Holiday Fun!

I am always a little sad after the holidays have come and gone :( Everyone is always in a good mood during this time of year, and people who ordinarily do not get along, put their differences aside and enjoy time spent together. This time of year has become especially enjoyable to me since I have had Addie and Hayes to share it with. So, when the tree comes down and the lights go out, I am always a little sad to see them go. As promised, I took tons of pictures of our adventures over the last week or so and cannot wait to share them with you all. I just need to find some time to sit down and get them off of my camera first- after I finish putting away decorations, feeding a growing baby every 2 hours, disciplining a two-year old with an enormous attitude, and arguing with my hubby about how we both need some "time to ourselves"! Yeah...I'll get right on that!

Happy New Years Eve everyone! Hopefully, you will be spending it with loved ones you hold dear too...and be careful!

This is why I love this time of year...

I get to spend lots of time with three of my favorite people. We sneak in lots of cuddling and lots of kisses...when Addie is in a good mood of course!

I hope to teach Addie and Hayes what Christmas is really all about. I want them to enjoy the holiday as all little kids should, but also to understand what it means to be thankful and giving. I am constantly counting the many blessings in my life these days and thankful that God has been especially good to us! Hopefully, my little children will understand the real reason we decorate and exchange gifts, and giving gifts and tokens of love will mean just as much to them as receiving them. Merry Christmas to all! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to share with our family we can't be with during the holidays. Love you all and thankful you are in my life!

I know...I know...

I know she's really cute and all, but geez.........Where in the world does she get her attitude?




It has been a really LOOOOONG day here at the Hewitt household, and if it weren't for my mom, I might have locked myself in the bathroom and hidden in the tub where she couldn't find me! The terrible two's are not just terrible...they are horrific! Please God, help me to be patient and not fly off of the handle with my cute little two-year old! And God, please help onlookers and strangers who watch me deal with my cute little two-year old in public keep their opinions and eye-rolling to themselves so that I do not have to be rude during the holiday season! Merry Christmas to all!

I can do it Mommy!

I can sit up...with a little help from this purple, squishy thingy... and I'm so darn cute I can hardly stand it!!!

A year ago....

alot has changed, but she still feels the same way about Ho Ho... and she doesn't want to sit on his lap...no matter what you try and bribe her with!

We are getting so excited about Christmas around here...hope you all are ready!

My favorite ornament of all!

Addie's "jingle-bell" she made in school. I absolutely love it!

It looks perfect on my tree.....

and perfect in Addie's hands too! She's really proud of her "jingle-bell"!

I can't wait to get more of these over the years....they are more precious than anything I could buy!

My Christmas Tour...

Here lately I have been reading a few home decorating blogs that are out there, and the women who write these blogs always have a "Christmas Tour" where they photograph their gorgeous homes for readers to view. I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite things about decorating for Christmas. This is a nativity scene I bought last year at Kohls for 50% off. I think it is very important to teach my kids the real meaning behind the season, and this will help me to do just that. For now, I must keep little hands away from the fragile little set!

This is my Nutcracker my mom bought me a few years back. She too, found it after Christmas and bought one for me and one for Dave. Dave likes his so much that he keeps it out year round in his room! My Nutcracker only makes his appearance once a year, but he is still one of my favorite things to pull out.

I must send out a gazillion cards at Christmas-time. Each year I am adding more people to my little list as I make new friendships or rekindle old ones. I absolutely love exchanging cards. Each day I practically stalk the mail man and even know the exact hummmm of his little engine as it enters my little court to drop off my cards. Especially as their families grow and change, it is so much fun to get pictures of my friends' and their little ones or even just a few handwritten words on a simple card! So much more fun than an impersonal email...This year I dolled up some little clothes pins with red and green paint and sprayed on some "snow" so that I could attach my cards to little gingham ribbon that I hand around my entrance-way. I love looking at all of my cards as I walk by!

