Happy 1st Birthday Sheridan!

I can't believe my little girl is a year old! Where did the time go? It seems like she should only be 5 months old! I have to say though, this year has been better than I ever imagine it would be! It has been absolutely amazing to watch Sheridan grow, learn new things and how to crawl and walk, and to see her little personality develop. It just gets better every day and I know the years to come are going to be just as good as this past year has been!

Since Sheridan's birthday is the day after Christmas we had a little family party at my parent's house since my sister, brother-in-law, aunt, uncle and cousin were still in town. I made chocolate cupcakes with white frosting and Sheridan absolutely LOVED them!! She ate her entire cupcake and was looking for more when she was done! I guess she gets her sweet tooth from me! My mom bought her a very fancy birthday hat from Just Kidds and More in Georgetown. You can't see it in the pictures but it says "Birthday Princess" on the front in silver with little gem accents around it. It's so fun and girly....I love it!

What a messy missy!

I can still be cute when I'm messy!

I think a few crumbs fell in here! I love opening presents!
A great toy to help me walk from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Cal!

The tradition lives on....

I can't remember exactly when we started our Christmas night tradition but for as long as I can remember it's always one of my favorite Christmas memories! It started in my parent's old neighborhood and on Christmas night our neighbors (actually we consider them family!), The Scotts and the O'Flahertys, come over and we hang out, eat some more (like we need it!) and all the "kids" play Uno. My friends Amy and Ryan always come over with their daughter Taryn and sometimes Amy's parents join us too. If Amy's sister, Marissa, is in town then she and her husband join the festivities.

I was afraid this year wouldn't be the same since mom and dad had moved and Jimo and Lori were staying in Houston. Even Karen and Mike were thinking they wouldn't make it over since they were spending Christmas with her brother in Liberty Hill. I was a little sad that Christmas night was going to be "quiet." Amy, Ryan, and Taryn came over along with Amy's parents. And my dad invited several of their friends from the Harley Davidson group. After they all left, Sarah and I were sitting in the media room trying to get Sheridan to fall asleep and I heard voices in the family room and then Allie walked into the media room! I was so excited! My night had been made since the Scotts were able to come over! We had the best time visiting for hours and it was just like old times!

Taryn models her new apron

me and Amy
me and Karen
The traditional game of Uno
Mike and Cameron enjoy a cocktail...or two ;)

Christmas Day

Christmas day we made our rounds to both sides of the family. It works out really well for us that Cameron's family always gets together in Temple for the holidays because it's so close to us and allows us to see everyone. They always eat lunch around noon so we always shoot for being there around 11am so we can squeeze in some extra visiting time. I love big family holidays when everyone gets together and there are a ton of people...that's exactly how it is with Cameron's side of the family! I think it's great!

We headed back to Austin around 2:30 to have dinner and spend the evening with my family. Sarah and Cal had drove into town that morning and it was good to see them! After a delicious dinner (2nd big meal of the day for us) we opened presents. It was a little overwhelming for me this year since I also had Sheridan's presents to "help" her open....which mainly meant that I opened all of them and she played with the torn paper. ;) I felt like I was opening presents for hours and when all was said and done, I wondered where all of her new toys were going to go when we got home!

"I love it when mom does all the work and I get to sit and look cute!"

Opening presents is fun!
Mom and Sarah loved their custom made aprons!
Richard and Jonette will be hitting the mall
Autumn shows off her new sweater

Santa came to town

Even though Sheridan really had no idea what was going on, this year Christmas morning was so much more fun with her experiencing Santa Claus for the first time! She was a very good girl this year so Santa brought her the Sing Along Choo-Choo Train and some bath toys since he knows how much she enjoys bathtime!

Yet another toy that makes lots of noise!

" Now wait, what are those toys hanging on the tree?"
"Okay, I'll take time out from my new toy to look at the camera"
The monkey and the giraffe prove that they're durable

Who's toy is this???

Cameron showed us that he's still a kid at heart!

Sheridan might have to fight her own dad for her toy!

Let the presents start flowing....

Cameron's parents (Gail and Granvil) came into town and stayed with us the day before Christmas Eve. I still had the majority of my presents to wrap so Sheridan got to spend some quality time with her GG and Grandad and I had some quality time to myself to be productive! We decided to go out to dinner and thought we should take Cameron's parents to our new favorite restaurant, The Texan. My parents joined us and we had a nice, cozy dinner while it poured down rain outside. After we got home and got through the normal bedtime routine with Sheridan, Gail and I stayed up until 2am baking sugar cookies. She helped me step it up a notch and ice my cookies instead of just using sprinkles. We had a lot of fun and made some delicious cookies!

We opened presents the next morning and it looks like Granvil is going to enjoy some yard work after the holidays while Gail lounges around in her new pjs and slippers!

Sheridan raked in the presents! She got a See and Say toy to teach her animals and the sounds they make, the Little People farm (another toy that makes noise!), a super cute rocking horse and an indoor/outdoor play yard!!


I can have just as much fun with the paper as I can with the toy!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas eve we went to church at First United Methodist in Round Rock. They had several services but this year we went to the children's service....since we actually have one now. Many different families participated in the story about Jesus's birth and the whole congregation sang several different songs. It was a very nice service and definitely reminded you of the reason for the season. Although, I must admit, I really missed the midnight mass service at St. Luke's....especially singing Silent Night as the lights in the santuary dim.

