South Carolina Christmas 2012

We headed to South Carolina for some more family time and with a record breaking smallest amount of packing we've ever done since children came into our world, we proudly left our driveway without a car top carrier on top of our van. Yes, it was a big day in our eyes. The travels were not too bad only stopping several times for potty breaks and a good lunch. The worst of it was... sick kids. Oh the horrors of sick children and traveling. I believe EVERY time we go to Columbia, the at least one of us (and usually it's a kid) is sick with something. Last year, it was a GI bug that eventually worked it's way around the whole family. I know they wanted us to leave. This year, the babies both had nasty runny noses and seemed in general under the weather. Oh joy. Still, on we traveled. We did decide not to stop and visit my Uncle Bokey and Aunt Lib in Aiken because we did not want them to get anything from us. I hate we missed seeing them.

Here are some highlights from our trip this year.

We spent some time in downtown Columbia, watched the ice skaters, shopped around a little and had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom. 

 

The babies opened their some gifts early so they'd have something to keep them out of trouble. Brookelynn got a nice shopping cart and lots of food for her grocery shopping pleasure.

Haynes got a "Whistling Woods" track set with a Toby engine that runs on batteries. Very cool. 



 

We enjoyed more good food!

 

The kids were having fun with their Uncle Jimmy. 

Aunt Cindy helped Haynes distribute the gifts.

 

Brookelynn modeled the heat pack gifts.

 

There's Savannah, trying hers out.

 

Brookelynn got a fancy towel or "towl" as B says, from Trish and she loved it so much she didn't want to take it off. 

 

Haynes and Brookelynn got a new book... about sharing. I sure hope this one is a favorite of theirs. They really need to work on sharing.

 

Aunt Allison insisted on getting a good picture with the children. Unfortunately, the children insisted on not posing for a picture.

 

We played with Christmas Crackers this year. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people, and the cracker splits unevenly. The split is accompanied by a mild bang or snapping sound.  The person with the larger portion of cracker empties the contents from the tube and keeps them. It contains a paper crown, a small toy or a joke to tell to all. It was great entertainment for everyone.

 

Time to go home but not before some Krispy Creme doughnuts.

 

 ...and one more cracker.

 

...and one good family picture.

Merry Christmas! 2012

A Busy Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Day doesn't look like much on this blog entry because I was too exhausted to take any pictures. I ended up having to go in to work on Christmas morning. It was no surprise and I was planning on getting called in but it was still disheartening to say the least. After a busy Christmas Eve and late night out with the babies, I got up before anyone in the house was up got ready for work. It didn't feel like a holiday at all.
I drove to work that morning with a heavy heart, thinking about all the things I would miss with Brandon's side of the family and I really had a bad attitude about the whole thing. But, of course, not a single nurse wanted to be there any more than I did. Suck it up Melody, nurses have to work holidays. I can't say that I felt great about being there all day but I actually do LOVE my job and being at work in general and once I was there and we all had our assignments, it wasn't really so bad. It was a pretty busy Christmas (I think from all the storms that day) so things weren't slow which was good and bad for us. At least we weren't sitting around doing nothing but it meant none of us were going home any sooner than we anticipated either. There were 5 or 6 deliveries of babies that day I believe. I hate it for those poor babies who'll have to celebrate their birthdays in July but at least their birthday will be easy for people to remember. I did end up getting a lucky break when one of our nurses came in a little early and I was able leave work at around 3:30 instead of 5pm.

I had missed most of the festivities at Nonie and Pawpaw's house, and the family picture, and the family time but I made it in just enough time to say Hi and Bye to everyone. One thing that Nonie and Pawpaw love to do is sing a couple of Christmas songs and take a serious and a goofy picture. No pictures of Nonie and Pawpaws but here's one I stole from Honey's facebook page. Don't they all look cute in their Rudolph noses? I really hate that I missed it.



After we left there, we went to Honey and Papa's house for some time with them. Honey always has more presents under the tree than will fit. One thing I learned early about Desiree Ellis is that she is a gift giver. She loves to give people things and send sweet little notes. It is precious to me that she and Ron are both so thoughtful. That being said, the kids dug in and opened and opened and opened. By the end of it, I had no idea what Brookelynn and Brandon had gotten as they were on the opposite side of the room as me and Haynes. There was wrapping paper everywhere and toys and clothes scattered about. We all had our thoughtful gifts in little piles and still, I'm sure that we probably mixed a few of the toys up. There is usually at least one thing lost every year. I guess it was exhaustion and the sheer craziness of opening presents with all the grand kids but I didn't break out the camera once while we were there. I promise I'll try to do better next year. We all were stuffed, exhausted, overstimulated, and ready for bed that night - not just the little ones. 

