Christmas in MD

We have a Christmas frame that we put away with the decorations each year and we've decided to put a new picture of Noah in there each year. Check it out!! :-) I can't believe how much he's grown over the past three years!



Okay, I've been putting off this blog update because it's so overwhelming - we have way too many pictures and did so much! Here we go!!

Tuesday - We left Raleigh in the morning... arriving in MD around 3-ish. Once there, we just relaxed. My mom made a great dinner - chicken pie, cooked apples, and salad! Yum!

Wednesday (Christmas Eve) - in the morning, we just relaxed again and enjoyed a nice fire.

Nuzzling noses with Mommy

After Noah's nap, we went down the street to my friend Julie's mom's house to visit her and her family. We fed Noah an early dinner and then got him bathed and ready for bed early. Around 6:30, we headed out to the Symphony of Lights in Columbia. I'd never been through it before... it was pretty cute. Noah actually seemed pretty interested and liked waving to all the characters.

Getting ready to go to the light show in his new PJs
(compliments of Grammy and Papa)

Noah unexpectedly stayed awake on the drive home, so when we got home, I read him 'The Night Before Christmas' and then put him to bed so that Santa could come!



After Noah went to bed, my parents, Waylon and I enjoyed a nice relaxing dinner (dining with Noah is rarely relaxing these days). We had crabcakes, twice baked potatoes, salad and bread. Yummy again!!

Thursday (Christmas) - Christmas morning was fun. When we got downstairs, Noah's train table (a gift from Grammy and Papa) was all set up and ready to go. Noah was very excited and loved playing with it! When Leah and Casey arrived, we had a great breakfast casserole and then the present opening began! Noah really got the hang of opening presents.

Coming down the stairs on Christmas morning

The train table!
Noah's reaction to the train set

Eh, I'll just take a break from playing and stand on my head for a bit.
Hat and mittens from Aunt Ditter!
Yay Christmas!!

That afternoon, we had our family friends over (my mom's family friend and her family - basically aunt/uncle/cousins). Noah was so worn out from all the morning activities that he slept for almost 4 hours that afternoon! He didn't wake up until after our company arrived. We had a full on Turkey dinner (think Thanksgiving) - yummy (are we noticing a theme here?)! :-)



Roz's (my mom's friend) mother brought those popper toy things and inside some of them were these wistle/horn things. They each had a number and if you played them in a certain order, you could play Christmas carols. We decided that we'd go to our neighbors house to 'carol' but they weren't home, so we ended up carolling to a car that was driving by and stopped to hear us!! :-) It was so funny.




Friday - In the morning, we went to the B&O train museum. Noah really loved that. My mom bought him a great hat and he really liked to wear it!



Friday evening, we went to visit our other family friends. We used to spend every Thanksgiving with them but since families are expanding and we share time now, we don't see them every year. So we decided to visit especially since one of their daughters, Laura, has 3 month old twins. It was fun to show off all the babies!




Afterwards, Leah came back with us and stayed until Sunday! It was so fun to have her there for so long!

Saturday - Saturday morning, we just played with toys and relaxed some more. Waylon was packing up and also helping my dad install his new TV!! Waylon left around noon and had a rough drive home with lots of traffic!

Playing with the TV box with Ditter

While Noah was napping, I went with Julie to visit our friend, Katie, who had just had a baby. It was so fun to catch up with her and meet her new baby girl Abbey. Unfortunately, I didn't think to pull out the camera until the very end of our visit when Abbey decided it was her lunchtime!! She's so sweet and I'm so happy for Katie and Jeff.




That afternoon, my mom, Leah, Noah and I went out shopping for a bit. Saturday night, my high school girlfriends came over for my dad's famous pizza (a tradition for us!). It was so fun to catch up with the girls. I love that we are all still very close.

Dad/Papa so tired - we wore him out!

Sunday - Another relaxing morning playing at the house. We went to get Mexican for lunch - check out Noah's messy face pic from the restaurant -


While Noah was napping, my mom, Leah, and I went shopping again. My mom decided she hadn't gotten Noah enough for Christmas, so she just had to buy him some more clothes! Man, this kid is deprived! :-) We ordered in dinner that night and Noah had an early bedtime - I think he was just about ready to be home.

Wearing Papa's boxers! :-)

Also on Sunday, Waylon left NC for Birmingham to go to the NC State bowl game with two of his friends. He just got back tonight (Tuesday) at 10:30!! The outcome of the game wasn't great but they had a good time, I think!

Monday - My parents came back home with us in order to get the train table back and to possibly babysit for New Years Eve. We left MD around 11:30 and got home around 5:00. Noah and I sat in the back and napped and watched a movie on their DVD player! That was fun.



