Leading up to Christmas Eve 2010

Because of the wedding and all the time off I had to take for the planning and the actual big day I didn't have any more time off allowed and quite frankly I am still negative 18 hours, OOPS! So that being said, we had Christmas at home in NJ this year! We kept meaning to get into the city but Gwen got sick in December and on top of that, we actually had a pretty bad winter here this year. The worst since we have moved here. I would compare it to a noraml Iowa winter but we have gotten pretty soft living here with winters...I was actually complaining about being cold and it was only 30 out...not even negatives, HA!

We went to a little place called Santa Land in Denville, NJ. Denville is a small quaint town that kind of reminds me of Pella in a way. We love it and wanted to live there but it's rare to find a place open up and on top of that it is expensive. They have fun little festivals and cobble stoney streets with cute shops. We visit often. We took Gwen to their Santa Land which was created buy their Rotary club...I was trying to NOT be judgemental but I was expecting a bit more or at least better art but hey, Gwen liked it and that is all that matters.












Gwen also got numerous gifts sent to her from both families in Iowa. If it was a gift certificate we tried to buy something with it so she had something to open (which was perfect) and if it was presents we just shoved them under the tree...needless to say - the tree was packed!!! (90% of those gifts are for GWEN)



Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Gene sent their gifts and Great Gma/Gpa and Uncle Gene's gifts in a big box and Gwen and I turned it into a house one snow day while Jason was slaving away on his work...it was fun, even Eddie enojoyed playing in it although Gwen did not approve him being in there at times.






For Christmas Eve we decided to make my parents version of Potato Cheese soup (which is the most amazing soup ever) and we ended up having soup for 4 days which was fine with all of us! We cook all the time now because our new pots and pans are the best ever and we feel professional when we use them, HA! Oh yea, even Gwen helped "clean" the dishes...





Our Christmas Eve Dinner Family Photo



Can't forget Eddie :)



We let Gwen open 1 present on Christmas Eve and she ended up picking Grandma and Grandpa Wright and Uncle Gene's present. It was a baby doll and she was from that moment on, attached to it like glue!

Mobile blogging!

Sweet! We can now blog from our phones! The wonders of internet on our phones, instant news about Gwen! Well, kinda instant, I'm a bit slow with staying up to date...sorry. well here is the first attempt of uploading a pic from our phone to our blog...

It's called Gwen-a-bet soup!

Gwen says her prayers now before she goes to bed and it is so cute I had to video it. I posted this on our YouTube channel as well.The part at the end is something I used to say when I was little "God Bless everybody I know and they know" and to hear her say that is precious.

Snow White

This is just too funny to not post. Sometimes Gwen puts her "s" on the end of words that start with "S". Not with all words with S, but a few.
Examples are:
Scared = Careds
Spill = Pills

So anyways, last night we were reading her Princess ISpy book and she pointed to Snow White and asked me "Who This?" and I said, "Snow White" and she said, "Nose Wipe" and I about died laughing. I laughed so hard I cried a little and Gwen was very confused..."What wrong mommy?" and I had to assure her I was not sad, only laughing at her hilarity.

Nose Wipe. I wish I had caught it on tape...I will try tonight :)

Thanksgiving Fun in Jersey

Since we have been home to Iowa so many times this past Fall we decided (well our pocket books decided) to stay in Jersey for the holidays...all of them (x-mas too) and although we are sad about missing our families, we are making it great by starting some traditions for our little family of 3 :)

So far all we have is doing some type of craft with Gwen (and any other kids that may arrive later in life) and this year was a Thanksgiving Wreath!




We also decided to start putting the tree up the night before Thanksgiving that way we can have the tree lit and the decorations up for Thanksgiving Dinner...Gwen LOVED this the most. She was so excited to put her ornaments up, it was absolutley adorable. Great Grandma Wright made her a sled the year she was born like she does for each family member (I got one too!) and Gwen loves this one the most.





We have cooked Thanksgiving dinner each year that we have been out in Jersey and usually for more then 3 people so we have had to make a lot of food. We tried our hardest to buy and cook for only 3 people this year (well 2.5 since Gwen doesn't eat that much) and yet we still ended up cooking as if we have 10 people over! OOPS! Oh well...we are still eating leftovers today (is it Tuesday the 30th)...believe me we have thought of some pretty creative ideas to make these left overs NOT boring :)

This picture doesn't even have the Green Bean casserole on the table yet...and 2 pies, WOW!!!


We were really excited to be able to use not only all of our new Calphalon pots and pan and Turkey roaster, but also our brand new casual china from our wedding, We LOVE IT! Gwen even got to use her "good dishes" I received as a shower gift for her 3 years ago!



And finally, can't publish this post withour congratulating Jason on his first time EVER finding the bag of gibblets in the turkey! Congrats hunny...it only took you 3 years! He would always dig around and then be like, "Stef, I don't think they put one of those bags in this turkey this year" EVERY YEAR...lol. I would then step in, find the bag and make fun of him but no...not this year. Way to go husband!!!

Undies!

Gwen is officially in undies as of this past weekend :) She even wore them to daycare and so far has gone to the potty IN THE POTTY 3 times :) Very proud of her and very thankful of no more diapers (hopefully soon) because they are expensive! So Nov. 21st she will be 2.5 yrs old and completely potty trained (crossing fingers) which makes me completely happy!

Oddly enough this whole transition went over pretty quickly. She started liking and sitting on the potty (not going) when she was 18 months. Then around 2 yrs would randomly go and we thought WOW do we have an early bloomer on our hands...and then she digressed and quit liking it and wouldn't go at all. I believe the wedding took over and we just stopped "trying" as much and let her kind of figure it out herself. Obviously we took her and encourraged her but didn't force it. Then this weekend we told her we were out of diapers and she needed to wear undies like Dora....and she did! Even pottied in public restrooms while we were out and about.

Oh the joy of not having to bring diapers anywhere....love it so far! Except this AM on the way to work we had to stop 2 times and a pee and poopie attempt before getting on the highway. She peed the one time so that was worth it but I don't think my work will be ok with be being late numerous times because Gwen yells pee pee, lol.

Halloween 2010

Well Gwen is NOT a fan of playing dress up unless the dress up clothes are normal adult clothes. Very goofy. She will wear heels, my clothes, dad's clothes...but is not into dress up. That being said, this Halloween was very difficult to say the least. She said "No" to every outfit pointed at and even the ones we borrowed she would not put on. Finally and only because she saw her cousin Riley wearing this before, she picked the Go-Go Dancer outfit from Target and wore it to her daycare Halloween party.



On Halloween weekend she would not put her outfit back on so we didn't go trick-or-treating...lame I know but she didn't want to. We have a ton of candy left over from the wedding and we carved pumpkins and baked the seeds together so she had a good time (and the daycare had a big party so she definitely had some Halloween fun) so we just didn't go out. I guess you could say after the wedding and all the craziness it was a nice Halloween indoors :)