Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Sunday, August 14, 2011

December 2010

Highlights from December: 


- Hubby and I celebrated our 10th anniversary!


- Favorite Christmas songs this year included Toby Mac's "Christmas This Year," Sixpence None the Richer's "Silent Night," Becky Kelley's "Where's the Line to See Jesus" and Go Fish's "It's About the Cross." Gayla Peevey's "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and Lou Monte's "Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey" continue to be classic favorites of mine.


- We saw unusual snow falling at the very beginning of December!


- Little Man enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with the dog helping him as a seeker.


-  Was surprised by my father-in-law with tickets to see Garth Brooks in Nashville! He performed NINE concerts within 6 days! 


- Little Man celebrated his 5th birthday! He chose Scooby Doo as his theme and had a large cookie instead of a cake. We had a small party of a few friends and family members at our house. 


- Little Man was infatuated with playing tic-tac-toe...and he could truly win.


- Another first: Saw the Predators play hockey in Nashville. Go Preds!


- Little Man really enjoyed tracking Santa on NORAD for the first time. 


- Little Man left cookies and carrots for Santa on Christmas Eve.


- It SNOWED on Christmas Eve in Middle TN!!!


- Little Man's favorite Christmas gift was a Talking Clever Clock from Santa. He learned very quickly how to tell time after that.


- We redecorated Little Man's room. Changed from a Blue Jean Teddy theme to a Fireman theme.


-  We attended the Music City Bowl in Nashville and watched the Vols lose in a horrific (for football) ending. College football rules were changed as a result.


Here are some pictures from Christmas and his new room:













Monday, February 15, 2010

Catch Up

I apologize for slacking! I guess it's time to catch up now. I've tried several times to sit down and write, but I never get very far before being interrupted, and then I never finish.

Let's see, where to start?

Back in November, Shad and Little Man had the flu (unconfirmed H1N1). After giving Little Man one dose of Tamiflu, his fever broke within a few hours. Once his fever broke, he acted perfectly normal. Shad, OTOH, had the flu for 12 DAYS, with a fever for about 10 of those! We normally travel for Thanksgiving, but spent it at home this year with Shad's dad, who brought us Cracker Barrel to eat (very yummy, btw!).

Christmas was nice, although it was looking like we'd be sick again when the week first started. I had a sinus infection that wouldn't go away and Little Man ended up at the doctor on Dec. 23 after complaining that his ear hurt. He ended up with a pre-ear infection (not actually infected, but very red and swollen)! Thankfully, we caught it early enough and got him on a Z-pack. He and I were both feeling much better by Christmas Day.

Little Man's big gift from Santa was a big boy bicycle. From Mama and Daddy, he also got the GeoTrax airport, remote control truck and car combo and a few small, miscellaneous things. Here are a few pictures (you can click on them to make them larger):

Christmas card
Christmas Card 2009

Our outside decor
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Decorating the tree
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His gift from Santa (notice he's holding Blacky)
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GeoTrax from Mama and Daddy
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Remote control car and truck
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Shad's netbook (this was a lemon, so had to swap for a different one)
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Riding his bike in the cold and wind
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He got toy guns from Granddaddy
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After Christmas, we had the opportunity to go to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl down in Atlanta to see the UT Vols play the Virginia Tech Hokies. That was on New Year's Eve. We took Little Man with us and spent one night down there. We all had a lot of fun! Here's a picture from that:

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Our 2010 has been going smoothly so far. There's a couple of newsworthy events to write about. First of all, we signed Little Man up to play t-ball this spring. As one of our friends, who's also one of the commissioners stated, "It's like herding cats!" We look forward to watching Little Man learn how to play. Hopefully, he'll develop a love of the game like his Mama and Daddy!

