Four Years...

Somehow I feel that I was just writing a post about our 3 year anniversary, and alas here we are, one year later and I can hardly believe it!

It has been a great four years and so I thought I'd simply list a few of the highlights:

*Our amazing European Honeymoon (I've got to finish blogging about that before the details escape my memory)



*Being founding "fathers" of Doggie Happy Hour (we miss you Eton Square!)



*Hosting a gazillion trillion dinner parties (we do make a great team!)



*Our little Liddy (sometimes I still can't believe we have a dog!)



*Our trip to Budapest (and the DVD to remember it by)



*Buying our townhouse (I love our home!)



*Our boating adventures (Lake Anna and Belmont Bay are fond memories for sure!)



*Last but certainly not least, our Adam!



Happy Anniversary Andy, I love you and can't wait to add to this (very abbreviated) list in the coming year!!!

XOXO

Kissaversary ornament swap

On December 8, Andy and I continued our tradition of swapping ornaments on what we've coined our "Kissaversary" (see last year's post). I love this tradition and think it's a great way to add ornaments to our tree while telling some of the "stories" of the past year.

Andy gave me two ornaments, one to illustrate the new member of our family and one to commemorate my hole-in-one. I gave Andy the reindeer ornament which also illustrates the addition to our family. Adam was definitely the highlight of the year...with my hole-in-one a close second! ;)



Here's to everyone celebrating the "ups" from this past year!!

XOXOXO

Elf Yourself

Here's a little holiday fun for you all:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ZmDvV7rj2NPAO9pA

Happy Holidays...now go Elf Yourself! ;)

Cookies with Santa

On Sunday we got to take Adam to meet Santa. I'm not sure who was more excited, me or him...ok, I guess I know!

Our club was doing cookies with Santa and we figured that was the perfect opportunity to introduce our little guy to the big guy. Best part of it was that we could take our own pictures (rather than waiting in line at the mall to get a few prints for $30!) so we brought my brother along to snap some shots for us.

While we waited for Santa to arrive we got to enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies and we even sang some Christmas carols (very festive!) We were also able to get some family pictures in front of the trees and outside with the wintry backdrop on the golf course.







Once Santa arrived (who by the way looked like he'd lost a few pounds) we lined up and watched some of the kids rattle off their wish lists, and other little kids freak out, kind of cute. When it was Adam's turn we just sat him down and got to work on getting him to giggle and smile. We're not sure what he asked Santa for, but we know he's certainly been a good boy and deserves whatever he wants! :) No coal for this little fellow!

A Gribble tradition....with a twist

Andy's family had a tradition growing up that in addition to the family Christmas tree, all of the kids had their own little trees in their room. In fact we still have Andy's tree and we put it in our bedroom every year. I, of course, think this is a fantastic tradition and knew that it would be something we would continue in our family.

Naturally, being a Greeley, I had to kick the tradition up a notch and rather than a table top tree, I convinced Andy that we should go a little bigger for Adam. So Adam now has a 4 foot tree adorning his room. :)



On Saturday when we enjoyed Adam's first snowfall, there was nothing better than sitting in his room, with his tree all lit, looking at the snowflakes fall...I love this tradition!

Andy's birthday celebration (Part 3)

As if celebrations 1 & 2 weren't enough, on Sunday afternoon our little family got to celebrate Andy's birthday!

Liddy and Adam both insisted I buy gifts for them to give him, so from Liddy he got a bottle of his favorite gin (she's so thoughtful) and Adam got Daddy a Snuggie (for those middle of the night feedings) and I got him the Wii Fit (which I look forward to using!) :)






I think all in all it was a great 3 day celebration for Andy and he probably deserves another 362 days of it!!

Happy birthday to a great husband and father! :) We love you!

Andy's Birthday Celebration (Part 2)

On Saturday night we headed out to Andy's parent's house for another birthday celebration. We had a nice relaxing visit with his parents and enjoyed a great winter meal of beef stew with awesome salad, homemade french dressing (to die for) and fresh sourdough bread. It was perfect for the snowy weather we were enjoying!

For dessert Andy requested his mom's famous ice cream cake. She really outdid herself this year and included all of Andy's requests. The cake consisted of an oreo cookie crust, vanilla ice cream with a layer of creamy peanut butter topped with crumbled pretzels, followed by another layer of vanilla ice cream and topped off with a layer of hot fudge. Yeah, I'm still in a sugar coma! :) It was so good and worth all of her hours of labor! (huh, guess that pun is rather appropriate considering what she was doing 30 years earlier) :)