Baby's First Christmas

I am a fan of the "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments that let you put a picture of the baby in it.  I'm a fan of pictures in general (obviously), so I love having some hanging on my tree.  I realized today that I never posted Natalie's first Christmas pictures on here for y'all to see!  I recently got some really great pictures for Aidan's ornament, so I figured I'd post them all together for you.

Even though Natalie and Aidan are only 25 months apart, their birthdays straddle Christmas, so Natalie's first Christmas was 3 years ago when she was 2 weeks old, and Aidan is celebrating his first Christmas this year (he'll be 11.5 months old on Christmas day).  Needless to say, their ornament pictures are quite different!  haha

I'm no newborn photographer, and this was my very first attempt at it, so I didn't get the perfect sleeping baby pose. Oh well!  Natalie was exactly 1 week old in these pictures.

{This is the picture in her ornament!}

I crocheted the Santa hat for her before she was born (free pattern here), and made the tulle skirt, too.  :)

I didn't make anything for Aidan's pictures because I just didn't have time (or red yarn), but I don't think he needed it anyway.  I'm still technically choosing which one to put in his ornament, but I have an idea which it'll be.  Which is your favorite??

   A                                                                           B

C                                                                            D

E                                                                        F

G                                                                             H

Halloween 2015

Most you you have already seen these pictures, but I thought I'd add our Halloween pictures to the blog for those of you that don't follow me on Facebook or Instagram.  I don't really know why, but I got the idea in my head to make our costumes this year.  Don't get me wrong, I've almost always made my Halloween costumes, but my idea this year involved some serious time and effort.  I saw a tutorial on Pinterest for a Peter Pan costume that I thought looked adorable and easy, so I thought it would be awesome if we were all characters from Peter Pan!  Here is the result:

I sewed/made everything except Captain Hook's wig, hat, hook, and pants, and Tinkerbell's wings.  Everything else was handmade by me.  Crazy, right?!  I was super happy with how it all turned out!  I learned lots of new things in the process.  I can promise you right now that our costumes next year will be less work for me.  Ha!

Easter 2015

Each Easter since Natalie was born, we have been able to get dressed up and take family pictures.  I wanted to do that this year, too, but time and exhaustion got in the way.  We actually left on Easter Sunday for our vacation to Bavaria (more on that later!), and I'm still working on the whole juggling life with 2 kids thing.  Not to mention that I didn't know what I would wear in a family picture.....  ha!  I was able to get pictures of the babes, though, so I thought I'd share them with you!

This cutie didn't want to smile for me.  He's been doing that lately!  If my nice camera is in his face, he won't perform.  haha

{Adorable}

"Natalie, can I take your picture?" *sigh*

"Pleeeeeeease??"
"No!"

I was able to bribe Natalie to take a picture with Aidan by letting her hold the lens cap.  haha!  I think these 2 pictures came out pretty well!

Sweet babies. <3<3<3

2014 in Review

There have been so many things that I intended to blog about this past year, but I just didn't have the time (or internet) to do it.  I have promised y'all lots of pictures, and this post fulfills that promise!  haha!  Rather than post about each thing individually, I decided it would be easier for me to just do a year in review of sorts.  There are activities that have been left out, and many many pictures that I just didn't have the time or energy to edit and post, but I hope you aren't disappointed!  Some months had more activities than others, as I'm sure you'll be able to tell.  (I obviously didn't add anything that I've previously posted.)

If you want to get a better look at the pictures, don't forget that you can click on the picture and it will make it larger for you!  If any of you would like a picture or two, let me know which one and I'll be happy to email the individual picture to you.  Collages just seemed the easiest way for me to get all these pics on here this time.

So without further ado, here is our 2014:

January:

After months of planning trips to Muir Woods and then cancelling, we FINALLY made it out there! 

I accidentally brought the wrong lens for my camera, so I didn't get the greatest scenery pics, but that's ok.  After the hike, we went to the lookout point for the Golden Gate Bridge and enjoyed some awesome fog.

February:
We had a picnic at a park in Vacaville one sunny day!  Natalie had a blast running around in the grass.  Man, she looks so little to me in this picture!

March:
As previously posted, my baby brother came to visit us! On his last day we were able to go hiking at the Rockville Hills Regional Park.  It was beautiful weather and good exercise.  :)

April:
This month, Travis' dad and aunt were able to come visit us!  These pictures were all taken on the day that we went to the V. Sattui Winery in Napa.

May:
Travis' mom flew out for a visit this month, and we got to take Natalie to her first air show.  She loved those planes!

June:
My parents were able to come see us this month, and we took a long weekend to go to the Monterey Bay area.  It was gorgeous!

July:
We made the big move to Germany and lived in a hotel for a month!  Our first big sightseeing adventure was to Trier, Germany, which is about an hour from our house.  We had a good time looking at the sights until we got caught in a HUGE thunderstorm with no umbrella!  We hung out in a tunnel for an hour before the rain let up a bit and we attempted to make it back to our car.  Still plenty of things to do in that city that we missed because of the rain!

August:
We drove to Heidelberg, Germany, for the day to check out that town and castle.  We took the tour of the castle, but they didn't allow pictures to be taken inside.  Boo.  It DID rain on us this day, too, but we had already learned our lesson and had an umbrella ready!

September:
Travis had his first tour, and at the end of it we rendezvoused in Vienna!  It is our biggest trip so far, and was so fun!  We got to spend 3 days in the city, and saw some amazing sights.  These pictures don't even scratch the surface of all the pictures we took.  ha!

October:
I have been on quite a crochet kick lately, and this hat and scarf set was the first in a long line of projects that I've completed.  Natalie just looks so cute in it that I had to take her out for a little photo shoot!  Also, we were thrown an awesome baby shower for Baby Boy on the weekend of Halloween!  We got some matching shirts to make the occasion even more fun.  hahaha

November:
At the end of this month, we got to go to our first German Christmas market!  We decided to go back to Trier, and it was great fun.  Looking forward to more Christmas markets next year!

December:
This month Natalie turned 2!  But that is worth its own post.  We stayed home during the Christmas break, since it's so close to Baby Boy's due date, and I've been so achy that we haven't even done much in the area.  We enjoyed a nice, quiet Christmas at home, and watching Natalie open presents this year was so fun!  It has snowed a few times, which has been beautiful.  2014 has been a great year, and we're looking forward to all that God has in store for us in 2015!

Easter 2014

Easter was a few months ago, but I never posted the pictures on here like I intended to, so I'm doing it now.  It was Natalie's second Easter, and the first one where she was able to "hunt" for eggs and such.  We walked a little ways from our house to a grassy area to take pictures and let her run around.  It was a fun opportunity for me to take pictures!  Natalie was 16 months old in these pictures.

{Love My Family}

"Mama, my egg opened!"

{Put the eggs in the basket.....}

{Take the eggs out of the basket....}

The eggs eventually lost their appeal, and Natalie started hunting leaves.

Easter 2013

We had a really great Easter weekend!  We got to spend lots of quality time together as a family.  The weather was cloudy and cool, and we even got some thunderstorms!  Thunderstorms don't happen often around here.  Here are some pictures we took on Easter Sunday:

It was windy, can you tell?

Despite her lack of smiling for the family shots, Natalie was all smiles when I took pictures of just her!

Which is your favorite?  I couldn't pick!  There were some other good ones that I haven't edited yet, too.  :)

{Sweet Baby}

I hope y'all had a fantastic Easter, and that April is a great month for you!