I was scheduled to work the next morning too but fortunately, I was cancelled and did not have to go in. We spent the day packing and getting ready for our trip to South Carolina to see the rest of the family... cue, the next blog entry.

December 2012 Fun

We had a busy month, lots of craziness, celebrated birthdays, shopped, did some fun activities, and tried to spend some fun family time together. Here are some of our highlights in random non-chronocological order. They all happened in December.

We bought the babies a play nativity set. The pieces were a pill to keep up with because Brookelynn loved the "Mangels" so much that she would take them off and play with them. Either one or the other was missing half the month but this was a fun activity and I look forward to them playing with it again next year. Also the shepherds and the baby "Jejus" was a big hit. 

Brookelynn got a baby bed for her birthday from her cousins and she prefers to put herself in it instead of her babies. 

Having some dress up fun as we decorate our tree!

 

Too Fascinated for clothes.

 

DECORATING THEIR FIRST TREE.

I loved the large clump of red balls at the bottom. I never moved them. It was Haynes' spot.

 

It's a "kmiss-kmas" tree, says Brookelynn.

Somehow, we managed to get out and have a date with our friends Boo and Evan at my favorite place to eat, Surin!!! We had such a great time and Baby #3 and I had been craving it for several months. We enjoyed it most of all.

 



 

I spent some time making Peppermint Sugar cookies from Pillsbury (yes, the easy way out) with my boy and that night we delivered cookies to all our adjoining neighbors. Haynes had a great time doing that.

 

FIRST CHRISTMAS PARADE!



Too LOUD, says Haynes.



Christmas Treats that make me smile. Yankee Candle Balsam and Ceder and yummy chocolate.

 

Yes. Those are granny panties of her dear sweet mommys (and yes, they are clean). Brookelynn has discovered dress up but hasn't figured out what she's supposed to dress up in yet. Kinda wierd but it was too funny to not take a picture of.





 

My dearest friend Megan left our Birth Suites and started a new adventure in a pediatrician office. I sure will miss her and all our silly, sweet, entertaining, fun times. But I'm very happy for her and her family since this new job will allow her to be with her little ones more often.

 

I spent a lot of time with my sewing machine this month trying to get all my Christmas presents made. It's definetly a love / hate relationship with this thing, but when it was all done, I was glad I did it. Sixteen scented rice heat packs in three different varieties were made and I was quite proud of myself. It was fun to be back at the old sewing machine... when it wasn't giving me grief.

 

 

We hosted our community group Christmas Party. Although, most of our community group was unable to come due to busy schedules in December, we had a lovely time with Babs and Wade, and Brittney. This is my pinterest inspired Christmas wreath. It was yummy and easy and fun.

 

We had a picnic in the living room for family time one night, and watched Christmas movies from the 1950's on Netflix. That was fun.

The babies were even allowed to have some hot chocolate. This was Brookelynn's first taste of that. As her brother did with his first experience, she thought it was just great.

And we can't forget that Brandon had a birthday in December. This year, Haynes got to be more interactive in the choosing of Daddy's present. I took him to the store with me and made him feel like he was responsible for choosing the things I had already planned on getting him. It was so much fun for him. We got Daddy a panini pan and a pizza stone. We expect lots of delicious things to come in 2013. Haynes took great joy in giving the new presents to his daddy. Brandon really enjoyed his gifts too. 

 

We tried to clean out as much as we could before Christmas and Baby #3's arrival. Finally got around to cleaning out the baby's room which had become a catch all the mess room. 

 

My buddy helped with some much needed cleaning. He's growing up so fast and I just love him.

 

Brookelynn is enjoying being girly. She put this headband on and came to me with a big grin. She was so proud of herself  and though she was so pretty. I have enjoyed her big girl hair! It's long enough to try lots of different braids now and she does a fairly decent job of being still for me to fix it.

Ah yes. Our friends Michael and Michelle came to town for a few short days to visit for Christmas! I can't believe they've been gone two years. We got to eat lunch with them and see big sister Sarah Kate and the new baby sister Evelyn. I sure wish I could have seen a little more of them but I'll take any visit I can get. 

Brookelynn is preparing for a new baby. She brought her carseat and baby doll to ride with her in her own carseat and made sure the baby had a bottle. Big sister in the making.

 

So, that's December in a nutshell.