the. favorite Christmas gifts. list

For this week's list, I thought I would spotlight my favorite Christmas gifts that Beckett and I received.  We got lots of great gifts but these three are my current favorites.

1. Beaba Babycook

There are things that I will do for Beckett and there are things that I absolutely won't do.  Cloth-diapering falls into the "no way in hell" category.  One thing I will do is make baby food.  It's cheaper to make it myself and I can make lots ahead of time and freeze it.  Plus, I will know exactly what he is eating and I think it will help him develop a more eclectic palette as he gets older.  This house does not need another picky eater.  The Babycook allows you to steam and blend food.  Then when you are ready to serve it, you can use it to defrost and heat the food.  I feel like we will be best friends.

2. Apple Macbook Air

Daniel gave me an Apple desktop computer two years ago and I have been an Apple convert ever since.  I had mentioned that a laptop would be nice since I very rarely have both hands free these days and sitting at the computer pretty much never happens but I never expected to get one.  I am in love with this computer.  It is light, fast, and allows me to browse and blog while I am holding a baby.  

3. The Jesus Storybook Bible

This was my favorite gift that Beckett received and it is my new go-to gift (sorry to ruin the surprise for any of my friends).  It is the perfect Bible for him.  It features different stories from the Bible and it really turns them into stories and breaks them down so children can understand.  Plus it has lots of bright, fun pictures that Beckett seems to enjoy.  He is getting a real Bible for his baptism but I know that we will get lots of use out of this one as well.    

Beckett's first Christmas

I am finally blogging about Christmas!  I would say I've been busy but I'm not sure what I've been doing.  Beckett is really good at making the day go by super fast and leaving me wondering what exactly I've accomplished.

We had such a relaxing Christmas.  My family came to town which means that there was no traveling involved.  Beckett and I decided to stay home and let Daniel go to his family's celebrations solo.  Beckett is one of eight grandchildren which means there are lots of germs to be shared.  We still had NICU on the brain and he hadn't had any shots yet so we decided to avoid anywhere that could get us sick.  We are still avoiding children since flu is so bad in our area.

Staying at home meant we spent most of the day in our pajamas, which is pretty much our new normal. One day I will get it together and start dressing like an adult again.

Our celebrations started with a steak and crab legs dinner and midnight mass.  Beckett was a pro.  He fell asleep before mass started and stayed asleep until it was over.

Post-mass

Beckett's super cute outfit (Which was size 6 months.  They boy is long.)

We slept in on Christmas Day thanks to my parents and sister.  It is so nice to know that we will get a few extra hours thanks to my family.  They are often very needed.  My mom made blueberry muffins and I made a breakfast casserole.  Then it was time to open gifts.

All the presents

So big in his Bumba

We all made out pretty well.  Beckett had no idea what was going on but he got lots of fun presents that will hopefully bring him hours of enjoyment preferably not while being held.  We are still having issues with him wanting to be held.  All.  The.  Time.  

Some of Beckett's gifts.  Spoiled.

After lunch my mom started cooking and Daniel went over to his family's house.  This is what it looked like outside.

Miserable.

Beckett's first snow experience

I was definitely happy that we were staying inside.  I am all in for a white Christmas but I could have done without the 30 mph gusts.  However, we did take Beckett into our much less windy backyard for a photo op.

We had a late lunch and got to eat all our favorite things.  This lunch and the leftover that followed were my catalyst for Weight Watchers but it was worth every single calorie.

Then we had a post-dinner photo shoot.  The things you do when you have a baby.

The Browns

He loves a good photoshoot

And his aunt Shannon

I love this picture.  There is a funnier one but I thought I shouldn't post it.

I think Beckett had a pretty good first Christmas.  He may have had no idea what was going on but we have pictures to show him when he gets older.  We are so excited for next year when he can participate a little more.

Be mine, valentine

I don't know what happened to me this year, maybe it was the fact that I had schoolwork due, but Valentine's Day almost completely passed me by. I seriously had little to no desire to do anything. I have a major case of senioritis and am ready to be done with my bachelors program. Three more classes to freedom!

