Christmas at the Duncans

We came home from Chicago late Saturday night which meant we had the day Sunday to relax.  Well, instead of relaxing, we decided to get ready for Christmas. We headed up to our favorite farm, StonyCreek and picked out the perfect tree. This is my favorite tradition of the whole year.

Elijah and Daddy on the tractor, which was driven by Santa.

The first trees we saw were the perfect size for Elijah. He loved exploring the fields.

More exploring.  Found a stick.

Leah and me. Truth be told, Leah did not love her first Christmas tree experience.  But, as I explained to her, it's tradition, which means you do it whether you like it or not.

There is a song on Barney where a little kid sits on a tree stump.  Because of that dumb song, Elijah had to sit on every little stump he saw. 

Ready to measure. We were trying to keep the tree shorter than me this year.  That didn't happen, but it is only 6 feet, so we did pretty well.

The winner!

Chopping down this little guy was a piece of cake.

2 men and a tree.

Merry Christmas from the Duncans! This is our 3rd time going to this tree farm and we have added another person everytime! Don't expect this trend to continue.

Leah was much happier once we got home.  I think she liked listening to Christmas music.

I love my mantle this year! 

The tree looks great all decorated.  We put it on the first floor this year and I really like it there.

It looks even prettier when you put a baby in front of it :).

Loving life.

I had to show this.  This is Elijah, at about the same age as Leah wearing the same outfit and playing on the same mat.  They look nothing alike but they are both cute!

Thanksgiving with the Duncans

We had a really good time celebrating Thanksgiving this year with the Duncans.  We headed up to Chicagoland Wednesday evening and had a smooth trip since both kids were sleeping! We had a great turkey dinner with the extended Duncan fam and Kirk ran in his first Turkey Trot (I was supposed to run too but I got an ear infection the day before) with Kelly and her boyfriend, Steve.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving day but here are some from other festivities throughout the weekend.

We had Kyle take some pictures of us we were hoping to use for our Christmas card. Unfortunately, our kids did not want to cooperate and look at the camera! Leah was far too interested in Elijah and Mommy.

This is the closest to a good one, but we gotta get Leah to look at the camera!

Saturday afternoon we headed over to Uncle Bruce and Aunt Judy's for the annual grab bag.  It's always a lot of fun and we did pretty well this year!

Kyle and I were ready for it to begin! 

Aunt Kelly was sure to get her cuddle time in.

Four generations of Duncan men!

Uncle Bruce and Aunt Judy have 2 dogs and Elijah and  this little girl, Amelia, were having a blast playing with them.  

Sheer joy.

Grandpa Duncan was a great sport as we put him through quite the photo shoot.  Everyone wanted a picture with him! Here he is with his 5 kids- Sue, Bruce, Phil, Keith, and Cheryl.

...and their spouses.

We wanted to get a family picture with Grandpa Duncan. I think this picture is funny because it accurately depicts how many people it takes to reel in Elijah :).

Quality of the picture is bothering me, but at least everyone is there!

Elijah is done.

Elijah loves Uncle Kyle (or Kow as he calls him).

Leah hanging out with Aunt Konni.

Cousins

Prepare yourself for a lot of cuteness.  I snapped these when I was out in PA earlier this month.  

Time for a more serious pose.

Minnesota

At the beginning of the month, I went out to Eden Prairie, MN, to reunite with some of my best girlfriends from college.  It was a great time...in fact, I was apparently too busy having fun to take many pictures.  However, I will share these 2.

My good friend Darla had her sweet baby girl, Clara, at the beginning of October.  Here's a picture of us forcing a friendship on our daughters :).  

And here's 2/3 of the group. Mallory had already left and Kelly was sick when we took this :(.  I am so very thankful for all 5 girls and love that we now have 4 kids between the 6 of us and a 5th on the way!

All I Want for Christmas is Shutterfly

I am a big fan of shutterfly. I have printed my Christmas cards from them in both 2008 and 2009 and I've used their website to print off photo books! They have all kinds of cool gift ideas too, like calendars for family members or a mug for your favorite coffee lover. Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE photo cards this year to all the bloggers out there. Just check it out here.

I have spent the last 30 minutes looking at all of their photo card designs for this year. Oh boy, there are so many great ones! I have a tie between my 2 favorites. Maybe you can help me decide which design is best! Leave me a comment with your opinion.

I love the classic Christmas colors of this one and the fact that I could include SIX pictures!

And I like this one because we really have been so blessed and are thankful!

And let's be honest, when you have photo subjects that look like these 2, the card is gonna be cute no matter what!



Merry Christmas to All! Ps. Thanks to my sister Jess for letting me know about this!

Giving Thanks.

Here are just a few of the things we are thankful for this year.  God is good.

Give Away Time.

So, my friend Jess (fellow TU alum and fellow mother of 2 little ones) is featuring a giveaway on her blog. Since I love free stuff and I know most people love free stuff, I am spreading the word. Please go to Jess's blog and check it out and find out how you could be the winner (although, to be candid, I am really hoping that I am the winner)! The winner is going to to receive an adorable crocheted hat for either boy or girl...your choice!

Here is Jess's daughter Molly in one of the cutest hats ever. Isn't she precious?

2 More Halloween Photos

Here's 2 more pictures that Aubree's friend Leah took. They are cute!

Baby Girl is 3 Months Old!

My baby is 3 months old today! She has brought an immeasurable amount of joy to my life already and I love watching her grow.  Here is a little bit of what she has been up to lately.

She is, without a doubt, one of the HAPPIEST babies I've ever been around.  It takes very little effort to get her to grin from ear to ear like this.

She is also very alert.  She loves to look all around and is especially entertained by her brother and dad.  If she so much as hears their voices, she waves her arms and smiles big! 

She has no problem wearing hairbands and bows, which is one of the many reasons she is the  ideal daughter for me.  Sidenote: Bethany, this is the bow you gave her.  It stayed clipped in her little wisps of hair for about 30 seconds, but looked super cute! I can't wait til she has a little more hair and can wear it again :).

Though she is growing very quickly (she was 12 lbs, 2 oz at her 2 month appt almost 3 weeks ago...probably pushing 13.5 lbs now I would guess) she is still just a little baby to us! It's hard to believe she has doubled her birthweight! 

She does love to be on her belly and is working on lifting her head for short periods of time (she does a good job of that with the boppy's support).

She is long, just like her brother, although she definitely has more chunks than her brother ever had too! 

She is doing a good job at night...sleeping for at least 6 hours at a time and she has done as much as 9! 

She loves to be up on our shoulder like this so she can look around.

She is a wonderful addition to our family and we thank God for blessing us and entrusting us with her precious life. Our prayer is that she will one day love and follow Him!