Christmas 2010

Well Christmas has come and gone, but it has left me a present at least, swollen feet. This Christmas was hard for me being 33 weeks pregnant and running all over the country, but it was one of the best.

Chris and I began celebrating Christmas last weekend. We went to Lepanto to celebrate the holidays with my family. Chris calls it the, "The Triple Crown of Christmas" because we spend one day with just my parents then the others with my grandparents for a grand total of 3 parties. I forgot my big new camera and my old point and shoot camera just broke so I have no pictures (I am so mad).

Maddox racked up on gifts. He got clothes from my parents, Red Rider BB gun from my brother and a Andy doll from my grandmother. I got stuff to take to the hospital with me when I deliver like a couple of nice night gowns, house shoes and a robe. Chris got a new robe, clothes and house shoes.

After we completed the "Triple Crown Christmas" it was time to go back to work. After work Chris and I spent our nights doing laundry, cleaning house and cooking. My in-laws and our best friends Wes and Autumn were coming over Friday for dinner so the house had to be spotless. Here are a couple of pictures of my house all decorated for the season.

Our Christmas tree.

My mantel all decked out.

Some of the Christmas cards we received.

Friday night was a blast. I made homemade apple cider and it was awesome if I do say so myself. Chris cooked prime rib and I did green bean bundles, amazing potatoes (that is really the name of them) and Caesar salad. For dessert I made a peanut butter pie (my favorite).

It was so nice visiting with everyone. After Cindy and Chester left, we exchanged presents with Wes and Autumn. I got a purse from Autumn and Chris got a flask and BB gun (isn't funny that Chris and Maddox got the same gift) from Wes.

While Chris and I were cleaning up from the party, we decided it would be fun to exchange our gifts. Chris is really hard to buy for. When he wants something he usually just goes out and buys it. We also had a $50 dollar spending limit on each other this year ( We have a baby to prepare for). So, I asked myself what does Chris always say he wants but would never buy? This is what I came up with:

A wireless charging pad.

He loved it and immediately took it out of the box and started playing with it. Then he realized I went over my budget and got mad. He stomped around and then went and got me my present and this is what he got me:

My Keurig coffee/tea maker.

I have been wanting one of these all year but I have been pregnant (no caffeine) but being the amazing husband Chris is he bought me decaf coffee and tea. I am so excited and yes Chris went over his budget too so I didn't feel to bad.

The next morning we woke up to my favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story. We gave our dogs their Christmas presents and started getting ready to go to Cindy and Chester's house to celebrate the holidays with Christopher's family.

Chris giving Dixie and Chloe their big Christmas bones.

Look how much they enjoyed them.

After we got dressed we headed over to Cindy and Chester's. They always have a big family gathering for Christmas with food and a friendly game of Dirty Santa. But, before everyone got there we exchanged gifts. I got a new camera bag and wallet from Cindy and Chester and a camera strap slip cover from Jessi and Jacob. Chris got a hand drill and clothes from his parents and two ASTATE paintings from Jessi and Jacob.

Christmas Tree

Chris and I. I am 33 weeks pregnant. My face looks so big.

Jacob and Jessi

After the Leonard family gift exchange, the rest of the family started showing up. It was so nice visiting with everyone.

Chris playing with Addison's tunnel.

Harrison and Abby playing in the tunnel.

Presents for Dirty Santa

I am sad to see the holidays go. We had a great Christmas and have been blessed in so many ways this year. We have a great family and the best blessing of all has been Maddox. I know next year will be even better because we will have our little man to share the holidays with.

Little Rock Baby Shower

This weekend I had my first baby shower for Maddox. It was in Little Rock and my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and aunt-in-law (is this a word) threw it for me. I was a little concerned because I am not from Little Rock and have not accumulated many friends but Maddox ended up having a great turnout.

The decorations were fantastic along with the food. Maddox also racked up and got a lot of nice gifts.

This is the banner that my wonderful sister-in-law, Jessi made to celebrate Maddox.

The food menu consisted of quiche, fruit, miniature cupcakes, punch and chicken salad sandwiches.

The diaper cake.

Me at 30 weeks.

The canvas that Jessi made. It is so cute.

He got a lot of cute clothes.

Maddox's High Chair.

My Vera Bradley diaper bag that my best friend Autumn got me.

The amazing blanket Jessi made.

This is a personalized cross that Maddox's Aunt Lynn gave him.

It was nice to have friends and family together to celebrate the upcoming birth of Maddox. I am so thankful that so many people came and showered Maddox with so many gifts. He is already so loved and spoiled.

Black Friday and Football!!!

So as my vacation comes to a end, I feel like I have gotten alot accomplished. The first part of my vacation was spent deer hunting, then with family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Yesterday I spent the afternoon taking advantage of black Friday discounts.


After I found out that we were expecting our first baby, I realized that we did not have a good camera. My wonderful and talented sister-in-law is very camera saavy so I went to her for advise. She recommended the canon rebel. So when Black Friday rolled around, naturally I looked to see if this camera was on sale. To my surprise they were, around $150 off the retail price. After discussing this with my husband he finally agreed and let me buy it.

Can I say Bling, Bling!!!