Luckily, Daniel did not drop the ball. I think he still feels guilty about our first Valentine's Day. I told him I got him a gift and he replied that that was great, but he didn't get me anything. I thought he was obviously joking, but he wasn't. He seriously got me nothing. Not a card. Not a flower. Nothing.

I did remember to buy a gift and a card. Daniel is the hardest person to shop for. He wants for nothing and if he does, he buys it for himself. So I resorted to buying the last thing off his Christmas list, which ended up working out because it is cold once again in the Panhandle.


Cold weather Sperrys = frattitude for all seasons

Daniel definitely did better than I did. I have been dieting hence I have been on a smoothie kick. I bought our blender for $15 at Wal-Mart in college for one purpose, margaritas. Apparently I got my money's worth because it is now a piece and can barely crush ice. Daniel listened to all my complaining and bought me a brand new blender. I can't wait to get my smoothie on! He also made dinner (and chocolate covered strawberries) and wasn't mad when I had to bolt to do my homework. That is love.


A blender, B&N gift card, AND milk duds. He knows me well.


Crab cakes and a spicy aioli sauce that we learned to make at our cooking class


Is it possible to OD on chocolate covered foods? I'll let you know.


Me and my other valentines

So that was our Valentine's Day. Even though I was a sucky valentine, I do like any holiday that makes you pontificate about love. I can honestly say that after six years, there isn't anyone I would rather spend my days with, except for maybe Miles Austin. Being serious, last year was a really hard year and I know that I am blessed to be married to my best friend and thankful that God has given us challenges because our marriage is so much stronger because of them.

Happy Frawlidays!

We went to New York City (post to come) and then Houston for Christmas. We actually drove to Houston, which was miserable and it will be many many moons before that happens again. Jack is not a good traveller, so we got a prescription from our vet for sedatives. It was a little too strong, so this is what I got to look at for 12 hours:



I honestly thought that I was going to have perform dog CPR. Then, to make things even more fun, he fell in my parents pool as soon as we got to Houston. Not the best start to our trip.

I love giving gifts and getting gifts, so Christmas makes me very happy. I especially like when you find the perfect gift for someone. This year I gave my sister a Harry Potter snuggie that looks like the Gryffindor robes. Amazing. It was the best gift and I kind of want one for myself.



I got lots of great gifts, but my favorite has to be the new camera Daniel got for me. He obviously paid attention to my 30 before 30 list. I am so excited to learn how to use it and am hopefully going to go to Lubbock and take some lessons from a professional. Hopefully by the time we have kids I'll be able to take some high-quality photos so we don't end up spending a fortune on professional pictures.

My other favorite gift was the custom pair of Toms that my sister got for me. I love Texas Tech and cannot wait to wear these to a football game. They turned out super cute!

Hopefully next year I have my camera figured out so I can take lots and lots of fun holiday pictures.

Date night basket

I am sure everyone is tired of all my Pinterest talk, but I really do love it and it gave me the best idea for Daniel's anniversary gift. He has everything he wants and if he doesn't, he buys it. This makes him THE hardest person to shop for ever so I always struggle when I am looking for birthday, anniversary and Christmas gifts. I start a list at the beginning of the year and write down anything I see that he may like or that he tells me he wants. This year the list is slim pickings, so I was looking for a creative idea.

We have talked in the past about having a monthly date night. A lot of people do weekly date nights, but we live in such a small town that this would be all but impossible. The whole date night idea never really took off, so when I was browsing Pinterest I got really excited when I saw a link to a blog where the wife planned a date for every month for a year as a gift to her husband. I had plenty of time to really sit down and try to think of dates and I decided that this would be the perfect gift, plus let's be real, it would give me something to blog about.

So this was my gift to Daniel. I have pre-planned a date for every month and for some months I have already paid for the activities that we will be doing. I am so excited to see how this date nights improve and impact our relationship. Some dates are very creative and some are the usual. I tried to plan some dates around activities we've always wanted to do or what is going on in our area. I can't wait to share these dates with Daniel and all of you!