Lately...

Lately we have been keeping things kind of low key and our days have become very much of a routine. I have been doing lots of reading and going to bed early, which is wonderful. I have so many shows on the DVR that I just can't bring myself to watch because I would rather read a book in my warm bed or challenge Gabe to a game of Wii bowling before going to bed. I have been finding myself on the computer and iphone less and less these past few weeks, which I guess is a good thing. Therefore, we haven't had anything too interesting to blog about. So here are just some pictures of Brody from the last 2 months with a brief explanation here and there.

Loving the Ball Popper!! (Thanks Great Grandma)

Enjoying a fairly warm January day with mom outside

Being silly

Playing with my Activity table and doing so very seriously! (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa)

Just being C-U-T-E

Playing with Patches (Thank you Aunt Devon)

Enjoying a wagon ride on a COLD day! (A gift from Nana)

Lunch with some old friends during the holidays

Playing with Brody before his 6:00 bed time.

January Birthdays

We have celebrated 4 birthdays this month. Presley turned 1, our friend Adam turned 28, my grandma turned 82, and my grandpa turned 91.

Presley is the daughter of Justin and Karlyn Nelson. I cannot believe she is already a year old, which means Brody's 1st birthday is just around the corner. We celebrated sweet Presley's birthday at her house. Brody was able to play with the birthday girl along with baby Teagan. Gavin was at home sick that day, but Brooke joined in on the fun. We gave Presley Dr. Suess books and stuffed animals. You are never too little for books and reading!! (Listen to that inner teacher voice)

Brody with the Birthday Girl

Brody and Presley

Brody playing with Teagan

We celebrated Adam's birthday earlier this month by joining a bunch of friends at Buca de Beppo. Delicious Italian food...well, that is if you order right. Gabe and I ordered Chicken Marsala, which tasted like chicken and maple syrup....so much for branching out and trying something new. After tasting that and neither of us liking it, we decided to order our usual cheese ravioli -- MUCH better. And of course we cannot go there and not get the Apple salad, yummy. It was about 1,000 degrees in the restaurant that night and after chasing Brody and Gavin around the restaurant, we were pooped. It was fun celebrating a birthday with one of our dear friends. Here are a few pics from the evening.

Brody standing/walking

The Birthday Boy and his lovely wife

Our friends Abby and Chris

Princess Teagan!!

The next birthday we celebrated was my sweet sweet grandma's special day. Gabe, Brody, my sister, and I traveled down to Boerne, TX where my uncle just purchased a house on 2 acres. It was a gorgeous home and we very glad to arrive there safely on a rainy and foggy night. It took us 6.5 hours to get there when it should only take 5. We were slowed down due to the rain and curvy, narrow country roads. I was extremely worried about hitting a deer so I made Gabe drive a little slower and more cautiously, even though I know he would have anyway. Mom's always have to worry when our babies are in the car. We had a wonderful weekend visiting with all my cousins and their families and significant others, my mom and Ron, uncle and Mary, and of course my grandma. It was great seeing them and really getting to catch up. I am so glad my grandma was able to see and spend time with Brody since she has only seen him 2 times and it had been quite a while. We are hoping to get her out this way soon to visit and spend even more time with our little baby boy. It was great to get away and enjoy the beautiful land. They cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, and s'mores over an open fire. Sooo good!! We left early Sunday morning and Gabe only missed the 1st quarter of the Cowboys playoff game.

Brody opening his gift (a ball popper machine) from his Great-Grandma - he LOVES this thing, and so does Rocky!

Brody helping Great-Grandma open her birthday/Christmas gifts. What a helper!!

Mommy and Brody hanging out by the fire

Great-Grandma, Brody, and Grandma playing

Grandma and Brody

Cousin Nick and Cousin Burkely

This just melts my heart, Cousin Caelan was so sweet to Brody - sharing his games the whole weekend. It was the first time for them to even meet.

