Friday, December 30, 2011

A magical 1st Christmas

Christmas this year was just magical for Daniel and I.  It was Hampton's first and we were overwhelmed with joy for him even though he had no clue what was even going on this year.  I wasn't the least bit surprised to see him sit in awe at all the hype around him.  From me being so excited about his toys to Lucy squealing when she got hers.  I think he confirmed that we WERE all a little loopy.  We got a couple of smiles out of him, but not many. 

We all woke up about 8:00 Christmas morning

and went out to see if jolly old saint Nick had come.

Sure enough, him and his reindeer had made their stop at our house some time the night before.

Christmas Eve night before going to bed Hampton (well, mommy this year) wrote a letter to Santa and left him some oreos and milk to enjoy.


And to our surprise, Santa wrote a letter back to him!!  How cool!


And of course, enjoyed his cookies and milk.  It looks like Santa likes dipping his oreos in his milk just like we do!

We had so much fun watching him get his things out of his stocking first.  Oh, the curiosity...

And even more fun watching him go for his new toys

And get so excited about opening presents.

"Let's get this thing out of here..."
"I can put this ball in there myself!"
"Hey, give me that paper!"

After all that excitement inside, we still had one little surprise for Hampton...outside.

His swingset and swing from Gigi and Poppy (Daniel's parents)

He wasn't thrilled to say the least.

I'm not sure what we had expected a 6 month old to do, but I think (well, know) Daniel and I were a bit more excited than he was.

He started to get a little broke in, but not much.  See, the hand has moved to holding on to the rope. :)

So, we moved on...

Nope.

It's going to take some time for him to like it and that's ok.  Afterall, we have till, um...next Christmas!! ;)

After all that load of fun, we took the party inside to get ready to go to Mimi and Papa's.  We (Dana, Brooke, me, and our families) all go there on Christmas morning.  The kids open their gifts, we eat some delicious food, and then open our presents.  As usual, it was a fun time had by all.

 Hampton got a nice, big toy box with lots of more fun toys in it from Mimi and Papa!



He loved this little guy.  Cute little turtle that floats in water for bath time fun AND rolls on the ground.

Lucy was there to show him how EVERY. THING. worked!

Being silly


Now it was time to open more presents...

and more...

oh, and some more...

and figure out what was in the HUGE bag from Mimi...

Yay, Hampton's very first suitcase!
It has an airplane with his name.  So cute!
And just in time for our New Year's (or after New Years) trip. 
I will blog on that my next post.

After all that present opening we were worn out so...
we enjoyed some family time.

 Gave some lovin' out...

played a little...

and received some lovin'.

Had some fun cousin time

Received some more sugar (not a rare thing these days)

Lucy actually stopped long enough for a picture with me! :)

Hughes stopped long enough for me to snap a pic of him in his catcher's gear





And by the end of all the Christmas festivities, he was pooped
(and so was mommy & daddy!)

The fun didn't stop there though...
once we got home, he had a blast playing with all of his new bath toys! :)


Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas everyone!!

It was such a joyous and memorable time for us!  I hope you and your family were as blessed as we were not only this Christmas season, but all year long!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Hampton's spend the night company

Last Friday morning Hampton and I met my parents, Hughes, and Brooke at the Waffle House.  From there, we went over to Grove Park to see Mama Hughes for a few minutes.  Once we got done, Hughes insisted that he go with Hampton and I, which was fine.  We got some lunch, ran some errands, and made it home.  Later that afternoon, Hughes says, "I sure wish I could spend the night with ya'll tonight."  (His way of asking).  I told him of course he could.  Now, this is BIG.  He hasn't EVER spent the night with anyone except for my parents until recently.  A few weeks ago he spent the night with Mrs. Sara (Brad's mom) and then not long after that, Brooke and Jerry.  I guess he got good and broke in and figured why not spend the night with us too!  He's a pretty smart kiddo because he figured out by spending the night with us he got Hampton all to himself.  ;)  He is always whining that everybody else always has Hampton except him.  That afternoon he said, "Now I can hold and play with Hampton as much as I want, right Aunt Anna?!"  haha  Pretty smart, huh?!  I thought so. 

They sure do love each other!


He thinks Hughes is hysterical!

Hughes said they were in a stare off. ha!

After Daniel got home, we spent the rest of the night enjoying my aunt's family park, Holiday Spectacular.  If you live in the Dothan area, you should totally go check it out.  It's so much fun and tons of entertainment for kids.  You better hurry though, she's only open a couple of more nights until Thanksgiving next year.  http://www.holidayspectacularpark.com/  That particular night we enjoyed live entertainment by Shane Owens, ate dinner, Daniel and Hughes roasted marshmallows, and just enjoyed all of the millions of twinkling lights that surround you.  It was a fun night to say the least!   Hughes and Hampton played their little hearts out when we got back home.  Hughes said, "When Hampton turns like 5, we'll have to have spend the night parties all the time with each other.  Then we can stay up and play games and watch movies and eat popcorn!!"  We didn't all go to bed until 11:00 that night.  Whew!  This momma was tired.  Here are a few pics from our memorable night...




Hughes and I with Shane Owens




On the way home, Hughes said, "Aunt Anna, will you wake me up real early in the morning so I will have time to play with Hampton before I have to leave?"  I said, "Sure Hughes, what time is early?!"  He said, "Like 8:00."  I think it is so sweet how much he loves Hampton.  It is even more fun watching them interact with one another.  I only can hope and pray they grow up to be the best of friends. 


He was so excited to feed him the next morning!  :)

As he was leaving, Hughes hugged Hampton and said, "It's Christmas Eve, so I'll see you again in a little bit at Grandma's little buddy!"   :)  So stinkin sweet.