A Longanecker Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we had my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law over for dinner.  It was fun getting to spend some time with my family just hanging out!  After everyone left, we loaded in the car (Maggie too) and took Bella around to look at Christmas lights.  She loved it!!  Unfortunately before we were done, she fell asleep.  We got home and got into our jammies.  Mommy laid out the cookies for Santa and we track his every move on Norad.  Bella fell asleep right before Santa landed in Santa Claus, IN.  Santa's little helper (Daddy) fell asleep too, so mommy had to put all the gifts under the tree by herself.  Not much fun when you have to make like 5 trips up and down the stairs.  It was worth it though to see Bella's face when she woke up in the morning.

On our way to look at lights

Opening up gifts

Maggie with her bone

All Bella's gifts!  I'm proud to say we bought

everything on sale or clearance.  We ended up spending

$160, but if we would have paid regular price

we would have paid over $500. 

On Christmas day, we had brunch at my mom and dad's house.  We had some great food, opened gifts, played dirty bingo, and did some crafts.  Overall, it was a great day!

Forcing my nephews to do crafts :)

Doing a craft with mommy

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  Wishing you all a Happy New Year too!!



A Standeford Christmas

The weekend before Christmas we made the trip down to Monrovia to celebrate Christmas with the Standeford clan.  We had a great time with the family.  On Saturday, we spent the day at Gamma's house.  We had dinner and then we ventured out as a family to the zoo to check out all the Christmas lights!!  (Nothing crazier than an extended family of 14 going to the zoo together.)  It was a lot of fun though and Bella really loved it.  After the zoo, we headed back to Gamma's to open presents.  It was so much fun watching the girls open there gifts.  This year was a little crazier because we went from 3 to 5!!  It was so nice to get to spend time together since we aren't fortunate enough to see each other too often.  We are definatley blessed to have a wonderful family!!

 The girls opening a gift before the zoo

Checking out the tiger with Gamma

Hitching a ride

The Standeford Clan

Our little Stans clan

Happy Birthday to our "Angel"

On December 18, our little angel would have turned a year old!!  It's been a rough road and has taken a lot of time to heal, but I'm thankful to be at the point where I can open up more about loosing our baby.  I'm sure our little one had a glorious first birthday!!  I know in my heart someday we will be able to celebrate with Baby Standeford and that helps me to deal with the hurt I feel!!  Happy birthday sweet baby, you will always be in our hearts!!

Zhu Zhu Pets

So, last years hot item for Christmas was the Zhu Zhu Pet.  They are furry little hamsters that make funny noises and roll all over the floor.  We didn't jump on that train at the time.  Well the other day, Bella and I went to Walmart and they had the Zhu Zhu Pets marked down to $3.00.  I figured since it was cheap, I would let Bella pick one out.  She ended up loving this crazy little thing!  A few days later while at Kmart, we found another one for $2.50 (I love clearance!), so we let her get it.  She spent an hour with these little critters watching them go all over the kitchen.

On Sunday, we went out to visit Nanny, Pappy, and grandma Necker (as Bella calls her) and Bella had to take her little pets to show them.  While we were there, Bella dropped one of them and he quit moving.  Pappy felt bad that he couldn't fix it so he gave her money to buy a new one since we had to stop at Walmart on the way home anyway.  Then Nanny decided to give her a few dollars too.  She had enough money to get 3 more.  It was a tough choice but she managed to pick out the ones she wanted.  Now we have 5 of these little creatures!

When Bella is done playing with them, she lays them on their sides and says they are sleeping.  She gets mad if we stand them back up and she will lay them back down.  This is what I found on the kitchen counter the other day:

I must admit, they are really cute and fun to watch!  I don't think we will be getting anymore, at least I hope not ;)