NINE!
We are all decorated and ready for Santa!
This is our patriotic tree. I love the USA theme in our RED room!
This is our elegant little tree. We have it in Emma's room right now but next year we hope to do a special tree for Emma.
Each year we get a new family ornament. This is our newest. I didn't get the best picture of it but it has all our names on it. This is the first ornament we have with Emma's name on it! Even though she isn't here with us yet we know in our hearts she is out there somewhere waiting on us. On this Christmas our wish is for her to be warm, fed and loved! We love you Emma and can't wait until you are home with us!
We also want to wish all of our friends, family and blogger pals a very Merry Christmas!
Thank you all for being so supportive to us!
We just wanted to give the Martin kids a shot of the presents that should be under their tree. You see, last year two of the kids decided to open and then rewrap some of the gifts so they could find out what they were getting! So this year Santa brought their gifts to our house with a note not to deliver until Dec. 24th!! No peeking this year Charlee and Chase!! For the record I haven't wrapped any of the gifts that we bought yet!
YOU GOT IT!Lisa is our pal too! Who would have ever thought that we would get each other?! All these months I have been following Lisa's blog. I began to feel a friendship form but then would laugh thinking I must be loco as Lisa had no clue who we were! Now I know she had posted a comment here and there on my site so she knew we existed but I was sure she didn't know us like we were learning to know her. I just wanted to let Lisa know how much joy she has brought to our wait. We hope one day soon we will get to meet Lisa, Tate and sweet Mesa!
On the 12 day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me...
When we opened our package the first thing we saw was this note from our secret pal explaining the contents of the bag! So who is our pal?! Well she didn't identify herself as she signed the note, Love your Secret Pal.... We thought today was the reveal, so come on, who is our amazing secret pal?
We then pulled out the sweetest gift made for Emma from our secret pal. We loved it! I can't believe how much time and love our pal put into making this bear for Emma. I love the detail and the colors that our pal picked out. We can tell how much time, thoughtfulness and love was put into making it. It is something we can't wait to share with Emma and tell her all about our wonderful secret pal. This was truly very special to the both of us.
On the bears arm was another special gift for Emma. Our pal had sent me the exact same bracelet (except bigger!!) for my birthday back in August. For those of you who don't know this is a red thread bracelet. This red thread bracelet connects me to our daughter in China. I can't wait until we have Emma in our arms and we can share her bracelet with her. When we opened this gift it brought tears to my eyes to think just how much love and thoughtfulness has been put into each of these wonderful gifts that our pal has sent us. I guess what you are still waiting to hear is who our wonderful secret pal is. Well at the very bottom of this bag we found this special little note filling us in on who our secret (now not so secret) pal is. Any guesses?!!
Our secret pal is Lisa! I can't believe it!! Months and months ago when I joined the quilt swap my first square came from Lisa. It was then that I found her blog. I have so enjoyed following her journey to her Tate-r-bug and now I feel a special connection to her.
Lisa, I FINALLY know who to send my HUGE thank you too! Each and every month we have looked forward to receiving your packages. Each gift has been so thoughtful and every month I have felt closer to this wonderful pal that has a special place in my heart, YOU!! Thank you for making these past months go by much quicker. You always seem to cheer us up and put smiles on our faces during this long wait. This red thread that connects us to our daughter now also connects us to you, our wonderful new friend! I sure hope one day soon we will have the chance to meet in person as you have become so special to us. Sending lots of hugs to you, Mesa and Tate!
On the 11th day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (MIKE & ME)...
Our secret pal gave us these two adorable mugs with candycane cocoa! They are so cute. We love hot cocoa! I have never had candycane cocoa. I can't wait to try it but I think I will wait for it to get cold again here. It was in the teens and now it is back in the 6o's so I'll have to let everyone know how good it is later. The mugs are so cute. I love snowmen and can you believe it, I don't have any Christmas mugs! Until now!f
Okay, you may think it is for Emma but I say it is for ME! I absolutely love this gift! I have been looking for letters to go in Emma room. Hey, secret pal, did you make this?!! How did you do it? I would love to have Emma's full name if you want to share your secret. Come on, you can just go ahead and tell me who you are. For some reason I am taking it that I'll have to wait until that 12th day. We are down to 2 days! Back to the E! This E is so cute and check out the label she put with it. Is my pal creative or what?!! It will match Emma room perfectly. Once again my pal sure does know us. Thanks again to my fabulous secret pal! Check back tomorrow for day 11!
