Our first Christmas with Ben Levi

On Christmas Eve, my sister in law, Elise, and I were talking about Christmas traditions and how we always wonder what traditions other families have. I love traditions. And I love them because they just happen. It's not the same to say, "we are going to start 'such and such' tradition." The way my family does Christmas is how we've always done it. I have never once celebrated the season with another family or gone somewhere else other than home. When I was little, I assumed that everyone did what our family does on Christmas. Naive, I know. In case you are curious, here is a little snippet of what I know as Christmas.
We always celebrate Christmas Eve with my maternal grandparents, Papa and Grandma (or Shriv as I often call them semi-jokingly). "Pre-Will" our family of five would go over to their house around 4:00, do a little meet and greet, dinner around 6:00, and the rest of the evening would be spent talking, eating dessert, and opening gifts. My two sisters and I could always expect to receive a pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas morning from grandma. My papa always makes an elaborate ordeal out of his gift giving. He will build it up for weeks. I don't know how many times I have heard, "this is the best present ever, you just wait!" I can just hear him now. He is such a joyful man. He loves giving, surprises, and being the life of the party. My grandmother never ceases to amaze with her homemade cheese ball (no one can touch to this recipe. guaranteed), sweet potatoes, turkey and gravy, pecan pie, pumpkin pie. All from scratch and all magically delicious. The food is always served hot, every nook and cranny of her home is decorated perfectly with Christmas. Even at 25, all the kids, myself included, open a stocking from Santa. When I think of Christmas Eve at Grandma's, I think of home, my childhood, and dreams coming true. When I was little, this is what Christmas Eve was. Now, I am so blessed to spend this time with my family AND celebrate with Will's family. There gathering is much larger than ours, but some how manages to wrap up faster. I think it is due to the organization in the kitchen. This year, we went to Will's mom's new house. It is so quaint and cozy. ALL the Herfort cousins come together. They are all around the same age, and they are all like best friends. It has been such a joy watching them grow up together. I have known the youngest, Logan since he was like 8, and now he's in college. Okay, wow...never thought of that. I'm old. One of the many things I love about this evening with Will's family is the spectacular cooking. And there is enough for everyone to go back for thirds. Will and his siblings draw stockings for one of the other siblings. This I'm pretty sure is Will's favorite expenditure because he has 100 dollars to spend on an 'extra' fun gift for a surprise recipient. The highlights for me this year were watching Ben discover his new toys, and watch Ella's reaction to getting her new Mustang convertible. Ann drove it down the entryway herself, and Ella's jaw dropped.
Christmas Day is always spent at my parents in the a.m. Before Ben, Will and i would roll out of bed, exchange our own gifts, and drive to my parents for breakfast in our pajamas. This year, we had to be all ready before we arrived at my parents because we had a full day of coming and going. For breakfast my mom makes an egg casserole that is to die for and a danish kringle sent from our family friends in CO. We drink coffee and talk about Jesus. My dad usually prepares a message/lesson before we open gifts. If you know Debbie Fash, you know that her favorite things in life are giving and her family. And when you combine those two with her favorite time of year, we have a recipe for a lot of packages. This is something she loves to do for us. Every year, I am reminded of the grace in my life. I am so undeserved of my eternal life, yet I have a relationship with a forgiving, graceful God. This love is demonstrated to me by my family on Christmas when we are given so much so undeservingly. This year, I did not know what I had opened until we got home and I had time to go through everything. Ben kinda had a rough morning with all the excitement, and I spent most of my energy trying to keep him happy. Later Christmas Day, we get together with my dad's side of the family. Huge group. On this side, we all chose a charity, and then draw names to see who you share your charity information with. It is neat to see where everyone's heart has been throughout the year. We also make it over to Will's dad's house Christmas Day to see them. They always have a very low key, relaxed, come and go sort of thing. It is so nice to go over there and just chill.
On Sunday, we go over to my dad's DAD's side of the family. Big gathering as well. This time is always the most untraditional and a bit awkward to be quite honest, or atleast it was when I was little. Now, it's a fun party,
One of my favorite traditions we have have the Sunday after Christmas is just girls. Usually it is my mom, sisters, and aunts. We meet after church to see a movie. This year it was It's Complicated. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Really warm and funny. Overall, we had such a great time seeing ALL the family. I am blessed to have everyone here, and although it may seem stressful coordinating all the gatherings, it is worth the time we get to be with each other.

