Max's Christmas Georgia Baby Shower

To start out the holiday vacation I had my GA baby shower on Friday the 23rd. We had the shower at Stacey's, who head up the hosting, with all the lovely women on Davids side of the family. We weren't sure what the turn out would be being so close to the holidays but we ended up having around 25-28 people there.  We have pictures of most everyone, but still are missing a few. Thanks to Gina and my sister for taking photos. 

The decor was a mix between Christmas and Max's room colors. Isn't her tree magnificent (you prob. saw it in yesterdays photos as we had the Christmas celebration at Stacey's house, too).

The food was delicious and I loved all the small details they had. 

 Look at those cute onesies and bibs.

We had the boys gather and then they all went to wild wings for some food and beverage before heading back to help us load up the cars.

I had a great time catching up with family and friends. Let's document some of the guests. This is Cora and Franks long time friend Rita and I just adore her, she is the sweetest and has a large family as well.

Mary and Ashley

 Patsy (Stacey's mom), Kathleen and Annslee

My neighbors Lovey and Jordan

Carrie, Reagan, Dana and David

Brooke and Madeline

Michelle and Amber

Mom, Chris, Me holding Madeline (she was just so friendly to everyone all night) and Marla

Before the gifts we played a little game. David came over earlier and they asked him some questions and videotaped his responses. I had to see if our answers were similar to some parenting techniques and baby statistics. I'd say we were pretty right on, there were a few things that we have to discuss still...

I was so touched and appreciative of everything Max received that I wanted to show you a bunch. I am prob. going to show you a lot more than you want to see, but I just loved everything and if I forgot your gift on here, I am sorry and I really did love it! Everyone was so thoughtful and it just blew me away. I was literally opening presents for an hour. You can tell by some of these photos that I got hot and exhausted lol. My brother picked out some toys and this glow worm. I remember this as a kid and it is awesome!

I love all the personalized gifts from people who made Max blankets, hats and all sorts of things. So talented.

Leah even made me burp cloths and a taggie blanket. Her and Lacey were home for the holiday so I brought their gifts so they were still "there" with us.

Lacey found this awesome Max doll from the book Where the Wild Things Are that fits in great with the accents we are putting in his room.

You can see the pack-n-play and activity bouncer in the background and this awesome 3-in-1 high chair that I can't wait to use.

 Our stroller combo pack from Davids parents which we have been strollering around the house since.

 My sister had another great idea of getting a bunch of books that had Max's name in it. They are on display in the nursery and I just love them!

 Bottle starter set

 Musical car mirror to see baby with

Moby wrap

What a great surprise to receive this awesome coach diaper bag from Stacey, Ashley and Patsy. They know me so well and I just love everything about it.

Boppy, don't mind my gigantic hand. I love the pattern and colors.

 Bath and kitchen goodies with the frog toy scooper upper. Erin's friend also made this awesome owl soap holder that I can't find a picture of, but trust me when I say it's awesome :)

All the little baby clothes are just so cute.

Thank you so much to everyone who came and to Cora, Ashley, Stacey, Mary and Gina for hosting, helping me with gifts, cooking and slaving away all day to make my shower so special!!

Christmas Celebrations

We had lots of celebrations for Christmas for both sides of our family. We had the option of doing homemade gifts or other. My sister went all out by doing homemade gifts she found via pinterest and they were impressive. She wins for creativity this year.

We started by making a great breakfast of cinnamon and sugar donuts, waffles and bacon followed by opening gifts.

I'll post the recipe for these donuts another day, but they were so yummy and not hard to make at all.

We started the opening with some gifts for the kiddos, Bella (kitty) got hers later as her and Molly don't interact well. Molly didn't waste any time finding her gift as you can see.

Michelle helped little Maddie find hers.

These were the homemade gifts I was telling you about that Michelle made. They are chalkboard menu boards for the kitchen made out of picture frames where you paint the glass with chalkboard paint.

I love the personalized touches with the buttons and letter. No one wanted their picture taken except for Michelle so we decided to hold our gifts over our faces.

David received some toys for Max. This is a tool center that he can use to help Daddy when he is older.

Michelle received a beautiful necklace from Tiffanys from James. It's all about the box, now isn't it.

I got David a nicer pair of sunglasses than he had that have an unbreakable policy since I'm sure he will test that out for us.

Michelle and James made me these letters with Max's name and behind them are scenes from the book Where the Wild Things Are. They are awesome and fit in so well. I have them hung, but didn't want to spoil the reveal (prob. next week, still have to take photos).  Don't you love that crib bumper!

On to party #2. We headed to Darrin and Staceys for his side family Christmas

The gals

We do homemade gifts for his side so we are showing off some of the gifts. Kim made chocolate covered spoons with yummy toppings (for hot cocoa or coffee).

Ashley and Daniel are modeling the cookbooks and she made these awesome coasters, but I can't seem to find a photo of them.

Gina is modeling her glasses that have personalized vinyl letters from Darrin and Stacey.  Gina made her calendar which she does every year which I don't have a photo of either.

Family shots by the tree. Isn't the tree gorgeous!

My side

 Davids parents and all the siblings

All the grand kids

1 final photo to sum up the night for ya. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Dinner and Craft

Happy New Year! I am a bit behind on blogging so bear with me as I recap some of Christmas first.

Christmas eve we have a tradition of doing a Christmas craft and making lasagna. This year was a little different as we wanted to do some cooking, but changed up the menu a little bit.

We had the crafters

And the non-crafters

This is what I was busy doing in between crafting (I picked the craft that came in a kit, but it was def. advanced so I want a redo now that pinterest is around for next year). I made Grandmas sauce for 9 people and boy was it yummy.

We made snowmen utensil holders!

Michelle and James prepped the turkey that we fried

Finished product.

The boys taking out the turkey, look at that golden brownness

So yummy

We served everything with salad and glazed carrots.

Here is half the table, Davids parents came and joined us for dinner and then we had Shell, James and mom at the side table.

Everything turned out great and I wish I could make an endless supply of Grandmas sauce. Marla made yummy meatballs to go with it, too.

The fried turkey was so juicy and delicious.

Mom brought TONS of cookies down with her and we had a nice cookie plate each night for the whole vacation (I think I need to adjust my weight in my weekly surveys due to these).