Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas with our families!  The Saturday before Christmas, we celebrated with my mom's side of the family at my parents' house.  I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any pictures :(  On Christmas Eve, we headed to the Eastern Shore to celebrate Christmas with my family.  We first had lunch with my parents and brother and then opened gifts and played games!

Then we went to my grandparents' house for Christmas Eve dinner with my dad's side of the family.  Everybody gathers back there Christmas morning for breakfast and gifts but since we are home Christmas morning, Ben and I do our gifts with them on Christmas Eve.

 

This backseat is going to look a lot different next year!

 

All seven grandchildren and two great grand children.

Christmas morning was very relaxing and quiet for us.  We kept saying how next year it is going to be so different!  We are getting new phones in January (yay!  I cracked my screen last February so I'm super pumped to get a new one!) so those are our Christmas gifts.  This year we just did stocking stuffers for each other.

 

After a yummy breakfast of cinnamon buns, we went to my in-laws' house to spend Christmas Day with them.  We relaxed, ate yummy food, put a puzzle together, and opened a few more gifts!

 

 We hope you had a Merry Christmas celebrating the Lord's birth with family and friends!  Enjoy your last day of 2014!

More Baby Shower Fun!

A week after my mom threw me a shower, my mother-in-law, Kim, threw me one as well.  This one was a little closer to home (for me) in the western part of Howard County at her friend's neighborhood community center.  Kim hosted a great luncheon and it was nice that we got to sit and talk with friends.  She also had this adorable BINGO game where guests filled out what gifts they thought I would get and then they tried to get BINGO while I opened them.  There was some fierce competition going on!

 

The decorations were adorable!  I was able to take these boxes home and use them for the girls!

 

My in-laws gave us this framed picture for the nursery.  It's so pretty!

 

My sash of honor. It was very large on me!

 

Didn't I say we were super blessed?!  These girls are so spoiled! :)

 

I am already thinking of the Christmas pictures next year! 

 

Ben's daddy diaper bag.

 

One of my friends made a Dr. Seuss themed basket ( I love Dr. Seuss!!) and dressed up some diapers as Thing 1 and Thing 2!

 

This octopus is an adorable little stuffed animal that comes with 8 real socks!

Again, I can't say thank you enough to everyone who helped with our showers, came, brought us gifts, and everything else.  I can't wait to tell our babies how loved they are!

Baby Shower Fun

I finally have the baby shower photos and time to blog about them!  It has been a few crazy weeks here in the Alvarez household...my ASL final project and exam, holiday shopping, holiday festivities, baking, Christmas decorating, writing a gazillion thank you notes, and teaching till the 23rd!  It has been non-stop since Dec. 1st and I've been a lot slower this year due to these two babies I'm carrying around :)

So here we go, the first baby shower from the first weekend in December.  As I mentioned in a previous post, it was hosted by my mom in Easton.  My cousin helped with the decor and my aunt took all these beautiful pictures you're about to see.  It was a luncheon at the Easton Country Club with gifts afterwards.  Very nice and relaxing!  I was able to see many people from my life that I haven't seen in such a long time!

Party Guests

 

Me and my cousin Heather, who is also pregnant....yeah, you can totally tell, right?!  She looks adorable and I look...large...haha!  I skipped right over the cute baby bump stage!

 

Adorable decor!

 

So incredibly blessed!  People were so generous to our girls!

 

My gift runner, Maddy.

 

Every guest brought a book to help start the babies' home library!  I loved it!

 

Adorable Mary Jane socks!  I am apparently really talented at taking a picture with things held in front of my face.

 

Lots of Terps gear!

 

My mom made this AMAZING turtle blanket for each baby!  

 

Some of my closest friends!

 

Here's a better picture of the turtle blanket.  My mom is so talented!

 

Pop Pop and Grandmommy to be!

 

Great Grandma to be!  Still thinking of a good name for Mom mom...my suggestion was G-Money

So Blessed, Part 2!

Last Saturday, my mother-in-law hosted another baby shower for us.  Again, we were showered not just with gifts but with love and support from our family and friends.  It is amazing to me how much these two little girls are loved and they aren't even here yet! I don't have the pictures yet to share but once I do I will post them.  I just got the pictures from the first shower so hopefully those will be put up soon.

If you came to our shower last week, thank you so so so much for coming and for your gifts.  I can't thank you enough for your love and generosity.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law who hosted the shower and spent so much time and love making sure it was a great party.  I always brag about how lucky and blessed I am to have such a great mother-in-law.

Thank you to the co-chair, Mrs. Allyson!  I appreciate you helping Kim throw a beautiful shower for me!

Thank you to my sister-in-law, Chessie, for taking the pictures the whole party.  I can't wait to share them with on here.  Chessie is an amazing photographer...wait till you see the pictures!

Thank you to my wonderful father-in-law, brother-in-law, and hubby who came early to help set up the shower and hung around to help clean up from the shower.  You guys rock!

Now I'm worried I forgot somebody...if I did, thank you for all that you did for our shower! These girls are so lucky to have all these people in their lives and they don't even know it yet.  I can't wait to tell them all about these showers some day!

Have a great weekend!

So Blessed!

I am just stopping by quickly because I have progress reports to finish and my ASL final to study for!  Plus I don't have any pictures to share yet so this will be brief.

Yesterday I had my first of two baby showers and all I can say is how blessed Ben and I are.  These two little girls are so loved by so many people who haven't even met them yet.  We were showered with so many lovely things, thoughtful things, essential things, that we are already running out of room.  I just keep thanking God for all these wonderful family members and friends in our lives, especially when I know that there are women out there who don't have the kind of love and support we do.

If you came to our shower yesterday, thank you so so so much for coming and for your gifts.  I can't thank you enough for your love and generosity.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Thank you to my amazing mother who hosted the shower and when I get the pictures to post, you'll see how much thought and time and effort went into every little detail.  I have the best mother in the world!  Thanks mom!!!  I love you!

Thank you to my cousin Courtney who helped her with the planning and decorations.  Everyone was amazed by your tissue paper pom poms.  The room looked great!

Thank you to my grandmother who provided the beautiful flowers!

Thank you to my Aunt Sharon for taking the pictures the whole party.  I can't wait to share them with on here.

Thank you to my wonderful dad who showed up, hid in the back, and helped load up and clean up after.  I love you too!

Now I'm worried I forgot somebody...if I did, thank you for all that you did for our shower!  We are so truly blessed!  Once I get the pictures, I will post them on here with more details about the shower.  Now I need to go study.  Thanks for stopping by!