Christmas Card

I just finished our Christmas card! Wow, thanks to shutterfly's bloggers promotion I saved a ton of money! I love it - and can't wait for them to get here now!

Keep Believing Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Time with Dad

Our little snuggler

Shaving time

Thanksgiving

Grayson's 1st Thanksgiving! Poor thing didn't get any of the good food this year though! Next year I am sure he will be eager and ready to participate in the good eating.

We headed over to Steven's mom and dad for Thanksgiving this year. It was good to visit with everyone, and introduce Grayson to his Uncle Larry, Aunt Lisa and Cousins Gauge and Elijah.

Uncle Larry and Gray- something exciting must have gotten their attention. Grayson is sporting his new bib from Aunt Nita. Thank you Aunt Nita.

Aunt Lisa and Cousin Elijah loving on Grayson

Grayson loved all the attention and as always it was not hard to find someone to hold him so we could eat with both hands. I've gotten really good at doing most things with just one hand, but using both for dinner is so much easier.

On Friday we hit a few sales, and then came home to spend the day decorating for Christmas. We decided not to put up a tree this year since we will be heading down to Florida, but I did decorate a little around the house. Per tradition I turned up the Christmas music (which I forbid until the day after Thanksgiving) and went about making the house merry. Grayson hung out in his bouncy seat and talked and moved to his new veggie tales Christmas album. We had a blast.

Gray in his bouncy chair- he loves this thing (Thank you Kat)!

Later that evening he came so close to rolling. I think rolling is coming very soon. He has been able to roll from his front to his back since about two months, but he hasn't been able to conquer back to front just yet. The beginning of mobility is on it's way very soon I believe! How exciting!

Momma's crazy friends

Last Thursday my best friend Anita volunteered to babysit so Steven and I could enjoy a night out, and so she could spend some time with Grayson. Anita was a little nervous, so she called for some back-up. Back-up consisted of most of the Herman bunch! She had her momma, her sister Amber, her hubby Mike, and her brother Andrew all there for support! Of course Grayson was in heaven with all this extra lovin'! Andrew tried to make him a UNC Chapel Hill fan, I have no doubt Amber was encouraging him to love on Ruby the dog, Mary Ellen I am sure was giving good Grandma loving, and Aunt Nita- well no telling what she was up to with Grayson! I am sure she gave lots of kisses though! I'm not sure who held little man the most, but I know that once we got back Mike was holding him, and not too eager to be letting him go.
Steven and I enjoyed a nice dinner out in the big bustling town of Taylorsville. We went to my favorite spot up there- Giovanni's.
When we got back to Anita's we could hear everyone inside just fawning over Grayson, so we stopped and listened outside. We could just imagine our little attention magnet eating it up. Sure enough, Mike was holding him, while everyone was surrounding him just smiling and making a big to do- over a burp none the less! I never doubted or worried about leaving Grayson with Anita, I knew he would get unconditional love. Now Grayson knows it too!

Gray's 1st Halloween

What a busy holiday! Halloween started on Saturday for us, as it did for so many. Since when did treak-or-treaters get to choose the day the holiday was? Halloween is the 31st, end of story! Of course, I'm not against events before hand, just the 14 year olds who are already to big and are out the day before.


Anyhow, we headed downtown for the Newton Spooktacular with some of our neighborhood friends. It was a little chilly, but we kept Gray bundled up and had a good time. There wasn't of course much for him to do, but he loves people watching, so he was fine.

Artist Steven with his masterpiece!

On Sunday, we made it to church in the morning. We attended Grace, for what is probably the last time. Afterwards, we toured the Old Post Office Playhouse. The OPOP is our new theater here in downtown Newton. It is absolutely beautiful. They really did an amazing job at transforming the old post office and leaving so many interesting pieces of it's history. We were given the special tour since we had given money in Grayson's name during their fundraising campaign. Little Gray has a glass block and his name forever in the OPOP. He loves attention so much I will not be surprised if he is on that stage one day!
On Sunday evening, our neighbors across the street were hosting a block party, so we dressed up again and headed over there. We had a good time, but little man was worn out from the weekend, so we didn't stay long. Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Our little lion

Saving a few bucks. . .

Many of you have probably already seen or been to my shutterfly share site. Shutterfly has been a great tool for sharing all the photos that are not included in this blog. I also used Shutterfly when I made Grayson's adorable birth announcements. Well, they are running a special for bloggers and all I have to do is share with you my favorite picks from their holiday collection. Of course I already had planned on using Shutterfly since my pictures will already be uploaded there. It's so easy to do by yourself, and saves lots of money. Much cheaper than going through a professional photographer. So I have narrowed down the Hoke Christmas card to two designs, of course you'll have to wait and see which one I finally decide on.


This card I like because of the availability to add so many pictures. Plus, it would allow us to have one good family picture on there.



This one I like for some of the same reasons, but the layout is a little different.

Grayson already has a cute little outfit thanks to Mam-moo, so now just mom and dad need to figure out what to do. Wow, hard to believe it's time to start planning for the holidays isn't it!

Other bloggers you can find information on their holiday special:
Bloggers! Receive 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly http://bit.ly/sfly2010

To check out other great designs on Shutterfly:

· http://www.shutterfly.com

· http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

· http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

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