The 2nd thing worth writing about is that we booked a CRUISE for October! Shad and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in December. We took our very first cruise for our honeymoon back in December 2000. We LOVED it! Unfortunately, after returning home, real life set in and we've not been able to afford another cruise. We decided around our 8th anniversary that we would start saving and, by golly, we were going on another cruise for our 10th anniversary! It actually only took about a year to save (thanks to Obama and his tax relief), so last week, we booked our cruise to the Western Caribbean (Grand Cayman and Cozumel) on Carnival's Inspiration for October 4-9. I'm so excited!!! Of course, we still have just short of 8 months left. Boo! I'm using that time, though, to research, find tips and figure out what excursions we want to do and who to do it with (Carnival or a local tour guide). Our first cruise was to the Bahamas and, after finding out how expensive the cruise line's guided tour was, we opted to do our own thing. Thankfully, we found a local tour guide that gave us an excellent, cheap tour of Nassau (including the Atlantis Hotel). I'd like to do my homework beforehand, though, this time. I've been visiting Cruise Critic's message board and found a thread with little known tips. So, I've been making my own list that I will, eventually, post on here. The thread on Cruise Critic is over 103 pages long, though, and I've only made it to Page 10, so I've got a LONG way to go yet!!!

It sure would be wonderful to get away on a cruise right now! We've been dealing with more snow that I remember getting in quite a while! Schools have been closed so much that many systems have run out of snow days. I don't remember having so many different times that we've had accumulations. The most we've had in this area was about 3-6" back at the end of January. We were able to take Little Man sledding for his first time. He absolutely HAD. A. BLAST! Here are a couple of pictures of that:

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We've currently got about 1" on the ground now, but that's enough to stop life. Schools were already closed today for Presidents Day, but they'll be closed for snow tomorrow. The preschool I teach at goes by the City school calendar, so since they're closed, we're closed as well. This makes Snow Day #3 or 4 (I've lost count) for us. I wish I could say this is the last snow of the season, but we very well could get more into March or even April! Hopefully not, though!

So, that's pretty much what's been going on the last few months around here. Hopefully I can start doing a better job of posting on here!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Day 2008

We've had a terrific Christmas today! Christopher got up around 8:00, so we had to make sure he saw what Santa brought him...he's still getting the hang of this whole "Santa" thing. In the living room was a GeoTrax train and track (last minute idea since he's ONLY been asking for a train).

yes, Santa screwed up and brought him an incomplete track :p Oops!


After playing with it a few minutes, the three of us opened our gifts. Christopher got:

A Black and Decker tool set


A Dirt Devil vacuum


A Magna Doodle Pro (which doesn't work so will have to be taken back!)


Shad got:

A new UT bleacher seat cushion


A Playstation 3


My big gift was:

A Canon EOS Rebel XTi digital camera!!!




After opening our gifts, we realized that Santa had left yet another gift for Christopher on the back patio...

a Ford F-150 Power Wheel!


His customized license plate...GBR HED=Goober Head (our nickname for him)


Unfortunately, since it was still cold outside, Christopher was only allowed to play for a few minutes. We then went back inside to play and wait for it to warm up a bit.

Later, in the early afternoon, Granddaddy (aka: Richard) came down to do Christmas with us. Here are some pictures from that gift exchange:

Granddaddy got a picture of the Vols running through the Open T that I took from our seats (imagine if I'd taken it with my new camera!)


Christopher got Monopoly Jr., Candyland and some games for his Fisher Price Computer Cool School from Granddaddy




oh, and LOTS of CANDY, too (this picture is of Pez dispensers)


(yes, it's a pooping reindeer!)


Here's my big gift from Richard:

a zoom lense for my camera!


Our big meal was dinner. Since we have a few relatives to visit with Thanksgiving and Christmas, we get ham and turkey'd out. So, back in 2006, we started our own tradition of doing Fondue instead of the traditional ham or turkey. My favorite restaurant is The Melting Pot, so this is right up my alley! Tonight, for our appetizer, we dipped tortillas, chips and veggies in a Velveeta cheese mixture (microwaved, not fondued). For the main course, we had steak, chicken and shrimp. Sadly, we didn't do the dessert fondue. =( Maybe one of these years we'll figure it out.

Christopher went without a nap today, so by dinnertime he was full of tantrums! Needless to say, he was in bed early tonight!

All in all, today was WONDERFUL!!! However, I'm ending my day with the realization that I need to go to the doctor tomorrow morning...I'm pretty sure I have Tonsillitis. :p It's either that or strep throat, but more likely Tonsillitis since it's not uncommon with me. We're supposed to be going to my mom's (aka: Grandma) tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with her, my aunt, sister, brother, niece and great-nephew. I just hope I can at least get on an antibiotic before I go.