Some of the group

Cousin Troy (our bartender) and gf Shelly

The last birthday we celebrated this month was for my darling grandpa. We traveled to Arlington last Sunday to celebrate this special day. It is there where we met up with dad and Pat, Aunt Denise, Aunt Marji and Uncle Larry, Devon, and some family friends. We ate at a hole in the wall called Moni's Pizza in North Arlington. It is a favorite of my grandpa's and I am pretty sure we went there last year the week of his birthday! I am amazed at how good he looks for 91. He is so active and still drives (sometimes)! We are so greatful of the time he gets to spend with Brody because he lives so close. Gabe and I opted out of the cake and ice cream portion of the day so we could drive back and get Mr. Brody in bed at his normal time, 6:00.

(Sorry, no photos)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL THE JANUARY FOLKS! We hope your day was special. Thanks for letting us be apart of your day.

Updated blog

Well, I will get to it this weekend...or that's my plan anyway!

Walking?

Brody is taking more and more steps every day. He is getting so brave about walking. At first he seemed very timid and a little nervous about it. Now, he is just "walking" all day from activity table to the couch, the couch to the rocking horse, and on and on. He is still crawling a bunch but he is getting the hang of it and seems to be enjoying it. He will start to giggle when he takes his steps. It's really cute. I just don't know when to say he is officially walking...

Happy 2010

Can you believe it is already 2010?? I cannot! We are extremely excited to see what God has planned for us this year. We celebrated NYE 2009 with some of our closest friends and had a great time at our house. It was definitely low-key which was just perfect. Here are some pictures of the boys playing! I am sad I didn't get any photos of little miss Teagan. I will try and be better about pictures, maybe that can be my 2010 resolution.

We had 3 different beds for our 3 little babies, which all ended up falling asleep around 9 providing adults time to play games and wait for the ball to drop. Little Gavin woke up around 11:30 and was up to experience the ball dropping. What a great night spending with friends.

Here's Brody at midnight! :)

Gavin at midnight!

We hope you have an amazing year! Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2010!

9 Month Photos

Well, Cherie has done it again! We love our pictures from the 9 month photo shoot. It is sad to think that our last session is just a little over 2 months away. We are so impressed with the way she has captured Brody's personality over the past 9 months. Her creativity is hands-down amazing.

Here is one of the pictures from the latest photo shoot. I "stole" it from her blog. If you need a stellar photographer for any occasion, we highly recommend Cherie. You can check out her site here.

Thanks again Cherie! You are the best!

Christmas Day 2009

It's Christmas!! Get me out of here so I can open presents!!!

Enjoying the snow!

OK, I want to touch it.

Not sure how I feel about this...

So, I will try it again!

Family Photo #1 Christmas Morning. Please excuse our rough appearances!

Opening his very 1st present from SANTA!

SANTA really knows how to wrap ribbon tightly...he needed some help.

Still working on that ribbon! The anticipation is killing me...

Attacking the SANTA gift! A Elmo Encore Live. Soo fun!

Love this one! He knew exactly what to do when it came to opening presents! What a perfect age for his 1st Christmas.

Opening more presents!

Bella and Brody in Brody's new Radio Flyer Wagon! Thanks Nana!

Family Photo #2 This is the best we could get on Christmas Day (evening).

What a sweet baby boy! He had a wonderful 1st Christmas thanks to all of our family and friends who celebrated with us. Well, and of course the jolly ol' man, SANTA!

We started the morning off with our little family and opened Santa gifts. My sister was the first to arrive and Mom and Ron shortly after. We quickly opened presents while my MIL, BIL and Bella were heading this way. Once everyone was here and the ham and 'fixins' were ready, we ate and filled our bellies up. After the holiday meal, we opened presents with the Lewis' while mom and Ron cleaned up the dishes! (thanks a million). I am going to try to get pictures of Brody using all (well, most of) his gifts so you can see how much he is enjoying them!

We all really enjoyed spending time together, watching Brody experience this special day. Thanks for all of the wonderful gifts. We had an amazing day and were thankful to share it with you all.