Christmas Eve

Our Christmas festivities started Christmas Eve with lunch at our house with my mom's side of the family.

We had the traditional ham and turkey (from Honey Baked Ham) along with a plethora of casseroles and muscadine pie for dessert (my aunt's specialty).

After lunch we all gathered in the den to open presents

Aubrey opening her first present with her
signature wide-eyed expression
Intently studying her new toy

Luke opening his tool box

Ryan and I received this cup and Starbucks gift card
from my aunt and uncle

At first glance this little 'ole cup doesn't seem like much, but it quickly became our MOST FAVORITE Christmas present!

What makes this cup so amazing you ask?

Well, it has 3 very unique characteristics:

1) No Sweat
the cup is made of double-wall plastic which means it will NEVER sweat...no more wet hands after picking up your cold drink and no more puddles of water left on the surface your cup was placed on!

2) Keeps cold drinks ICE COLD
Ryan took his cup to work Monday morning and called me Monday afternoon to tell me that not only was his coke still cold, but every ice cube was still in tact!

3) Dishwasher safe
You would think that with a cup so technologically advanced that it would require "hand washing only", but nope, all parts are dishwasher safe!

However, if your wife hasn't run the dishwasher yet and you NEED your cup, you just might have to hand wash it...this may or may not have happened to Ryan this morning :)

For those of you who don't know Ryan that well, it takes a lot to really get him excited, so when he came home from work Monday and told me that we didn't ever need another kind of cup besides these, I knew they MUST be something fantastic!

After some internet research I found out that this Starbucks cup is very similar to a Tervis Tumbler.

By the way, I was not paid by anyone to advertise for their product, we really do love the cups!

Now, back to Christmas...

Christmas Eve night we went to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate with my dad's side of the family.

My dad is Italian, so we have a very nontraditional Christmas meal: Lasagna, Italian salad, rolls, and you can't forget the black olives (you can't be an Alfano
if you don't love black olives)!

When our bellies were full, we anxiously awaited a visit from Santa and the adult's dirty santa game.

Aubrey with my Nana, her great grandmother

I was prepared for Luke to react the same way he did about a month ago when he saw Santa for the first time this year.

Much to our surprise, when Santa entered the room,
Luke smiled, pointed and exclaimed, "Santa!".
He even let Santa give him a hug!
Aubrey wasn't too sure about Santa this time,
she really had to check him out...

She grabbed his beard to make sure it was real
And checked to make sure Santa didn't have
anything "up his sleeve"

When Santa left it was time for the big kids to have some fun with the dirty santa present exchange.

Ty, my sister Kathleen's boyfriend, (he also lives at
Santa's Workshop) received the "dirtiest" santa gift
In case you can't tell from the picture, that's red jello sprinkled with cat food. At least there was $20 buried in the bottom (sealed in a plastic bag), if he was brave enough to dig into the cat food jello.

Kathleen didn't do much better
She received pink bunny, footed pajamas
(like on A Christmas Story).

Ryan and I didn't do too bad, he got an Auburn Snuggie and originally I opened a gift with $20 inside.

My sister, Anna, got a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts along with a Krispy Kreme gift card and since there isn't a Kripy Kreme in Auburn (where she lives), and she knows how much we LOVE our Krispy Kreme, she was gracious enough to
trade gifts with me!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve...
stay tuned for our Christmas Day post!

Wordless Wednesday

Some one found their shoes....

but couldn't quite figure out how to get them in her mouth

At least she knows how to smile for the camera

Santa's Workshop

Haven't you always wondered exactly what
Santa's workshop looked like?

Well, Luke and I headed to Trussville last Tuesday night to go on a hay ride with some friends, little did we know that the hayride would begin at Santa's workshop!

Now, of course we know that Santa's real workshop is located at the North Pole, but Santa must need to have several workshops located across the world in order
to make all those toys!

Santa's Workshop, Trussville Location
So, what all would you find at Santa's Workshop?

To start things off, a Toy Shop, of course

A snowman and snowwoman

A Gingerbread House

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

A Latham Express Train (play on polar express)

These pictures only captured a few of the displays at Santa's workshop, we saw everything from elves and carolers
to a Christmas countdown calendar and
Santa sliding down the chimney!

After we explored the workshop, Santa's helper, Mr. Bill,
took us on a hayride through some neighborhoods
to see Christmas lights.

Eventhough it was freezing, we had a great time and
can't wait to go again next year!

6 Months

Aubrey is 6 months old today!

At her check up on Tuesday, she weighed 16 lbs 13 oz (80th percentile) and was 26 inches long (60th).

She had to get 4 shots again, but did much better this time; she only cried for about 10 seconds and it didn't seem to bother her a bit after that.

Aubrey is rolling over all the time now, and is getting more used to being on her tummy, she doesn't scream in frustration every time she on her stomach now.

She's working on sitting up, but can only sit for a few seconds before she tumbles forwards or sideways.

Aubrey had her first taste of rice cereal and applesauce yesterday, she wasn't a big fan of the cereal,
but was able to tolerate the applesauce.


Luke is still her favorite person, she loves to watch him play and just smiles at him all the time...
except when he does this to her.