Our parents helped to make our Christmas so special this year with new window treatments and a new kitchen table, so we aren't wanting for much. We decided to spend our money on the kids and skip our traditional gift for the house for each other this year. However, Tim and I did order some stockings for our completed little family. I call them "forever stockings" because they are absolutely so adorable and will last forever....(atleast that is what I told Tim when I told them how much I payed for them!) They are very nice and I am excited that they will be with us for many years to come!

And finally, my tree.... Pretty much up until this year, I wanted a matching, coordinated, all-the-same-color-balls tree.....My tree has been my top priority this year though, as I have been working very hard to fill it with special ornaments and memories that will mean something to Addie and Hayes as they pull them out of their box each holiday season. I am also working to make some special ornaments for Addie to have when she has a family tree of her own one day. So, no matching-coordinated, all-the-same-color-balls on my tree this year- just some very special memories that are already starting to accumulate for our little family!

My mom bought this reindeer family for us the other day because the one she bought for us last year is now considered outdated! We have grown since last Christmas!

Here's the one from last year...Funny thing is...I got pregnant with Hayes just a couple of weeks after getting this ornament from Mom. I love the two of them on the tree near each other. It shows how much our family has changed.

Addie's first ornament ....

Hayes' first Christmas ornament from Mamaw...

And finally...one of my newest traditions...Addie's milestone of 2009! Each year I will add an ornament for both kids that represents their biggest milestone or memory made that year. This year Addie got a Big Girl Bed and she became a Big Sister. I made ornaments for both of those occasions and wrote little messages on the back. Hopefully, these will be just as special to them as they are to me one day!

Hope you liked my little Christmas tour! Tomorrow I will share my most special and favorite ornament of all....stay tuned!

Go Redskins!

My friend, Anna, scored some free tickets to the Redskins a couple of weeks ago. She invited Tim and I to join her and her boyfriend, Matt. We were thrilled to be included! So, we all bundled up and headed to Fed Ex Field to watch the Skins play the undefeated Saints. Our seats were AWESOME! Besides the Dolphins football game I went to with my Dad when I was much younger where we sat at the 50 yard line right up front, I don't think I have ever been closer to a national team! It was very exciting! If you remember, our seats with Anna, Dan, and Christen last year, left a little to be desired! We sat under some sort of overhang and behind a pole then, but we still had a good time. This year we moved up-and it was FREE!

Yes, that is my husband all lumberjacked out in his warmest winter gear. He is such a dork sometimes, but I must admit, he was the warmest of us all!

Anna and I loved the hotdogs! I still don't know what the guys were thinking leaving us in charge of the grill while they played cornhole. Once the dogs were done, we were done!

I like this picture of Anna the best- tailgating at its finest! The old 4-Runner is still truckin along! (Although, it wouldn't start when we got back from the game and Matt had to give us a jump on a brand spankin' new battery-who knows?)

Although it was soooooo cold, and I would have been much worse off if Anna hadn't brought the little packets of hand/foot warmers that we shoved inside our gloves and shoes, it was a lot of fun! It was a much needed day away from the kids and with friends we rarely get to see. We didn't get home until after 9:00, and Mom and Dave had the babies all ready to be tucked in for bed! I don't think I have slept that hard in a long time! Thanks Anna for getting the awesome tickets and choosing us to invite!

Oh, and the game- the Redskins played well, but once again gave it away there at the end. We were just excited to see them put up a good fight against the best offensive team in the league!

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Hayes is wondering who that man is with the big, red suit and long, white beard? Yes, Ho Ho, as Addie calls him, came to our house the other night. We got to sip hot chocolate and take pictures with him for a little while. One of my friends brought her children over to meet him too!

Addie wanted to see him, but still is not quite ready to sit on his lap. She sat in a chair across the room, blowing him kisses and hiding behind her blanket acting shy. She did manage to tell Ho Ho that she would like him to bring her a "red pwesent" this year!

Hayes, on the other hand, seemed to warm right up to the man in the big red suit. He snuggled into his beard and sat for quite sometime in his arms while we snapped a million pictures.

Happy 1st Christmas little Hayes Timothy! Your cute little smile melts my heart. I am so excited to start our family traditions with you!

