Christmas season...

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is arriving at the Peterson household. We spent Wednesday to Friday morning at mom and dad Peterson's house with Brandon and the Libby's to celebrate Thanksgiving. Saturday morning we got up and headed out to Pine Knob Tree Farm with the Bailey's to cut down our Christmas tree. We have been to this tree farm for about five years now, and it has become a fun tradition.

We pulled out our Christmas/winter decorations which turned into "lets re-arrange the living room so you can see the tree from wherever you sit." So, we have furniture lining the walls of our living room which in theory I don't like, but it is perfect for Christmas.

I also found that I had finally accumulated the perfect Christmas decorations for our old house, and for our new house nothing seems to fit. So, once again, I am going to slowly accumulate decorations for this house, and by the time I have what I want we'll be moving, I'm sure! :) Good thing I only decorate for Christmas, I can't imagine doing this for all holidays.

Anyway, we were bad parents and let Matea play with the Christmas lights so we could take some pictures. So far she hasn't gone near the tree....we'll see when that happens. I'm going to try to put to use some of the photography skills I acquired at my class last spring and see if I can get some cool pictures of the tree. If I get some, I'll post them!

Favorite Things!

I thought I'd make a few posts documenting some of my favorite things. Unfortunately I can't give away all my favorite things like Oprah can, but I thought it might be fun! So here goes...

STUFFED SWEET POTATOES with pecan and marshmallow streussel

We made these for Thanksgiving last year - they will be made again this year. And next. Here is the recipe.

my PINK SIGNATURE TRENCH COAT
Stacey and Clinton on "What Not to Wear" always say you should have a "signature trench coat." This fall my lovely sister found me a pink coat that I LOVE. It looks a little different from the one in the picture, but the color is similar. It was exactly what I wanted! Everyone should have a "signature coat!"

FLAVORED COFFEE CREAMER
Pumpkin Pie Spice is currently my favorite. We try to not buy International Delight because Aaron says that the container has an "engineer flaw" to it or something - it drips and gets sticky. Anyway, we prefer the CoffeeMate containers but International Delight has much better flavors. So there.

GUITAR HERO
LOVE THIS GAME! I am now on the second level. I don't own it, but I play it when I can when I'm at friends' homes.

KEEN SHOES
They are ridiculously expensive (for me!), but completely worth every penny. I'd like to get a pair of boots for the winter. Aaron and I each have a pair and are by far the most comfortable shoes we own!

YOU'VE GOT MAIL.
best movie ever. watch it when you are happy, sad, bored, melancholy, tired, content....
ELF.
second best movie EVER. This has become a holiday tradition in our house.

That's all for now...maybe I'll have a part two in a few days. Any suggestions??

crawling!

Ok, I think the video is finally working! I've been having technical difficulties this afternoon.

Anyway - Matea learned how to crawl on Friday! She did it the first time when I was at work. I got home and I was able to get her to take a few "steps" throughout the day. Saturday morning I was curious to see if she remembered her new found skill, and lo and behold, off she went towards a toy! She has not yet figured out that she can follow us from one room to another - we'll see when she figures that out.

Here is a brief clip of her crawling. You get the general idea. :) You can also see that she is trying to pull up on me at the end - she is now trying to pull up on everything and LOVES standing and taking steps. It'll be interesting to see if she will be walking by Christmas.

vote!

Happy Election Day! Yep, I dressed her in red, white, and blue.
Here's to NO MORE POLITICAL ADS for another 2 years...
till they start campaigning for the NEXT presidential campaign.

first hairstyle

Today I gave Matea her first hairstyle. I have been thinking that I need to start trying things since parts of her hair are getting really long. I really wanted to try to do twists, but I think the sides are still too short. I put it in six puffs instead. I definitely need to practice doing straight parts and getting her hair tied closer to her scalp, but I think it looks ok for my first time! I do prefer it to be out and wild though, I think.

I know these pictures aren't the best, but they get the point across. I love that expression Matea has in the last picture. She is constantly making faces!

This past weekend I went to a cabin with 3 of my girl friends. We had a blast doing absolutely nothing. Literally. It was really fun to be gone and not have any responsibilites or anything to do for the weekend! Aaron and Matea had fun - it sounds like they had a somewhat busy weekend which was the exact opposite of mine!

We have a busy week ahead of us with Jesse and Jodi's wedding on Saturday, but it should be a lot of fun. We're hoping to get Matea in the pool at the hotel this weekend!

Smile, its Friday

It's Friday. This picture makes me laugh. So, enjoy.

it's over!

Today was the last day of my "maternity leave." It's back to work tomorrow. It won't be too bad...I'll be working 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is just hard to believe how FAST this time went. Everyone said it would fly by, and I knew it would...but.... I feel like I was just starting to get in a groove of being a "stay at home mom." I guess starting tomorrow I'll work on getting in the groove of being a "mostly stay at home mom." :)

I haven't taken any good pictures of Matea lately, so, sorry. I'll try to get some pictures up in the next few days.

Till next time....stay strong. ;)