I was so excited about Christmas this year!  Since Hunter just turned 1, I knew he was going to be fun this year.  And of course, Hailey is 6 and that is fun age too!

Hailey and Hunter on Christmas Eve, all ready for an evening of fun.  First they each opened up 2 presents (new Christmas pjs and a new Christmas book, a tradition that we do every year).  Then we went out to dinner with my parents and my brother Mike.  After dinner we went to my Aunt Winnie’s house for our annual Christmas Eve celebration.  I took a few pictures there but none were great, so the one above is all I have from Christmas Eve.

Hailey watched all the way home to see if she could spot Santa and she was pretty sure she some something   When we got home we got our cookies ready for Santa and then Hailey went right to bed.

Cookies for Santa- Hailey picked out one stocking cookie for each family member for Santa to eat.

Looks like Santa stopped by!

Stockings

On Christmas morning Hailey and Hunter slept in until about 7:30am.  I was awake before they were, wondering when everyone was going to wake up!

Hailey was pretty excited to see all the presents that Santa left.  She divided them and then the kids got busy opening their gifts.

Hunter opening one of his presents.

Hailey working on her pile of gifts.

Hunter wasn’t really sure what to think!

Yay!  Lego friends!!

Hunter enjoyed standing on his gifts.

After the gifts were all opened, Hunter took a nap while Hailey played with some new toys.  Then it was time to get ready to go see all the grandparents.

Hunter and Hailey all ready to go.

We went to Rich’s parents’ house first and exchanged gifts there.  After that we went to my parents’ house.  We ate dinner and then opened some more gifts.

Hailey was excited when it was finally time to open presents!

Hailey’s number one request this year was a tablet and that was all we heard about!  She didn’t get one from us or from Santa or from Rich’s parents, so she was starting to get worried that she wasn’t getting one.  She was so happy when she opened one up from Grandma and Pa!  At first she didn’t know what it was since it was in the box, but once she realized what it was she was soooo happy!

Hailey spent lots of time playing with her new tablet.

Hunter seemed to enjoy Grandma’s new carpet that she got for the middle of the living room.

We had such a wonderful Christmas!!  It was a busy but fun filled day!

I can’t believe a year has already come and gone… but it has, so we celebrated Hunter’s 1st birthday over the weekend.

Here are some of the decorations from the party:

Pictures from Hunter’s first year.

The dining room all decorated with a Toy Story theme.

Dining room

A few decorations in the living room.

Happy Birthday!

Alien marshmallow pops

Santa Hats (this had nothing to do with Toy Story, but they were cute and super delicious!)

Sheriff badge cookies

Hunter all ready for his party… waiting for the guests to arrive.

The birthday cake

Hunter enjoyed having everyone sing Happy Birthday to him

Hunter’s cake… he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

He finally dug in, although he didn’t eat much of it he seemed to like playing with it.

Hunter opened up his presents (with some help from Hailey).  He loved all of his gifts.

Hunter had a great first birthday party!  He had his grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins here to help him celebrate.  We’re so thankful for so many people who love him!!

Wow- where has the last year gone?  This last year was the fastest year of my whole life and I can’t believe I am already writing you your first birthday letter.  It seems like such a short time ago that we went to the hospital on that beautiful December morning for you to be born.  It can’t possibly have been a year already!

I didn’t get much sleep the night before, knowing that we would be heading to the hospital in the morning so you could finally be born.  I was nervous, scared and excited!  The morning seemed to drag on with the nurses doing various things to prepare me for your birth once we arrived at the hospital.  Then it was time to go to the operating room and everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, but finally at 10:25am on December 16th you were here!  I remember when the doctor held you up and you weren’t breathing and he calmly said, “Well, let’s get this baby breathing.”  A few seconds later you were crying and I knew you were okay.

You have changed so much over the last year!  You don’t look like a little baby anymore, but rather like a busy little toddler.  It seems funny to look back at pictures of you when we first brought you home and you were so small and helpless.  Now you move pretty much non-stop and keep us on our toes!  Hard to believe that such a short time ago you couldn’t even roll over, let alone run all over the house.

You love to play with any toy that you can push around- if it has wheels on it you love it.  And of course if it makes noise that’s a definite bonus.  You push your toys all over the house and love to chase Dottie with your toys.  You sure do love Dottie- you like to give her hugs and say “awwww.”  She is nervous about you, but she is very patient and loving with you.

You sure do love Hailey and Daddy.  When Hailey gets home from school your little face just lights right up!  You like to see what she is doing and you want to be wherever she is.  You are so happy when Daddy gets home from work.  You follow him around all evening and just love to play with him.  You are certainly daddy’s little boy.

You aren’t too sure about strangers.  You don’t like it when they talk to you… sometimes when we are out shopping you will cry when someone talks to you.  Getting your picture taken is pretty much impossible since you are very scared of the photographers.

I remember when I was pregnant and I found out that you were going to be a boy.  I wondered what I would do with a little boy.  I knew all about princesses and tutus and pink, but I didn’t know much about little boys.  It turns out that there is just something pretty special about little boys.  There is no way to put into words how much I have loved you since the moment I met you.  I still don’t know much about playing with cars and trucks and trains, but I know you’re going to teach me.

You are such a happy boy and such a good baby.  You have made our family complete and I can’t imagine our lives without you.  We sure do love you!!

Happy 1st Birthday Little Man Cub!

Love,
Mommy

Hunter watching Rich put up our Christmas lights… Hunter was trying to climb up the wall to get to Rich.

Hailey did a great job decorating our Christmas tree.

Hunter got an early birthday present. He spent the day carrying the present around the house…

…. he pushed the present around, sat on it and played with the box. Finally after several hours he finally opened it, with a little help from Hailey. Hope he doesn’t take this long to open all his presents at his birthday party!

Hunter loves our Christmas tree!

Hunter thinks being able to walk is pretty fun!

My pretty princess

I love these 2 so much!!