Here are some of the few pictures I took. There are more floating around out there. Don't worry.

sally in her tinker bell costume. Deb, Donnie, Kris, and the kids came over to our house the Tuesday before for a little Christmas celebration and fine eating. :)

a few of my favorite people
polo baby

Will and I wore cheesy Christmas sweaters for our Christmas Eve functions, but forgot to take any funny pictures together.
A little mommy break
first gift of the night, a toolbox from uncle Lane
Will likes Christmas.
Ella opening her gift from Wheel and RaRa.
Christmas morning. Ben in his union suit.
Ben crawling through his cool activity door from Gramps.
loves his John Deere tractor from uncle Logan!
the cutest boy in the world!

dear ben,
The last 10 days, you have been moving! It's been a long journey, but you finally learned to crawl on your knees. You have been so patient with this. We can see on your face how proud you are. If you see something you want, you focus in on it and you're off. You like to climb up on the coffee table, the couch, the entertainment center. Which brings me to my next point...you are responding to "NO" very well too. We don't have to say NO very much. Usually it's when you're about to put one of Georgi's toys in your mouth. I feel sorry for the dogs because all your toys look like theirs or squeak or make fun sounds. How could a pup resist? And you seem to be most interested in playing with their toys. You have also learned that it is more fun to throw your food on the floor and watch the dogs eat it than eating it yourself. Chloe has suddenly taken an interest in your eating habits.
I wonder why? Your favorite is still bath time, although now we take it to a whole new level. With mommy as your sidekick, we play with our sticky letters that go "SPLAT", our ducky friend makes "bubbles, bubbles, bubbles, and then water water everywhere", and you laugh when Chloe jumps up and licks the side of the tub.
You are my sweetest little friend.

I am so excited for you to experience your first Christmas. It's so funny, our Christmas tree doesn't have a ton of ornaments, but out of the few we do have most of them say "Baby's First Christmas." This holiday season will no doubt be so special with our first baby. Our new family. This year we are giving you a cell phone, car keys, bath toys, and a pull up play station thingy. And you have a lot more coming once we get to grandma's house.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Enjoy a little video of my crawler boy:

growing pains

Today I am exhausted.
My sweet 9 month (tomorrow) babe is teething his top front teeth AND learning how to pull up, crawl, and guided walk. Whoosh. The last few days, he has been a totally different baby. Our "perfect" routine of going to bed around 8:00 and waking up at 8:00 is out the window (for now, knock on wood).
Last night we gave him his usual night bottle at the usual night time, and let him play and wear himself out until he showed signs of tiredness. The tiredness came around 9:30. We put him in his bed. Waited. Tick Tock. Nope. I mean, screaming crying. We took him out of his bed. I KNOW...this is a problem, but what do you do? We let him play more and ended up giving him another bottle at 10:30. My question would be, was he really hungry? Cause he was sucking it down as if he didn't eat all day. Do teething babies gain an appetite? And before I tried to put him down again, I wanted to exhaust my options. At 11:00, we put him back down. Again, screaming. Poor guy. Not five minutes later, he throws up in his bed from crying so much. Awesome. By 11:30, we're in the car, and we don't even get out of the neighborhood, and he's out. He woke up again at 3:00 am with me for yet another bottle, some tylenol, and a LONG walk around the house until he fell asleep in my arms and I laid him in his bed. He woke up this morning at 10:30. Needless to say, we're off schedule, and I don't know what to do. I welcome any advice.

The good thing is I love mothering. This is my job right now and I think I do it pretty well. I feel like these trials as of late have led me to reevaluate my time and priorities, and have made me and Will be on our knees before the Lord.

After our rough night, I couldn't wait to see Ben's shining face when he woke up this morning.

white christmas?

There are a lot of things I love about today. Will took a sick day today because his head was hurting, but it turned out to be the best day he could have chosen.

