Christmas 2008

We had a fun-filled Christmas this year. So many places to go and so much food to eat!

We had dinner with my side of the family on Christmas Eve. My mom usually has extended family over for the Holidays but this year it was just our immediate family so she cooked nothing but our personal favorites including her famous macaroni and cheese.

My sisters...The Actibator and MoochieAudrey and a couple of the guysRachie and I...showing some LOVE
Audrey...opening other people's presents

The girls and the Christmas Tree...thank goodness for cropping.

KT, Me and the Tree

Julia, David and the Tree

Christmas morning we woke up super early and went to see what Santa brought us at Kyle's parent's house. We got to open presents with Kyle's entire family. It was good times in pj's. Audrey got the funnest new bike...she is totally in LOVE with it. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Audrey held onto her gifts real tight on her way home. She kept an eye on her new bike the entire time.
Next, we went to my parent's house to see what Santa brought and we caught him still there! We could not believe he was in our living room waiting for us!!! Audrey didn't get to meet Santa this year so he stopped by for milk and cookies.

My dad got up at 6:00am on Christmas morning, got dressed up as Santa and went to homeless shelters all morning delivering gifts to children. He had such a good time and showed up to surprise Audrey once he was all done.

Once Santa was gone we opened gifts and had a HUGE breakfast. Gifts + Breakfast is my favorite combination!!! (Just for the record, that is Audrey's spit on KT's shirt)
Christmas night we went to Kyle's Aunt Shelley's house to have dinner and to party with Kyle's family. Every year we have a huge gift card exchange and it's always so much fun. This year we walked away with an Old Navy gift card and a Chili's gift card, which will make for a perfect evening in the near future.

Here is Audrey in her Christmas shirt I made for her. It is my first Christmas craft. I saw the idea on some one's blog.

Here is Audrey with her Aunt Kacey.

The Crew

Here is KT and I at the end of our days of parties. Phew... Christmas is sooo much fun.

11 Big Ones!

My Audi B. turned 11 months old today! What a big, big girl! Here are some of my fun favorites for this eleventh month...

(gross warning) Audrey has found mommy's belly button (not pretty) and is absolutely CERTAIN that it is a third nipple. She is CONSTANTLY pulling up my shirt trying to nurse it.

Audrey is a total trash digger. She would stand at the can for hours if I let her. Trash is definitely at the top of her list right now.

Audrey looooves the mirror. We have a huge mirror in our room and she constantly visits herself. She'll bring toys and show them to herself along with gabbing. She also goes to the mirror and gabs to herself while she's handling her business...so funny!

Audrey loves to eat ANYTHING that in NOT baby food. If you are eating something and don't share it with her (which is most of the time) she will pry your mouth open and help herself.

Audrey came to us with her own RANDOM bag of tricks...she is very aggressive and decisive yet will patiently figure things out for herself. She is so physically strong and has a huge pain tolerance but is very feminine in her actions. I can NEVER predict what she'll like or how she'll act.

Audrey is talking more and more. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow. She talks with her hands very emphatically while babbling to get her point across (wonder where she gets that from...). Audrey loves her family more and more each day. It has been so much fun watch her develop her own little personality. She is such a sassy bundle of joy!

Let the Parties Begin!

We had our first Christmas party last weekend with my Father-in-law's extended family. A lot of his family lives in AZ so it was an extra special treat to spend some Christmas time with them.

Here are a couple crazy aunts and uncles

Audrey with her cousin William whom she adores...she followed him around constantly pulling at his arms and shoes.

Some of the group. we all took turns sharing our favorite Christmas experiences...
there was a lot of laughing and a lot of crying.


Some more of the group. Every year we have a huge gift exchange, it's always so much fun to see all the different items available for the taking.

Audrey LOVES opening anything so Christmas presents are so much fun this year. She tore into this gift with her cousin Christopher. Christopher is such an adorable and smart child. He has taken such a special interest in Audrey the last couple times he's seen her.

Williford Family - 2008

Thank you Kellie for taking our pictures. You did such a great job!

Deck the Halls - or, a tree

We got together with Grandma and Grandpa to decorate their Christmas tree this weekend. We reminisced, drank hot chocolate, decorated and took a million pictures of Audrey. We didn't have a Santa hat so we stuck a stocking on her head instead. We're just loving our first Christmas with our little doll.

We finally came across the BEST SANTA HAT EVERRRRRR!

Thanksgiving 2008

Now that Christmas is almost here I am feeling the urge to finally document our Thanksgiving this year. Sorry friends...my Thanksgiving photos are a tad late. Better late than never!

Our big Thanksgiving news this year was my beautiful Sis-in-law's engagement!

We enjoyed a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving dinner at Kyle's Aunt Shelley's house. We always look forward to meals prepared by Aunt Shelley b/c she definitely handles her business in the kitchen.

We had breakfast Thanksgiving morning with my family. It was HUGE and so DELCIOUS. Great way to start off a Thanksgiving day!

After breakfast we had a massive balloon party. There was MUCH screaming.

Audrey loves, loves, loves her aunt Rachie. Rachel was the first person to see her on an ultrasound and the first person to see her little pink line. Rachel also drove all the way to Newport Beach once or twice a day when Audrey was first born, to visit us in the hospital. I was SO sick during Audrey's first few days of life, this little aunt was so helpful to us. Rachel changed diapers and took good care of both of us.

Saturday morning I hit the streets hard for a little bit of this...(Stacy, I'm gonna need this bag when you guys are done with it!)

Family Pictures

We enjoyed some family picture fun with my wonderful in-laws last weekend. Here are some of our results.

The whole family...being silly
The whole Thompson Family...

My sister-in-law Kasey is newly engaged!!!!

My WONDERFUL Mother and Father-in-law.

Lots of kisses to Audrey...

Audrey and her beautiful aunt Kristi

Audrey and her beautiful aunt Kellie

I have no idea why this picture is so SMALL!