Tis' the Season.

Tis' the season.
We started off the holiday season with a tree hunt.  So much fun with both kiddos this year!  We went to the local tree farm with Grandpa and Grandma Chakos!   We both had great success finding the perfect trees!

"I want this one!"

 Found our tree!

 Ellee & Grandma Katie

 Grandpa & Grandma's tree!

Christmas this year was very low-key and relaxing.  We had so much fun spending this holiday with our families!
Christmas Eve was spent with my Mom, Greg, Sarah and Greg's son and his wife.
I had to work in the morning, so after I got off we headed over to my Mom and Greg's for brunch.  The kiddos had so much fun opening their gifts from their Grandmom and Grandpa.  And their Auntie Sarah!  They truly got spoiled!  Shayne and got very spoiled ourselves.  Mom and Greg gave us a 2 night stay at a World Mark Resort.  We chose to take a mini trip to Seaside, OR in March.  The trip also included babysitting!  So we are looking forward to a little alone time! :)

Christmas morning we got to sleep in.  I have a feeling that next year that may not be the case! ;-)  Ellee was very excited to see all the gifts under the tree!
After the kiddos opened their gifts from Santa we headed over to Shayne's parents where we all got spoiled again!  The kiddos got lots of fun toys and clothes.  And we got some pretty awesome gifts too!  We are so blessed to have amazing families!  We had so much fun with them and enjoyed a yummy eggs benedict breakfast!
Here is Ellee and Tucker in front of our tree:

There are so many fun photos to share that I will just have you click HERE to see them all! :)
{I still have yet to upload photos from Christmas Eve, stay tuned for those!}

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope all ya'll did also! :)

rewinding a bit.

I just realized I didn't post anything about Thanksgiving 2011!  So, before I post about Christmas (super late of course, cause that's how I roll, LOL!)  I thought I had better get some Thanksgiving pics up!

My sister Emily, her husband Jason and their new, sweet little addition Hadley Lane came to visit for Thanksgiving!  We had so much fun and little miss Hadley had gotten so big since I had seen her last in October! (will post some pics of our trip later!).
Emily and Hadley were able to spend the week before Thanksgiving with us and Jason flew in the day before and they all stayed until the following week!  Was so much fun having them in town and being able to spend time together!

Here is the photo re-cap of Thanksgiving Day!

Isn't Miss Hadley just the sweetest thing you've ever seen?!!

Grandpa Greg and Little Miss Hadley

 Uncle J with all the kiddos!

 They always have so much fun with him! :)

 Turkey Hand Pumpkin Pies!

 Tucker's Turkey Hands

 Ellee's Turkey Hands

ellee's "tandy" house

I was in Costco with my Mom last week and they had their Ginger Bread Houses out!  I had to snag one.  This is the first year that Ellee is old enough to do stuff like this!  So much fun!
Last Thursday after we saw Santa, I brought the Ginger Bread House out for her to decorate.  She got so excited when she saw all the candy!  She spent a good hour and a half decorating.  And of course half of it ended up getting eaten before it even made it onto the house! Best ten bucks I've spent in a while! :)  Here are some snapshots of the decorating process!

 decorating "tandy" houses take so much concentration!

 so proud of her finished house!

forever behind update.

I feel like I am forever behind on posting to our blog.  But, it's okay.  I used to stress myself out about it, but lately I have felt okay about it.  I have a toddler, a baby on the way and I work full time!  I've come to realize that sometimes I just don't have time. : )

So, here are the events of the past month and a half!!  We have been busy! : )

(February 12, 2011)
Ellee loves the outdoors!  Especially when it's spending time with her Daddy!  She is a true Daddy's girl! 
For some reason Shayne was outside in the freezing cold rain and Ellee wanted so desperately to be out with him!  So we bundled her up in her raincoat and rain boots and sent her out for a wheelbarrow ride! : )

She spent a good 20-30 minutes out riding in the wheelbarrow!

And Charlie had fun following them around! : )

 "Hi Mom!"

 Knock Knock, "Mom, I'm ready to come in now!!"

 Let's just say Ellee got lots of use out of her 1st pair of rain boots this year!

(February 14, 2011)

Ellee on "love day"
Trying to get a good photo of her is kinda hard these days!  She has a mind of her own!  So this is the best I could do, LOL! : )

 Valentine's Day Oreo Cookie!

Ellee refusing to look at the camera.



(February 22, 2011)

Now that I am almost 29 weeks pregnant with Mr. Tucker, I guess I should share my 24 week prego pic!

(March 4, 2011)

Ellee has discovered she likes the window sill in our living room.  She is so funny, she will climb right up into it all by herself.  She is become quite the little adventurer!

(March 6, 2011)

My 2 Aunts and Uncle live about a hour North of us.  We thought it was time to go visit!!! Especially because Emily was in town!  We don't get up there enough to visit and I wish that wasn't the case!!  I love spending time with them and Ellee seems to also!  We had a blast catching up!

Ellee was supposed to take a nap while we were on our way up there, but that didn't happen!  So shortly after we had lunch she was out for the count!  Good thing she has always been a good sleeper and will pretty much nap anywhere!! : )

 Auntie Sharon, Me, Ellee, Auntie Marylin and Emily

 Auntie Sharon, Sarah, Me, Ellee, Auntie Marylin and Emily

(March 14, 2011)

My Mom and Greg took a 3 week trip to New Zealand this past month.  Since my Mom was gone my sister watched her for the 1st week and a half, but Ellee got to stay with me at work the 2nd week and a half.  It was challenging to have her there the whole time and let me say, I am thankful my Mom is able to take her for the majority of the time!  It was fun to have her though and the girls at work really enjoy her!

My co-workers enjoy Ellee so much that they are constantly bringing her treats! My co-worker Amy got her this outfit!  I love this color on Ellee!!

 (March 16, 2011)

Another day at the GAPP house

 Trip to Target, Ellee's favorite place to ride!

 Avoiding the camera again!

(March 17, 2011)

St. Patrick's Day is so much more fun now that we have Ellee!  We really got into it this year!  I made her a shirt and leg warmers to wear on this fun filled day of green! : )

Fabrics I used for Ellee's shirt!

(Picture quality isn't the best because I took it with the camera on my phone.)

 Finished shirt and leg warmers.  At Target they were selling knee high socks for adults so I got the idea to turn them into leg warmers!  It was super easy!  I just chopped of the foot part and took some of the extra material and sewed it to the bottom of the leg warmers!

Adult Knee High Socks + Sewing machine = Toddler Leg Warmers!! : )

 Ellee's handmade hair bow!

 GREEN pancake batter...

 equals SHAMROCK pancakes!!! : )

 St. Patty's Day wouldn't be complete with out GREEN fingernails!!

 Here are some of my favorite shots of Ellee in her shirt!  I found a cute skirt at the local consignment store to complete her outfit! : )

Mommy and Ellee (I'm 27 weeks & 2 days here!)

You can find all the rest of the photos HERE!  You can also see how cute she was last year!! : )

(March 22, 2011)

Here is Miss Ellee "helping" Daddy rake on one of the rare nice days we have had! : )

Well, I guess that about wraps it up!  I told you we have been busy!! : )  I have a few fun videos that I want to post, but those will have to be later. : )