Here Comes Santa Claus...

It's crazy that December is already here and even crazier that, despite having a baby this year, Murray and I are pretty much done decorating AND shopping for Christmas! I love Christmas decorations, and Murray tolerates them. Haha. He has been a very good sport this year and even hung lights outside on our house! I really wanted to decorate this year because, from reading posts of friends with toddlers, I realize it may be a while before I can have a lot of this stuff out again. =) Here are pictures of some of our inside decorations. (Please ignore baby toys, tennis shoes, other clutter!)

Love Cole's stocking! Thank you so much Mrs. Betty!

Our dining room. I love that we have the big window for our tree to show through!

Close-up of my corner shelf redecorated for Christmas.

Our pretty tree! We broke down and got a fake one this year... I thought it would be sad for me, but I am SO glad we got it. It's beautiful, and, better yet, no pine needles all over my floor!

Our family ornament this year... Yay! Duke didn't make the family one so Murray hung the Yorkie ornament right next to it. Haha.

Here's Cole's first ornament. I know before I blink I will be packing up all his ornaments for him to hang on his own tree. How do they grow so fast?

And here is my cute almost 5 month old in one of his many Christmas outfits. Get ready for a lot of pictures of him in cute clothes!



Ok... not Christmas, but I'm so proud of my boy! Look what he can do!
Cole "Mom, are you taking my picture again?!?!"

"Well then at least let me say cheese!"

Food, Family, Fun!

Happy Late Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope that you all had a great start to the holiday season. This year Murray had 1st year residency duties so he was on call. =( Guess somebody has to do it, but I will be glad when it's not him! Haha.

My parents and Neesha came up to spend some time with us and then Cole and I tagged along with them up to Indiana to spend Thanksgiving day with my dad's side of the family. That's definitely one of the perks of being in Louisville now... getting to see them more. Being 7-8 hours away when I lived in Memphis made it tough to see them very often.

I love having a big family. I feel like it is definitely one of the best blessings in my life and one of the main things I was thankful for this year! Even with several people not able to be there, we had around 30 people there. So fun! We had delicious food and a great time hanging out. Here are some pictures from the day.

Neesh with my cousin Alicia... check out Neesha's new braces!

My cousin Drew with his 2 boys... the tradition of Nickleson boys wrestling at family get-togethers definitely continues with these 2!

Chase & Alicia

Cole loved reading books with Alicia and her boyfriend Matt.

Even Cole got his Thanksgiving meal... he is getting much better at eating cereal. Most of the time I can't get it in his mouth fast enough!

Almost all the boys...

My cousin Tai.

Awww!

Maybe half of the food... there was SO much!

My uncle Danny and his family minus Drew, Kelly, & the boys. Ainsley (Tai's little girl) was showing off her sweet face in this picture. The first one we took she was showing off her mean face. Haha.

My uncle Dale and about 1/2 of his crew.

My family... I really missed seeing Kels, Smith, & Logan this year! =( Cole is actually in this picture via the baby monitor. Haha.

Our awesome hosts... My Uncle Darren & Aunt Mona.

Tai, Steven, Ainsley, & Abram

Murray is off Christmas this year so we are looking forward to the rest of the holidays. Especially since it will be our first one with Cole! I think he has enough Christmas outfits to last the whole month of December... but isn't that just how it should be?!?!

New Developments...

Cole is changing more and more everyday. His little arms and legs are getting so chunky. He is so interactive, and LOVES to play. Mommy has to have a LOT of energy to keep up with him! One of the newest things is that we started rice cereal this week. Here is the first try... still not much more crazy about it than he is in this video, but we will keep trying. =)


He is rolling over a lot more now... Today when Murray and I went into get him up from his nap, he had rolled to rail of his bed and was trying to eat his way out of his crib! Haha.


He is also laughing right out loud now. He, like everyone else, thinks Murray is so funny. He is loving "beating up" his daddy in this video.

Universal!!!

Happy Early Anniversary to us!!! Murray and I headed to Orlando this past weekend for an early anniversary trip. We went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We left Cole behind with my parents, and, although we really missed him, it was a lot of fun just being the 2 of us again.

Ready to be there!

Yay! So excited! We had beautiful weather the whole time.

Both theme parks were so fun. We really couldn't pick a favorite ride.

"The Adventure Begins..."

Aren't we cool in our 3D glasses?

Popeye's water ride...

Just when we thought we were a little wet...

We went on Ripsaw Falls and got REALLY wet!

Murray in front of the new Simpsons' ride.

Me in front of the Men in Black ride. I have to admit that Murray beat me everytime at killing the aliens. Those hours spent hunting came in handy I guess.

Check out Murray's Spidey skills! And his face... Haha.

The Mummy ride. Very fun!

They just opened the Rock It rollercoaster. It was crazy! Each person could pick the music they wanted to listen to during the ride. Look at the start. Straight up! We got so lucky with lines. We hardly waited in any and rode all the best rides multiple times.

Checking out the Blues Brothers' show.

To Murray's highschool buddies... does his friend bring back any funny memories of Murray?

Running from T-Rex... Very Scary!

Some of the characters we saw... Scooby and Shaggy in the Mystery Machine.

Dr. Brown from Back to the Future

Popeye and Olive... This guy did the best impression!

Super heroes to the rescue!

My personal super hero.

This one is for Logan! ;)

Cole said he didn't mind us being gone even though he did miss us since we brought him back such cool outfits! Look at the big muscles he grew while we were gone!