Dawson's First Christmas

John, Dawson, and I have spent the last week celebrating Christmas. Last Monday we traveled to Maryville to visit our families. Dawson has two wonderful sets of grandparents who make our lives much easier by keeping cribs set up at both of their houses for when we visit. On Tuesday morning Dawson had a 'first'. He woke up in his crib at his Nana and Grandad's house and we sat him up to look around. He immediately pulled-up to standing for the first time in his crib. Although, we were excited, we also knew this meant it's time to lower the matress in his crib(s) everwhere.

That Tuesday we celebrated Christmas with John's parents, sister, and our nephwe. We had a great time celebrating with them and watching Dawson open the first of his first Christmas gifts. Although we took lots of pictures, we didn't end up with any of Dawson with his Aunt Em or Cousin Drew (we will have to fix that on our next visit!). We had some a delicious dinner and a lot of fun exchanging gifts with everyone.

The next day, Wednesday, we got to celebrate Christmas with my parents and brother. "Chef Pop" fried the fish that John, Logan, and he caught deep sea fishing in October on our family vacation. The fish was really good and there was a lot of it thanks to the great fishermen! :) After lunch we opened gifts. We unfortunately were not able to get any pictures of Dawson with his Uncle Logan since Logan was sick. We hope he feels much better soon, though!

Wednesday evening we met our friend, Kealan, who went to high school with us and was in our wedding. We had dinner at Aubrey's with Kealan and his wife, Sarah. We usually don't get to see them when we're in town since they just moved back to Knoxville from Cincinnati, and we actually haven't seen them since their wedding in July. We got to visit over dinner for a couple of hours while Dawson stayed with his Lolly and Pop.

On Christmas Eve we visited my Mamaw (Dawson's Great Grandmother) and loaded the car to start home. When we got home on Christmas Eve night we all opened one gift of pajamas, a tradition we started this year with Dawson. Then Christmas morning we got up to celebrat Christmas at our house. We spent the day relaxing, watching a movie, and playing with Dawson.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Enjoy the pictures below...

Above: Our Christmas tree.
Above: Christmas decorations.

Above: The stocking's were hung by the chimney with care.
From left to right the stockings belong to: John, Dawson, Me,
and Bentley. Lolly and Pop gave Dawson his musical Elmo stocking,
and he LOVES it. When he's in the living room he looks for it and waits
for us to press the button so Elmo will sing. He was more interested in
the stocking than the gifts Santa left in it!

Above: Bentley in the living room.

Above: Bentley in the car on the way to Tennessee

for Christmas.

Above: Dawson piled up with toys to entertain him

in the car on the way to Tennessee for Christmas.

Above: Dawson and Bentley in the car on the way

to Tennessee for Christmas.

Above: Dawson grinning after pulling up for the first time

in his crib.

Above: Dawson right after he pulled up the first time in

his crib at Nana and Grandad's house.

Above: We took his Johnny Jumper with us

because it's always entertaining for him.

Above: Dawson with his Nana (John's mom).

Above: Bentley watching Dawson try to eat

the paper off of one of his gifts at Nana and Grandad's.

Above: Dawson with Nana.

Above: John opening a gift from his parents.

Above: Dawson taking a ride in a box one gift

came wrapped in.

Above: Dawson opening a gift on his

Grandad's (John's dad) lap.

Above: Dawson in the exersaucer at Lolly

and Pop's house.

Above: Me, Dawson, and Bentley in front

of Lolly and Pop's tree.

Above: Dawson with his Mommy.

Above: Dawson showing off a stuffed animal to Bentley.

Above: Dawson trying to eat a bow off a gift

on Pop's (my dad) lap.

Above: Dawson with his Lolly and Pop opening

a big box of toys.

Above: One of the toys out of the box from Lolly and Pop.

He is pulled up the the table on his own.

Above: My parent's golden retriever, Abby, with her reindeer

antlers.

Above: Bentley with her nose in her stocking.

Above: Dawson at our house on Christmas morning.

Above: Dawson having fun with the gifts still wrapped

on Christmas morning.

Above: Dawson wouldn't quit talking for the picture.

Above: Dawson and DaDa in their Christmas pjs

on Christmas morning.