Tuesday - This morning we had a doctor's appointment for Noah. His pink eye had cleared up, but the stye he'd been working on was not looking so great. We got another prescription and hope that works. This afternoon, I went to pick up Stella Dot from daycare since Amy and Grant have been having a rough time (see Stella Dot's blog!). Noah loved playing with her, since he hadn't had much child interaction over the past week or so.




Tonight, we went out for dinner and Noah scarfed down a bunch of pickle chips, two sliders and a bunch of green beans. His tummy was hard as a rock tonight!! :-)

Now it's time for bed!!
Hope you all had a great holiday and have a fabulous New Years as well!

Two Christmases down....

It has been a crazy week - even crazier than usual - but we are now fully in holiday mode! Last Sunday, I kinda flipped out realizing that I had so much to do. So last week was full of shopping, wrapping, doing Christmas cards, and making holiday treats. I was hoping to get it all done by Friday so we could just enjoy the weekend and we made it! Everything is done and we have been celebrating all weekend - now we are looking forward to continuing the celebration in MD this week.

First of all, I need to let you all know that I'm enjoying my Christmas present to myself right now! Waylon is at work, Noah is at school, and I'm on the couch with coffee! :-) My plan today is to do laundry and pack - but mostly just relax!

Noah had been fighting a cold and has had some goopy eyes - we took him to the pediatrician this week because of his eyes and they confirmed that he had pink eye. So we've been struggling with eye drops this week. They seem to have helped but now he has a sty or something to that effect. We are hoping it will clear up soon so we don't have to go back to the doctor.

One of the many errands Noah and I ran on Thursday was to get him new shoes. We have been so lucky to get so many hand-me-down shoes but Nana wanted to treat Noah for Christmas so we took a trip to Stride Rite. Noah was so cooperative and sweet at the store (he's still having 'moments' but it's getting better since he seems to be feeling better). We found the perfect pair - it's so fun to have NEW shoes! :-)



Our weekend started on Friday night with dinner at Red Robin with Frank, Janet, and Maddie. Dinner with two toddlers is always interesting! :-) We sat in a booth and it was Noah's first experience with a booster seat. Maddie and Noah both toppled to the side a few times but they were no worse for the wear! :-)

Saturday morning we took a trip to the mall while one of our cars was having some maintenance work done. Noah walked throughout the whole mall and played in the play area for a while. It was nice to just stroll through the mall instead of running around like mad people trying to finish shopping!

After Noah's nap, we packed up the car and headed over to Nana and Grandad's house for our first Christmas celebration! Let me just say, there is something special about a grandfather and a grandson, no?! Each grandfather has their 'thing' with Noah - with my dad it's playing 'tent' and with Waylon's dad, it's playing 'train' - this involves Noah wanting Dick to pull/push him around in ANYTHING. It's so cute to watch!

We had such a great time celebrating with two kids in the family now. Savannah wasn't too into the presents yet but was so happy and enjoyed the festivities, too. Noah is getting the hang of opening presents and LOVES all of his new toys. I think his favorite is the Little People garage - every time it's time to leave the house in the past few days, we've had to pry him away from it!

Pictures from Saturday afternoon -

This fire truck was Waylon's when he was little -
Waylon's dad cleaned it up and even waxed it for Noah!

Happy girl!
Grandad showing Noah how it works
Happy family
One of Waylon's favs -
Waylon's parents got Sidney Lowe to autograph the picture of the two of them together!
Grandaddy and his babies
(see how Noah is holding Savannah's hand?? - so sweet!)
Opening the Little People Garage
Grandad, Nana, Mickey, and Noah :-)
Playing train! - Noah has Grandaddy trained. :-)
Me and Savannah

Sunday morning, we got our other car worked on and went to Wal Mart to run some errands while we waited. Couldn't resist pulling out the camera for a few silly shots there! :-)

The hat said Miller Lite! :-)
Sunday afternoon we were back to Nana and Grandad's for a celebration with extended family. The attendees - Great Uncle Ronnie, Great Aunt Robin, and Cousin Justin, Great Uncle Royal, Great Aunt Danita, Cousin Megan and Cousin Cameron - and all of 'us' of course


Savannah in an adorable hat Megan gave to her
Sean, Savannah, Megan and Danita
Playing with some cool puzzle cards with Uncle Royal!
Wearing a homemade hat compliments of Uncle Sean
Savannah taking a break with Mom
After all the pushing and pulling on Saturday, Grandad went out to find something special for Noah - this is what he found! :-) Noah LOVEs it.

Checking under the hood before starting the engine.

This is so fun!!!

Noah wanted Grandad to read him a book before we left
(thanks to Megan and Cameron for the great book!)

So, it's been a crazy weekend and we get to start all the celebrations again soon! We leave on Tuesday for Maryland and will be there until Saturday (although Noah and I may stay a little longer, we'll see).

I'm not sure if I'll post again until after Christmas, so if not, we hope you all have a great holiday!