A Sick House

Since Christmas Day we have all been a bit under the weather. Phil seems to have contracted some form of GI virus, Audrey is hopefully working on her second lower tooth which is making her feel yucky, and I'm just out of sorts.

We've really been blessed to avoid being sick parents or having a sick baby in Audrey's almost ten months but we knew it would eventually catch up with us. Thankfully Audrey isn't actually sick she's just very uncomfortable. This tooth seems to be causing more pain than the first one did. 

Today, we were supposed to go to Pinconning and visit with Phil's family including his Mom's extended family. We made the effort and drove the two hours north but we all just felt out of sorts and awful when we got there. When you don't feel good the only place that truly makes you feel any better is being in the comforts of home. However, we did spend just a few hours visiting with Nana,  Papa, Andrea, Todd, and Maybelle. We did see Granny for a few minutes as well but as soon as the rest of the family started to arrive we thought it was a better idea to head home then spread what we have around to everyone. 

It was nice to see our family even if it was for just a few minutes and to exchange a few presents. I snapped a few pictures on my phone while we were there. 

I love that last picture it looks like Audrey is telling her Papa a great story!! :)

We got home in the middle of the afternoon so we've been able to spend some time just relaxing. Audrey started to feel a bit cranky after dinner so I knew just the ticket. Nothing makes her happier than a tubby! Especially when she can play with some of her new toys that Grandma and Papa gave her for Christmas!!

I wish I could have left her to play for a good long time in there because she is so happy and content in there however she would have turned into a prune, a mighty cute one though. Hopefully we can all get a good night of sleep and the LeVasseur household will be back to its normal self in the morning!

Christmas Day!

One of my most favorite days of the year is here as we celebrated Audrey's First Christmas! As is tradition we spent the whole day at my parents house with the my parents and the Reeves family. We start our day rather early with A Christmas Story marathon playing and opening all of our presents to each other. It is always so fun to see how excited the boys are especially as they are getting older and love to get new things. We enjoyed getting to celebrate both Audrey and Jonah's first Christmas and it was so special because all the kiddos were in the matching pajamas that Grandma made for them. I tried to get a good picture of them all but that's pretty much impossible at this stage but here are a few anyway!

Since we got to my parents a few minutes before the Reeves it was nice for Audrey to spend a little time hanging with her Papa. He just cracks her up and it's so fun to see them interact with each other.

 She kept her Santa hat from Emerie on for a while this morning which was fun as well! Once the Reeves arrived and we got some great pictures of all the kids we dug into presents! Audrey got some wonderful presents this year! Her Auntie and Uncle got her my favorite things using the awesome want, need, wear, read method which I just love and hope to do with Audrey in the coming years as she's older and understands better what's going on. She got her Cozy Coupe!! (want), Baby Doll (need - every little girl does!), a Minnie Mouse hoodie (wear), and some fun books (read). Grandma and Papa got her some fun bath toys and lots of fun clothes especially several new Minnie Mouse outfits for our upcoming trip!! 

Phil got lots of great tools for his workshop and a great poster of fictitious beers which is perfect for him!! My Mom made me lots of wonderful infinity scarves which I love and made us a beautiful new blanket with our name on it. She even got us a brand new iPad which will be great for traveling and for Audrey to learn all kinds of fun stuff on!!

 After all the presents were open Toby took the opportunity to enjoy his Kong under the Christmas tree :)

Six years ago, on Noah's first Christmas I bought him his very own Cozy Coupe and to return the favor Auntie M and Uncle Josh got one for Audrey on her first Christmas!! As a right of passage we had to get some pictures of her on top of the box before Auntie M put it together and we could take it for a spin! It's so wonderful and A lit up when we put her in it. We even took her for one last spin around our house when we got it home and it's super cute to see she can figure out how to pretend to drive the steering wheel already!

As usual, we had incredible food all day! Phil and Melissa made yummy pancakes, canadian bacon, sausage, and fruit salad for breakfast. Then we snacked on meatballs, cocktail wieners, shrimp, and crackers and cheese around lunch. Phil made the best Prime Rib yet this year! It was so tender and juicy you can hardly believe it! He also made mashed potatoes, a pile of roasted vegetables, and Yorkshire Pudding. It was just SO good. 

It was just such a wonderful day that we were able to spend with family. We are so blessed to have such a special family that enjoys spending so much time together and even though we often spend time together we always make this one day of the year so special and many memories are made. 

