White Christmas

Normally we don't see snow in Texas for Christmas, but what a nice surprise.  Fortunately both Chuck and I were off during the holiday's so we didn't have to worry with getting out and driving around in the unsafe conditions, but we enjoyed some playtime!

Holiday's 2012

 

HeLLo 2013!  I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by.  Seems like only yesterday it was January 2012.  In just a few weeks we'll be celebrating Holden's 2nd birthday and then in a few months after that we'll welcome baby Hayes into the world. 

We were very fortunate this holiday season to spend time with all of our family and friends.  We even hosted Christmas Eve at our house for the first time EVER.  We loved it.  Hopefully we can make it a new tradition.

Our festivities started off with our "friend" Christmas party, co-hosted by us and the newlywed Lindamood's.  It was such a fun night and the kids had the best time making Christmas decorations, getting a special visit from Santa and of course the adults had a little fun too!  Holden was great, right up to the point where the jolly man in a red suit showed up!  Holden was NOT having anything to do with that man.  He looked for anyone or anything that would save him from the man in the red suit.  Guess it was good that we learned of Holden's fear BEFORE we stood in line and paid for Santa pics this year.  Fortunately, we were able to capture the "someone please get me away from this man" face and a nice family pic with Santa for memories sake.


Then, Holden, Grammy and I went on our first annual Polar Express adventure!  Holden LOVED it.  This will definitely be one that we continue for year's to come.  Hopefully next year Daddy will be able to come with us.



Let's see, what's next.  Christmas Eve!  We had all of my family over (The Hunt's, James', Crouch's and Branum's).  The adults did a Chinese gift card exchange while the little ones exchanged gifts from each other.  Funny how much our small little family has expanded and will continue to expand as Uncle Bo and Uncle John John "grow-up" and get married and have babies!  Let's hope that's a few years down the road though.





After dinner and gifts we played left, right, center.  Of course Chuck won!  Not me, but that's OK cause I came back to win it all on New Year's Day!

And finally, Christmas morning.  I don't think I will ever be able to forget the look and joy on Holden's face when he realizes that Santa has come.  Not that he really fully understands Christmas, its true meaning and that Santa comes once a year, but he'll get there.  Just seeing him light up, laugh and bounce from one thing to the next cause he cant figure out what to play will be memories that I cherish forever.







Christmas is a time of remembering all the many blessings that our Lord and Savior have blessed us with throughout the year and for those to come.  We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends to share these times with and look forward to what God has in store for us in 2013.

**Sorry for such large pictures, for some reason I can't get the upload button in blogger to work, so I had to copy and paste.

Baby H2 Gender Revealed

Need to play a little catching up here.  It's funny how with your first child you take a million pictures, document every little thing they do however, time seems to just get away from you when you are spending most of your time ensuring that your child is safe, not getting into EVERYTHING and spending what little down time you have resting since you know that just right around the corner is another little stinker that will be just as active and busy as your first one.  But what a blessing it is to have such a sweet momma's boy and another one on the way!

I really wanted to do a gender reveal party for Baby H2, but Daddy was not having it.  I'm not sure that it was because he really just isn't into that sort of thing or the fact that he didn't want to have to wait to know that not only was he able to make ONE boy, but yet TWO!  But I still go to have a little fun with it.

My appointment was Friday, Nov. 30th @ 9:00 AM.  I was 19 weeks that day. Grammy came with us too, so she could see with her own eyes and of course document the occasion for us.



I was the first appointment for our sonographer that morning and she was excited to see that it was me, cause apparently I am a good patient and easy to work with! They had just gotten a new machine and she was getting used to all of its features etc.  It was nice for us, cause it meant an extra long appointment and more viewing time of Baby H2.  Of course, Baby H2 had other plans.

Elizabeth, our sono tech, knew that we were there to find out the sex so she went straight to the "important" parts.  Little did we know that, "And there "it" is" would be the ONLY time that the little stinker let us see the family jewels. By the time she finished gathering all the other important stats and went back to show us just one more time that Baby H2 was in fact a BOY he had it covered with not 1 but 2 hands!  And would not move them for anything.  So, I'm going off the fact that Elizabeth was 100% correct with Holden and has not been wrong once in all her years of service.  (But......this momma has an appointment for a 3D sonogram in a few weeks, courtesy of a good friend who let me in on a little secret that you can get a FREE 3D sonogram if you "volunteer" for nurses that need training on the equipment, thank you Sandy!)



