Four Christmases

Since I last posted on December 15th, we've had four Christmases AND my parents moved to Tennessee! December has been a crazy, fun, hectic month, and I can't believe that today is the 28th. I'm not mentally or emotionally prepared for 2012. I'll let the pictures explain our Christmases (**warning-major picture overload below)

We celebrated with Elliott's mom's side of the family on the 18th. That seems like forever ago!

 Handing out presents to everyone. This was one of his favorite things to do at each Christmas :)

 Opening his bell from Mimi

On Christmas Eve eve, we went to Opryland to see the Christmas lights, and it was so much fun! I love being able to experience Christmas through the eyes of a 2 year old-it makes it so much better!

 LOVE this picture even thought it's a little blurry. Thankfully Lofton is getting out of his major mommy phase and entering into a fierce need/love for Elliott. I'm happy to hand the torch over for awhile.

 Thankful for Elliott's long arms so we don't have to ask people to take our picture

 In awe, and a little chilly

On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents house in McEwen, Tennessee!! That's right--they are officially MOVED!! We were so excited and thankful to drive an hour instead of the day long plane ride + 2 hour car ride to Texico.

 Opening his present from B-paw and Grammy--a giant stuffed horse that they hid in the stables!

 I might have forgotten to pack regular shoes for Lofton the day we went out there...we literally pulled him out of his bed at 8:45 and put him in the car, and shoes were the one thing I forgot to put in his bag.

 Riding four wheelers in the pasture to check out the cows! They all made it safely on their overnight journey from New Mexico to Tennessee!

 handing out presents to Grammy

 Shane got Lofton a bowling set, and Lofton is crazy about it. He uses his body to knock the pins over.

 Bowling with Grammy

 Our house on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to come!

 Lofton's favorite thing from Santa was his vacuum cleaner. He is obsessed. No idea where he gets his love for cleaning.

His current favorite show to watch is Veggie Tales (thank goodness it finally trumped Mickey Mouse) so he got 2 Veggie Tale DVD's for Christmas. He has been singing the theme song non.stop.

 We went to Elliott's parents the afternoon of Christmas Day to celebrate...

 My handsome hubby.

 My future sister-in-law, Kaitlynn!! SO fun to celebrate Christmas with her this year! I can't imagine having another Christmas without her!

Elliott's dad surprised his mom with a Burberry purse. She's going to kill me for putting this on here, but it was too priceless not to share!

I think Kaitlynn and I were just as excited as Karen :) 

Lofton got a JEEP from Bob-ooo and Nonni, and he was so proud!

 He also got an awesome new hat.

 We told him to sit on the hood and model his jeep and this is what he did. Silly boy.

 Lofton has been asking for Percy to add to his Thomas train set for a while now, and Kaitlynn and Burton got him one for Christmas. He was so excited!

 And I got new boots. Spoiled? Yes. Excited. Very.

Lofton is sleeping in his big boy bed tonight for the first night (he's been taking naps in it for the past few days) so I snuck up to his room last night and took a picture of him in his crib one last time. He is finally asleep after 2.5 hours of being up there, and we only had to take away his lambie, his Thomas pillow, his bunny blanket, his stuffed puppers, his puppy pillow, and his paci to get him to stay in his bed. Then he finally curled up in a ball and fell asleep. We'll see how the rest of the night goes....parenting is not for the faint of heart.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones. We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many family and friends, and I am so thankful that Heaven will be like the holidays everyday--surrounded by those we love celebrating our Lord.

OH the cuteness

Lofton had his school Christmas program today, and it was the cutest thing in the world. I know all parents think that when their child is up on stage, but man--it was cute. 

 Can you tell that we are both a little tired? Lofton always pulls some kind of shenanigan when Elliott is out of town, and last night he decided to have a dance/singing party in his crib from 1am to 4am. Needless to say, I skipped the shower this morning and did my best to have him to his program by 9. Silly child.

 I think this video does a good job of summing up what a 2 year old Christmas program looks like...singing, random dancing, and a mixture of crying. Thanks so much to Kaitlynn and Heather for coming today and taking video and pictures so I could hide in the back and enjoy the show! You guys are the BEST!

party time!!

 Lofton had his first Christmas party today! It was so fun to get to see him with all of the little friends he talks about throughout the week.

 Because I think 2 year old's aren't hyper enough-especially my own, I made these reindeer snacks for his class (I was in charge of the "sweet" snack--I'm sure some of the parents would have preferred strawberries or apples, but where's the fun in that??)

While I made the reindeer last night, I caught Lofton doing this. If it's pourable, he finds a way to pour it.

On Sunday, we went to the Dickens of a Christmas festival in downtown Franklin after church, and Lofton got to ride a pony for the first time! These pictures are from my phone so they're not the best, but it's all I had at the moment.

 He did so good, and he did NOT want to leave the ponies when his time was up. Every time we go out to my parents farm, he wants to know where the "neighs" are. Too bad they won't be bringing any neighs--but he loves cows just as much as horses :)

Speaking of my parents, they are officially moved into their new home in McEwen, TN!! They are still living among boxes, and they'll be making a few trips back to New Mexico to get our cows, but they closed on the 9th! We are so excited to have them here! 

Chris, Katie, and Anna came over last week, so naturally we took pictures of Anna and Lofton together. He was very gentle with her--good signs for baby brother! 

 How precious is this??

So far, I've loved being pregnant in the winter. With Lofton, I was pregnant through the hottest months on earth, so this cold weather is amazing. The ONLY downside of being pregnant in winter is not working out much...with Lofton, I went to the Y most days (since we still had a membership) and then when I got enormous, I went walking pretty much everyday. Let's just say that without that Y membership and the cold weather making it pretty much impossible to stay outside longer than 5-10 minutes, my will power and self control around ANY kind of food lately has been lacking. I feel like I could eat all.day.long and still be hungry. Thankfully big, flowy, non-clingy sweaters are in style this winter :) I'll try to take a 22 or 23 week picture soon. No promises. Especially if I keep eating the nutter butters that made up those reindeer pictured above :)