Christmas 2013

Wow, what a fun first Christmas for our family!

Here are a few highlights from our week:

We had our first visit with Santa Claus.

Then after months of watching us eat,

Carter finally got to start solid foods!

We tried oatmeal first and Carter loved it.

Then Mommy made a huge batch of organic

butternut squash and he's been loving that even more!

Our first Christmas get-together was Carrie's extended

family gathering at Aunt Bonnie's house.

Carter loved visiting with his Great Grandma,

who turned 90 this summer.

4 Generations:  Great Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy and Carter 

Then we had our annual Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt Beth and Uncle Brad's house.

Mike's mom enjoyed having both of her grandsons together

and the boys learned a little bit about how to share Grandma.

Cousin Kai was even sweet enough to offer Carter a kiss!

Carter just loves his Grandma!

We waited a little too long to snap a family photo

and Carter had already started to melt down... 

After a good night's sleep, he felt much better.  Here he was,

just waking up on his very first Christmas morning.

He had slept between Mommy and Daddy all night and

when he began to stir, we sat him up and Daddy explained to him

that Santa had been here overnight.  Carter was still sleepy,

but Daddy was excited enough for both of them!

Once we started opening presents,

Carter got pretty into it.

Mike's parents came over for Christmas brunch

and Carter's Uncle Brad, Aunt Beth and Kai

stopped for a quick visit, too.

Later that afternoon,

Carter enjoyed playing with some of his new toys.

Then in the evening, Carrie's parents and Elisabeth

came over to exchange gifts.

Carter stayed up later than usual, but finally crashed

and gave Mommy a relatively Silent Night!

Yesterday we visited a "Winter Wonderland"

at a nearby nature preserve.



Carter was so proud of himself, sitting in

the playhouse like a big boy.



And he even got to go down the slide

(with Daddy's help, of course!).

Wheeeeee!!!!!

Then we visited the nature center and saw some

baby eagles that were as big as Carter!

Carter's very favorite thing this week has been

giving enormous hugs.

Really, really tight ones, complete with grunting.

Despite the associated hair-pulling,

Mommy just eats them up!

I'm also loving his open-mouth "kisses"

all over my face, including trying to chew on

my chin, nose, cheeks and even eyebrows!

Linking up with Sunday Snapshot at Ni Hao Y'all

 and hoping everyone else had an especially

blessed Christmas this year, too!