Merry Christmas... Daniel's 2nd Christmas!

What a fun Christmas this was.... Christmas Eve we spent at my parent's house. They got him this Pottery Barn Kids Anytime Superman Chair! He absolutely loves it!!!

Just realized this picture is not turned properly... oops! Aunt Amanda and Uncle Christopher got him this Personalized Book... it is so cute as the animals spell his first and last name out for him!

Grandma and Grandpa also got him this ride on lion... again, another new favorite friend Daniel has=)


Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for my presents!

Then on Chrismas Day, we took my parents and brother to the airport as they flew to Florida to be with my grandparents... who are also celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary! Congratualations! We so wish we could be with you to celebrate this incredible day.... thanks for being the best role models of what a great marriage looks like!

We refer to my grandparents as "Grandma and Grandpa Florida" and they made a deposit into Daniel's savings account as his Christmas gift so THANK YOU!

We opened presents at our house on Christmas morning (which are below as the pics got mixed up) then for lunch we went over to Aaron's parents. Guess What? More Presents! This time Daniel had help from Logan!

Aaron's parents got Daniel this really cool tractor that makes all kinds of noise and moves on its own and Aunt Leigh Anne and Uncle Aaron got Daniel a wooden personalized box (made by Super Talented Auntie) full of arts supplies, games, books, etc. Thank you so much as we will have lots of fun with that!

So, back to Christmas Morning.... here is Daniel in one of his favorite presents... he got a car! Thanks Aunt Amanda and Uncle Christopher for the car... also thank you to Sharon for the great train set and Cedric and Trudy for the Spanish/ English Farm!

Daniel having a little fun playing peek-a-boo with the Santa hat!

Then we had an idea a few weeks ago to do something different... book a couple of nights at a Scottsdale resort! So, on Christmas Night we went to the Scottsdale resort which is absolutely beautiful... they have the Palm Court Restaurant which has been rated one of the top 75 restaurants in the country!

They also have Santa... kind of=) He was "fake" but for my son who is deathly afraid of the "real" Santa, the "fake" one worked well for pictures=)

We had a wonderful dinner Thursday evening at the resort then on Friday afternoon, Daniel went over to Aunt Leigh Anne and Uncle Aaron's house for the night so we could have a night by ourselves. I have to say this was a wonderful Christmas full of memories that I will cherish!

Christmas Presents Already!

This has been a very festive week... I had a chance to test my baking skills! On Monday, my Hot Mamma's Group had a cookie exchange! I made the easiest Peanut Butter Cookies ever... 1 cup of crunchy peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar and 1 egg! If you want the rest of the recipe, just let me know... Brendon got to enjoy the variety of cookies I brought home for him from the party=)

Below is my little munchkin sitting at the "kid" table with his friends eating macaroni and cheese... please notice there are 2 plates of macaroni and cheese and 3 children which means it was more like "community" plates of mac and cheese!


On Tuesday, we had hosted our church's mommy and me play group at our house... below is BIG BOY Trey!

I actually got to hold Trey because Daniel was still sleeping when everyone arrived... I have mentioned before in my blog that Daniel is very jealous when I hold other babies=)

Below, we made hand print and footprint ornaments... I thought they turned out cute!

Then on Wednesday, we also hosted a Gift Exchange party at our house with some of our friends!

Above is Kristy and Asher and Baby #2 on the way=)

Back in the fall, all of us mom's pitched in and bought craft projects from Oriental Trading for us to do at play group... so, this was our last one. We did a Halloween craft, a Thanksgiving craft then our Christmas Craft (Sorry, no pics of the craft)

Since we dressed all the babies up in their Christmas outfits, we wanted to get a group picture!

The above picture took a LOT of work to get ALL 7 babies to sit for 1 second so we could click the camera! What you don't see is all 7 of us mom's standing right in front of them singing at the top of our lungs so they would sit still long enough for us to get their picture=)

After all we put them through, we finally let them open their gifts and I was so happy that Daniel actually knows how to unwrap a gift now!

He loved his bowling set and he wanted me to take it out of the box immediately so he could really play with it!

Well, I always mention in my blog Daniel's tumbling class that he is involved with on a weekly basis... I finally remembered my camera this past week!

Below is holding bean bags that they put in containers and take out, etc.

One of the last things at the end of class is bubbles!

Then on Thursday night, all of mom's from the night before at the baby gift exchange party got together for a mom's night out at Kristi's house! I HAD SUCH A GREAT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so nice to hang out with such great girlfriends, laugh, talk, play games, laugh some more.... ahhh! It was so refreshing... I can't wait until our next mom's night out next month!

I also had to include the below picture... I only gave Daniel pasta without sauce so that it wouldn't be so messy since he feeds himself. Recently he discovered he has been missing out on sauce so now dinner time has become super messy and super cute!

