Friday, December 31, 2010

Chuck E Cheese

Last night Josh, Lila, and I met our friends at Chuck E Cheese so that we could eat some yummy pizza and let the babies experience the craziness of the place. We had such a great time, and I think the babies enjoyed it almost as much as the husbands did!

 clapping her hands after chowing down on her own slice of pizza
 Driving the Bob the Builder tractor
 playing games with daddy

 trying to push Chuck E out of the car
High five-ing Chuck E Cheese

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas Day 2010 and the snowy aftermath

ready to see what Santa brought
Christmas Day started off with Lila waking up at around 8:15ish am, which is normal for her. I went and got her out of the crib and plopped her down on our bed to wake up Josh who was still half asleep. She played and played in our bed for a good 30 minutes before acting hungry, so I went and made her a bottle before we went downstairs to see what Santa had brought for everyone. My sister and brother woke up a little after 9am and we all gathered on the stairs for our traditional (ugly) morning picture before checking out our Christmas presents. It was so much fun to watch Lila immediately go to her baby doll that was poking out of her stocking, and she didn't let go of it the entire time she was exploring the rest of her things. This year was so special for us to be able to see Christmas through a child's eyes. Even though she is still little, she was really into all of her presents and was excited each time she saw something new for herself. After we watched Lila explore her things for a while, we decided that it was time for us to check out what we got! Santa was SOOO good to us this year!!! My favorite things were a Macbook Pro as well as a new zoom camera lens that takes the most beautiful pictures! Oh, and of course a trip to the National Championship in Arizona in a couple of weeks :) WAR EAGLE!
After we saw our Santa gifts, we headed back upstairs to get ready for the Vansant side (my mom's family) to come over and celebrate Christmas with us at our house. We had a delicious brunch with all of our cousins, aunts, uncles, and both sets of grandparents while we watched the snow begin to fall. It was the first white Christmas Atlanta has seen in over 100 years, which made Lila's first Christmas even that much more memorable!! After brunch, we drove out to Josh's parent's house to have Christmas with them, his cousins, aunts, and grandmother. It was such a nice time, but we had to cut our visit short due to the snow that was slowly beginning to cover the roads!
When we got back to my parent's house, we kept watching the snow fall, and Lila was really studying it hard trying to figure out what in the world it was! I took lots of pictures, since I haven't seen snow in almost 3 years!! Everything looked so gorgeous the next morning, and I took more pictures of course. I even plopped Lila down in the snow after she finally woke up. Poor thing was so worn out from going non-stop for three days straight! She didn't know what to think about all of the snow, and felt a little cold, but it was so much fun for me to see her explore it. Our whole family went on a long walk on the golf cart path to look at the snow after lunch, which was so pretty! That night, some of my high school girl friends got together for our annual Christmas dinner, and it was so much fun catching up with everyone! Josh got to meet up with some of his college and our high school friends as well. We had such a great Christmas weekend in Atlanta, and we have yet to fully unpack!
Next travel stop: GLENDALE, ARIZONA to watch my TIGERS play!!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas Eve Brunch and Candlelight Church Service

Lila with her great grandmama
 The Freeman side of the family at Christmas Eve Brunch
 Lila in her new chair from great grandmama
 Emptying out her BIG stocking
Sitting in the middle of all her presents
   It is a tradition on my dad's side of the family to go to his mom's house in Stone Mountain, Georgia on Christmas Eve morning for a big brunch. This used to be just a bonus get together, and we did Christmas the next evening; however, we now celebrate our Christmas with Grandmama and my dad's brother, Lee, and his family at our Christmas Eve brunch. Grandmama always stuffs these HUGE stockings full of random items that are silly, useful, beautiful, and resourceful, and they are so much fun to go through. Lila even got one this year that was actually bigger than she is! She had such a great time visiting with her great Grandmama and meeting her aunt Mary Scott for the first time. 
 Lila and daddy playing before the church service
 Family picture at Peachtree Road United Methodist
 Grammy and Lila playing
 Christmas Eve program
The beautiful church
After brunch, we went home to relax a bit before heading off to Peachtree Road United Methodist Church for their Christmas Eve candlelight service. We went to the family 6pm service this year due to the fact that we had a very noisy and busy 10.5 month old. My mom held her for the majority of the service, and Lila was very good. She really loved the singing and the bells that the children were ringing on the stage. The service was beautiful and short, which was nice because Lila is very wiggly! After church, we went down the street to Bricktops to eat dinner. It was so delicious and a lot of fun as well. We went back to my parent's house to put our pjs on and to unwrap the gifts from my parents. Even though we are older now, we still open my parent's gifts Christmas Eve and Santa brings his presents the next morning. I guess we'll keep that tradition going as long as we can! We opened gifts after Lila was asleep, and then we all crashed as well from the busy day!