On the 9th day of the reveal, my secret pal gave to Emma...
Emma got linking toys! I love the linking toys! I am sure they will give Emma hours of entertainment. The one on the left is a linking toy that has a mirror on one side and a place for a picture on the other. I can't wait to pick out a picture to put in it. We are just loving these presents! Wait until tomorrow for more! By the way secret pal, don't you want to give us a hint. I think you really do have a Kohls!
On the 8th day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (Emma!)...
Our pal gave Emma the cutest little pair of tights. This is Emma's first pair! I have always thought that little tights look cute with an outfit. I'll have to show these to Mike's Mom. She is always worried about the grandkids not being fully covered so I know she will love these! Now I did notice that these tights came from Kohls (one of my favorite stores), so my secret pal lives near a Kohls!! How many Kohls are there in the US? Do you think it can help narrow down my choices? Probably not! I guess I will just have to wait 4 more days!
SWEET 16I wanted to send out a big birthday wish to my nephew Chase. Today he turned the big 16 so I wanted to warn everyone to stay off the roads! I can't believe how fast he has grown. Now this picture is from early this year so he has grown even more since this picture. I'll have to download some new ones of him. 16 years ago today Chase was born almost 4 months early! He weighed in at a big 3lbs 2oz! He spent the first 2 months of his life in the hospital. What a wonderful young man he has become. Chase, we love you and wish you a happy birthday. Good luck on your permit test. I've got the car ready for you to drive.
On the 7th day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (Emma, again!)...
For Emma AGAIN! Emma got the sweetest bib. It's one of those bibs that you can just wipe clean! It even has a pocket to catch all the stuff Emma drops. The other gift has to be for ME! I think my secret pal knows me or is talking to my family. It is a bib clip. You hang the clip around your neck and just attach your napkin to it to make a "bib". Anyone who knows me knows that I need this since I can't go a meal without spilling something on me. I love it! We are having so much fun opening up all these gifts. Thanks pal!
On the Sixth day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (Emma)...
Emma got some take and toss snack cups and heat sensitive spoons. I know these will come in very handy. For one, since this will be our first little one in the house it will be nice to feed her without her burning her mouth! The take and toss cups is great for us since we are always on the go. Secret Pal you are really spoiling us!
On the 5th day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (Emma)...
Our pal sent Emma the cutest slippers ever! As soon as we went to gift the 5th gift from Emma's room Jack came running. He now thinks that every gift in red should be his. As soon as we opened the package Jack jumped up in my lap. He thought that the slippers were a toy for him. By the way, he has followed me around for 3 days with his hot dog wanting my to play fetch with him. Back to the slippers! They are just adorable. I can see Emma now running down the hall in her pj's and slippers with Jack running behind her trying to attach her feet to get these plush slippers!
When we got home last night it was late. Mike had his final in his Law class and I was late at work AGAIN! We did manage to stop at Qdoba (our favorite) to eat after his class. Anyway, when we got home we played with the Jack and Kozmo for a few minutes and then headed back to Emma room to see what our Feb secret pal had sent us for day four. When we opened the door we got a big surprise! Sitting in the middle of the room was the cutest rocking horse! Mike and I both looked at each other. Nope, neither of us had put it there! Where did it come from?
I then remembered that a special elf had come to visit Jack and Kozmo since we were going to be so late getting home! We want to send out a special thank you to Nana for this wonderful horse. I can already see Emma climbing up on it and riding to town. It was the perfect addition to Emma room! Thanks Mom, we love you!
On the 4th day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (Mike)... 
