Christmas Everywhere!

Many of you know that decorating is something that I love to do, so as I am getting ready to box up all of our Christmas decor for another year I figured that I would share it with those of you who didn't see it in person.  Tim and I love this time of year, and though it is quite a process I love to cover the house in Christmas cheer.  This year however, it did take a bit longer. We went from what was before solid 2 days of decorating to about 4.5 days with breaks for Tenley time and feeding interspersed!  Everyone keeps saying, we will see how much you do next year with a mobile little one...as long as it is safe for her, it will go up!  We want her to grow up with the same love for the Christmas season that her parents have!

So here is a tour through our house at Christmas time, Enjoy!:

Our family tree, it is filled with ornaments from our childhood, our lives together, and many baby's 1st Christmas ornaments!  I love the memories this tree holds more than anything.

My airplane tree and "flying Santa's" on the table, better picture of tree to come. One of the Santa's is an Airline Pilot and the other a Flight Instructor.

Tim's firefighter tree in the office

Many of these have been gifts, all of the Hallmark ones are from Tim's Dad who adds to our collection every year with the new Firefighter ornament!

Our room

tree in our room is simple, white lights and icicles

Miss Tenley's Door (thank you Grandma for the sign!)

Shelf across from Tenley's door

Nativity in Tenley's room, it was Tim's when he was young.  It is made of a rubber/plastic so will be great when she is old enough to play, it will be one that hands on will be encouraged!

bathroom (hopefully next year the one in our room will be renovated so it can be decorated too!)

Spare bedroom

Hallway

Front living room, the family tree is in this room basically next to me as I took this picture

More in the front room, the tall skinny Santa was one that Tim made as a child, and is one of my favorite decorations!

A tradition that we wanted to have with Tenley, even though she had no idea this year, we wanted it to be here from the very beginning!  If you haven't seen this before check out www.elfontheshelf.com, it is a great story.

More front room

Each year we add a Nativity to our collection, this one was Tim's mom's.

Tree in the dining area, I now realize that I forgot to take a photo of the dining room table, however it is kept very simple with only an Advent wreath, and garland on the light fixture. The vintage Santa was also Sue's (Tim's mom)

Airplane tree again, below is a close up of some the ornaments.  Dennis gets me the Hallmark airplane ornament each year, I love them!

Dining room wall

Kitchen

Candy garland is something that I found and LOVE, it is attached to a simple green garland, perfect for the kitchen!

Living Room

4 years ago we started getting the Kurt Adler Clothique Firefighter Santa, they are so neat and have great detail.

And the stockings were hung....I am planning to make new stockings before next year since I couldn't find one for Tenley to match.  Tim has wanted me to make them for a while and now with Miss Tenley I have a bit more motivation to get it done!

So there you have it, the Riggs house at Christmas.  We also do the outside, but I haven't gotten those pictures yet, and actually our lights decided to stop working the night before we went back to Phillipsburg for Christmas...go figure. Guess it is time for them to come down anyway.

A Frosty Christmas

So, it wasn't a white Christmas, but one of the days we were back home most of the day was covered in ice fog and frost, it was beautiful.  Here are some pictures that I went out and snapped in my parents front yard.

Tenley rolls over on video

Hello, this is Tim (Dad)  As Monica posted before baby Tenley rolled over for the first time a few weeks back.  I thought some of you might want to see her do it as well.  The first time she rolled over was on her 10 week birthday and I was at the FD that day.  I missed it and I felt bad about it, worse then I thought I would.  I know with my job I will miss a few more first but at least we have video cameras and Skye to make seeing these important events easier.  The next morning when I got home we got out the video camera and fortunatly she was ready to show off.  Enjoy.

As I have watched this video a few hundred times now, I have to laugh at myself, and how exciting it is to watch you kid accomplish something, even if it is as little as rolling from tummy to back. It makes me excited to watch her in her future endeavors. I remind myself of another Dad I know quite a bit about, who cheered louder and prouder then anyone in the stands whether it be a fall Friday night at a football stadium or a long Saturday on those hard high school gymnasium bleachers at a wrestling tournament.  If only I had a cow bell.......

Our Big Girl!

So wish us (me) luck...Tim just put Miss Tenley down to bed in  her crib for the first night ever.  Tim has been ready for this transition for some time, but Mommy, not so much!  I kept thinking of reasons why she needed to stay in our room just a bit longer.  However, finally it was agreed that after we got home from being with family for Christmas we would make the move. 

Last night she woke up at 3:30 a.m. somewhat ticked off and it called for a mid-night feeding, something that hasn't happened since about 6 weeks old (we are 12 weeks now!) As I watched her falling back asleep I came to grips with the fact that she has indeed outgrown the bassinet.  She couldn't stretch and wiggle the way that she had been able to while sleeping in her pack-n-play all week.  No wonder she was upset. So first thing this morning when Tim got home from work he was already to get the Anglecare monitor set up in her room and ready for her tonight...she hadn't even woke up yet....he was more than ready for her to be in her room. 

So, my little one is growing up....but I guess I should  (and am) grateful that she is sleeping through the night and growing like a weed!

This Guys pretty great!

I have to share this picture of my Dad and Tenley, I just love the expression on both of their faces.  I am sure there is so many wonderful times to come for these two.  I know this guy is already very special to one "little" girl and I am sure it will be just the same for Tenley!

Tenley's Baptism

On November 27th we celebrated the baptism of Miss Tenley.  It was such a special day and was made more so by so many friends and family being here with us.  Tenley's Godparents are Dan & Kristi Sieben.  Kristi and I were in the same class in pilot training and became such wonderful friends.  Dan was a few classes behind us and they welcomed their first little on on Sept 16, only a few weeks before Tenley's arrival.  They are in the process of moving as I type this for a new assignment that will put them in the same state, house, and airframe since they were married. We are so very excited for them, they will be at Whiteman AFB only 3 hours from here (instead of the 11 that is Columbus, MS) Needless to say, with an infant , a move in the near future, and jobs planning was somewhat of a challenge.  Tim and I were also honored when they asked us if we would be Josie's Godparents! We came up with a plan to baptise both of the girls here in Chanute, and we would do it as they were making their way to Missouri.  However, in true AF fashion it was taking forever to get their official assignment so it was decided that they would just make the trip the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We are so blessed to have them as wonderful friends and the Godparents of Tenley.  We know they will be such a strong Christian influence in her life and are a wonderful example of the faith!

All ready to go

Fr Bernie had my cousins Corey, Ciara, and Caylin help out, it was really neat to have them be a part of it

Tim says this is the ultimate "mom" photo, trying to keep her happy while she is baptised

Fr Bernie (whom we love!) Tim, Me, Tenley, Kristi, Dan & Josie

the little girls did great until about this point and they had had enough, they were baking in their pretty baptismal gowns!

Grandma and Grandpa Chester

Grandpa Dennis, Alex (thanks for smiling, Alex!)

Great Grandma Barb and Great Grandma Hanke

After the Baptism our dear friends and neighbors Dick and Sharon Kelly hosted a wonderful dinner for us.  It was so generous of them and of course the meal was AMAZING!! Pictures of that to come!