Christmas #2 - "Small" Guier Family Christmas

Last Saturday we celebrated Christmas with my parents. We took the girls to see Santa at Crown Center where we used to always go. Bella did pretty good waiting in line for the long wait and enjoyed seeing Frosty and the Purple Crayon. Our family picture was in front of the antique mechanical Santa that's been at Crown Center for... a really long time. I remember it when I was young so it was a neat experience for me to have Bella there.



Bella crawled and played her way through the playland right before sitting on Santa's lap.

Could she be any happier? She LOVED the playhouse!

Santa was a different story. This picture is probably looks the least torturous that we got. Needless to say, Santa is not on Bella's nice list!

After Crown center we came back to the house and enjoyed a cookie decorating craft time! Valerie's sugar cookies are the best!

Later that evening we exchanged gifts and Bella couldn't wait to get her first baby doll out of the box!

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love being surrounded by so many family gatherings!

Christmas #1 - The Sachses

On the 13th we traveled to Jefferson City to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Lots of great food, fun aunts and uncles, and more boys for Bella to play with!

Here is sweet Sophie, I love kissin those cheeks!

Grandma and Grandpa made amazing lasagna which we all enjoyed, even Bella!

The boys huddled around Bella are my younger cousins. They were so sweet playing with her and she of course loved showing off for her new audience!

Here are all the ladies in family! Bella loved seeing her Great Grandparents and Great Aunts and Uncles again! We are so thankful to have such a big, fun family! We love you guys!

Play Date!

This week some friends from church came over for a play date. Bella is very popular with the boys already! We were even missing Samuel, who wasn't feeling so good.

The pink car with the boa was a big hit! We all took our turns getting a ride in it and trying not to get our fingers smashed!

This is sweet sweet Erick! He enjoyed pushing Bella around in her car! We are so excited for Erick to be home from Guatemala with his mommy and daddy! You can check out the Whitworth blog that we follow listed on the side of our blog.

Curious Bella

This past week Brandon has had to install door latches on our cabinets. Bella was very interested in what was going on, and when she discovered she could no longer explore in certain cabinets, it was a sad day!

She is learning early how to be handy around the house! I'm so thankful I have a handy man for a husband!

One Year Pictures!

What a big girl we have! I can't believe she's almost ONE already! If you would like to check out her photo shoot, go to www.m-mphoto.com then click on "Photo Cart", Portraits, and Vanessa (Bell'a pic) and the password is Johnson.

We love our photographer! Her name is Jennifer and her company is Moments and Memories. I highly recommend her to you for photographs of your kids, or family!

Snow Day!

We had quite a snow today so we decided to stay in and avoid the streets. Snow days can also make you want to pull your hair out if you're cooped up for too long. I think this was what Bella was trying to tell me at lunch today! What a cute new look! haha

Bella enjoyed seeing her breath on the cold windows as she watched it snow.

Christmas Tradition

This week I started reading a book called Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper (John Piper's wife). I am so excited about this book and the idea that Brandon and I get to start our own family traditions. This is something I've looked forward to when Bella was born. I remember all of the family traditions I had growing up and we plan on continuing them and making some of our own. One that I loved as a child was having my own little tree in my room and getting to decorate it however I wanted. This may have been the beginning of my hobby of decorating!

Here is our tree in the living room.

This is in our room. Of course blue and brown to match! It also has a Bride and Groom ornament, baby ornament, and a family heirloom ornament from the Johnsons hanging on it.

Bella has a ballerina tree of course! She did help pick out the cute little ornaments at Hobby Lobby! She became a local celebrity there wearing her distinguishable hat the other week with all of our trips! The employees recognize us! That could be a bad sign! :)

Bella came down with a cold this weekend, but nothing that bringing out the Christmas PJ's early and a little Baby Einstein couldn't cure!