On the third day of the reveal my (Kozmo's) secret pal gave to me... As you see I messed up the picture order again! Kozmo got these wonderful little mice. They were different from any we had ever bought him. 
Here is a picture of Kozmo's gift before the reveal.
As soon as Kozmo saw Mike open the package he got all excited and started Meowing! I got one out for him to play with he took off with it. He has been flipping this thing all over the house. I liked the above picture as it reminded me of when he was a kitten and so playful. Kozmo sends a big Meow to his amazing pal. He wants to know how you knew exactly what to buy him?!
I guess it was a good thing we missed day 2 as tonight both of our boys got wonderful suprises! By the way, we are another day closer to finding out who our wonderful pal is. Come on, don't you want to tell us NOW!!!
On the second day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me (or should I say Jack!)...
As soon as we took the day 2 gift out of Emma's bed Jack got all excited. I guess he knew that it was for him. As soon as I got it open Jack was wagging his tail and got all excited. I almost didn't get to take a picture before he grabbed it.
Jack waited patiently for me to take the picture so that I would play fetch. Jack sends a big Ruff to his wonderful secret pal. I only have one complaint! Did you know it squeaked so loud?! I just hope Jack doesn't bring this one to bed! Thank you so much secret pal, you made Jack's day.
If you notice in the picture above there is one gift missing! Now I know what you are thinking but it's not true. I had every intention of waiting until the 14th to start opening the gifts but my wonderful and amazing secret pal told me to start NOW!! Yes that's right. She posted me a note to start today. She even told me to open one for yesterday and one for today but we opted to start today. Now of course I got my photos out of order so check out what we got!
Aren't they the cutest! Now I have to admit that I know nothing about scrapbooking but I had already decided that I was going to attempt to make one for our precious Emma. Now I have some cute pieces to start with . Anyone want to give me a Scrapbooking 101 class? Thank you so much secret pal, we love them and can't wait to use them.
So here goes! On the first day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me... 2 wonderful pages of scrapbook goodies!! Now that we got the hang of this we can't wait until tomorrow to open our second present. Stay tuned for our next gift!
The letter gave us some ground rules. RULES, I HATE RULES!!! But guess what we will follow them. Inside is twelve presents. Each one has the cutest label on them. It reads: "On the first day of the reveal my secret pal gave to me..." There is one for 12 days!!
Here is a picture of all 12 gifts in Emma's bed. We thought we would put them in her room instead of under the tree. I'm not sure when our pal wanted us to start opening them but we assumed that we should start on the 14th so that we would open the last gift on Christmas. That means we have to wait 12 days before we start opening them. Anyone who knows me knows that I love suprises so we will be good and open the gifts as instructed. By the way, the reveal is in the red bag which will be opened on Dec. 25th. Now, is everyone as excited to find out who my wonderful pal is? Well, I guess you will have to wait until Christmas!!!
To my Feb Secret Pal: I want to thank you in advance for all of the wonderful gifts and cards you have sent us. We have enjoyed each and everyone of them. You have been so wonderful to us and I hope one day soon I will have the chance to meet you. Stay tuned for all my gift reveals!
On Friday evening when we got home from work there was a package stuffed in the mailbox for us. Now, I am not sure how the post lady got it in there because I had a time getting it out. I guess she thought it was too cold to get out and put it on the porch! I guess I shouldn't complain to much as she has been delivering a lot of packages to our house. Of course I was excited to see it was from our March Secret Pal. This months theme was "travel time" and she (or I guess I should say, "THE PAL" as it could be a guy or a couple!) set us up with all the essentials. The first thing we opened was mini lint rollers (great idea!). You would think that I would have thought of that since I am always walking around with dog and cat hair on me. Next, Mike opened shampoo and conditioner. We then got lotion, chap stick, and a first aid kit (hey, how did you know I'm such a clumsy person?!) The best was the baby travel pack. I always love smelling all of the J&J baby products at baby showers and now we are actually the ones getting them! Of course we always love the sweet cards our pal sends. Thank you so much to our March pal. Your gifts always brighten our day!
