Our Christmas Tree, decorations, and family traditions!

I can't believe that Christmas is only five days away! I have been meaning to post this for a while, but I guess with this time of year, time just got away from me! I love decorating for Christmas! This has got to be my most favorite time of year. Our stockings are hung but the chimney with care, and our halls have been decked! We started a new tradition this year, the Elf on a Shelf. I am sure many of you know what this is, but basically it is a little Elf that is Santa's helper and he watches the kiddos and reports back to Santa whether they are on the naughty or nice list. I know that Gage is a little young for it this year, but I can't wait for many years to come, to get our Elf on a Shelf out. (To find out more about this, here is the link http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home )
This is going to be a busy Christmas for us! We are heading to Houston the day after Christmas, to celebrate the holidays with all FOUR families and to also celebrate Gage's first birthday. We already had a party here at our house, but there will be two more for him down in Houston, so I am going to wait and post all the pics in one post. So for now, enjoy the pics of our decorations and I hope everyone has a nice relaxing Christmas break. Congrats, to all my teacher friends! You made it! I know you all deserve a much needed break this time of year!

Into Everything!

Lately, our almost one year old is into everything. He loves to take things out of the cabinets that aren't locked in the kitchen and put them all over the floor, pull every book off the book shelf in his room, or try to get in the fridge every time we open it. I guess he is a typical boy!! Here are a few pictures of our little man! Can't believe he is almost a year!

New Items on ETSY!

I have been working hard on a few new custom Banners for some ETSY customers! I just put them on ETSY! Check them out!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ashleighhansberger

November Visits to Houston! (Thanksgiving)

Here is a little slide show of our visits in Houston! We have so much to be thankful for!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Birthday!

I am so behind on blog posting but I wanted to make sure I did a little post on my birthday! It's not the birthday part I want to share, it is how incredibly special my husband made me feel that day. Turning 28 is not fun at all and really it's just two years away from thirty, but my boys went all out that day. Daniel liked to call it "Ashleigh's birthday weekend!" My birthday was on Saturday November 21st! The Friday night before Daniel came home with some beautiful flowers, hired a babysitter and took me out to dinner to my favorite restaurant, PF Changs! We hadn't been there in so long, so I enjoyed every minute of it! Saturday morning when I woke up, he let me sleep in and then we went as a family and got breakfast. When we came back I opened a few presents from my family and friends. Daniel had to run an "errand" and he said he had a window of time between 10-12. (Hmm, very suspicious.) When he came back, he made me go in the bedroom. A few minutes later I was allowed to come out. As I opened the door, Daniel was singing Happy Birthday, all the lights were out, and a beautiful cake was sitting on the table with candles all lit. Now, I know some of you are thinking, "A Cake.?!" Big Deal" This was the first cake I have gotten on my birthday since I've been married! Anyway , after we ate cake and opened presents! This was the birthday of cases. I got a new hard case for my iphone, a new case for my camera, and a new case for my laptop from little Gage. Daniel got me a really cool Digital Picture frame that you can upload over 1000 pics. (Don't you worry, I already filled up the memory card. It's like a scrolling picture album of Gage's first year of life.)
Thank you Daniel for an amazing birthday! It was so very special to celebrate with the two favorite men in my life!!

Our New Camera!

I am so excited! When Gage and I were in Houston, my Dad and Becky gave me an early birthday/Christmas present! I got my Mom camera!! They gave us a Canon Rebel XS! Let's hope in the next couple of post, you will start to notice that our pics are better quality. Hopefully I will learn how to use this thing pretty quick and get good at taking pics. It has always been a passion of mine and now I can start to become better at it! Thanks Dad and Becky for such a wonderful, generous gift!!

AND THE WINNER IS......

The winner of the Christmas Blog Give A-Way is.....





Dawn Ferguson!!!
Congratulations Dawn! I will send Amanda an email letting her know you won! Have fun picking out your item at Tiny Bit More!

Christmas Blog Give Away!!

Tis the season for BLOG GIVE AWAYS!! I know you have all started that Christmas shopping, so here is an opportunity to get that perfect gift for someone without spending a cent. A friend and sorority sister of mine from college, Amanda Yocum, has put her "craftiness" to work and started her own business, Tiny Bit More. She is going to give away one of her free holiday items to the winner of this give away.

So here's how you win
Step 1: Head on over to Amanda's blog Tiny Bit More and check out all her items. http://tinybitmore.blogspot.com/
Step 2: Post a comment below, letting me know which one of her items is your favorite and you will be entered in the give away.
Step 3: To receive a second entry, post a comment below telling me your favorite Christmas song. (Be sure to include your email address at the end, so I can get in touch with you if you win.)
Step 4: Sit back relax and wait for the winner to be announced.
Do this quick because I will be drawing the winner on Friday, December 4th.
Don't miss out on this GIVE AWAY!! Merry Christmas!

My ETSY shop!

I recently decided to put some of my talents (I guess you can call them that) to work and started painting birthday and holiday banners. I started with Gage's for his birthday and went from there. I have opened an ETSY shop to start selling them. If you have any interest in a birthday or holiday banner let me know. I will customize any order to your birthday theme or holiday colors. Check them out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/ashleighhansberger

Here are few more pics of them:

Great Invitations

Planning for Gage's first birthday is in full effect. I have almost all the decorations bought and I am in love with the invitations I found that match his theme. Since Gage is turning one, we are having a Winter ONE-derland party and I found these great invites at http://www.addiekate.com/photo-card-details.cfm?dName=Winter_One-derland.jpg&ctype=Birthday

Meredith is a wonderful help, and she is very prompt in sending you the proofs and mailing your items. I have used her three times now and I highly recommend her. Thanks Meredith for all your help! Be checking your mail boxes soon for Gage's cute invitation!

The Things We Do As Parents!

Gage loves this!

Playing with Daddy!

Gage loves to play with his Daddy! Some of their favorite activities are wrestling, piggy back riding and chasing after the dog on Daddy's shoulders. Here are a few pics of them playing this weekend. I love these two guys so much!

Gage's First Halloween!

Gage had a great time on his first Halloween. My youngest sister, Danielle, came up from Baylor and spent the weekend with us. We went to the park that morning and enjoyed a beautiful day! Then we got him all dressed up for some trick or treating. We were a little nervous as to how he would react to the costume. He has been fussy the last couple days because of teething. But he did great. No crying or fussing at all, in fact he was quite the opposite! Very chill and kinda comatose. He almost fell asleep in the stroller while "trick or treating." We got him home a little past his bed time, bathed him, and he was out for the night. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!