A camera was not the only thing I bought, I also got half of my Christmas shopping done along with my hostess gifts for my baby shower this coming up Saturday. So as I said earlier, I feel as though I have accomplished alot.

Because of my accomplishments, I felt that I needed a break and a day of fun. We had tickets to the Arkansas vs. LSU game and we decided to take advantage of the nice weather. We spent the afternoon with family and friends tailgating and just catching up.

Chris and I tailgating

Me and two of my best friends, Autumn and Jessie

The boys: Jacob, Chris and Wes

We had a blast and Arkansas won. Sugar Bowl here we come (hopefully).

Tomorrow, Chris and I are hoping to finish our Christmas shopping and decorate our house. Next weekend is baby shower #1 and Chris is going to paint the nursery. Will post pictures soon. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

Start of the Holiday Season: Thanksgiving !!!

When Thanksgiving roles around, it always makes me realize how blessed I am. I am so thankful for a loving, supportive husband and a caring family. I am especially thankful for Maddox. I know that he isn't here yet but knowing that he is coming and that everything has been great so far has been a blessing.

We always spend Thanksgiving day at our Aunt's house. This was our contribution this year.

Chris and I prepared jalapenos filled with cream cheese wrapped in bacon and deer meat with onions and peppers wrapped in bacon.

Close Up! Yum !

And I couldn't help myself but I made this center piece because Walmart was having a sell on all their fall flowers. I could not find a fall looking vase so I knew I had a pumpkin in our yard and this is what I came up with.

Thanksgiving was great this year. We had a blast with our family and consumed way too much food.

Christmas is right around the corner and it is making me stressed but excited at the same time because that means Maddox is almost here. My schedule for the next couple of weeks are booked: baby shower, helping brother and sister-in-law move then Christmas at our parents along with getting a nursery together. Due to all this craziness I might not be able to blog for a couple of weeks but I will try to keep everyone up to date.

Updated pregnancy picture (29 weeks )

****Halloween****

If you didn't know, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love scary movies, seeing the kids dressed in their costumes and the nice weather of October.

I also love decorating my house for this magical, spooky and scary time of year. I had so many ideas but I was only able to complete a couple of projects due to being 5 months pregnant. Preparing for Maddox takes up most of my time now.

I wanted to make sure at least my mantel was decorated and this is what I came up with.

My sofa table. I could have done better but like I said preparing for a baby is time consuming.

The first project that I worked on was the terracotta mummies. They were featured on many blogs that I follow and they seemed so easy to make (and the were).

First thing you do is get 2 terracotta flower pots and paint them white and hot glue the 2 bottom ends together.

I bought about a yard of light tan fabric and cut it into strips. Then I hot glue them around the pots making sure to leave open spots every couple of rolls.

This is what it will look like.

Once I finished wrapping the pots with the fabric I took brown paint and lightly painted the edges of the fabric to make it look authentic. I then took the eyes and glued them into place.

This is the completed project.

I then decided to paint and glitter some of my pumpkins. I painted this pumpkin black and before the paint dried I applied black glitter. I also did a couple of pumpkins like this with orange glitter.

I painted this pumpkin white.

The next Halloween project I worked on was the subway art canvas. I painted a canvas black and used grey paint to make spider webs on the corners of the canvas. I then used my cricket to cut out words the words EEK, scary, Halloween, Trick or treat, scary and pumpkin. I glued the letters down using mod podge.

The finished product.

Despite not getting all the Halloween decorations up we still had a fantastic holiday. We spent the Friday before Halloween at our best friends house. They had a party and it was so nice to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen in a while.

Chris and I. His hunting clothes made me look so big.

But the highlight of the evening was our friends Wes and Autumn getting engaged. It was their 1 year anniversary and Wes surprised her with the best gift ever. I am so excited for them.

I hate to see October go because I am not a big fan of Thanksgiving but it puts us 1 month closer to meeting Maddox. My mother is coming down this weekend to make sure I register for the right stuff for Maddox. Chris and Wes are going to rearrange our furniture because our nursery furniture came in. Looks like I will have another busy weekend. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Preparing for Maddox!!!

So, I know it has been a couple of weeks since I have blogged but preparing for a baby is time consuming. Chris and I are trying to get the bulk of everything done since the holidays are coming up. We recently decided on name: Maddox Ryan Leonard. Maddox is my maiden name and Ryan is Chris's middle name.

25 Weeks and counting

Chris and I have been looking for nursery furniture for about 3 months now and this past Saturday we came across a set that we liked. We tried to find something that would be both good for a boy and girl since Maddox is our first child.

The Crib

The changing table/dresser.

Now picking baby bedding is harder. Girls have alot of cute patterns and designs to pick from but there is a limited selection for boys. Most boy bedding consist of baby blue, baby animals or baby sports. Nothing really looks boyish. Despair was starting to overcome me then I walked into Pickles and Ice Cream which is a baby boutique in West Little Rock. There they do custom bedding. All I had to do was pick out the bumper design I wanted and then the color palate.

These are the colors I chose.

I am wanting to do his room in old sport and hunting gear. The rustic / vintage look.

So as you can see I have been busy. I promise here soon I will blog my Halloween decorations soon. Until then, bye.