July 2009 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Christmas Recap
So as some of you are winding down your Christmas weekend, how was it? What'd you do? Any good stories? 
Re: Christmas Recap
Ours was pretty quiet. We went to church on Christmas Eve afternoon and then came home, heated up some tomales and watched White Christmas... it was very nice.
This morning we really relaxed. We ate breakfast, read the story of Christ's birth in the Bible, then opened gifts and chilled for a while... then started cooking. It was all very laid back and easygoing. I hosted my first holiday dinner at my house and it came out great. We have SOOOOO MUCH FOOD leftover!! Wowsers. I ate ENTIRELY too much and am now laying on the couch waiting for my system to come out of shock, hehe.
My mom gave me a beautiful new set of silverware which I really needed. I think the gift I was most excited about was the Kindle we got for my sister (the older one who is autistic). She is an avid reader and she's super excited about it. It was fun watching her pick it up at various times today and browse.
Hope you all had a beautiful day!
Mark's Mom and brother came over around 4 yesterday and then we went over to his Uncle's for Christmas Eve dinner. Tons of food and we all just hung out so it was nice and low key. After, the four of us went to midnight mass (at 10 pm, lol) and his Mom and brother stayed over.
I made us a nice breakfast this morning and then we exchanged gifts and watched the parade. My family came over in the afternoon and I made dinner. It came out awesome and I'm still super excited over it. We all played Wheel of Fortune and watched movies and hung out until people started getting tired.
I got a lot of nice stuff - definately spoiled. Mark got me this cool perfume set from Sephora and a new pair of sneakers. My Mom got me ALL the Harry Potter movies, so I think I'm going to do a marathon. Best gift was from my sister - she knitted Mark and I Christmas stockings. They're gorgeous.
Kate's Recipe Box || Relatively Bookish
This is us too! I'm going to be eating ham forever, haha.
Kate's Recipe Box || Relatively Bookish
Yesterday we did our Christmas between Steve, Finn and me then relaxed and watched tv for a bit. Finn ate his Christmas treats and played with his new toys. I made cupcakes and ended up going to the 11pm candle light service.
Today we slept in and played with Finn a bit before heading to my parents' house around noon. We opened gifts there and had a HUGE Christmas dinner followed by the cupcakes I made. We also had a bunch of treats like my dad's family recipe carmel corn and magic cookie bars. I think I gained 10 pounds just from looking at it all lol. After dinner we went to their game room and took turns playing this hunting game my dad got for the Wii.
My family loves to give gag gifts and this year my mom got Steve good. He complained to my mom last time we were over there that he wished I would let him have tuns sandwiches (I don't buy white bread or tuna). My mom actually gave him tuna and wonderbread for Christmas! It cracked me up that she actually wrapped tuna and bread.
the wedding | the blog
Me too!!! We had a HUGE ham for just the three of us AND I live ALONE... oye... but my dinner came out super duper yummy... like ridiculously yummy. I'm pleased for it being my first holiday meal that I hosted.
We had Christmas with my family last weekend soo last night we ordered pizza and made our gingerbread house while watching Christmas movies (our yearly tradition!).
We woke up this morning around 8 and opened presents. J got me seasons 6 and 7 of OTH, as well as the Taylor Swift DVDs, some fuzzy socks, a board game, ornaments, annnd a mini tripod for my digital camera! I loved it!
J loved his Big Bang Theory ornament, Colts signs, and he loved loved loved the "Year of Dates" I gave him. I put an envelope in a box for each month and planned out a date for us-down to where we're going to eat and whatnot. He just has to pick the day to do it.
So excited for this!!
Then we let Reg out and gave him his stocking full of toys. He loved them!
I made us some cake batter pancakes for breakfast. Then we winded down and took a nap until 3.
Got ready and saw my parents again, then went to J's dad's, his mom's, then ended at his aunt's house..where we eat Christmas dinner every year.
Now I'm uploading pictures onto Facebook and then we're going to play one of the games I got for Christmas and watch football.
Perfect ending!
OH my gosh... I LOVE this idea!!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My highlight is that I got a sewing machine from my momma. SO PUMPED!
We went to church last night with my parents and grandmother. DH and I came home and opened our stockings and presents alone. DH got me exactly what I asked for: a new wallet, a recipe card holder box, and a book light for my e-reader.
We slept in a made waffles for brunch, then went over to my parents house. My parents gave us the extended edition of Lord of the Rings on Bluray and a few other things. I'm pretty sure my parents liked the gifts we gave them.
