Christmas 2008 & Happy New Year!

Christmas was very special for this year for Brock and I. It is amazing how much one little soul can change Christmas for two people. Having Sophie in our lives this Christmas was just awesome.

This year, Christmas started early for Sophie. Laura (Sophie's babysitter) and her family gave Sophie a present for Christmas. Here is Sophie opening up her first Christmas present of the year.
They had gotten her Playschool Walk and Ride. Here is a picture of Sophie trying out her new ride. She loves sitting on it and having daddy/mommy push her across the floor and turning the gas tank cap. Thanks so much Laura for a great toy!



Every year on Christmas Eve since as long as I can remember we have made the trip to my Aunt Lou and Uncle Jim's house. Last October, my aunt and uncle made their move for retirement to a community called the Villages down in Florida. This year our family started a new tradition. Brock, Sophie and I made the trip to Chicago to my cousin, Pete's house. The family was there and we had a great time. Sophie has started her shy stage of life. She didn't want to go by anyone other then mommy and daddy. If anyone else came near to hold her, she would grab on for dear life and start screaming. But once the gifts started she calmed down and really got into the gifts. Here is some picture from our family on the Spicka (Vandagriff) side opening gifts.

A group shot of the family

Sophie opening her Build A Bear from Aunt Bert

Daddy are all these gifts for me??

As you can see from the pictures we had a great time on Christmas Eve. It was so great to see my side of the family. Even though we don't get to see them very often, we love spending time with them!

That night we drove home so that we could be home for Santa's visit in Bloomington. Christmas morning started off as normal. Sophie woke up and we fed her some breakfast before we hit the gifts from Mommy, Daddy and Santa.

Sophie eating breakfast Chritmas Morning. YUMMMY

After breakfast, we headed to the tree to see what Santa had brought for Sophie.

Opening her rain stick.

Playing with "Emily"

After gifts were opened, put together, and played with for a little, we got dressed and headed to Danville to spend the day with the Boyd side of our family. We arrived around 1 p.m. and started with a having our traditional barley soup lunch together which was followed by a birthday celebration. My mother in law's birthday is on December 24th and Crystal's birthday is on December 30th. This year, we decided to celebrate both birthdays on Christmas day.

After lunch, we opened up our Christmas gifts from each other. Sophie took her time and had plenty to open. Here are some pictures:

Helping Grandpa hand out gifts.

Daddy and Sophie

As I said at the beginning of this blog, this Christmas was very special for us. While we appreciate and love everything that we received, it was not because of the gifts but because of the time that we got to spend with family and the joy of having our little girl in our lives.

Sophie in front of our tree

New Years was very uneventful for us. We decided that it was best to just stay home. Brock and I ordered in hot wings from Wings, Etc. and watched the ball drop. Sophie didn't make it to midnight (hehe), she went to bed at her normal time. Brock and I stayed up way to late and enjoyed snacks, a glass of wine(for me) and a few beers(for Brock). Today we are just getting caught up on some little things around the house before we head back to work tomorrow.

We had such a great holiday season. We hope that all of our friends and family had a fabulous holiday and hope that each and every one of you have a even better 2009!