Because IT SNOWED. We went over to my grandparents house where the snow was covering the ground. She made open faced grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup---a cold weather tradition at the Shrivers'--- We even got a little pre-Christmas homemade pecan pie. I love pop-in's at my grandma's..She always has some kind of yummy treat waiting for her guests. I need to write a blog just about her; she is an inspiration. I am so thankful we went over there to spend this snowy day.

It snowed in Katy as well, but not near as much. It was magical. Every street we turned down, I found myself saying, "ooh look at the snow..i love this day." Even the slums of Rosenberg (where we went to get WIill's title for his car) looked a little more inviting with white roofs.

my parents' house 10 minutes down the road

our humble abode got a little too

Have a Merry day, friends!

in the last two weeks...

i can pull myself up in my crib

crawl...sort of. looks more like a wounded soldier

play outside

swing on my new swing that daddy was so kind to set up
and giggle all the way home

memorable meals

There is nothing more warm and wonderful in the world like a good meal. Well, that's debatable, but let's just say it's a blog for another time. When that great meal is coupled with great company, you have a recipe for some of the most enjoyable times in my 25 years.

I recently learned of a new taste in addition to sweet, salty, bitterness, and sourness. The umami taste is exemplified by the non-salty sensations such as cheese, mushrooms, meat, AKA 'the deliciousness factor.'
I can eat with the best of them. I love fine dining, but I also love dive dining now and then. Here are some of my most delicious eatery experiences.

Geronimo in Santa Fe, NM Elk Steak served with snap peas and mushrooms. Whenever we visit my grandparents in Santa Fe, we always make our way down Canyon Road and look at art and eat elk steak at Geronimo. It's a tradition; and awesome one at that.

For my 21st birthday, Will took me to Mockingbird Bistro in Houston for a dinner and wine pairing. We had the most fabulous 5 course meal which included lamb chops, scallops and risotto. yuum.

The best apple fritters on the planet reside at the Castle Pines Country Club. Our family tries to make a trip to CO every summer. Summer's are filled with hiking, golf, sun, mountains, and FRITTERS.

Christmas 2004. We broke the traditional Christmas ham or turkey or roast and had my great grandmother's homemade spaghetti and meatball recipe. We all chipped in and helped make the meatballs beforehand. There is not a whole lot that compares to that Christmas meal.

Kanamwon. To say 'great Thai food' would be an understatement. This place is a paradox. There's not much in the way of ambience, it's understaffed, and in the worst location near Univ of Houston, but the green curry and tom kha gai are worth the drive. Before Ben, we had set up a fun tradition to skip out on Halloween with my aunt and uncle and go there.

I come from a family of wine drinkers. I love the stuff. It's in my blood. I have many awesome wine experiences, but there was something extra special about my first glass of wine post pregnancy. My dad saved a bottle of Abacus for the occasion. I think we had steak that night? But it was the wine that I remember.

Bob's Taco Station in Rosenberg tops my list for the best breakfast tacos on earth. Bob's was the 'cool' place to go before high school. Even though I wasn't really into cool, I loved me some Bob's.

Julie's chicken salad when I came home from the hospital, our freezer and fridge were full of homemade goodies from Julie and Gina. I swear, we were provided for so well during the first month that we brought Ben home. I don't think I had to go to the grocery store for a month. One simple meal made by my friend Julie was the most memorable. It was this delicious, chunky, rich chicken salad...on a croissant...heavenly. After we ran out of it after the first week, I have used her recipe to try to replicate it, but it's never the same. I probably make my own version of chicken salad every other week on average. It is so convenient. You just make it on Sunday, and eat on it for the rest of the week.

We have probably celebrated a combination of 20+ birthdays at Churasscos. The steak is one of a kind. The tres leches cake tops my list of all time favorite desserts as well.

Dos Brisas in Chapel Hill, TX. For my dad's 50th birthday, we spent the weekend at the ranch. He wanted a low key birthday with just family. I think he reiterated this request throughout the entire year to make absolutely sure that my mom wasn't planning anything extravagant. He got his way in that it was just family, but Dos Brisos is nothing less than extravagant. It is one of the few Forbes 5 Star restaurants in the United States. Dos Brisas is seated in the TX hill country on a small 300 acre ranch. For a hefty price, guests can stay at one of the lovely casitas and enjoy horseback riding or fly fishing. All the herbs and vegetables are grown at the "Inn's own organic garden, seasonal produce from the farm, and naturally produced ingredients are transformed into culinary masterpieces." This was one of the best meals I have ever had and a perfect way to celebrate my dad's remarkable life.