Tomorrow, Boxing Day shopping for a Bluray player (because DH lent our PS3 to him dad for a extended period of time). So far we're planning of having my inlaws and their significant others over for dinner tomorrow. (DH's parents are divorced.) My mom gave me a bunch of her leftovers from dinner tonight, so I don't really even have to cook, which is awesome.
I drove up to Buffalo on Wednesday. We celebrated Christmas with my family on Thursday because my sister and BIL needed to head to his parent's house. They got to share their exciting baby news with everyone.
I went to my uncle's house (on my dad's side) for Christmas Eve which has been our tradition for quite some time. Today I went to church, came home and napped, and then went to my cousin's house for Christmas dinner. They have a little girl who's 4 and a boy who's 7, so it was fun watching them open their gifts and be so excited.
I made fudge, cake pops, and mac & cheese. They all came out really good. I'm pretty excited that I got to eat Buffalo-style pizza twice already since I've been here.
We spent the weekend with my parents who are here from VT. Christmas eve we went to church, drove around to see lights and watched Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation.
Christmas day wee man got us up at 6 and we started opening gifts at 7. We move slowly, especially with a toddler, so we were opening presents until 3. S got me ruby and diamond earrings, a few wusthof knives, Shearling slippers and a few kitchen things. My parents got us a roomba, a painting by a VT artist, a few household things and I got a Hobo wallet. A got the best present, a radio flyer wagon that he is obsessed with! Thankfully, it's warm out so he has already got to go for a stroll in it!
Still waiting on 2.0....
We had a crazy busy day yesterday. But I truly think my favorite part was seeing everyone's reactions to the gifts we gave them. I just felt like we had found really personalized things. and I had made so much of what we gave that it was very rewarding to see everyone's delight.
We did our gifts to each other first in the morning... M was stunned by the flying lesson I got him! It was so cool to see him that blown away, because I don't normally come up with things that surprising... he also loved the 7th season of the office, luggage scale, chocolate, and DIY photo canvas I made him (which turned out awesome, thanks to pinterest!)
He gave me something that actually made me cry. He gave me floor plans to our house. We've been in a holding pattern for a super long time about whether to buy or build a house. He's come up with a couple differnet ideas and such over the last 2 years, but we've never solidified anything. So yesterday, when he gave me a gorgeous completed design, it was just so touching.
And of course, I'm a huge fan of the earl grey tea and diamond necklace too
The rest of the day was church (which was lovely), my dad's (full of laughs), my grandparents (which was sweet and simple) and then my ILs (full of chaos!) We didn't get home until midnight last night...
Good job, M!! What a great gift!
Christmas Eve was a lot of fun, but it was pretty hectic. Wyatt isn't used to so much going on so the whole day he was borderline cranky... add to the fact that his cousin (almost 3) would freak out and try to hit him if Wyatt started playing with any of his toys... so Wyatt was burnt out pretty quick.
We dressed Wyatt in his 'big brother' shirt to tell the family, and it took such a loooong time for people to figure out what it said. Finally one of Lance's cousins took Wyatt into the room where everyone was and said 'EVERYONE, READ WYATT'S SHIRT!'... it was funny, but after a couple minutes everyone understood and they were all really excited for us. Except for one cousin, who is getting married the day after my due date (oops).
Christmas was a lot more our pace. Lance went in and got his work done as fast as he could and managed to get home by 10:30 (He'd been preparing all week). Then we opened gifts. I got my new lens which is amazing, and my new computer which I bought Christmas Eve while it was still on sale. Lance got a Tassimo, and Wyatt got a lot of toys and clothes and a shutterfly book from me with all of the poems I've written him.
Afterwards we headed out to IL's where we had breakfast and opened gifts again. After a few hours, Lance's grandparents showed up and we started watching Horrible Bosses. Before the movie was over Lance got called out to work and was gone for a couple hours. When he came home we ate dinner (leftovers from Christmas eve) and played apples to apples...
and today I have to go get my computer, and take Wyatt to go see MIL, because they're leaving to AZ again tomorrow, so they want to see him.
We had a wonderful Christmas. It was our first time hosting Christmas and we were excited/nervous about it since we'd be feeding 9 people. It turned out great and people were raving about the meal, which since I'm normally not a big fan of cooking or food, was a big pat on the back. Definitely felt old since we got excited about gifts like an extension ladder, wheel barrow and new set of knives. We got to meet my youngest brother's girlfriend too and she was really nice. All in all, it was a great day and I feel very lucky to have spent it with my family.
This was proably my favorite Christmas, mostly because it was Katie's first
Christmas Eve was crazy because we always host it. Normally we have 7 people, this year we had 11. It was exhausting and at times frustrating, but we got through it and everyone seemed to have a nice time.
