christmas comes but once a year...

i sure miss my grandpa vern.... it was this time last year that we knew he was very sick and would most likely be his last with us.  it was a sad christmas for sure.... this christmas it was much better but his presence was still terribly missed.  i spent most of the month pretty sick.  pregnancy hit me pretty good this time... nauseous all the time.... and cant stop sleeping.  we did decorate the apartment a little.  we had decided to stay in tucson and have christmas with jeff and stevie.  daniel really enjoyed this dumb little felt tree thing i bought at target...

chris and i went on a double date with jeff and stevie to this neat movie theater that has recliners and waiters to bring you food during the movie...  it was really fun.

my belly started popping out enough that now when i do dishes it always ends up getting super wet... haha baby number two already showing...

daniel and i enjoying a  nice fruit snack moment... 

our apartment also has this nice little park... daniel enjoys sliding his cars down the slide... more than sliding down it himself... haha

this apartment also has a very large patio... so daniel spends lots of time out there... either playing with trains or cuddling up with a blanket and pillow... he will lay on that floor forever.... 

daniel and i had fun decorating this little house... and then he spent the next two days eating it... including the actual house... hahaha

for christmas eve we had jeffs family over and we had dinner and played little christmas games... do you want to build a snowman?  we wrapped chris and stevie in toilet paper,  we did snowball bowling with cups, played dont eat pete.... the favorite of the night... my friend sara taught me that game while in north carolina.... i also pulled out my super special christmas sweater for the night...

my boys looked super handsome in their plaid shirts....

i set everything up once the boys were in bed... i remembered last minute that i needed to put together daniels scooter.... woops! 

this little man was super excited about his scooter... rode it all over the apartment that day.... chris and i gave each other fun little stuff... he got a neat camping spoon and i got our traditional bathroom calendar... 

daniel also got some really fun magnet puzzles and letters... and of course legos... both boys got legos.... and enjoyed putting them together all day... 

after we finished with presents we headed over to jeff's where i made my family's traditional christmas crepes.... then we spent most of the day over there....

the next day they left for disneyland... we had a couple days with chris home for the weekend then daniel and i flew off to vegas while chris went back to work... he flew out on new years eve to meet us there... 

while in vegas we had a good time going bowling with everyone... daniels first time bowling... he liked it for a minute but bored after a while... he and axel sat at the table and ate chocolate...

daniel and amanda had a good time decorating cookies... or daniel had a good time eating the candy meant for the cookies.. too funny....

mom also had these big blue balloons she blew up and the kids had a great time hitting each other with them.... it was chaos but totally fun....

for new years eve we had jack and laura over.... and emily for a little while... we pulled out the glow sticks and had a dance party.... it was totally silly... but man we had a good time.... then everyone left and i went to the airport to pick up chris!!! glad we get to spend the new year with him!!!  its been a tough year for sure... but man it ended nicely.... expecting baby number two, nice transition out of the military, chris working and learning a ton.... being so close to family.... i will say we are so blessed and looked out for.  i'm grateful things get hard sometimes so we can more easily recognize when blessings come into our lives... thanks 2014.... you were not my favorite year, but you set up 2015 to be a great year so thanks for that!!!!!