Serendipity, NYC. Have you seen the movie Serendipity? The ice cream shop where they share that giant milk shake also called Serendipity has been around since the 50's. My mom and I took a girls' vacation to NYC after I graduated college. ONe of the more memorable stops was this quaint little restraurant off the beaten path. We were greeted at the door by the owner himself who signed the Serendipity cookbook himself. I ordered the famous frozen hot chocolate and at was simply serendipitous!!

Le Cirque, Las Vegas. I am not much for gambling, high dollar shopping, or an entire lobby of greedy people, but Las Vegas is a city full of GREAT chefs and entertainers. My most recent trip to Vegas was with my mom and grandmother. You can imagine the wild times! Within the Bellagio, there is a small restaurant decorated like an elegant circus tent (if you can imagine). The Bellagio hosts Cirque du Soleil's 'O'. I had the best scallops I have ever had there.

Ray's Country Gourmet, Fulshear TX. Small town feel meets big city dining. I just made that...sounds pretty good. Seriously though. We are so fortunate to have this amazing restaurant in our backyard. I'm pretty sure I would love everything o the menu. They change the menu to match the seasons and all the produce is locally grown. When I was pregnat, sea food of any kind repulsed me. This was very disturbing given the fact that prior to my pregnancy I loved sea food. When Ben was about 2 months old, we went down to Ray's and they had a special feature for the evening: sea bass. The description was alluring, so I gave it a try...my first taste of fish in close to a year. Let me just say, I cleaned my plate. It was buttery and delicious. It was served with potatoes and leeks and spinach with this sauce...OH THE SAUCE was too yummy for words. I will never forget it because that meal got me back on a much needed sea food kick. I haven't looked back.

This list was condensed like 5 times to only include the best of the best. I love trying new places and new foods. All this talk of food is making me hungry...Chao!

Happy eating everyone!

things to inspire

Iv'e got my eyes on you (no Jessica Simpson reference intended)...


If money were no option: Tesla Model S
Last weekend, I attended a real estate continuing education class called "Prospering with Trends and Strategies." After 6 hours of Legal and Ethics, we spent the remaining 9 hours of the class searching youtube, discussing trends such as electric cars and GREEN. All great stuff, but I get a little antsy sitting at a desk listening to a bunch of realtors talk about how they are tweeting and using facebook and youtube to further their career. This was a bit irritating because 1: I am young and pretty in the know, so yes, I am well aware of how social media can change your life. 2. It is hard for me to listen to ME MONSTERS jab about how well informed they are. But alas, I was turned on to THIS, and frankly I think it is great and interesting and yea, GO GREEN!

Pie Pops - More DIY How To Projects
yummy treats on a stick...pie pops are the perfect fit! I will be making these delectables this season for sure.

Attention close friends. As you may recall, I had been trying to find a particular piece of art that I saw somewhere in another time that was just a bunch of circles. Some of you suggested that it sounded easy enough, just paint it yourself. The only problem was, I didn't have a picture to go by. Well, the day has come. Bless you etsy.com. I found what I was looking for and it has inspired me to pick up a paint brush.
Find "happiness on a saturday morning" here

In and Out Burger
Hi my name is Laura and I love a good hamburger. Why oh why can't this snobby hamburger chain expand east? I think if I had the opportunity to buy into any franchise, this would be IT. I have only tasted this hamburger perfection on two occasions, and this may be why it reigns supreme in my mind: it's untouchable.

In 43 days I will be here. We are packing up all the gear and traveling to my favorite spot on earth, Grand Cayman. My family has been visiting Cayman since I was a little girl. It is beautiful, quaint (atleast last time I checked), and extremely nostalgic. The last time I was there, I was engaged. It will be neat being there again sipping a Pina Colada on the beach with my husband AND child less than 3 years later.