Christmas

We had one of the best Christmas' I've ever had. We woke up and we were both excited to open our stockings. We have always filled each other's stockings with surprises. I gave Josh a Columbia t-shirt, a book for him to read to Ben Curtis called "Gone Fishing", a pocket knife, and some new socks. He gave me a precious outfit I've wanted for Ben Curtis from Nordstrom, a new Pandora charm, some socks, and a new electric toothbrush!

After stockings, we made a delicious breakfast, got ready, and went to pick up Josh's dad. It was so great to have him home for the day. We made a big lunch, and then we skyped with Zack, Jenn and the boys. We opened presents, which were lots of surprises!

Josh and I each had something to open from his mom and dad. They gave us a Ralph Lauren blanket and lovie for Ben Curtis. The other box had 6 hot wheels in it along with a note. The note had instructions to look in a closet for the actual gift. We were so surprised to find his car seat and stroller! I was so excited. But that wasn't all...there was another note to go look in another closet, and we found his pack and play! I felt like a little girl getting stuff for my American Girl Doll. I couldn't wait to get it all out and see how it worked.

The rest of the day was spent eating, putting stuff together, and enjoying each other's company. We ended the day with a delicious dinner at the one and only, Waffle House. Our last Christmas without babies was definitely a memorable one!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started with a visit to Josh's dad. It was nice to see him and get excited about him coming home for the day on Christmas.

Josh sang in both Christmas Eve services at church, so we were there during the middle of the day. My family came to the 3pm service, and I loved having them visit our church. It is always neat to introduce your church family to your actual family. So many important people all together is special thing.

Afterwards, we all headed to Chilis for dinner and then headed to their house for the evening. Since Josh's dad was getting to come home on Christmas day, we decided to spend Christmas Eve with my family opening presents and getting ready for Santa to come. We gave all the littles and bigs their gifts, and we got a special one of our own. My mom gave me the cradle the I slept in when I was a baby. She bought new bedding and had it sitting out for us to see. I can't wait for Ben Curtis to sleep in it. It was such a special gift.

After visiting and watching lots of Christmas home videos, Josh and I headed home. We headed to bed and were excited for Santa to come! It was our last Christmas Eve just the two of us...

Bumpdate~ 24 Weeks

Baby's Growth: Size of an ear of corn! I think we are at about a foot long and more than 1 pound.

Boy or Girl: Boy! We are naming him Benjamin Curtis Dove after his grandfather, Ben, Josh's dad, and his great-grandfather, Curtis, my dad's dad. We will call him Ben Curtis. 

Cravings: I am still on the soup kick. I am meeting one of my very best friends tonight for dinner and she is also pregnant. We share the same love for soup, so I am sure we will end up somewhere with delicious soups! 

How I'm Feeling: Since I am now in the 2nd trimester, I have so much more energy. I am still tired by 9:30 every night, but I feel a lot better during the day. I'm very thankful that I haven't really been sick throughout the pregnancy, but I was very tired for a while. For now, I'm great!

Movement: I am feeling lots of kicks these days. I feel him the most at night after dinner when I'm laying down.

Favorite  Moment this Week: We decorated the Christmas tree this past week. We love starting Christmas early so we can enjoy everything longer! It was so much fun to decorate the tree and think about how different everything will be next year. We are so excited!

Sleeping: I average about eight hours a night, give or take. I have always slept at least eight hours at night, and I'm thankful that has not changed! I do get up a couple times to use the bathroom, but I usually can fall back asleep pretty quickly. I am very thankful for sleep right now!

Clothes: Loving my maternity pants. The full band is awesome. I ordered a maternity coat from Oldnavy this weekend, so I am excited to get it this week. 

Most looking forward to: A week off for Thanksgiving!

Thankful for: I am so thankful for this season in our lives. I know things are about to change big time. I feel like this is the calm before the storm...but the best storm you could ever imagine. We are definitely treasuring our time together and going on lots of dates. I am praying each day that God continues to prepare our hearts for out little man, but that He also reminds us to treasure these days too.

Christmas Cards

Have you thought about ordering Christmas cards yet? We had ours taken on Saturday by my mom and I ordered them this weekend. I went with Minted.com last year and decided to go with them again this year. I loved how our card turned out last year and so I definitely wanted to order from them again.

