It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!  I love the the joy and excitement of the season.  I love that people take time to get together for holiday parties.  I love the festive decorations and the billions of lights scattered throughout the neighborhoods.

Growing up, my sister and I would count the number of houses that were decorated while in the car coming home from the different Christmas gatherings.  We had rules for this little tradition of ours.  We could only look out our own side of the car.  You had to count out loud so that we kept track along the way.  Any Christmas decoration counts.  If you could only see the lit Christmas tree inside the house...it would count.  I love this little tradition that she and I have and I cannot even tell you how it started.  To this day we still play when we are together.  I hope to do the same with my kids as a way to entertain ourselves on the way home.

I must be crazy...

I love long weekends such as the one that we just had...but this was exhausting. 

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday morning started with a trip to Gus' doctor.  Poor little guy has a little infection.  (Got a prescription for it and it is starting to clear up.)  Gus, Joel and I stopped at Home Depot to buy our Christmas tree stand.  I met Sarah at Hannah's preschool and then whisked my adorable niece off with me for the rest of the afternoon.  She went with me to entertain Gus while he and I got our hair cut and then she and I made Thankgiving desserts.  She and I did this last year, too.  I hope this little tradition continues.  We were supposed to go get our Christmas tree that evening but it started to rain.  :(

THURSDAY
Sarah and I kicked off our Thanksgiving Day traditions with a trip to Meijer to check out any deals they have on Thursday before racing back to her house, meeting up with Joel and Jason and going to the Lions Game.  Gus was decked out in his Lion's gear for the day while he stayed home with Grandma Jo, Papa Scott, Brendan and Hannah. 

That night Sarah and I decided to go to Toys R Us at midnight.  They were opening early and were supposed to have some good deals at 12 am.  We ended up standing outside from 11:30PM- 1:30 ish...in the spitting rain and cold.  We finally got inside.  I immediately went and got in line to check out while Sarah ran around the store and brought the items back to me.  We didn't get home until about 3:30.  Crazy I know...but I loved it!!

FRIDAY and SATURDAY
Sarah and I went scrapbooking in Chesaning.  I was finally able to start Gus' baby book!!  Joel and Gus came to pick me up on Saturday night and on our way to my parents house we went to meet up with Joe Maly and Jane Wong.  So excited that Gus got to meet them!  We finally got to my parents house after midnight.  Whew!  Did I mention that Gus wouldn't ride nicely in the car unless the interior light was on?  If we turned it off, he screamed at the top of his lungs.  So, I sat in the backseat with the light on trying to entertain him.

SUNDAY
We went to visit my grandmother, Mamie, and then went to the Otto Family Christmas.  We weren't able to stay very long because we had a very sad little baby.  So we hit the road and traveled home.  It was a long trip around the mitten we call Michigan.  And I am SO glad that we are home!!!

Psst....

"Psst....I want to tell you something..."

This picture just makes us laugh out loud!  Gus must be trying to tell us something.

Goofing around with Aunt Annie. 

I left my parents for an hour and Aunt Annie kept Gus occupied and entertained him.  They both made sure to get in plenty of "tummy time".

"This lady is so silly..."

Gus is in awe of his Aunt Annie.  She is so silly that he barely ever takes his eyes off of her.

Me and two of my favorite guys in the whole world doing one of my favorite things in the world....hunting for the perfect Christmas tree for my parents house.  This was my 30th year on the tree hunt with my parents and I am beyond excited to pass this tradition on to my son.  This is one of the best parts of my year and I hope that he grows to love it as much as I do.

We let Daddy and Papa do the hard work of cutting down the tree and hauling it to the truck.  My sister and I love trying to find the fattest, roundest tree for my parents house.  We found a pretty good one.

It may not be for his house, but Gus took home his first Christmas tree!!  Our little family will get our tree for our house tomorrow, but I love that Gus' first Christmas tree hunt was with my family.  The tradition continues.  Now I can't wait for Gus to see the trees all lit up and decorated. 

I am so pumped for Christmas this year!!  All I wanted for Christmas the past couple of years was to be a mom...my wish finally came true!  I can't wait to celebrate my first Christmas as a mom!!

Fun times in the Orchard

Gus and I went to visit Gramma and Papa in Byron Center for a couple of days. Aunt Annie came to visit us last Tuesday and spent the night. Gus and I then rode back to Byron Center with her on Wednesday. Before we left for the west side of the state Annie and I took Gus to his 2 month doctors appointment. Gus now weighs 13 lbs and 6 oz and is 23.5 inches long. He is growing like a weed!! The doctor wanted Gus to start sleeping through the night, or at least longer than 3 hours. We were told to cut out one of the middle of the night feedings. I decided to try this our first night at my parents house...fun fun!! The first night was rough but now he is sleeping at least 5 hours at night time. YAHOO!!!

On our way to see Gramma and Papa!!! Apple orchard here we come!!!

Reading the paper with Papa in his big chair.

Joel finally joined us on Friday for my cousin Andrea's wedding. We are so excited that she finally married Eddy. He and Joel get along really well (a.k.a. "get into trouble together") and Eddy fits in with the whole Otto family. We were pretty excited. Not only that but it was Gus' first wedding. He had a great time!!

My beautiful cousin, Andrea and her dad, my Uncle Chris. So glad that the rain stopped long enough for the ceremony to be outside.

At the reception they had a "snowball" dance. When the DJ said "snowball" everyone dancing had to go find someone else to dance with. My cousin, Nate, came to get Gus out on the dance floor. Unfortunately, Gus slept in his stroller the entire time and didn't know how much fun he was having. I think that the rest of us had enough fun for him.

Gus had a chance to snuggle with the beautiful bride!! He had so much fun at his first wedding!

Later in the weekend, Gus finally got to wear his "Spike" shirt. Before he was born we called him "Spike". When we found this shirt we HAD to have it!! The look on his face tells me that he isn't so sure about this shirt, but I think it is pretty cute!

Joel and I had our first night out together without Gus. We went to South Haven for the evening to hang out with our friends, Sally and Tim.

We had a great time visiting but it is nice to be home. We spent time today up at school. Gus got to help in both Momma's classroom and Daddy's classroom. We went out to lunch then with Uncle Mike and Auntie Diane. And then Diane, Gus and I continued on a small shopping trip. We found a baptism outfit for Gus and went to Office Max. Gotta help Gus gain the love for office supplies. I LOVE office supply stores. The poor kid will probably spend lots of time there.

Gus gets his 2 month shots tomorrow. Should be a fun day for all of us....