG hit!

Love that baby bed head

More presents Daddy? WOW!

Have you ever seen a sweeter face?

Loving on his new bear

 

We just HAD to call Grammy, Pops, Nancy, Dustin, Val and Logan on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought them too! It is wonderful to be able to use modern technology and be able FaceTime with everyone. Barrett loves to give kisses to everyone before saying goodbye - so sweet!!

On Christmas night, we cooked a nice dinner and got out of our jammies to eat. It was my first time cooking a dinner on my own, and I would say it was a success! Although it is much smaller than our normal family feast at Grandma's, it was still fun. Santa's Little Helper joined us for dinner too. Isn't he cute??

Family Christmas pic

Barrett loved his new fire truck from Aunt Ginger and Uncle Scott - thank you guys!!

 

After our Christmas was over, we just enjoyed our time left with Ryan's mom before we took her back to the airport. Come back again soon Nanna! Some of our gifts arrived a few days after Christmas, so Barrett got to enjoy opening a few more gifts. Here are some cute shots of that too!

This Dancing Dog is a HIT!

He was just precious playing with his first doctor set from Brad and Whitney. Thank you guys - he LOVES it!

Gotta check those ears...

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas!! It was nice to enjoy the peace and quiet, but we think we will be back in Texas and Oklahoma for the Christmas Crazy next year! 

Thirteen

This is Barrett's Thirteen Month Update - he is now 14 months and will turn 15 months next week!! Needless to say, this Mama has some catching up to do. Enjoy!

Sweet Barrett,

You are thirteen months old!!! We just adore you and enjoy watching you become more of a "big boy" every day. This has been a wonderfully fun month as we have watched you blossom right before our very eyes. Each and every day brings a new discovery and new enthusiasm for life.

Seeing the world through your eyes has made us more aware of our every day blessings and the greatness of our God. We know that he has BIG plans for you!

Here are a few of your thirteen month stats:

- You weigh 21 lbs. and are about 30 inches tall. At your last appointment, that was in the 25% for weight and 50% for height. You are such a BIG BOY!!
- You wear a size 12-18 months, a size 4 diaper, and a size 4 shoe...and growing so fast!
- You LOOOOVE to eat. You eat three meals a day and about three snacks or mini-meals! Some of your favorite foods are Spaghettios and meatballs, peas, green beans, black beans, yogurt, cereal bars, puffs, Nilla wafers, graham crackers, and any type of fruit that you can get your hands on.
- Sleeping habits at night are SO much better than they were a few short months ago. You sleep from around 8:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. and we are very grateful!! Naps are still a bit difficult, but we know you will catch on in time. At daycare, you usually take a 30-45 minute nap and when you are at home, you take a morning nap of around 30-45 minutes and whatever we can get while driving around running errands.
- You are definitely a busy boy who is on the move!! You took your first steps in late November and became a full fledged walker on December 15!!
- Your little social bug personality is just blossoming and growing. You enjoy being around people and love to enterain. Your big blue eyes and bright smile seem to attract lots of attention when we are out and about.
- Some of your favorite toys are your singing stage, your choo-choo train, your rocking chair, the fridge farm, blocks, Daddy's iPad, and any phone that you can get your hands on.
- Dancing is one of your new favorite pasttimes! It is so fun to watch you dance to the music. We have always known that you were a music loving baby, but it is fun to see you develop into a little dancing man!!
- FaceTime and Skype are also fun activities for you. You love to see your Grammy and Pops, Nancy, Valerie, and Nanna! It is always fun to see you give them some love and lots of kisses. We are so blessed to have such incredible modern technology.
- Talking is quickly becoming one of your favorite activities too! You can say several words - Hi, Bye, Mama, Dada, Nana (Banana), No, Uh-Oh, Dog, Ball, and answer the questions "What does a cow say?" and "What does a chicken say?" (Mooo and Bock Bock).