So much to blog

First post of the new year! I am so behind! I haven't even posted Christmas pictures!

How was our Christmas you ask? Wonderful! We started out by spending Christmas Eve and Jake's Mom and Dad's house. We spent time with the neigbors and had a yummy meal and opened a few gifts. Jimmy and Rebecca came in from Florida late that evening and so then the party really started. We had lots of fun and stayed up late. Then on Christmas everyone came over our house in their jammies and we had some coffee drinks compliments of my new expresso machine. We sang some Christamas songs and read the Christmas story and talked about the true meaning of Christmas and how we are thankful that God sent His Son for US so we could have eternal life. Elijah got a little bored with all the talking and so he went looking under the tree. The presents have been wrapped under it for a long time but I didn't have any bags under there. We were all praying when he saw a bag with Mater on it and peaked in it only to find a stuffed moose that he had his eye on every time we went to Old Navy. He pulled it out and got SO excited. Rebecca and I peaked up at the noise he was making and found him hugging the stuffed animal. We just started giggling because it was SO CUTE! It is SO fun to see such joy and excitement on your child's face opening gifts and just plain having fun with what's inside. Elijah was a little spoiled but I guess that happens with the first, right? Needless to say he had fun with his trains, toy tools, books, tricycle and all the other misc goodies he received.
I say that Elijah was spoiled but really, all of us had a really good Christmas. Between I-Pods and tools, nice clothes, new movies, and a Wii (yes, I got a Wii...and I LOVE it!) we sure were blessed. It took us from about noon to 3 to open up all of our gifts. Then we sat down and had a good meal (yummy ham!) and piled into Jake's parents van to go look at Christmas lights. We had sparkling cider and Christmas cookies and looked at all the pretty displays in our town. I felt a little bad because with all the excitement on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Elijah didn't take a nap at all so of course when it came time to look at lights he zonked out in the car seat. Poor little guy! He would have loved to see it all. Oh well, maybe next year.
Hopefully I can post a few pictures later.

October Family Pictures...FINALLY!!!

We had some family portraits done wwaaayyy back in October and I finally got the pictures..yeah! Unfortunately they were taken at night so they didn't come out quite as nicely as I had hoped but still not bad for trying to get 2 kids and a toddler to stay still for a photo.

Decorating the Tree

So I got to posting a little late this year. Actually...a lot of things are a little late...like the Christmas cards that I haven't sent out...or made. ..oops. I thought I probably should go in some sort of order though so putting up the tree needs to be posted before Christmas Eve and Christmas...soooooo..here it is...the 2009 Baldwin Christmas tree.

Elijah really got a kick out of the whole thing. He just LOVES lights! If the lights aren't on he lets me know I need to plug them in.

Another new favorite is eggnog. We usually pour ourselves a big glass and turn on "A Muppet Christmas" and deck the halls. This year was no different. I wasn't sure if Elijah would take to the eggnog but he loved it. Check out the mustache! Here he is doing the "Cheese" look. He's so squeezable!

Shamrock Farms

On Saturday Jake and I had the pleasure of taking Elijah to Shamrock Farms Holiday Tour. When we left the house at 8:15am (early for this night shift gal!) it was 35 degrees!!! Brrr!!!

When we got to the farm we took a tour in a little shuttle around the farm and were able to see all of the cows. Elijah was able to play in there little play area. He loved the slide! He also enjoyed sitting on his own little cow.

When the tour was over there was a lot of fun things to eat and do. We had chocolate milk, Krispy Kreme donuts, eggnog, hot dogs, chips, ice cream...MMMMMmmm! Elijah met Roxie the cow...not so fond of her sorry to say. Maybe next year. We made a gingerbread house ornament out of a cardboard dairy container and a snowman out of a quart of milk.

When we were outside Elijah heard the MOOO of a calf and just had to check it out. He got a little mad when he couldn't pet her. How rude!

And of course the best part....they had SNOW!!! YEAH! They even had a snow slide to sled down!!! This was my favorite...Elijah's too if you can tell by his smiley face!

Here he says "I want to do it again!"

Now we can make some snow balls!

Okay...time to do the slide again!

Mom, Dad, this is WAY cool!

These doritos are yummy!

Who is this Santa guy? I'm not super sure about him. He could be alright. I think I like him better than that Roxie cow.

Cutie Patootie

I found these two plants at Home Depot and immediately thought of my Mom. I always remember her having Violets and Christmas cacti. I just hope I don't kill them. Any hints?

Here Elijah wants to be like Daddy. He's gotta get his big shoes on.

What can I say other than how cute are these pictures! These were taken when I found that Elijah can indeed climb on to the chairs. He thought he was Joe Cool for doing so too. He'll be sad to find out Snoopy already has that position. Don't you just love his big blue eyes? In the one picture he is giving Kitty a hug and petting her. He's very sweet with her. He just doesn't understand why sometimes she gets mad when he wants to keep petting (or should I say patting?) her and she is done with it. What can you do though. At least he's not mean to her.