We had an awesome weekend as my parents gave us a weekend at the Westin Resort in Scottsdale! Daniel stayed with us the first night and the second night he stayed with my parents and we just had an awesome time in the spa, by the fire pits, dinners, watched Seven Pounds (I felt it was a very disturbing movie and I will just leave it at that)... very rejuvenating for us!

Today, we went to our Hot Mamma's Gift Exchange party as well and I am very bummed because I forgot my camera=( So, Daniel has had plenty of practice on opening gifts this week!

We just want to say that we are so thankful for each one of you that are in our lives... you enrich our lives and bring so much joy to us! Friendship is what makes life fulfilling, rewarding, and full of happiness! Merry Christmas and please take a moment over the next couple of days in the hustle and bustle of it all to remember and contemplate the true meaning of Christmas! Tomorrow night we will be attending the Christmas Eve service at Christ Life Church... if you live in the area, we would love to have you join us at 8PM. Kids are encouraged to come in their PJ's!

Merry CHRISTmas and we love you!

A sneak peek....

My parents gave us a weekend at the Westin Resort in Scottsdale and we had such a great time... one of the best things was that my friend Tanya was sooo sweet to come and take some much needed family pics of us.... let me just tell you she is super talented! You can tell by looking below... I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tanya, thank you so much! I will treasure these pictures forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let the Christmas Parties Begin!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!! One of my favorite things are getting every one's Christmas Cards in the mail... I love seeing the pictures, reading the newsletters... celebrating friendships and family is just the best!

Well, we put up our Christmas tree and I thought it would be a good idea to put a gate around it so that Daniel was not tempted to re-decorate it.... Brendon was a little disappointed about the "look" of the Christmas tree (I have to admit I was a little too!) so after a few days went by and Daniel didn't really seem to touch the tree, we took down the gate and he has been great about not touching it=)

This has been a very busy week for the Wilson Family so let me start where I left off at the last post... Friday night we went over to my parents house for dinner and they also had Brian, Heather and Baby Isaiah over... it ended up being a late night for the kiddos but they did great considering it was way past their bedtime=)

Saturday Morning/ Afternoon I got re-certified in CPR/ First Aid training... I really should have done this sooner but I feel so much better now that I got my refresher course!

Then on Saturday night, Tam and Dave invited us over for a wonderful dinner! Daniel had so much fun playing with their twins Ben and Trinity!

On Sunday evening we went to a wonderful Christmas party hosted by Mario and Enid and the food was catered from Marcello's which I love... living in NY for most of my life causes me to get cravings for good Italian food every once in a while and Marcello's seems to be able to cure that craving=)

Then on Monday morning, I went to coffee with Sharon Roam and Christy Wright... I always cherish our times to get together. We usually always go to this lovely bakery called Carden's on the corner of Gilbert and Queen Creek and we found out that they are closing down on December 20th because they can no longer stay in business.... soooo sad! So, we are going to have to find a new coffee/ breakfast place.

Monday afternoon we went over to my parent's house for the staff luncheon - I feel the pounds coming on... notice how most of my comments center around food=)

Then on Monday night, we had a Christmas Party at our house for all the volunteers who help my husband with the youth program... see pics below! Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures until most people were gone=( We had a LOT of people over!

On Tuesday, we went to our friend Dawn's house... she made Gingerbread Cookies then we all decorated them. I had soooo much fun!!!! Thank you so much, Dawn for doing this!

Daniel thought icing the cookies was a waste of time when you could just eat them!

The above picture is Dawn and her little girl Kiley!

The above picture is Erin and Collin

The above picture is Jessica and Jack

After decorating cookies, we went to the mall to meet our friends Megan and Tristan for some Christmas shopping and just walking around and catching up!

Wednesday, we met up with some of our friends at a park for a picnic and play time! How awesome is that... December 10th we get to enjoy the outdoors! I love it!

Wednesday night my parent's hosted a really nice dinner at their home... again amazing food!

Thursday, Daniel went to his tumbling class! I love this class as he is able to burn tons of energy and is ready to crash at the end of it! Again, it was such a beautiful day that most of us mom's stayed after for a picnic outside at the park!

As many toys as Daniel has, I found it hysterical that he played with this bucket and my Christmas ice cubes for over 20 minutes... which is probably longer than he has ever played with any of his really nice toys=)

Friday night, Daniel and I went over to my Mom's to help her out... she hosted the 7th and 8th grade Christmas party for my brother's class. What an experience this was... I haven't hung out with teenagers in a really long time and I have to say that I had a really good time! I think I was secretly resenting that stage of having kids but after hanging out with those kids, I am actually looking forward to it now=) I know I have a while to go until I get to that stage.... haha!

Last but not least, we went to Jingle Jam today! So fun... below is Grandma and Grandpa with Daniel!

Our Friends Shiela, Kai, Leah, Jackson, Daniel and I all at Jingle Jam!

Shiela, Kai, Daniel and I

Also, Megan and Tristan joined us at Jingle Jam!

