Christmas Eve!

This year we were the hosts for my mom's family's Christmas party on Christmas Eve. We were so excited about having all of our family in our new home. We had lots of good food, good conversations and fun w/ Dirty Santa(or white elephant, whatever you call it).

Good Conversation around the food table between: Sharon, Ken, Eva, John S(behind Alan) and Alan.

Partakers of the food table: Jay, Janelle, Nikki, Christian, Uncle Jack and Kathy.

"The Sisters" minus Kathy : Aunt Sue, Aunt Faye and Momma

My cousin Jay and his lovely wife Janelle who travelled all the way from CT. We were fortunate to have them with us and were thankful for Janelle showing us the latest fashion trend: massive hair bows, haha!!

Joy and Jill. I still wonder.....did Jill and I get switched?? They look just like sisters!The young set of cousins: Starting at bottom- Phoebe, Carman, Allie, Josh, Connor, Luke, Jack, Will and Nikki. Purty Youngin's!!

The older set of cousins: Starting at the bottom - Joy, Jill, me, John and Jay. I love this picture b/c John is half way smiling!!

The entire crowd (minus Alan and Sharon-the photographers) : barely visible Jay, Janelle and Uncle Jack!

Mommy/Daughter Baking

I do not know where my kids got their love for being in the kitchen and trying to cook. They sure did not get it from me. For that reason, I try not to discourage this behavior. I got some mommy and me aprons for Christmas this year and Carman loved them. Luke got a Santa one but he was easily distracted and left the kitchen before I could take a picture.

Mommy and Me aprons!

Miss Chef Boyardee!!

8 Things

Rules:

1. Post rules on your blog.

2. Answer the 6 "8" items.

3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment.

8 Favorite Shows

1. Lost

2. The Office

3. Jon & Kate Plus 8

4. Dancing with the Stars

5. Grey's Anatomy

6. American Idol

7. Lipstick Jungle (and it is getting cancelled)

8. Heroes

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Cleaned 2.5 bathrooms

2. Went last minute grocery shopping for party

3. 2 Loads of Laundry

4. Worked at Day Care for my sister

5. Made oreo truffles for party

6. Decorated house w/ fresh holly for party

7. Had momma over for supper

8. Took a break and looked at blogs!

8 Things I Look Forward To

1. Tomorrow morning when the kids wake up to see what Santa brought them!

2. Our Disney Cruise

3. Christian graduating from graduate school! (that will be a while)

4. Getting unsolicited "i love you mommy" from my kids

5. Date night w/ my husband!

6. Girls Nights Out!

7. New Shoes/Purses!!

8. A good meal that I don't have to cook!

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Cheesecake Factory

2. Longhorn

3. Olive Gardens

4. Panera Bread

5. Cracker Barrel

6. Los Charros

7. Fresh Seafood from any Beaufort waterfront restaurant

8. University Chophouse

8 Things on my Wish List

1. Kids to be happy!

2. Kids to remain healthy!

3. Kids to choose the right!

4. Kids to get a good education!

5. Christian to advance in his career.

6. To get pregnant sometime in 2009 but lose a few lb.s before that!

7. A pair of Jimmy Choos

8. A Coach bag!

8 People to Tag

1. Charlotte Later

2. Regina Wait

3. Gloria Rowe

4. Kara Thayn

5. Emily Stinson

6. Kelly Rowe

7. Ami Jackson

8. Ashley Anderson

Noteworthy

I had to post this story about Luke so that I don't forget it.
Last week we went to the mailbox and we received a Christmas card from my good friend Jody and she has a little girl named Sarah. I opened the card with the kids at my side and as I opened it I said "Ohhhh, Sarah is so cute!" b/c there was a picture of Jody's daughter Sarah on the front of the card.
Luke then said "let me see"
After handing him the card, he looked at it and said "Oh look it's Sarah Palin!"
It made me laugh so hard. Granted he knows Sarah but he has obviously picked up on the election coverage that we frequently watched during October and November. I guess he is a natural born Republican!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Christmas is upon us and I am enjoying all the joys of the season!
We started last week with a party on Thursday night with the ECU College of Business. It was at the Hilton and they had a very nice meal for us. After the party Christian noted that he doesn't think he wants to be a professor. Even though I am one, I must say.... it is a different crowd than a typical work party.
That same weekend was our Christmas party at church. It was very nice and lots of good food. Too bad that during the nativity re-enactment Luke kept saying "when is this going to be over? I am ready to play basketball." Well... he got it honest... the boy is Christian's son and sports run through his veins. Might I add that after the party, he was shooting hoops and did very good for a 4 year old. Carman was completely occupied during the party b/c Tommy and Allison sat with us and they had the babies with them. Carman tried to make sure that they had a pacifier in their mouth the entire night!



Luke, Jack & Carman before the Church Christmas party! (Jack spent the afternoon w/ us and went with us to the party. He was very proud of the rabbit ears)
Another before the party picture. I like how this one shows the tree in the background. Do you notice how all the ornaments are at one level? Can you tell that I let the kids decorate it? (they had so much fun and were so proud that I couldn't change it)

So.... tonight for FHE we decided to go and see Santa. All day Luke kept telling me "He is not at the mall.... he is at the North Pole." Despite my attempts to explain the situation, he persisted. He gets his hard head from me. So we made the trek to the Greenville Mall. We were unsure about how Carman was going to handle it b/c if you saw the pictures from last year you know that it didn't go too well. Carman is very timid. My girl is even scared of seagulls on the beach. But...... she did soooooo good tonight. She kept saying all day "I am going to shake Santa's hand." Well she did more than that.... she sat on his lap and told him that she wanted Dora. I was so proud of her. Of course Luke did well. As a matter of fact, in the pictures he looks quite relaxed in Santa's lap. He was a very friendly Santa!

Waiting their turn. I love how Luke's head is tilted in this shot.

They did such a good job!

Update on Carman's potty training.... the past couple of days we have revisited potty training and today she only had 1 accident. She even told me on 3 occasions that she had to potty and when I took her she did it. I have been beyond excited w/ her progress today. Maybe by Christmas she will be decently trained. That would be a great gift to her mommy!!

Photo Tag

Here are the rules:

1. choose the 4th picture folder on your computer

2. choose the 4th picture

3. explain the picture

4. tag at least 4 people to do the same

This picture is of Luke at 6 months old. Most of the pictures on my computer are of my children, b/c I hope to capture every single moment that I can, b/c I tend to forget what I had for breakfast, much less what my kids did 4 years ago. I do remember that Luke loved this exersaucer. His favorite thing to do was to gnaw on the green and blue attachment that sticks up. I can still hear him bouncing in that exersaucer. Sweet memories!! Thanks for tagging me Ami!!

I tag....

Leah

Alisha

Lauren

Colette

and whoever else would like to do it.... It is one of the better tags!!