I hope you all have had a GREAT Christmas! I'll leave you with a few miscellaneous pictures from today:

Close-up shot using my new zoom lense


Close-up shot of me and Christopher


Our family

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

First Visit With Santa

Shad and I took Christopher for his first visit to see Santa yesterday. Whenever anyone asks him what he wants Santa to bring him, he always says, "A train!" He was so excited about sitting on Santa's lap and telling him his wish...until it was our turn! When it came time for him to go up to Santa, he shy'd up and tried to hide. It only took a minute, though, and he warmed up. He even cheesed for the camera. Since I wasn't buying pictures from the photographer (they were a rip-off!), I was only allowed to take 2 pictures with my own camera. Here's what I got:



Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Is Christmas REALLY Just Around the Corner?????

So, I was at Wal-Mart today pricing toys for Christopher's upcoming birthday and Christmas and guess what music I heard playing on the loud speaker throughout the store??? CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! IT'S NOVEMBER 5?!?!?!

I have mixed feelings about this:

On the one hand, we haven't even gotten to Thanksgiving yet! Now, I know you'll probably say that it was perfect since I WAS shopping for Christmas, but while I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas music, if I start hearing it NOW, I'll be sick of it by Thanksgiving! =( I'd rather wait until Thanksgiving Day or the day after to start hearing it. Why am I surprised year after year that stores start their "Christmas season" earlier and earlier? Before we know it, we'll start seeing stuff out in July! Sorry Wal-Mart, but hearing Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman isn't going to encourage me to buy anymore than my Christmas budget allows.

On the other hand, it's got me REALLY excited about Christmas this year. It did help aid me in getting into the "Christmas Spirit" even if only for a few moments (Christopher's incessent whining about wanting to play with all the toys nullified much of it). It's made me want to pull out my Christmas cd's, but I keep having to fight that urge (see above paragraph for explanation). I'm really looking forward to this Christmas with Christopher. He's at that age where he's just getting into the excitement. Even though he's still learning all about Baby Jesus, Santa, Christmas trees and outside decorations, gifts, spending time with family and friends, etc., he actually has some slight concept for the first time ever. I'm really looking forward to seeing his reaction to everything once we start decorating and wrapping gifts. Of course, I'm most excited about seeing his reaction on Christmas Day! Oh, to be 3-years old again!!!

Monday, December 25, 2006

12 Months 10 Days - Christmas!

Today is Christmas Day! Technically, it's my 2nd, but I was only 10 days old last year, so this is the first real one for me.

We started out the day at about 9:00. Daddy got me up and then we all opened presents from each other. Mommy and Daddy gave me a Little People's Ramps Around Garage, a Playskool Busy Ball Popper and a toy cell phone. Mommy gave Daddy a $100 gift card to Sears for some Craftsmen tools and the University of Tennessee Football Vault...The History of the Tennessee Volunteers from 1891-2006. Daddy got Mommy some Ralph Lauren Blue perfume, the Kodak printer dock and carrying bag that goes with the Kodak camera he gave her for their anniversary and an Ice Age DVD.

We then had breakfast. I had my usual fruit cereal and then some applesauce. Daddy went to Hardees and got breakfast for him and Mommy there.

Around 11:00 or so, Granddaddy came over. However, it was naptime and I was cranky, so I took a nap. Mommy, Daddy and Granddaddy exchanged gifts while I slept. Mommy got a Bath and Body Works gift card, a picture frame for my school pictures when I'm older and $100 cash to spend on herself. Daddy got a subscription to Sports Illustrated, $100 cash to spend in himself and a pair of Bushnell binoculars. He gave the both of them and me a portable DVD player that can be mounted in the car.
I woke up around 2:00 and then opened my gifts from Granddaddy. He got me books (some for when I'm older), a VeggieTales DVD, a 4-pack of Bible CDs, a camouflage outfit and a Radio Flyer wagon.

Sometime while I was sleeping, Daddy started dinner...a deep fried turkey. We all ate around 3:00 or so.

Granddaddy went home later in the evening and Mommy, Daddy and I just lounged around the house.

Yesterday (Christmas Eve), we went to church in the morning and then to see Grandma, Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Mindy in Tullahoma. We exchanged gifts when we got there and then we ate dinner. From Grandma, I got a flashlight, a phone and a toy box (the kind that won't pinch my fingers!). Aunt Mindy gave me a Playskool Swing 'n Score Baseball toy.