And our neighbors Mike, Gretchen and their super cute little girl Rheanne met us at Jingle Jam too... it was her birthday too!

Thank you everyone for coming with us... we had a great time!

Tonight we had another Christmas party to attend... but there is a sad story! I always bring my portable high chair with me and I walked out of the room for just a few minutes and came back in the room to Daniel screaming in daddy's arms... someone put Daniel in his high chair but did not secure it to the chair and someone else was playing ball with Daniel and he went to catch the ball and the high chair fell off the main chair with Daniel in it so he got a huge "owie" on the front of his face! I literally got physically ill when I heard and saw what happened... I can't stand to see Daniel endure or experience any pain!!!!!!!!!

As I said, it has been a very busy week for us but we love it... family, friends, fun and food!

Jingle Jam... THIS WEEKEND!

I really hope that you can make it this weekend to our church's Christmas production called Jingle Jam! This is totally geared for kids and their families... I got to see part of it last Sunday and it was amazing! They let all the kids come up to the front and dance and snow comes falling down... it is only an hour and I know that the kids will have a blast plus it is important to do something to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas as well... the invitation is really blury so here is the church's link http://www.christlifechurch.org/

See you this weekend!

Last Week's Pics

I have been sooooooooooooo busy and have wanted to post some more pics from last week but this is the first chance that I have gotten....

Last Monday, we got Daniel this water table and he loves it! The weather is so beautiful now and Daniel loves playing outside so I thought it would be a good idea to invest in some outdoor toys so he can really enjoy being outdoors and I love it too!

Monday Night, my sister and her husband flew into town and we went to a concert that night... then on Tuesday we all went to my brother's school for his Thanksgiving Feast!

Aunt Amanda and Daniel @ The Thanksgiving Feast


Then we took a little day trip to Tortilla Flats which is this cute little "town"... they have this tiny museum that you can go into and get the history of this place... below is Daniel sitting on one of the old fashion school desk/chair.

Grandma and Daniel

Grandpa and Daniel

Then we decided that we would go to the little restaurant and sit at the bar for drinks - root beer!

Christopher and I

As you can see below... the bar stools are horse saddles!

The below picture shows the walls plastered with money at this place - this is a tradition and they estimate that they have over $100K in money plastered to the walls!

Grandma made a big mistake by letting Daniel "try" her root beer... as you can imagine, he pretty much drank the whole bottle!

Then after Tortilla Flats, we went to this other cute town that was an old mining town!

On Wednesday, we all did F1 racing... lots of fun!

So... funny story about these suits! You have to watch a safety video when you first arrive and it talks about "suiting up" so we went into the locker rooms and there were the suits... we all put them on and out we all went on the track in our suits... we started looking around and noticed that we were the only ones in our suits! They were optional!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We felt so silly! hahaha!

The helmets are "public" property meaning they go on all kinds of heads so they give you these caps to put on before you put on the helmets for sanitary reasons... Daniel sported his around the track too!

On Friday, we did lots of shopping and ate at Tia Rosa for lunch in Mesa... such a cool Mexican Restaurant! Honestly, we did so much shopping and eating.... I can't remember it all! On Friday night, we were going to go on a double date... Brendon, myself, my sister and Christopher but Phillip really wanted to come with us. My sister and I remember being younger and wanting to tag along on cool activities and being rejected and we didn't want to scar Phillip so he came along with us=)

This is how the hotel describes the Gondola Rides

Transport yourself to the romantic waterways of Venice aboard a beautiful Gondola. Four authentically handcrafted Italian Gondola boats are steered through the lovely waterways of our resort by professional Gondoliers. These classically trained singers will provide an Italian serenade as you cruise through one of three romantic routes on the resort's seven acre lake!

Sunday afternoon, we went to my favorite place in all Phoenix! The Farm at South Mountain! I love this place - it is so relaxing, peaceful, green, acres to run and play in, beautiful trees and gardens, and AMAZING FOOD! They also had an incredible guitar player singing jazz/blues for lunch and it was amazing!

But... we had to say Good Bye to my sister and Christopher after that... I have really missed them this week=(

As far as this week... Daniel went to his second "tumbling class" today and enjoyed it much more than the last one. He was teething for the last one and was not a happy baby!

Yesterday, we went to Audrey's house for our church's mommy and me group - always have fun hanging out with our friends!

Daniel also turned 16 months old yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!! I will blog later about all of his new things he is doing now! I have to tell you that I have loved every single stage of his life from birth on... I always think, "Oh! I love this stage... I don't want this one to leave!" Then it goes and we move on to the next stage and then I think... "Oh! I LOVE this stage too... okay, I definitely don't want this one to go!" Then we move on to the next stage... and well, you get my point!

Time to put my little man down for bed! I put on a Christmas Baby Einstein DVD for him and he is totally uninterested in it... he really does not like TV of any kind. I am actually very grateful!

Good Night!