Christmas 2012

Things were a bit different for us this Christmas. Being that the holiday fell a week before my due date, my goal was just to keep things simple and enjoy these last weeks/days as a family of 3. I think this was probably one of the only times we've not traveled back to Virginia to see our families.

Eli enjoyed making/eating some Rudolph pancakes with friends.

He also helped me to make some "Ginger-men" cookies to munch on around here. We made some trees and stars too. (Sorry, there are no pictures of this, as our hands were covered in flour and dough most of the time!)

On Christmas Eve we attended our church's earlier kid-friendly service. Eli loved singing the carols and helping his Daddy hold the lit candle at the end.

Before going to bed that night, we left some gingerbread cookies, hot chocolate, and some carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. (Eli told us the next morning that he heard them on our roof that night!)

On Christmas morning, we sang happy birthday to Baby Jesus and had a tiny bit of milk and cake before presents.

Eli was also very excited to read Santa's note on Christmas morning and insisted on finishing-up the cookie crumbs that were left behind.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the presents Santa had left and each others company. Mark's parents were able to join us late Christmas Eve through the evening of Christmas day and Eli loved all of the extra attention and spoiling.

Eli was thrilled with his new trash truck and collected "trash" the entire day. Seriously. One might wonder if he has a future career in sanitation. ;-)

Things were for sure quieter this year but still very good. Being forced to take things slower this year really gave us more time to reflect on the true meaning of the Christmas Season and share in our excitement of Christ's birth with our firstborn son. For that I am truly thankful!

Santa Visit!

Eli had his last day of school before Christmas Break this past Tuesday. The kiddos put on a cute performance for all of the families to enjoy, complete with singing and a brief re-enactment of the nativity story. Let's just say, that the days leading up to his performance, Mark and I heard a LOT of "Away in the Manger." Eli sang his little heart out during all of the songs and afterwards we enjoyed some Christmas treats. However, I think the highlight for Eli was the surprise visit from Santa. He was thrilled to meet him and tell him what he wanted for Christmas.

Singing Away!

Eli stood up and yelled "Hi Santa!" when he walked by the kids. It was awesome!

Daddy was able to sneak away from work to join us!

Ready to hop onto Santa's lap!

Talking Santa's ear off!

Eli still won't tell us what Santa whispered to him!

Showered Again!

On the afternoon of December 2nd, baby boy #2 was showered with love yet again! I have been so blessed by many sweet friendships over the past 7 1/2 years of living here in North Carolina and the shower was such a fun reminder of this.

Every detail was perfect, from the decor to the food. I loved having a Christmas-themed baby shower!

And one of the highlights of our time together...stick Baby Jesus to the manger. So funny!

My mom was able to join us to celebrate, too! Sadly, this was the only picture I got of her. Sorry Mom! You know I love you!

And the best part was I got to celebrate baby boy #2 with all of these Godly women. So blessed!

My 2 fabulous hostesses, Ashley and Cheryl, totally spoiled me (and baby boy). So thankful for such wonderful friends who love on me so well!

December is Here!

We started off the month of December with some fun stuff!

Eli got to spend some time with his cousins, Uncle Rick, Aunt Heather, and Grandma and Granddaddy at the Life and Science Museum.

Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a 24-hour Baby-moon in Raleigh. We were able to get some Christmas shopping done, watch a movie in an actual theater, and eat dinner at a nice restaurant. Oh and SLEEP IN! It was SO nice to spend some quality one-on-one time with each other.

This was the view from our hotel room. Loved the huge Christmas tree!

We also finished decorating for Christmas. Eli was very excited to help this year!

He set-up this nativity and said everyone was looking at Baby Jesus. Made sense to me!

We celebrated my 32nd birthday on the 7th too! It was a pretty laid-back day (Mark had to work) but I enjoyed spending time with my boys that evening. They even made me a yummy carrot cake from scratch! I think that was Eli's favorite part!

Surprise Baby Shower

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my sister, sister-in-law Brittney, and mom surprised me with a shower for our newest little guy. Being pregnant for the 2nd time and with the same gender as our 1st, I really wasn't expecting to be "showered" this time around. We already had most everything we needed from when Eli was a little guy, but I guess they had other plans!

We had chocolate and cheese fondue, cupcakes, and cocoa-flavored rice-krispie-treats. Everything was delicious! (I may or may not have had a somewhat minor obsession with cocoa-krispies this pregnancy)

Our newest little guy was completely spoiled by my family and friends. I had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and felt so blessed by such a fun surprise!

(Sadly, I didn't realize until the next day that I never got a picture with my 3 hostesses. Sorry Mom, Erin, and Britt!)

Oh and Eli and Mark stopped by afterwards for a quick hello and to sample some of the party food. My boys do love them some baked goods!

Finishing-Up November

The month of November was definitely a whirlwind for us. Between birthday parties, school events, Thanksgiving travels, and preparations for baby #2, there was no lack of things to do. Here are some of the highlights of the rest of our November:

We moved Eli to his new "Big-Boy Room" (our old guest room) the weekend before Thanksgiving. These pictures were taken after his last nap in his old crib. He had no idea that his bed was about to be turned back into a crib for baby brother. That realization happened later that evening and some tears were shed. However, all was well after Dada built him a sweet mini-train-track on the floor next to his bed and he slept in his new room that evening like a champ.

The Monday evening before we were to travel to Virginia for Thanksgiving, Eli caught a pretty nasty stomach bug. That was no fun.

Thankfully, he was feeling well enough to travel by Wednesday, so we headed to Virginia that afternoon. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family this year and got to do lots of fun stuff while we were there. Eli loved watching the Macy's Day Parade but wasn't all that into the Thanksgiving meal, except for the Turkey cupcake he ate for dessert. There is always room for a cupcake! I think his tummy was still a little sensitive from being sick earlier that week. No worries, Mark and I enjoyed all of the yummy food and then some!

The weather was gorgeous while we were in VA, so we spent quite a bit of time outside. Eli loved it when Mark would toss him into the leaf piles outside of my parent's house.

The guys visited the Air and Space Museum one morning too!

We met-up for a quick visit with Gram and Grandpa the Sunday before heading back home. I did not get any pictures while we were together but all I can say is that Eli was worn-out that evening. He fell asleep on the car ride back to my parent's house and didn't wake-up the rest of the night. Not even to eat some dinner! That NEVER happens!

We had a wonderful visit with family and enjoyed our last real trip as a family of 3. So crazy to say that!

During the final week of November, things were thankfully a bit slower as we got back into our normal swing-of-things.

Eli loved showing-off his sweet new Batman hoodie from Grandma. This was a big-brother gift from a surprise baby shower that was held for me while we were in Virginia. More on that later.

I worked my last volunteer day at his school (before baby arrives) on Thursday. Spending 4 hours wrangling 10 2/3-year-olds is exhausting but I must admit they are pretty funny! Eli always enjoys visiting his parking-lot "friends" when we get a chance.

My boys hung our outside Christmas lights. Well, technically Mark and I hung them while Eli napped, but he did get to climb our ladder a couple times. He is all about helping these days because he's a "big boy," but sometimes certain tasks are just easier (and more safe) to do on our own. Maybe next year he'll be able to help a bit more. We shall see!

So that was our November. On to my favorite month of the year...December!