Christmas Day was great! Katie woke up around 6, but we all just layed around in bed until 7. We then brought her downstairs to see all of her gifts and she actually had fun opening them. I know next year will be even better because she'll have an understanding of Christmas, but at least it was fun to see her unwrap her presents. After all of the presents were exchanged, we relaxed a little and then hosted breakfast. Our parents came over to exchange gifts with us (a change from the past years were we drove to each house that morning. This made things A LOT easier). It was fun to just hang out and eat breakfast and not have to worry about rushing from house to house. In the afternoon we went by my uncles house for dinner...it was nice and I ate way too much. My cousin proposed to his g/f right before coming to my uncles, so that was exciting once they came over. Other than that, i'd say Katie's first Christmas was a success.
I went to church Christmas morning alone, since A had to work. His parents flew in, and we brought them home w/ him from work. We went out to a nice lunch in the city. We came back to our apt and exchanged gifts. The ILs more than spoiled us this year and we got a lot of great gifts! Between my parents, his parents, and each other we got everything on our "lists" and even a few bonus items!
We took his parents back to the airport after a few hours. It was a short but sweet visit. I'm very thankful we all have the ability to see each other whenever we want despite the distance. A and I then went to the movie last night and saw, New Years Eve. It was cute! Every year since we've lived together on Christmas Night we go to the movies, so it was fun to continue our tradition!
Our Christmas Eve started out super stressful when we woke up to Andy choking at about 530 am. He was really struggling to breath so we rushed him to the ER. By the time we got there, he had recovered and was fine. We're watching him closely, but they think he was choking on some phlegm and swallowed it.
When we got home, Andy rewarded us with his first social smile.
Will went to mass with my mom that evening and we wrapped presents.
Will woke up at 5:30 am to open presents (we were tired) and then we went to my parent's house and spent the day with them and my brother and SIL and her parents and a few of their friends. It was a busy day but very nice. Alex got me some nice diamond studs and hoop earrings. It was a good day.
William born 7/12/2000
Andrew born 10/30/2011 (9lb 4oz at 37 weeks)
I'm glad everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
Ours was pretty busy even though it didn't seem like it was going to be that way. Christmas eve was at our house. We had lunch instead of dinner because E's parents do their Christmas on Christmas Eve and open presents at midnight. After lunch during the Cowboys game we went to the ILs. Hung out there. I got frustrated because MIL seems to think that I don't know how to take care of my own kid and she didn't even want me holding him. Needless to say I was ready to get out of there by 10. We ended up staying until almost 1 AM. Lucas wasn't phased by it at all, he slept most of the time anyway. We got home and exchanged gifts b/w the 2 of us. He bought me new lens for my camera and Dolphin Tale. I can't wait to watch it.
Christmas morning we let Lucas wake us up and we opened some gifts of his that people had dropped off at our house. We got dressed and headed over to my Grandmother's where my uncles slaughtered a pig. Traditional Christmas morning. We hung out there for a bit and then went and exchanged gifts at my Sister's house. My bro eventually got there and we had dinner. We watched Warrior and got home around 9 or 9:30. Lucas had a hard time going to sleep....I think he was finally starting to get thrown off by not being home for both days. He fell asleep around midnight and then we ended up falling asleep not too long after.
All in all it was a pretty successful 1st Christmas as a family.
Christmas Eve day was super busy finishing shopping, and wrapping presents.
Christmas Eve first we went to my Granny's house. My cousin who had a baby this year went to her husband's family event first so we had to wait for them to get there and sadly we only had like half an hour with him before we had to leave. We then went to DH's Aunt's house and played the gift exchange game which is always fun. Its one of those white elephant type of games and like 31 people participated so it was really fun. Then we went to midnight Mass with the in-laws at the church that FIL grew up going to. Its a nice Christmas tradition that DH's family has and I hope to continue with our kids.
Christmas morning we woke up and went to DH's parents' house to spend Christmas morning with DH's nephew. Well, we woke up a little late and when we got there the baby had gone done for his morning nap. So we ate breakfast while waiting for him to wake up. We played with him when he woke up then opened presents and stayed there for lunch. We got him like 5 presents but I knitted him a hat and he wore it most of the day and his parents loved it, so it really made my day. My Mom has said before that Christmas is better with children and now I know what she means. Having our nephew there really made everyone around us happy and brought so much joy. Certainly not helping with my baby fever!! Especially since no one knows we are no longer preventing and keep saying things about how we should have a baby and apologizing for it. So frustrating!! We wound up not leaving there until like almost 3.
