Well, as usual, I'm behind on posting here! I may be changing the format of this blog in 2013 because it's getting more and more difficult to keep up! But to finish out 2012 - here's the first post going back to Thanksgiving and up through mid-December...
We were so excited to meet Sukha-puppy (Leah and Bill's new baby) when we arrived at the lake for Thanksgiving weekend!! He brought along a friend, Belgium and Noah and Kylie were beside themselves all weekend playing with the dogs. I think Kylie enjoyed having someone or something to boss around!! :-)
 |
| Sweet Sukha |
Soon after we arrived, we took the dogs down to the beach area to swim - it was Sukha's first time and he wasn't quite sure. It was chilly but he did swim a little!
 |
| Sukha and Belgium |
 |
| Swimming! |
 |
| Leah painted Kylie's nails - and all the girls painted theirs purple actually! |
 |
| Sweet Kylie-girl |
 |
| Kylie-girl and Sukha-puppy |
Thanksgiving morning, as Papa got the turkey ready, Noah ate meat off the turkey neck. YUCK!!!!!
We had a lazy morning and Kylie and I rested while Noah and Daddy watched Star Wars for the first time together.
 |
| Sukha took a rest before dinner also! |
 |
| Quite the spread!!! |
 |
| Belgium is such a sweet thing - he put up with so much! |
 |
| Silly Noah |
On Friday, Waylon came back to Raleigh for a basketball and football game and the rest of us went to Roanoke Rapids to take a walk and work off some of the turkey dinner. It was such a nice fall day and we had a great time.
 |
| Getting ready for our walk |
 |
| After the walk, we went to a little playground to let the kids play |
On Saturday, more swimming for the puppy dogs...
 |
| Belgium LOVES the water |
 |
| So cute! |
|
 |
| Hugs for Aunt Leah... |
 |
| ... and Uncle Bill |
 |
| Noah snuggles for Sukha |
The kids and I came home on Saturday evening and Sunday, we got the house decorated for Christmas! I was motivated to get it ready in time for me to host our monthly Bunco group that following Friday. It was so fun and the house looked great.
The next several pictures are just some random ones from early December that I thought were cute...
 |
| At Yolo, one of the kids' favorite places - and obviously they are pretty comfortable there! :-) |
 |
| A dinner out with the Sharpes and Nana and Grandad - so sweet. |
 |
| Dancing - so sweet! |
 |
| Kylie insisted on sleeping in this - even though it was a cold night - I thought she looked a little redneck-y here. :-) |
 |
| Cuties! |
December 1st was Sam's first birthday - I can't believe it's been a year already! Jennie and Cory had a great birthday party for him...
 |
| Fun times!! |
 |
| The Hopkins family - so sweet |
 |
| Sam was not a fan of getting dirty! :-) |
That Sunday was my company Christmas party. Santa always comes to visit so this was the kids' one and only visit with him. Kylie was not a fan. As I mentioned in the last post, she'd been having a very tough time with sleeping - and really just in general. So I think she was also a little nervous about what he thought of her, too. :-)
 |
| Noah was so excited to tell him that he wanted a DS and Bey Blades |
 |
| So happy! |
 |
| Like I said, Kylie - not so much :-) |
We forgot though that she had colored a picture for Santa before we came so she decided she wanted to go up and try again. She did better but still didn't want to get too close...
Oh and by the way, I bought her the cutest red Christmas dress to wear but she refused and insisted on this purple summer dress that was too small!! :-)
That night, Elphie showed up at our house - our 'Elf on the Shelf'. She flies back to Santa in the night to tell him how the kids behaved that day - and each morning, she's in a different place in the house. We thought maybe it would help with the behavior in the house - not sure how much it really helped but they had a blast looking for her every morning!
Noah was invited to a birthday party at a place called Polka Dot Palette. A teacher gave detailed instructions on how to paint a picture there (they got to choose a football or soccer ball). He LOVED it and did such a great job!
 |
| Pretty impressive, I think! His great-grandfather would be so proud! |
 |
| Look at the joy on that face - they were singing Happy Birthday here. |
 |
| The group |
Josh and Anise also came to visit that week and the kids were thrilled to play with Josh! :-)
We went to pick out our tree that following weekend and we ended up getting it all ready and decorated also that morning.
 |
| This is the one! |
 |
| The first ornament |
 |
| And the second ornament |
 |
| The final product |
That afternoon, Waylon took the kids to his parents' house and I took a huge carload of donations to the Salvation Army for kids in need for the holiday I organized donations from our neighborhood and we ended up 'adopting' 53 kids!!
The kids stayed overnight with Nana and Grandad that night while we went to two different Christmas parties - the first one was at Andrea and Sean's house and then the second was in our neighborhood. So much fun!!
The next day was our annual Disney on Ice show with Nana, Grandad and Savannah and family. We had such a great time as always!! Great seats too this year!
That following week, Noah finally lost his first tooth!! It's been loose forever, it seems. I remember that I first noticed that it was loose at the pool so it's been at least 3-4 months! Crazy. He lost it at school and accidentally swallowed it! :-) I think he was a little disappointed at first but he seemed okay with it by the time he got off the bus in the afternoon.
We wrote a note to the tooth fairy explaining the situation. :-)
And in the morning, he got $5 and a note back from the tooth fairy....
We also got to visit Tucker for the first time in early December. Megan and Dave's first little boy was born 7 weeks early and came home after about 2 weeks in the NICU. Noah and Kylie were so happy to finally visit him! And we were also!
 |
| Check out that sweet face! |
 |
| Elphie got into the candy one night. |
We had another neighborhood party to go to - this one was supposed to be an 'Ugly Sweater Party' but we took it a step farther and went with PJs. It was fun and we actually won the prize for the ugliest outfit!! :-)
 |
| Kylie and all of her stuff she has to sleep with |
The next night, Waylon had plans to go to a basketball game and at the last minute, I decided to join some other neighbors and take the kids to the Lights on the Neuse - a light show in Clayton. It was a long drive but we piled in with the Rodriguez family and all went together. It was a late night for the kids but we had a good time!
 |
| On the hay ride with a new neighbor, Juana |
 |
| Me and my Kylie girl |
 |
| Our whole crew on the hay ride! I think there were 26 of us! |
 |
| Hot chocolate after the ride |
Trying to get a picture of me with the kids - I think I like the outtake better. :-)
That Sunday, the 16th, we had our annual gathering with the Pergerson side of the family.
 |
| I finally got a Christmas dress that she would actually wear. :-) |
We were so happy to finally meet Sterling - Lily Kate's little brother. He was born several weeks early also but is doing well and is so sweet.
 |
| The 'big' kids - so sweet! |
 |
| And silly cousins, too! |
Just before we left for the party, Noah brushed his teeth and his second bottom tooth got really loose - like, hanging out-loose. I think he was so nervous to swallow this one, too so he just kept his mouth open and was trying to wiggle it loose for several hours. Finally, I took him upstairs and pulled it out for him!! :-) He wasn't thrilled that I did it but was so happy when it came out.
 |
| Noah got sad about giving up his tooth so we had to write yet another letter to the tooth fairy!! :-) |
The Christmas update will be next - we had a great one and are looking forward to a fabulous 2013!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