Gentry Christmas Eve Eve Celebration

On Christmas Eve Eve, we got together out at Josh's parent's house in Monroe, Georgia. Our flight was crazy that afternoon as it had taken off on-time, flown for about 20 minutes before it had to return back to Houston due to a pressure problem in the cabin, and finally took off again for Atlanta about two hours after it took off the first time. So, needless to say, we were a little tired! We ended up getting out there around 8ish, just in time for the babies to play together for about thirty minutes before they were hauled off to bed, and the adults could keep visiting. It was the first time Josh had seen his brother and sister for a really long time, so it was really special for him to have a celebration with his family before the Christmas festivities began. The next morning, we got the babies together for a photo shoot, which is getting quite difficult the more mobile they get!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had such a great time visiting with family in Atlanta. MANY pictures to come, especially of our WHITE Christmas! It was so special that Lila's first Christmas just happened to be the first white Christmas Atlanta has had in over 100 years! Crazy!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Visiting Santa in Texas

Even though Lila met Santa earlier this month in Georgia, Josh wanted to take her again, so we went to see the Santa here at the Baybrook Mall. I had bought a "fast pass" for Santa which puts you in a special line that, last week, had almost NO people waiting in. Well, either everyone got the memo to purchase a "fast pass" or everyone here in Texas are huge procrastinators because the line was SOOO long! Granted, the line for non-"fast pass" holders was about three times as long! Because just a few days before there was no one that was waiting in the "fast pass" line, I thought this would be an in-and-out type of trip. It would be so fast, in fact, that there was no need to turn around and get the stroller or formula that we had left back at the house because we would be done so quickly. My how we were wrong!! We waited in line (stroller and formula-less mind you) for over an hour and a half!!! I thought that it wasn't worth it, but Josh really wanted to see her with Santa, so we stuck it out. Thank goodness Lila was an angel baby even though she was starving, tired, and tired of being held! She loved playing with Santa's beard when she finally got to see him and gave us some cute pictures.
Lila is so happy that she is finally getting to eat again after starving in the Santa line (she did have half of a chocolate chip cookie, but I decided to leave that part out of the story)

Walkin' and Rollin'

Lila is getting so close to walking despite my best efforts to postpone it (not really...but kind of). She loves to push her pink car all over the house even though the tree and furniture are really getting in the way of her traffic pattern.


Thursday, December 16, 2010

Pictures from 9-month portraits

I'm a little late in posting these since I've had them for almost two weeks now, but better late than never! ...that seems to be my motto a lot in life here lately!

Brooke Schwab Photography took them in mid-November, and we had a great time on the shoot. Despite it being mid-November, it was HOT outside!! I don't expect anything less for Houston, Texas, however!

I put them in collage form to be more organized.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Junior League Holiday Ball

This past Saturday, December 11th, the Junior League of Galveston County held its 59th annual Holiday Charity Ball. It is a black tie event which raises money for the league so that we are able to do everything that we do around the community here in Galveston County. This is the first year I've been a member of this particular league so I didn't really know what to expect with the Holiday ball, but it was absolutely wonderful and so much fun! It was held at the San Luis Resort and Conference center which is located right on the beach and is a place that I've always wanted to check out. Josh and I got a room there for the night, and my mom flew in to help take care of Lila (I have an awesome mom, I know!). It was my first night away from Lila, and it was hard, but it was also a ton of fun. We got to get all dressed up, eat a delicious dinner, bid on some silent auction items (but didn't win anything....bummer), and eat a wonderful room service breakfast the next morning! I hope Josh has that weekend off next year because we are already looking forward to the Holiday Ball 2011!

Macy's Pink Pig

Last Monday when I was in Atlanta, my mom and I took Lila to Lenox mall to ride the Pink Pig. The Pink Pig ride has been an Atlanta holiday tradition for decades, and I was so excited to take Lila on it as she is the perfect age to enjoy it...and boy did she ever! The ride is in a white tent that is decorated with pig pictures, stuffed animals, and bright pink lights everywhere. The ride is basically a train that is in the shape of a pig. It was a buy one-get one free day so we got to ride it twice, and Lila LOVED it. She was so cute as she kept looking around at all of the decorations and sights throughout the ride. I'm going to have to take her back next year as well!
Lila and Priscilla the Pink Pig
 The entrance to the ride
 Lila and me before the ride
 Everything was in PINK...I love it!
 Mom, Lila, and me on the ride
 Looking at all of the sights, taking it all in!
 The old pig that they used to use, I loved its tail in the back.
 Looking for a treasure to take home in the gift shop after the ride.

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