The only difference this year is I decided to order a postcard to send out. I won't have to stuff envelopes and the postage will be cheaper! I thought they were brilliant for offering that option!


Here are some of my favorite designs!

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If you decide to go with Minted.com, be sure to follow this link and you get $25 off your purchase! What a great deal! I promise you won't be disappointed!

Also, if you order today you can get another $25 off with free shipping if you use the code: JOY25FS

Enjoy!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas eve was spent at church and then at home with Josh's side of the family. I cooked dinner at our house, and they came over for dinner and presents. Josh's brother and sister-in-law are not in the country right now, so they joined us via FaceTime. We opened presents and had a great time together. 

We woke up on Christmas morning and opened our stockings from one another. That is our tradition, and I look forward to it! We get each other little surprises that fill our stockings. I had something extra under the tree. Josh gave me my very first Louie Vuitton purse. To say I'm in love is an understatement. While we were out on our Christmas date, we went to the LV store and I got to pick one out. What can I say...I'm spoiled!

 After enjoying our time together, we headed to Josh's parents for breakfast. This is also a tradition in his family. It's amazing how all of our family traditions fit together perfectly. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast with them, and then we headed up the road to see my family. I couldn't wait to see what my brother and sisters got from Santa. 

When we arrived, we brought all the presents in to them from us. They were all very excited! We gave my parents a Keurig, which is what I was most excited about giving. We spent the day together, and I loved every second of it. For dinner we went to my aunt and uncles house. It was the best day!

I hope you had a merry Christmas!

Family Christmas

We have already been celebrating Christmas with family the past two Saturdays. Last weekend, we celebrated with my dad's family. It was wonderful to all be together and see the family we do not see often. We had a delicious dinner and opened presents!

Yesterday, we were back at my parents to celebrate with my mom's side. We had a fun day together filled with more good food, presents, and spending time with family. I love the memories I have of celebrating Christmas at my Memommy's house with my best friend and cousin, Jessica. We still love talking about our toys we used to get and LOVE...Skydancers, skating dolls, and of course our American Girl dolls. It was wonderful to all be together yesterday! Thanks mom for the pictures!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

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Our weekend

We had a wonderful and very eventful weekend! Christmas is in full swing for us, and we are loving every minute of it! 

Friday night we spent the evening with friends. We celebrated our dear friend, Seth's birthday. We were not sure where we were meeting everyone, but when we arrived we realized it was a restaurant in the basement of where we got engaged! I was thrilled to be back in such a memorable and special place! 

Saturday was a big day! We had our church Christmas program this weekend, and Josh had a solo. He sang Jesus is Alive by Josh Wilson. He did so great, and I could not be more proud! We had my family along with Josh's family over afterwards for dessert. It was a wonderful evening!

Thanks to my wonderful mom, here is a video of Josh singing! 

Warning: He's sooooo good!

Sunday we went to church and then rested all afternoon. We were back at church Sunday night for the last performance, and it was just as wonderful as Saturday! 

Hope you had a good weekend too!

Our Weekend

Our weekend was great! 

We had a fun date night on Friday, complete with Thai food and a movie. Saturday, we woke up and made a delicious breakfast. We spent the morning relaxing and I made bows for our wreaths. We watched the last Tennessee game of the year (they won!!!) and then we headed to my parents for our big family Thanksgiving. It was so wonderful to spend time with family and eat more yummy food! Sunday we went to church and spent the afternoon watching football!

Back to school and work today, but I only have about 3 weeks until Christmas break! Christmas will be here before we know it! CRAZY!

Well, have a wonderful Monday, and make the most of this fresh start!

Christmas Decor

We are definitely those people that start decorating for Christmas at the beginning of November. We love Christmas and want to enjoy our tree as long as possible. It was so much fun to decorate our house for the first time. We love our tree and how everything came together. We still need to decorate outside, but the inside is done!

I made the bow for our tree topper, and I love how it turned out! We got our 2012 ornament to remind us of our first Christmas in our home. We got our Christmas cards from Minted.com. I love them! If you still need to do that, here is a $25 off coupon! We also got some new soaps for the Christmas season. My favorite is the Winter Cranberry!

My parents also decorate early, so we were able to help them get everything up too!