We even were able to snap a few pictures of our little family on our first Christmas together. 

Our Little Family's First Christmas

The past few years Phil and I have started a tradition of having our own little Christmas celebration by exchanging presents on Christmas Eve since we always spend Christmas Day at my parents house. Today marked our first celebration with Audrey and I was so excited for it. I planned out the whole day and gave myself a tough task of baking pretzel bites for lunch, then pot roast with rosemary foccaccia bread for dinner and also get dessert for tomorrow night's Christmas dinner done. It was a big task but it was so important to me to make today special since it will only get more fun as Audrey gets bigger.

We started off the morning opening presents with each other. Everyone including Toby and Carson got in on the action and we had a great time. I think it was a bit overwhelming for Audrey at this point and she was most interested in the toys we got the dogs but that's alright because Phil and I enjoyed opening presents with her. 

I think the best part of the morning for me was giving Phil his gifts. I got him some clothes and a brand new DeWalt Drill and Driver Set. He's never had a good one and is loving doing all kinds of projects around the house so he definitely needed something with some horsepower that would last him a good long time. He was so excited about it! The best quote from him was "Wow I'm really a Dad now I got a flannel shirt and a new drill!!" He was extremely excited when he said it. 

Audrey seems to really like her brand new Fisher Price Baby Grand Piano. It's has lots of fun songs on it and she loves standing up and jamming at it. We also got her some new board books that are better for going in her mouth and don't run the risk of getting the pages pulled out and a few new other fun toys for her to play with. 

The New Stocking I Made This Year!

She's Excited!!

Hound Dog was very interested in his stocking

Reading the new books with Daddy!

Look at me play my piano Mom!

My Sweet Baby Girl

Now there is no better way to end the day on Christmas Eve then by watching the first showing of the A Christmas Story marathon on TBS. Here is a little clip from my favorite scene. We can't wait to celebrate Christmas with our family tomorrow and then it's off to Pinconning on Saturday to celebrate some more.

A Very Pirate Christmas

We had a great time yesterday spending the afternoon with Auntie Rachel so we could celebrate Christmas together. Since Auntie Rachel has called Audrey the pirate since the day she was born we've decided to call our day a very pirate Christmas!

I made some yummy macaroni and cheese (I took the opportunity to do so since Phil was at work!) and Rachel brought some pumpkin pie and to die for peppermint chocolate fudge. Double yum.

It was fun to see Audrey interested in opening her present and makes me excited for the next two days even though I know the paper will be more exciting than the actual gift at this point.

We are so thankful for the wonderful gifts Auntie brought us especially the adorable Minnie Mouse outfit for A and my new Big Bang Theory calendar!!! 

I love anytime I get to spend with this girl and am thankful to call her my bestest friend. 

Long Distance Besties

When Phil and I lived in Texas I met a great friend while working at our resort named Damaris. About a month or so before Phil and I moved back to Michigan, Damaris was promoted and moved to Dallas. After we got back to Michigan and were blessed to become pregnant and it turns out just a few weeks later Damaris got pregnant also! 

Through being pregnant together and now having both of our little gals so close in age we've become so close being able to commiserate over the great joys and obstacles of being first time Moms. Since Damaris and little Emerie live back in San Antonio now we've decided that our girls should be pen pals and therefore long distance besties! It's been so fun to see how they've grown so similarly and they have a lot of the same quirks and actually have similar personalities it's fun to see!!

Since our girls are so similar I thought it would be fun since I'm trying to get back into sewing to make them matching pajamas for Christmas! With help from my expert Mom and her incredible high tech sewing operation I was able to make some pretty cute penguin pajamas that I just love! It was so fun to see Emmi in her pajamas and then put a picture of the two twinsies side by side! 

It's so special to have these memories of them together before they've even had a chance to meet. Then to my excitement and surprise Audrey and I received a very special package in the mail!

Can you even handle how adorable this Santa hat is! Damaris wrote Audrey's name on it for her and it is super cute! I absolutely love it! Then yesterday we got this gem in the mail also. 

It's a little hard to see since A's hand is in the way but it's a super cute owl pillow. Audrey loved it right away...she keeps putting it in her mouth which of course is her highest sign of affection. 

To top all of this excitement off I am so thrilled that I have been able to book a trip for Audrey and I to San Antonio in May so we can help Emerie celebrate her first birthday and to let our girls meet for the first time. It will be so great and I know they'll love each other and I'll get to see all of the great friends I made in San Antonio again what could be better!!