Goodbye 2012

The morning after Christmas, Waylon had to work so the kids and I spent it relaxing, playing and finding all the new toys a home.

Good times  :-)

We decided we needed to get out of the house so we met the Rodriguez' out for lunch.  Conrad and Cari-Anne had to run some errands so I offered to bring the boys back to our house to play while they got some things done.  The boys had fun - not quite sure about Kylie though - she was trying to play with them but they were having none of her 'girlie' games.  :-)  It was funny and she dealt with it okay but we all felt a little bad for her.  They ended up staying for pizza too so that was a fun, laid back night.

Thursday was a treat for everyone - and a little break from each other.  :-)  I had to 'work' (it ended up being a pretty laid back day but we did get some things done) and so did Waylon so Kylie had a special day with Nana and Grandad and Noah had a special day with Andrea and Savannah.  They all went to museums but different ones.  They both really enjoyed their time and we topped off the night with Mexican with Nana and Grandaddy!

I was supposed to work that Friday and Monday but since our CEO gave us extra time off, I didn't have to go in so that was a nice surprise.  We had yet another lazy morning with a quick trip to Target for me and the kids.  When we got back, we got ready and took off to see Steven, Kate and Samantha (Lily was sleeping so we missed seeing her this time!) who were staying with Steven's parents in Garner.  Always good to see Mr. and Mrs. Weaver also - we all think Mrs. Weaver is the baby/kid whisperer!  Kids just flock to her and Noah and Kylie were no exception.  I can't believe we didn't get any pictures but it was a short visit.

After we left there, we headed to Fuquay Varina to have dinner with a big group of friends to celebrate Josh's birthday.  We all had an early dinner and then the guys stayed for a bit at the bar while the girls and kids went back to Jennie and Corrie's house to play.  This picture is actually pretty amusing considering we all used to do Friday night happy hours almost every week (years ago) but the scene these days is MUCH different than it was then!!  :-)

There are 8 kids in this shot even though you can't see them all

So good to see Tucker again although I missed an opportunity to hold him (I was coming down with a cold and he's so teeny still).  :-(

Sunday morning, we got to go meet yet another cousin puppy!!!!!  Andrea and Sean decided to surprise Savannah on Christmas eve with the news that they were going to be getting a puppy!  They got to bring him home a few days after Christmas so we just had to go meet him.  Savannah decided to name him Flynn Rider (after the hero in Tangled) and he is such a sweet little thing.  The kids LOVED him!!

(it was also the day of the Redskins/Cowboys game so we were a Redskins family that day!)

Sweet Flynn

Ready to watch the game (well after they went to bed anyway - it was a late one that night)  :-)

Monday was another special day for all of us.  It was (again) a day I thought I was going to work and Kylie was going to go to school but we all ended up staying home.  We figured it was best to break up the troops again that day so Waylon and Noah went bowling while Kylie and I went to get a mani/pedi together!!  I wasn't really sure how she'd do with it since she's so shy but she was just beside herself.  It was so adorable to watch.  She sat so still and kept giving me this little grin that was adorable - I kept trying to capture it on camera but every time I lifted it up, she'd say 'CHEESE!'  (we have them trained well).  :-)

Guess what color she chose!?  PURPLE of course!

She didn't have much patience for the drying step but really, who does??

That night was New Year's Eve and we were invited to a family friendly party at a neighbors house.  The kids were to come in PJs and were going to watch movies/play/sleep upstairs - whatever they wanted - while the adults had a party downstairs.  The party didn't start until 8 and at 6, the kids started asking if we could go yet!!  HAHA.

We were unsure how well it would go - if either of them would actually sleep there or want to stay up or what - but we couldn't have asked for it to have gone any better than it did!  Noah ended up staying up until we left (which ended up being close to 1am!) and Kylie asked to go to bed at 10:30 and went down easily in their guest room bed.  They were (obviously) exhausted the next day but I think it was worth it.  They both had fun and thought it was the coolest thing.

Before leaving the house, Kylie and I were being silly with my camera....

Boys in the 'hood  :-)

Noah filled this out at the party  :-)

Self portrait (one of the only ways I get pictures of myself)  :-)

Noah and Addy just before New Years!

Just before the ball dropped

Watching the ball drop in NYC and the acorn drop in Raleigh (I know, weird)  :-)

Afterwards, Jake, Han and Addy entertained us with the Gangham style dance.  So silly!

 (and Kylie slept soundly through all of this!!)

more DS time  :-)

Noah and Jake just before we left - they are pretty wide eyed for 12:30 am!!

The next morning, Noah was practically beside himself he was so tired.  They both still woke up at 7:30 and they both (in particular Noah) were really whiny and red-eyed (Waylon and I probably were, too!!).  So at 11:30, Noah and I laid down together and Waylon and Kylie laid down and we all slept until sometime between 2 and 3.  We all needed it after such a fun-filled night and we were all new people afterwards!

technically this picture was in 2013 but I had to include it  :-)

We never left the house or saw anyone that day and that night, we laid low, ate at home at prepared to go back to reality the next day.  It was one of the best holidays I can recall - the kids are a great age for all this so it's just amazing to watch them take everything in.  We are also very happy to get back to a routine though!

