Christmas 2009

This was the best holiday ever! I had sooo much to be grateful for. First off, Steve had finally gotten a good job. It was like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulder. He started his new job November 2. He was also able to come home for Christmas. It was so nice to have some money coming in and to be able to buy presents for my family. That is my favorite part of christmas.

Second, I am grateful for my new baby girl, Arianna. This was her first Christmas. What a joy it has been to finally have the daughter that I have wished for for sooo long. She is such a wonderful joy in our lives already.

We were also happy to be able to go back home to Memphis and spend the holidays with our family. It is always nice to spend time with family. We always have a good time joking around, laughing, playing games, etc.

Our traditional cheese, crackers, and candy cane platter.

Arianna enjoying her gift from Santa! She loves the animals and the music that it made.
Christian got a motorized dirt bike from Santa. He couldn't wait to go out and ride it. Even though it was freezing outside, he decided to take it for a spin. We decided to start a new tradition of making marshmellow treats. Steve and Christian decided to get creative and make one batch green and minty (ewww!) and the other patch red.

Christmas in Memphis with the family:

Mom with her new granddaughter.Opening presents!Justin (whom I refer to now as Hagrid) with his new presents, samarai swords!Ashley with her new orange UT purse. She would fit in well in Knoxville, TN.Camden with his new DS game, Super Mario Bros. He loves Mario and Luigi.

Teething Already

Arianna has been drooling like crazy since she was 3 months old. She has been wanting to chew on everything! Well, last Sunday I had my finger in her mouth letting her suck on it (yes, it was clean) and I felt something sharp. I took a good look in her mouth (which was very hard to do because everytime I opened her mouth she would stick her tongue out and cover up her gums) and saw not one but two teeth on the bottom. What the heck! She is only 4 months old and already has two teeth. And, she is not done! She is still drooling and Steve and I think she has two on the top coming in soon. !
Look at her beautiful smile

Thanksgiving 2009

For thanksgiving this year, we decided to meet up in Harrisburg, PA and spend the holidays with the Vancena's. Steve was going to join us from Syracuse, NY and I was driving up with the children from Knoxville. It was great to be with Steve again for a few days and we even got Jeanie back with us for a few hours on Thanksgiving day. Thanks to Denise's great cooking, Thanksgiving dinner was AWESOME! There were tons of food and I believe everyone got their fill plus some. It has been a long time since I haven't had to cook Thanksgiving dinner. I loved just spending the day with friends and relaxing with my family.

While the family was back together again I decided that we needed to get a family picture. But when I called Portrait Innovations to schedule an appointment they were all booked up for the week. I was so upset that we would not get a family picture made. But, Juli Newill, who is an excellent school photographer, came by to visit and graciously offered to take our picture for us. They turned out really good! Thanks Juli!

Although we enjoyed ourselves a lot (thanks to Denise!), I decided to never, ever travel with the baby alone in the car again. She hates the car seat! I thought that maybe she would get used to it and not cry so much. When we first started out on the road she cried for almost 2 hours. I got so desperate that I called her doctor to see if there was something I could give her to help her sleep through the trip. The nurse told me that she was too young and that I would have to just let her cry. Well, as you can imagine, my trip to Harrisburg, that is only supposed to take 8 hours, took me 12 hours. By the time we got to Denise's house, all of us was pretty miserable. I had to stop for an hour every 2 hours to give the baby a break, and she still cried! Never Again!

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a little miserable this with the cold and the rain. It was good weather for the trunk-or-treat at our church but Halloween night was very wet and cold for the kids. Christian picked a really evil costume, Demon of War. It kind of looked like last year's costume except for the horns. I found a cute little bumblebee costume at BabiesRUs for Arianna. She was sooo cute. Her big cheeks matched her poofy bumblebee costume. She was adorable. We didn't do much this year for halloween. I just didn't have time with Steve getting ready to leave and me going back to work to do much. I think Christian was able to carve a pumpkin with his friend Hayden. He is the sleek stack from the movie "Lost". I can't believe it is all over and now it is time to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Blessing Day

Well, I think it is about time that I post a blog about Arianna's blessing day. We decided to have her blessing on the first sunday of September, which was September 6th. A lot of my family came down for the special occasion. My mom and my Aunt Judy (AJ to her great nieces and nephews) had gone shopping and found the most beautiful blessing gown outfit along with a hat and bloomers that had her initial on it. They all showed up on Saturday and was able to stay until monday. Steve worked really hard on his blessing and did an awesome job. Arianna looked so beautiful in her blessing outfit and was the star of the day. We, of course, took lots of pictures. I still can't believe I finally have my little girl to dress up and show off to people.

Science Project

Christian had a science project to do for school and we really got into it. He was supposed to make an animal or plant cell. He decided that he wanted to make it edible so we chose to make it out of sugar cookie, jello, candy and frosting. He really got into and wanted to do a lot of it on his own. We made the sugar cookie together, cut out the different pieces we needed and then got to work decorating the thing. He was so very proud of the finished product and although we haven't gotten the grade back yet, he thinks he got an "A". Here are some pictures of our finished plant cell project.

Arianna's First Bath

It was time to give Arianna her first bath. She was getting kind of crusty and smelled like formula and pee. I was kind of afraid to do it though. I haven't bathed an infant since Christian so I was a little apprehensive about it all. But, Denise and Julie were there to help and Christian wanted to help also. So, there was the four of us in the bathroom getting ready for the bath. Of course, she cried almost the whole entire time! And needless to say, the bath took a little longer with the amateur mom trying to be careful and thorough. From the pictures, though, it looks like she calmed down a little bit when Christian was bathing her. I think she already loves her big brother!