Hopefully, after tomorrow, I will be all finished with Christmas shopping and parties and decorating, and I can actually sit back and enjoy it all. I hope you all are ready for the holiday season and just as anxious as I am to spend some good quality time with family!

Hayes

See? We are all getting excited for Christmas!

Anxious

The Hewitt family is anxious for Christmas! Tim gets some much-deserved time off here soon, which also means I get some help with the kids during the day. That is always nice! Most of all, we are both just excited to watch Christmas through the eyes of our babies. Addie, especially, is impressed with the lights and trimmings of this holiday season. She gets excited over the smallest things. Last night Tim told her it was Baby Jesus's birthday at Christmastime, and she babbled on and on about Baby Jesus and his "pwesents" all evening. I think I even caught her "talking" to him on her cell phone at one point!

She enjoyed helping me decorate the tree this year. Although, I heard she had more fun at her Mamaw's because they let her touch everything! She has the cheesiest smile for pictures here lately. I told you all she was our little drama queen. EVERYTHING is magnified these days....EVERYTHING!!!

Hayes enjoyed making a few little decorations himself one morning with me. He is doing great and happy as ever these days. He sleeps about 9 hours straight each night and naps off and on throughout the day. We are starting to get some little coos from him, and he just keeps the smiles a comin'! He is such a happy little guy!

We had an exciting weekend and even had a special visitor at our house last night for Addie and Hayes. I have some fun pictures to share, so stay tuned...

Blessed...

to have had her in my life and thankful she was such a happy girl!

Sally Mae - May you rest in peace!
12-3-09

Gettin' ready for Christmas!

Hayes- all dressed up and ready to go...wherever we want to take him for however long...he doesn't care! He is so easy-going and happy most of the time, as long as he has his bottle and you take a little time to cuddle up with him! Isn't he getting big?

I took these pictures while Addie was snoozing away one day after a long morning running Christmas errands with Tim and I. She was conked out! Check out her little dolls that sleep with her every night. She makes me "tuck them in too", and they even use her special Dora blanket to keep warm. Any more dolls and she won't have room in her own bed!

Staying pretty busy getting ready for Christmas around here. I love this time of year, and I love our new Elf on a Shelf from Mamaw! I plan on introducing him in my next post!

Holiday Fun!

Addie and Hayes pose for the camera before heading over to Ga Ga's and Pop Pop's for Thanksgiving lunch! Do you think they look alike at all? In some pictures, especially ones from when Addie was his age, they look identical, but most of the time, I think they look very different. This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them together so far...

Hayes conked out for a short snooze before we headed over for lunch. He is good for several little short-lived cat naps throughout the day. I can't complain though- he just gave me 4 nights in a row where he slept for 8 hours straight. That's my boy!

And then there is Addie...sweet, sassy, starving-for-attention, little Addie...who happened to agree to wear her second Halloween costume for our Thanksgiving meal. She refused to put this little ensemble on when it was really appropriate, so I let her wear it for Thanksgiving instead. I thought it would be our special way of showing our "thanks" to pilgrims and native americans on this important holiday! Ha Ha! She sure made a cute little indian girl!

The meal was delicious and her outfit was a hit! Even little Hayes had good time all propped up on his Uncle Tommy's chest for most of the meal, but happy and quiet nonetheless. Another Thanksgiving has come and gone...

Family Fun...

This week we have spent alot of time just hanging around the house together, playing with blocks and animals and baby dolls and drinking out of "big-girl cups". Addie pretty much entertains us all and keeps her self busy at the same time. I am starting to discover stray pen marks on my walls and crayon in places just at her little eye level. Does this mean I am not watching her closely enough? Then there is Hayes...sweet, growing, handsome little Hayes...

These last two pictures were taken in the fall of last year. It is crazy to see how much she has changed in just 12 short months! Can my babies just stay babies (that sleep through the night) forever?

I have more pictures of Thanksgiving and tree decorating to share in the next few days. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday with friends and family!