I hope everyone reading this had a great holiday season and a wonderful 2012.  Here's to 2013 being even better (hard to imagine)!!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

As soon as we got back from MD on the 23rd, we unloaded the car and then Waylon took off to go to the grocery store to get things ready for Christmas Eve (so we didn't have to go out at all the next day).  We had a nice relaxing morning and then Nana and Grandad came over at lunchtime to hang out all afternoon and evening with us and help get dinner ready.  Andrea, Sean and Savannah of course came and we had a yummy ham dinner that everyone helped prepare!

Dancing with Grandaddy

Reading with Uncle Sean

Sharpe family photo!

I was trying to get the 3 kids in front of the tree but Kylie wasn't having it so we did a different type of family photo!  :-)

Dessert Picnic!

Nana read them The Night Before Christmas

 After everyone left, we opened our traditional Christmas Eve gifts - PJs and a book  :-)

And of course put out milk and cookies for Santa!

Self family photo

So sweet and so excited!!

And of course I had to get pictures of the children all nestled in their beds - my parents always did this with us growing up.  :-) 

Santa came!!

and ate (most of) the cookies and milk!

The kids actually slept until about 7:30 so we were happy with that, but of course they were ready to get down the stairs right away after they got up!!

Funny story, as they were coming down the stairs, they peeked around the banister and were looking at their presents.  Noah said, 'Kylie!!  Santa brought you presents!' and just after she said, 'I know', she missed the last step and fell flat on her face!  We have a video of it that is so funny.  Obviously, she was ok and she bounced back very quickly.  :-)  It was so funny.

Stockings!!

One of the things Noah asked for for Christmas - Bey Blades

Kylie got her 'unicornio'  :-)

Playing with the Bey Blades

New babydoll!

Noah got Harry Potter and he and I have been reading a little bit of it each night.  He likes it so far!

A baby doll bed, too!!

A Bey Blade stadium! (I've learned a lot this Christmas about big boy toys!) - look at that face!

I got Waylon tickets to go see Willie Nelson but ruined the surprise right before we left for MD.  :-(  I was wrapping a picture of him and thought I was very clever doing so until Waylon walked in and saw the pictures plastered all over the computer screen while I was wrapping.  I couldn't think quick enough to make up a reason as to why I'd be looking at pictures of Willie Nelson and had a deer in the headlight look on my face so he figured it out.  Here he is when he finally unwrapped them on Christmas morning - acting surprised.  :-)

Look familiar? (see side view above on his son's face)  :-)

Noah's big gift was a DS.  We had him unwrap the case first and Waylon read a 'note' from Santa saying this was the case and that he'd bring the DS for his birthday.  He actually believed it for a minute and got disappointed until we produced the real gift.  Mean Daddy.  :-)

Opening the case

Reading the 'letter' (ie the instructions) from Santa

The real DS - so happy!!!

Kylie enjoying some of her presents

Happy boy - knew right what to do!

And happy girl, too!

Santa also brought them each and outfit - Kylie wasn't so fond of her miniskirt and tights - we have more fights over clothes these days!!  Noah was never like this (still isn't) - must be engrained in that second X chromosome.!

Salty Kylie - and yes that's a bandaid on her forehead - no boo-boo just had fun with bandaids

Forced happiness but it's cute none-the-less!  :-)

We relaxed a bit, played with our toys (I got a new GPS!), watched some of the Disney Christmas Day parade, and skyped with Grammy, Papa, Leah, Bill and Sukha.  Then Nana and Grandad came by for a short time to check out what Santa brought them.  After that, we packed up and went over to Nana and Grandad's house.  I told the kids they could bring something if they wanted - Noah of course brought his DS and Kylie chose her toothpaste and bandaids!  ???  Then as and afterthought, she asked for her unicorn (this was after we arrived and Waylon had gone home to get the presents for Nana, Grandad and Savannah because we forgot to bring them with us!!!).  Woops.  :-)

Kylie wanted to dance with Grandaddy again!

This is how Noah looked a lot of the day.  :-)

 Grandaddy decided to take Kylie for a ride in the 'race car'.  They just went for a quick ride around the block but Kylie loved it!

and that even pulled Noah away from his DS to get a turn.

Like father, like son  :-)

When Savannah arrived, it was time to pass out the presents and open more!!  They did pretty well with taking turns this year.  They have grown up so fast!

So exciting!

Sweet Savannah

Captain America!

We decided not to exchange gifts between the adults but we all cheated and couldn't resist anyway.  We went in with Andrea and Savannah and got Nana and Grandad a gift card  to Ruth Chris Steakhouse.  Nana was happy.  :-)

Here is the Mistletoes picture I talked about in the last post

We had such a lovely time celebrating with the Parham side, too!  We are so lucky to both have such loving families!  We always end up getting several celebrations out of it!!  :-)

Just before we left, we got a text from some neighbors telling us we should stop by on our way back.  We made the mistake of saying it out loud in front of Noah so he decided he really wanted to go but of course Kylie passed out in the car on the way home!  Busy day.  We decided why not let him so he and I went over there for a little while.  We ended up staying fairly late but he had a blast showing off his new DS to his friends.  It was nice to have a little more flexibility with the kids sleeping habits during this holiday season!  :-)  They enjoyed it also.

Me, Cari-Anne and Stephanie

Noah and Ben - don't they look alike!?

What a fabulous Christmas we had - and the holiday wasn't over yet!  I ended up with a little extra time off than expected thanks to the CEO of my company and Waylon got some good time off also - so it ended up being quite a long holiday for us.  More to come in the next post!!!