The Surprise Baby Shower!

So, my sisters-in-law (including soon-to-be) and my mother-in-law had mentioned something a while back about going out to breakfast just us together to celebrate baby coming, so I assumed we would just have a small little family thing.  Little did I know, my mother-in-law was planning a surprise baby shower for me!!!  On Saturday, I had wanted Joe to take me grocery shopping because we were in much need of some, and he mentioned something about going to the book store (I love that place, too bad books are so expensive).  So we went, and when we got back there were a million cars parked out front and a pink balloon on the mail box.  I was so excited!  No one has ever thrown me a surprise anything!  Some of the cousin's kids were there too, so it was nice for Ryker to have some friends to play with.  All the food was delicious and my mother-in-law made her delicious home made chocolate cupcakes (my fave, and probably everyone's fave once they try it!).  We visited and had a very nice time, and then we got to the presents.  Joe came back from driving around for some food and to open gifts with me!  Oh boy, were we spoiled...or should I say this little girl was spoiled!!!  I had Joe's cousin take pics of us opening gifts.  She took like a million so I am not going to post them all, but I will post a few.  It was so nice, and I just want to thank everyone for everything! :)

 Getting ready to open gifts

 A few of the guests

 ...

 Joe's sister Liana was kind enough to write down all the gifts for me.  She wasn't feeling well that day either, so thank you Lee for coming and helping even though you weren't feeling well!

 Little Livi wanted to help us... she is such a sweetheart and was a nice little helper!

 We got TONS of diapers!  Which is great!

 A couple of friends and family even got me some gifts (too nice!) and even thought of the big brother, Ryker! :) Thanks!

 I just threw this one in because I like the creepy look on my face!

 Pretty pink rose blanket from Joe's Mom.  She got that girl a million things. :)

 More guests...

 My other sister-in-law Tracy was so cute.  She wrapped up each individual thing in tissue paper and tied them up with super cute ribbon.

 And since I didn't want to post all billion pics and since we got more than the pics say, I just took a pic of a few of the items. Enjoy!

 Joe's mom picked out the cutest bunting(I think that's what they call those full body coats for babies) and check out that ADORABLE swimsuit! :)

 Excited to put this to use!

Sledding!

On December 30, Ryker went sledding down the side of our house with his Mimi.  We got some nice fluffy white snow throughout the night before, so this was their chance!  It was fun for me to watch them.  He got all bundled up and even wore plastic bags over his feet since he doesn't have boots yet.  They only went down twice.  I don't think he was too thrilled about everything he had to wear.  He could hardly move!  I wish I could have gone down with him, but we gotta keep this baby girl safe and cooking! :)  Here are some pics and a video!

 "Got my snow suit on!"

 I told him to smile.  This is what I got.  We put his socks and shoes on first and then put adult socks over his shoes...

 Then we put two plastic bags over each foot.

 Then his coat, hat, and

 Mittens!  "Really? what am I supposed to do with these things on my hands?"

 "Wee!"  he really said that the first time they went down.

Coming to say hi to Mommy in the window and head back up to go again.

Christmas!

We had a pretty great Christmas!  We did some fun things as a family, and we have loved having a little one around to celebrate!  It made us feel like kids again! Love it!  

On Christmas Adam, we went to church and Ryker learned about the Christmas Story and Baby Jesus.  He even made his own little Baby Jesus, too.  I wish I hadn't wrote his name above the head because now it looks like it's supposed to be baby Ryker.  He also made Mommy a Christmas card with a sheep made out of a cotton ball.  After church, we made cookies to give out.  We went to a couple church friends' houses and sang Christmas carols, and we gave the rest of our cookies away to family on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve morning, Joe took us to Lynch park.  It is a beautiful park right next to the water.  Ryker really enjoyed playing on the playground and especially on the big kid playground where he slid on the huge tunnel slide.  You should have seen his face.  It was priceless.  Since it is so close to the water, it gets pretty windy, and it was cold, so we went over to see the water and stand in the sun.  It was beautiful!  Ryker wanted to get into the water, too.  That evening Joe took me to one of my favorite places BWW to eat.  Ryker got to run around the mall a little bit after, which he loves to do.  When we got home we visited with family and Ryker got a couple gifts from second cousins.  Afterwards, Joe, Ryker, and I opened our Christmas Eve jammies!

This was supposed to be a family pic in jammies, but oh well! :)

We woke up Christmas morning to a beautiful white snowfall.  A white Christmas!  It was so nice!  We headed downstairs (after the baby got up at almost 9, haha) and opened our Christmas stockings.  After that, we played around with the stuffers and hung out until Joe's siblings and their spouses/fiances came over at noon.  We had a delicious Christmas (Thanksgiving) lunch/dinner!  After that, we opened presents!  All the siblings and significant others did a Secret Santa this year to make it cheaper and easier for everyone.  Joe had his brother Rick and I had Rick's fiance (coincidence?!)  Joe got Rick a nice soft sweat shirt from Old Navy (Because Rick has lost over 130 pounds and gets cold now!)  and I got Katie a plaque with hooks that says Swim.Bike.Run.   She is a big exerciser and has done so many races!  She just did a half iron man back in September!!!  Ryker got some great gifts too!  We all had a wonderful time as a family!  Our little family got a new plasma screen tv along with the wii u and some mario games for our family gift!  This was the first year we got a family gift, and it has been fun to play together.  We got it on black friday as a last minute idea.  It's been awesome!

 Ryker and all his stocking loot.  He looks tired here, huh?

 Yummy Christmas cookie!

 Ryker and his Grampy adore each other, so he spent most of his time on Grampy's lap opening gifts. :)

 Baby Girl got a couple of gifts too!

 Ryker was more interested in making sure that all the wrapping paper got put into the trash barrel.  Silly boy!  I think that was Sesame Street wrapping paper.  His all time fave!

Ryker's big present was his car!  He wanted Daddy to get that thing right out!  Then he found out that we had to build it first! haha

Here are a few videos from Christmas Day:

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!