This is how Luke was "playing" with Aubrey while I was baking some Christmas goodies.

When I uncovered her, she was quite unhappy

I told Luke that we don't cover our sister with sheets,
and that he should apologize to her

Don't think she was too convinced
that his apology was sincere

Things You Learn from Babysitting a Princess

Last Friday night we had the pleasure of having
Princess Ali over to play.

If you want to know why we refer to our friend, Ali, as a princess you should head over to Ali's mommy's blog and read about how Ali loves to wear princess dresses, watch princess movies, and munch on princess snacks.

There are many things we learned about princesses
while Ali was visiting...

When a princess is the eating something sticky, she prefers for it to be wrapped in a napkin, evidently it's not proper for a princess to have sticky fingers.
If you can't see what's in Princess Ali's hand in the picture above, here's a closer look
Luke didn't even notice the stickiness, he just dove right in

Although princesses may seem to always be prim and proper, every once in a while they like to trade their high heels and crowns for basketballs and footballs.
This princess in particular is a great shooter!
And she can dunk with the best of them
Never tick off a princess when she's armed with a football
If you're going to play ball with a princess, you must make sure to take the ball from her SWEETLY,
if you don't you will be reprimanded


Rough-housing games like pillow fights
don't amuse a princess

Princesses are very creative, they can turn something as plain and boring as a recliner into a fun and exciting slide


And last, but not least, a princess will be your friend forever
if you give her chocolate milk

We had a great time with Princess Ali, we hope she comes over again soon, our princess-in-training, Aubrey,
could use a few lessons from her :)

Flashback Friday

May and June of '08 were filled with holidays and special occasions. We had so much fun celebrating these
special days with Luke!

My First Mother's Day, waiting to eat lunch
at Shillings on the Marietta Square(Atlanta)

Family Picture on Luke's Dedication Day

We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary by driving to Montgomery to eat at my favorite restaurant, Carrabba's.

Luke was 5 months old at the time and just getting over his stay in the hospital, so we decided to bring him along with us.

If you've never been to Carrabba's, you must go and try the Mezzaluna (it's basically ravioli),
it is one of my favorite dishes ever!

Ryan giving Luke a taste of some Mezzaluna
Guess Luke doesn't like it as much as his mommy

2nd Anniversary Picture

Wordless Wednesday

Luke with Meme and Granddaddy (my grandparents)
at our favorite place to eat with them, Jim 'N Nicks

I think it's so special that my grandparents are able to spend time with my kids. They absolutely adore Luke and Aubrey, and Luke loves spending time with them.

Thanksgiving and Un-Christmas

This year we went to Indiana for Thanksgiving and
what Ryan's parents call "Un-Christmas".

Since we only get to see Ryan's side of the family every other year for Christmas, on the off years, we celebrate Christmas while we're in town for Thanksgiving.

Ryan's parents have affectionately named the off years, "Un-Christmas".

Gifts are still exchanged like normal, but instead of using their normal decorations, Ryan's parents decorate with a tropical theme. All of the Christmas tree ornaments are tropical and instead of stockings they kids have
metallic colored pails.

Un-Christmas started with a visit from Santa.
If you look close enough you can see the floral pillow stuffed in Santa's jacket...guess Santa went on a diet and needed some extra stuffing to fit into his suit.

Unfortunately, all the of the 2 year olds
were scared to death of him.

Parker was too frightened to even look at him.

Luke gave Santa a glance,
but wasn't about to go anywhere near him

Hillarie held on for dear life to her mommy's shirt

Aubrey was the only one brave enough
to actually sit in his lap.

Her bravery was rewarded with a tasty treat

Once the toddlers saw that Santa gave Aubrey a Candy Cane,
they all seemed to muster up enough courage
to get close enough to him to grab the candy

After Santa left to go back to the North Pole,
the Un-Christmas fun continued.

Parker and Luke made us some homemade waffles.

Luke and I enjoyed our blueberry waffles

Daddy even gave Aubrey her first taste of waffles

Once our bellies were full, it was time for the best part of Un-Christmas: opening presents!
Luke's newest "cruck"...it's loaded with all the latest and greatest redneck accessories: a trailer, 4-wheeler and
radio that blares country music :)

Aubrey even got into the present opening spirit

Luke and Parker showed their appreciation
for the gifts they received with a big Un-Christmas hug
Disclaimer: My brother-in-law is most definitely NOT wearing adult footed pajamas!

After the gifts were unwrapped it was time to
play with the new toys

Being the princess that she is, Parker received many items to add to her royal collection: princess jewelry, princess doll, and princess tea set.

When Luke saw how much fun Parker was having being a princess, he left his trucks behind to try to learn how to be prim and proper like princess Parker.

He learned to accessorize with a princess bracelet
And even attended the royal tea party

He soon realized the royal life wasn't for him, so he retrieved his trucks and found a lady who'd rather
crash trucks than sip tea.

When playing princess and crashing trucks grew old, it was movie and snack time

Finding Nemo and Cars were the movies of choice
Yogurt covered raisins and golf fish were the snack of choice

All in all it was a magnificent and very Merry Un-Christmas!