After church we headed home for some final preparations before my family came over for the evening. Richard, Jonette and Autumn came into town earlier in the day so they came over with mom and dad. Mom and I decided to make several different appetizers for dinner since we were going to have a big meal the next day. Mom made meatballs, artichoke dip, gingerbread and Round Rock bakery provided the cherry pie. I broke out my Pampered Chef cookbooks for some old favorites that I haven't made in a long time...Tex Mex Chicken Melts and Chili Verde dip. Everything was delicious and we still managed to stuff ourselves! :)

Our little family before church

mom and Jonette
Autumn and Richard
What's so funny?
Sheridan LOVES the remote!

7th Annual Girls Christmas Party

Seven years ago when Tara and I lived together we through a "girls only" Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange at our apartment. Our definition of "white elephant" is a little different than most...we give good gifts! Little did we know back then how popular this party would become for us and our girlfriends and that we had started a tradition that everyone looks forward to each year! Last year when I was pregnant (and could have gone into labor at any point during the month) and Tara had moved to Maryland, Jill and Jennifer stepped up and hosted the Christmas party so that our legacy could carry on! :) This year Courtney and Shaunna decided they wanted to host the party at Shaunna's new house. We had a great time as usual and the white elephant gift exchange finally heated up with lots of stealing towards the end! Next year my partner in crime will be back in Texas and I can't wait to host the Christmas party with her again!

Everyone like their gifts?

me, Joy, Kara, and Courtney

me and Allison
me and Annemarie

Fashionista in training

Well I have no idea why these pictures are not showing up vertically because they really are but whatever....that's not the point. The point is how darn cute Sheridan has looked the last few days! It's so fun to dress her and I'm enjoying it while I can before she wants to do it herself and ends up in something crazy that she picked out herself. :\ I truly dread that day because everyone knows one of my biggest pet peeves is clothing that doesn't match! Hopefully her mom's trendiness will rub off! :)

"Hey Mom - why don't you put down that camera and feed me this bottle?"

"Well, if you're not in a hurry to leave then I'll just keep watching Dora!"
Too busy watching Dora to stop and look at the camera!
That's right - Santa DOES rock!
You can really tell in this picture how blonde Sheridan's hair is getting! It's hard to believe her hair was black when she was born.

Work vs. Home

I remember my first day back to work after my maternity leave was over....it was horrible! It took me forever to actually give Sheridan to Liz and walk out the front door. As soon as I got in my car I started crying uncontrollably. It got better as the week went on and of course, as the months went on it became easier. It helps knowing that Sheridan absolutely loves being there. She really enjoys playing with the other kids and they have fun all day long with Liz and Gene! We are very fortunate that we found them because they are like a third set of grandparents to Sheridan and I don't worry about her when she's there. I know she's in good, loving hands! However, every now and then comes a day when I feel like it's that first day all over again and it kills me to take her to day care.....today was one of those days. It took me forever to leave Liz and Gene's this morning. I must have kissed Sheridan a hundred times and just sat there watching her play, wishing I could do it all day long! Maybe one day I'll be able to stay home full-time (or at least part-time) but for now, I just look forward to spending as much time with her as possible and remain grateful that I'm at least not working in retail anymore.

Every morning when I drop Sheridan off at day care, I open up the back door to this precious, smiling face looking at me. Today, I took a picture of it.

Santa baby

Sara Danton and I took our girls to see Santa on Monday at Lakeline Mall. We got there at 10 o'clock hoping to beat the crazy crowds and there was only a small line so our plan worked out well. You can tell from Sheridan's picture that she did very well during her photo opp. However, that quickly ended when she turned around to see who was actually holding her. She took one look at Santa's beard and burst into tears! Oh well, at least I got a good photo first!

Natalie's turn!

D.C. or bust!

I went to visit my best friend, Tara, in Washington D.C., well, actually she lives in Silver Springs, Maryland. She moved there almost two years ago and I'm so excited because they are moving back to Texas in the spring of 2007! Cameron and I went out to visit them for my birthday/the 4th of July in 2005 but time was running out for a girls trip so I left on Sunday, December 3rd and came home on Wednesday, December 6th. It's always hard leaving Sheridan.....oh yeah, and Cameron :).....but it was nice to get away and spend some quality time with Tara. Cameron does a great job of being Mr. Mom and the father/daughter time is priceless for them! I had a wonderful visit with Tara and it was so relaxing because we weren't running all over the city trying to see the sights. Instead, we shopped a lot, pampered ourselves with pedicures, and watched our favorite show "Friends" in the evening while drinking hot chocolate. Surprisingly, I didn't take any pictures while I was there even though the camera was in my purse the whole time! :\ So the only pictures I have to show from my visit are the ones of Sheridan helping me pack the night before I left!

Who knew packing could be this fun!

Luke's 1st birthday

My friend Liane's son, Luke, turned one at the end of November. He and Sheridan go to the same day care and they just love playing together! We like to refer to him as Sheridan's boyfriend because I think he's the cutest little boy ever! ;) Luke's birthday party was on December 2nd and all of the kids (and parents) had a great time! I loved Liane's idea of just having cake and ice cream for a 1st birthday party! It wasn't over the top since let's face it, they don't remember, but yet so much fun for the kids because they got to play together and eat lots of sugar! I think I'm going to steal the idea for Sheridan's birthday party. ;)

How fun that we get to see each other on a Saturday! Happy Birthday to you!
Did you make a wish?
Where's my cake?
This was definitely worth waiting a year for!