christmas morning at home in beautiful san diego

christmas morning at your own house is a pretty wonderful thing. this is what petey woke up to.  we steered him toward it. and what did he do? walked clear across the room to check out his new wagon.  we spend 15 minutes with that before we ever got to the rest of the packages.  love watching the joy as a child explores a new toy.  especially one with wheels - four wheels.  thanks for the wagon, grandma and grandpa simpson!

and what a lovely little rocking horse from aunt briana! many thanks, we love it and have already named him tetonka :)

he had a lovely time exploring each new package with delight at his own pace. no rush, play with that until you realize there is more goodness and then we'll see what the next package holds.

i'm so glad i decided to make the christmas tree coffee cakes before we left town.  it was wonderful to pull out of the freezer and frost the night before along with our sugar cookies.  that christmas tree cake is something i always look forward to - and judging from the way petey was opening his mouth for more and more of it....he'll likely be enjoying many more christmas tree coffee cakes on future christmas mornings.  thank heavens for carolee zuck and her coffee cake recipe! (ooh and look at that cute, deliciously soft pink robe i got from my honey - thanks, babe - i love it!)

after pete's morning nap and some quick picnic lunch packing and preps by reid and i, we loaded our one-year-old, our two small dogs and our pack into the car and headed to iron mountain.  we were probably too pregnant, our dogs too small and our child too young (and heavy!?!?) to attempt it, but we did. the weather was perfect, it was a beautiful day and we sumitted as a family on christmas.  petey rode along in his pack like a champ all 3 miles to the top.  the dogs were just find, sniffing to their hearts content all the way up.  we enjoyed a picnic lunch and a beautiful view from the top while the dogs rested.  petey crawled around, scooping up the gritty sandy dirt and rocks at the top.  and he had so much fun in that gritty sandy dirt at the top that when it came time to put him back in the pack for the ride down, he was NOT happy.  everyone on the mountain knew he was not happy. none of us were going to enjoy the hike down if this continued and we wanted him to continue enjoying his day of hiking so we took turns carrying him on the rocky, steep parts and let him walk/crawl/dig/play with rocks on the flat parts.  it took us a bit longer but petey enjoyed being out in nature and that's the whole point of going for a hike. 

 

 

christmas eve at home in san diego

our christmas eve day at home was a sweet, relaxing day together.  we played and napped and baked and rode the swing and played some more. and it was an exciting thing after petey went to bed and reid and i got to bring out all the goodies in preparation for the next morning.

finally home and our besties arrive

we got home from the midwest on sunday the 20th and shannon and her 11 month old tommy (pete's best friend and his mommy is mine) arrived later that evening.  their bags didn't make it til the next day, the same day that shannon's hubby greg and their dog maggie finally arrived...and his bags came the next day.  well, greg at least arrived in time to celebrate his birthday with a birthday cake...they stopped with us for a couple days before heading to a hawaiian christmas vacation so they could regroup, get used to the time change and we shared a day at the park.  we'll see them again in a few days on their way back for a new years celebration together.  we had a blast watching our boys play together - and our dogs are having a ball too ( we're watching their pup while they vacation).

simpson family pics

 

 

 

 

simpson family christmas

'christmas' morning, petey was busy hauling legos to dump in grandma simpson's mixing bowls and sharing kringle with grandpa....little did he know the big to do that was just on the other side of the room.

 

a fireplace with stockings hung for santa and more packages with his name on them! he shared a snuggle with great grandma handel while grandpa simpson carved the ham for lunch and baxter hoped for the first taste (which he got, and i got the second-yum!)

there were chocolate topped rice krispies to enjoy

and red tractors to push and pull

and stairs to climb

and games to be played (grandpa won this game!)

mke part ii

after our lovely week in hopedale we headed back to milwaukee for a few more days and the simpson family christmas celebration.  more low-key fun was had and pete's great grandma and grandpa handel came to share a few days with us along with uncle matt and aunt ellyn.  and my cousin liz and her fiance adam (who is a fabulous guy!) who happen to reside in milwaukee stopped by for an afternoon too. 

there was much snuggling, story-time, and polka-dancing around the room! petey had non-stop attention from someone and loved every minute of it.

 

 

 

 

our visit to hopedale

the days surrounding pete's first birthday were spent with grandma and grandpa nannen in hopedale.  we had such a lovely time, especially with pete's cousins AJ and Maddie there to help us play over the weekend.  again i am remiss, grandma nannen's camera was the go-to source of photos during our stay so when she shares her pictures from the week, i'll add them to this post. terribly sorry!

we went to aunt briana's madrigal dinner at limestone high school and it was a lovely time.  we were all dolled up for the evening festivities and petey and the kids made it to the serving of the soup.  and then grandma nannen hauled them all home in the minivan before the clock struck 12 so we could avoid any meltdowns in the middle of the performance.  that left reid and i with his sisters, his dad and his grandparents for the rest of the meal which we very much enjoyed (missed mary ann, of course).  reid was in the mood for entertaining and had his sister's nearly crying through giggles a few times during the meal. it was a wonderful performance, briana and we're glad we got to share the evening with you - its been a few years since we were last home to attend!

we also enjoyed a nannen christmas which i've already posted pictures while we were at home in an earlier post but i'll add a few more for good measure.

the rest of the week was some much needed downtown to just play and relax and nap and be together.  no hustle and bustle, nowhere to be, just being...which we all very much needed and enjoyed.  grandma and grandpa nannen kept petey busy with the things that only become toys at a grandparent's home.  petey loved transferring marbles from one decorative bowl to the next with grandma's close supervision, he was busy rearranging grandma's fridge magnets and tupperware bowls, he loved changing the channel with grandpa's remote (grandpa got wise to the game and got petey his own deactivated and without batteries remote) and on and on.  reid and i even enjoyed a movie date during our trip to hopedale which was marvelous!  we were sad to say goodbye but are already looking forward to our next visit together!