Above: After all the gifts were opened.

Above: I was trying to get a picture of the back

of Dawson's Christmas pjs. They have a flap

that opens on the back and above it says My

First Christmas.

Above: Christmas morning. Dawson with the cap that

went with his pjs.

Above: John & I on Christmas morning.

Tis the Season

Tis the season for Christmas cookies, gingerbread houses, Christmas lights, Christmas parties, friends and family, and we are lucky enough to get to experience all of those this holiday season. Last week I started making Christmas cookies for a Christmas Cookie Exchange Party and ended up making almost 10 dozen! We had all shapes...stars, stockings, bells, candy canes, presents, snowmen, Christmas trees, and holly leaves. I took almost 5 dozen to the cookie exchange which was a lot of fun, and I came home with a lot cookies others had baked that were great! John, Dawson, and I took the other 5 dozen cookies I made by Hawk where I used to work. It was great to see everyone there and wish them a Merry Christmas!

After making all of the Christmas cookies, we decided to go ahead and build our gingerbread house so we could have it out to enjoy leading up to Christmas. John and I had a lot of fun decorating it, and it's still standing so we must have done something right!

Every year the Huntsville Botanical Gardens puts on a Galaxy of Lights where you can pay to drive on a path through the gardens and see a huge lights display them have put up. Last year we wanted to go but weren't able to make it before Christmas, so this year we were excited to get to go! We have decided that this will be something we do every year we're in Huntsville because it was so good. We all put on our pj's, took some hot chocolate, and loaded in the car (even Bentley got to come) and drove over the the Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, Dawson didn't get to enjoy it for long before he fell asleep, but next year hopefully he will be more interested in the lights. It takes about 40 minutes to drive through they have so many lights. They have music for the whole thing too! We really enjoyed all the lights! On the way home we stopped by a nearby neighborhood where two different houses have outdone Clark Griswald's Christmas lights and covered their houses with lights, and they have even coordinated the lights to music.

This week we also had two Christmas parties. Tuesday night was our 3rd Annual Small Group Tour de Christmas Party. This is where our small group of four couples hosts a progressive dinner which we have started calling our "tour de Christmas" since we go to every couples house to see their Christmas decorations and, of course, eat. This year John and I were in charge of desserts so we served a little bit of several desserts. We had white chocolate oreo truffles, Mississippi mud bars, peanut butter pie, cheesecake, and a fruit salad.

Last night was our Sunday School Christmas Party which John and I always look forward to as well. This year instead of doing a Christmas party and playing Dirty Santa, the party was a Tacky Christmas Sweater Party which was really funny! John wore a tie with Christmas trees on it that played music. I borrowed a sweater from a friend, Melanie, who said she had a whole crate of tacky Christmas sweaters from a relative, and there was quite a collection! The best sweaters of the night though, were Ben and Melanie's! We had a lot of fun with our friends at the Christmas parties this week.

We are looking forward to seeing our family soon to celebrate Christmas with them and of course we're also looking forward to Dawson's first Christmas!

Enjoy the pictures below!

Above: Dawson in his pj's in his carseat at the Galaxy of Lights

before he fell asleep.

Above: Dawson at the Galaxy of Light again.

I thought this picture was funny because I just

stuck the camera around from the front seat and

he saw it and smiled for the camera. He's such a ham!

Above: The begining of the Galaxy of Lights.

Above: The Tacky Christmas Sweater Party.

Above: The Tacky Christmas Sweater Party.

Above: The Tour de Christmas Party.

Above: The girls at Tour de Christmas at the Hough's house.

Above: Our almost complete gingerbread house.

Above: Working on the gingerbread house. The gingerbread

man is supposed to have a "D" on his shirt and be Dawson, but

it didn't turn out as well as hoped.

To Tennessee...AGAIN!