But we are over the moon with joy, to know that we are having a healthy baby boy and that Holden will be a big brother.  Baby Hayes Ellis Hunt!  They will be about 26-27 months apart and will get to grow up together and be best buddies.

About the name:  Hayes was a mutual agreement, as we knew that we wanted to stick with the "H's."  When we named Holden we always knew that the middle name would be James, as this was a name in both mine and Chuck's family.  As we were thinking about other family names, we realized that both boys could have our mom's maiden names, so we agreed on Ellis.  So, there we got Hayes Ellis.

Fall Fun 2012

Holden and I were supposed to go to a Fall Festival yesterday, but with the lovely impending Hurricane Sandy, mommy spent most of the morning working.  But we managed to get there in enough time to ride the 4-wheeler train, see the pony rides and kick and scream our way to NOT enter the jump house.  I guess he is not into bounce houses just yet.  And it was even one for little kids.  But we had fun either way.

And today we enjoyed a nice breakfast and then some fun in the cool sunny weather at the Pumpkin Patch!



Waiting on the hay ride



Looking at the horses

 

 

Loads of fun on our Family Fun Day!

And last, but certainly not least.....Holden has a secret

Well, although normally he is all over telling you "yes" I am going to be a Big Brother, and "yes" Mommy is having a baby, Big Brother Holden was not as cooperative with the announcement.  But Chuck and I are very excited to finally share our news with everyone!  Baby H2 will arrive at the end of April and we couldn't be more blessed and elated to make our family of 3 a family of 4.

Mommy and Baby are doing well

SePtEmBeR/OcToBeR 2012

Although there will be more to come for October, as we have lots planned over the next few weeks here are just a few things we've been doing:

This will be the last year that we attend the State Fair on our usual Columbus Day holiday.  When it was just Chuck and I, it wasn't all that bad as most of what we wanted to see, hear and do was not occupied by 1000 of kids that were out of school for their fair day.  But now that we have Holden, we'll have to rethink our Fair day.  The lines for everything were awful, but we made the most of it non the less and had a really good day at the fair.

Holden had his first train ride experience, we decided to avoid the traffic and took the DCTA train this year.  Holden LOVED the train, especially as we would arrive at each stop and the engineer would blow the train horn.  This might be something we add to our annual Fair day.

Not only did Holden get to have his first train ride, but he also got his first pair of CowBoY bOoTs!  I always thought it was cute when little boys would wear boots with anything and everything.  Now of course, I'm the mom with the son that wants to wear his boots with everything.  But he is just too cute NOT to let him do it.

Just FYI- he does have on his diaper

And finally, Holden went to the dentist this past week and man, they didn't have dentist offices like this when I was a kid.  They had a waiting room for kids, one especially for adults.  Tons of games, books and toys to play with.  Holden got to tour the office, see all the many tropical fish tanks and after his exam he got to pick a prize from the huge toy box!  And above all, the staff was amazing and Holden has beautiful, healthy teeth.

I know this picture does not really support my post, this was taken after all the fun stuff when Mommy was trying to make him sit in the chair when he wanted to stand and slide down it.

Catch Up

Wow!  Time has flown by, I actually had to re-learn how to update my blog!  And the last blog I had was from May.  You would think that we had a busy summer, but we really didn't do anything exciting.  But chasing after a toddler and working, keep us pretty busy.  Here are just a few of the highlights:

Backyard sprinkler fun

Love the swings at Kids Kastle

Kiddie pool at Grammy's

Chilled watermelon to keep you cool

Yes, I'm the parent who let my kid play in the fountains

Watching some fireworks

Mommy's date to Kristin and Brandon's wedding in Giddings, TX

First haircut at Cool Cutz

Motorboatin' with The Davis' (Lake Whitney)

Jacie's 4th Birthday party

More fun in the sun

Splash Park fun!

Popsicle to keep cool

Mommy's Birthday Girls Night Out- August

After my 2nd Cool Cutz haircut

Daddy's 40th Birthday (Sept. 2012)

That pretty much sums up our summer of fun 2012.