We then went to my Granny's house to see my parents, sister, BIL and Mom's parents. We stayed there for a little while then went to my Dad's parents' house. It's so hard to see my grandparents age. My grandpa has dementia and isn't very aware. My grandma has always been devoted to him and isn't taking it so well. Every time I go there she cries. And my uncle called and said he wasn't going to come see them because my Aunt "wasn't feeling well". I think that really upset my Gamma too.
I'm glad I got to see everybody on Christmas, but it was a long day. I'm so glad we were off of work today. I slept until after 10 am! And today we got our last Christmas present with a Saints win!!
We were on the go all weekend long.
Friday we finished our shopping and then had to drop the crib because D is getting up on all fours and decided to grab a hold of the rungs and pull his chest off of the mattress. Then he didn't want to sleep until 2am
Christmas Eve we went to R's GPs - 2 hours both ways. We had a lot of fun with his family. Then had to wrap presents and the baby wouldn't sleep, again. He finally went to sleep at 2 and do did we.
Christmas Day - We exchanged gifts and then loaded a sleeping baby into the car and went to my sisters. Exchanged gifts with my parents and sis. Then off to R's local GPs for breakfast, presents with his mom, GPs and siblings, then lunch. Off to Rs dad's for presents and dinner. Finished off the night back at my sister's with my Aunt and Uncle.
D slept much better after all of the hustle and bustle from Christmas.
Favorite present - My Sony DSLR! Unfortunatly I got it at the next to last stop and MIL didn't charge it so I didn't get any Christmas pictures with it. But I took a ton today!
Our craziness finally ends today.
On the 22nd it was my Dad's birthday so we went out for supper.
23rd I cooked and cleaned most of the day.
24th was my family's Christmas. Everyone came over to our house around noon and we hung out and ate food all day. Had a big turkey dinner and opened presents after dinner. Then my one sister and her boyfriend and my mom and dad stayed up drinking wine and playing games. My other sister almost didn't come because her husbands brother left his wife and their four children on Christmas eve. I didn't get the whole store yet, but sounds like he has another woman on the go. So so incredibly sad for them.
25th we got up and opened out presents just the three of us. Then my parents came over and we had breakfast together and were on the road by noon to go to Brice's parents 3 1/2 hours away. Had another big turkey dinner there and opened presents. Mackenzie got to meet her cousin Caris for the first time.
We stayed out there until noon on the 27th. Stopped in the city to visit B's Grandma in the nursing home on our way home and by the time we got home to our house my parents were here cooking up a big ham dinner and all my aunties and uncles came over for supper and a christmas visit.
It was good, but a whirl-wind and I'm definitely looking forward to just taking it easy and having B home for the next 2 weeks!
We had a whirlwind time too, we left for VT on Wednesday the 21st, but we left super late and didn't end up getting there until 2:15am on Thursday. T was able to sleep in, but I wasn't, so I got up and started helping his mom with all the holiday baking. Once T and his dad were awake, we told them about the baby. They were really happy and excited for another grandchild.
The 22nd and 23rd were pretty much just preparing for the big days, and some last minute shopping and wrapping, along with dinner with friends on Friday night.
Christmas Eve we didn't do much during the day, more baking, and kind of relaxing. We all went to 4pm mass at the church where we got married. The Monsignor who married us said mass, and made sure to stop over by our pew beforehand to say hi, as he always does whenever we go up to visit. When we left mass it was a chilly 8 degrees and I was so ready to go back to the house, eat, and get ready for bed, especially since I crash at about 9pm these days. So, that's what we did. I fell asleep on the couch watching "It's A Wonderful Life."
Christmas morning we woke up and all headed downstairs where we opened presents. My favorite gifts were a new portable blender (to replace my broken Magic Bullet), new running sunglasses, and tons of gift cards. I thought it was funny I got a bunch of Express gift cards, as everyone said they didn't know I "was growing," and so I suppose they will have to wait for a post-baby shopping spree. A couple hours later BIL, his wife, her mom, and our baby niece showed up, followed by T's two uncles. We played with the baby, dodged tons of comments from SIL's mom about how "once one person has a baby, they start coming," and for me "not to worry, [she's] sure I'll have one soon." Obviously, we weren't telling everyone else our news that day, but ugh, she really bugged me. We all sat down to a huge feast of ham, and all the trimmings, followed by more gift exchanging and opening, and finally conversation, and then the day was over and all the company left and it was back to just the 4 of us for the rest of the day and night. That night I helped MIL set up the ereader we gave her, and ran into some technical difficulties.
We were supposed to leave Monday the 26th, but decided to stay another day, and just relaxed and tried to sort out Mom's ereader issues. We finally left yesterday morning, just after morning sickness hit me full on with multiple trips to the bathroom to be sick. After 11.5 hrs in the car, and feeling awful most of that time, I'm glad we're home again.