Dawson, Bentley, and I just got back from a short trip to Tennessee for the weekend. John had to work, and so we made the trip by ourselves. This was my first time on a road trip with Dawson by myself, so I was a little unsure how he would do. Luckily, he did wonderfully! I really could not have asked for a 7 month old to do much better on a 4 hour trip alone by himself (except for the dog) in the backseat without much entertainment. On the drive up he only got fussy a couple of times and the same for the drive back. I decided to drive up for the weekend for my friend, Lauren's, engagement party. Dawson's Lolly and Pop kept him on Saturday while I went wedding dress shopping with Lauren (so fun!) at Wedding Wonderland in Knoxville. I love everything wedding, all the details, everything, so we had a great time looking at the dresses and discussing the details of her upcoming wedding in 2010.
Then Saturday night Dawson got to spend a little more time with his Lolly and Pop and some time with his Nana and Grandad too while I went to the engagement dinner at Flemming in Turkey Creek. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see Erin and Ashlee, two of my other Sigma Kappa sisters, who will also be bridesmaids in Lauren's wedding.
Sunday Dawson got to visit with his Nana and Grandad a little more and see his Great Grandmother (Mamaw).
Before I knew it the short visit was over and it was time to pack the Jeep back up and head back to Huntsville. Dawson had a lot of fun getting to visit with his grandparents, and I enjoyed visiting friends and family.
Just a few pictures below to share...

Above: This picture is not from the weekend, but

a recent photo of Dawson. We decided to see if he was ready

to try sitting up in the sink for a bath rather than in his plastic

tub. He loved it! Unfortunately though that meant he got into

more stuff while trying to bathe him. I loved this picture though!

Above: Me with the bride-to-be at Flemmings.

I will be the Matron of Honor!

Above: Me with the other Sigma Kappas planning to be
in the wedding. Left to Right: Lauren, me, Erin, Ashlee.

Above: At Flemings with the other bridesmaids.

Santa and Snow

This week John and I have been working on decorating the house for Christmas. We spent Tuesday putting up our outside icicle lights which we will have to take a picture of soon to put on here. Wednesday and Thursday we put up our tree and inside decorations which was a lot of fun. Last year when we were decorating our tree was when I felt Dawson kick for the first time, so it was fun to think how much has changed in a year when he's actually moving around the house in his walker this year while we're decorating. This year has gone by so fast! Dawson loves to look at our Christmas tree all lit up!
After spending the week decorating, we had an appointment with Santa on Friday evening. At John's office they have Santa come every year and you can come there to do pictures if you like. Every year since John and I started dating we have had our picture taken with Santa, and last year we had our picture made with the same Target Santa when we were expecting. So this year we dressed Dawson in his own Santa suit and took him! This Santa was great, and I'm sure he was the real one! :) When we got there Santa gave us tips to get a few good photos with him in case Dawson started crying when he was on Santa's lap. Although these were helpful, Dawson was not afraid of Santa at all-he loved Santa! We got a some pictures and had fun with Dawson's great Santa visit!
As a perfect end to a Christmas-y week, last night during the night it snowed! Since we have lived in Alabama this is only the third time it has snowed, and there is not usually much accumulation. This morning when John got up at 3:30am for work, we looked outside to see a white yard. When Dawson and I got up for the day, I decided to bundle him up really well and run outside to take a few pictures of Dawson's first snow. By now a lot of it is melted, and you can tell from the pictures just how little snow we got, but still, it was Dawson's first snow!
We hope you enjoy the pictures below and that you're enjoying this Christmas season!

Above: One of our traditions is that every year John and I

pick a Halmark Keepsake Ornament to add to our tree. The

past couple years we've chosen very pretty ornaments, but

this year we picked a fun one. It's Cousin Eddie's RV from the

movie Christmas Vacation which we watch several times each

Christmas. In the picture above John is adding our newest

ornament to the tree!

Above: Dawson thought this was hilarious that he was laying

on Daddy and pushing on his face. We were taking a break from

tree decorating.

Above: This year we also got Dawson a "Baby's 1st

Christmas" Halmark Ornament. So here we are putting it

on the tree.

Above: Santa says, "Make more toys!"

Above: Our little Santa before going to see the
real Santa.

Above: Dawson on Santa's lap!

Above: All of us with Santa, and Dawson looking like

he wants to give Santa a kiss.

Above: Everyone with Santa.

Above: Dawson sitting in our front yard in the snow.

Above: Dawson checking out the snow.

Above: Of course, Bentley had to join us in the snow too!

Above: Bentley in the snow in our backyard.