Christmas 2012

Wow!  What a great Christmas break we had this year.  Vince, Evan, and I left on the Sunday morning before Christmas to head to Spring Hill, Florida. It's typically a 9 1/2 hour drive, but with a baby, it took us about 11 hours.  That's not too bad.  Evan is a good little traveler. He did not sleep as much this time, but played well.  We stopped every few hours and changed and fed him. He finally reached his limit and cried a lot the 30 minutes before we arrived.  He was just tired of being in the car.  That was the only melt down he had.  We stopped and changed him and he did fine the rest of the way.

We had 24 people at the house on Christmas Eve.  Kim and her family, and Billy, rented a house down the street.  My cousin DeLeigh was able to join us this year and stayed at her brother, Jim's house.  So my parents' house was not overly crowded with sleepers.  It worked out great.  We had lots of food.  We ate finger foods and Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets on Christmas Eve.  The kids all got to open one gift, which was their Christmas pajamas. 

We had Christmas at 7am so 23 of us were there at 7am.  Uncle Hank was picked up that afternoon for our Christmas lunch.  All of us had a spot to sit in, and our stockings set out. It somehow all worked!  Everyone had a fun time.  It was mass chaos and wrapping paper was everywhere.  We ate quiche for breakfast.  And we got lots of pictures, especially with Evan and each of the cousins.  These are in no particular order from the week.

 Evan got his very own Elf on a Shelf.  Vince named him Mr. Handy.

 Jim had brought party poppers and we each pulled one open.  A gift and a paper hat was in each one.

 With 24 people in the house, we had quite a number of Christmas gifts under & around the tree.

 

Vince, Evan, and My Christmas stockings.

Evan got lots of great gifts: child's leather recliner, toys, clothes, ornaments, and some feeding items. I got a new phone case from Vince, the Flo bobble head from Progressive, soaking bath solution, an edible spray paint system, and lots of nice stocking stuffers.  When I got home Vince got me a new printer and programmable thermostat, and blue tooth for my cell phone.  One of the things I got for Vince was a knife he saw at a craft show in TN.  He also got a nice suit from my parents. 

We ate our traditional Christmas lunch and had left overs for dinner. 

On the day after Christmas, the guys went to the gun range.  Evan and I went shopping with Kim and a few of the teens.  Evan got to ride his first carousel.  It was two levels! That evening, we went on a dinner cruise with Rachel & Pat.  Rachel & I had given them the cruise as part of their Christmas gift. It was really cold, but it was a nice cruise and the dinner food was really great.

On Thursday, Vince helped John work on the spark plugs in his van.  We watched Kim's kids while she & John went out to eat that night.  On Friday, we had Elise's 14th birthday party.  I made her  a cake with a cookie sleigh on top. 

We then left to head to Aunt Wilma's house in Jacksonville, Florida.  We spent the night with Aunt Wilma & Uncle Jack in their mansion.  It was huge. It was built in 1975 and nothing has been upgraded since then.  It was all very retro and very large.  I loved the size of the kitchen.  They are also building a beach house in St. Augustine so we went by the house to check it out as well.  We ate at a great restaurant in downtown St. Augustine called Barnacle Bill's.  Uncle Jack fixed us a great breakfast on Saturday morning.  We left to come home and got back to our house by 7:40pm.

Christmas with Granny & Papa Jerry

We had our Christmas exchange with Vince's parents this past weekend.  Evan was thrilled with his gifts.  His Granny and Papa Jerry gave him his first tricycle and a Mickey Mouse that talks.

He likes making new this new face now.  It looks like he's eaten something sour.

 Evan enjoyed all the tissue paper, tag, and bag.

 He gasped and loved his new Mickey Mouse.

 Vince liked his new shoes and shirt.

 Papa Jerry was all smiles.

 Evan loved his tricycle. And I loved my new earrings.

 Evan took Mickey Mouse for a ride.

Merry early Christmas!

Catching Up

Wow, so much has happened in the last week or so.  It's been hard trying to keep up on the blog with all that's been going on  December 7 was my last day with Milliken.  They were downsizing and my last official day will be January 4.  However, my last working day was December 7.  It's actually been so nice being able to be home with Evan during this holiday time.  I've gotten a lot done, and see that I have so many more things to do around the house.  The days just seem to fly by.  I don't get done near as much stuff as I thought I would by being home. 

As for the job, I'm actively looking for something in the Greenville/Spartanburg area. I have interviewed around town and am hopeful that I'll find something new and improved in January.  I'm actually a little excited about starting something new. 

And I've been slack at getting cute pictures of Evan on the blog.  So here are some cute ones.

 Grandmama & Evan doing tummy time

 Evan chats with the baby in the mirror

 Evan at his 9 month doctor's appointment

 Eating out at a Thai restaurant

 Chilling with Grandmama

 Tummy time cuteness

 Eating out with friends

 Wild hair night

 Evan likes his ornament from Grandmama & Papa

 Ready for Christmas

Evan can open and close his tray on the swing.  He likes to keep one leg out a lot.

Evan 9 Months Old

Evan hit the 9 month mark this week on December 4.  We've had such a busy week, it's been hard finding time to blog or keep up with what's going on around me. At 9 months old Evan:

• can roll all over the place
• eat level 2 foods 3 times a day
• drink about 5 ounces from his bottle at a time, unless he just ate food
• draw his knees up under him & rock if you put his hands flat on the floor
• swivel everywhere to see what's going on.
• has acute hearing & vision and does not miss a beat
• babbles all the time and can say pretty much any letter of the alphabet
• is practicing using his pincher grip to pick small things up
• now enjoys a pacifier when he's getting sleepy and can put it in his own mouth
• loves his jump-a-roo and jumps like crazy
• loves music and when people sing to him
• loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Jr.
• wears size 2 diapers
• wears size 6 - 9 months clothes

He is a happy baby and only fusses when he's really tired or hungry.  He does like to fight sleep now.  He smiles at everyone and will go to anyone.  He likes people.  He really likes hair, jewelry, glasses, and watches. We may have to get him his first watch soon.  Happy 9 months Evan!

Grandmama & Papa's New House

In August, my parents bought a house here in Spartanburg. It was built in the 80s and had some good bones to it, but needed some remodeling. This past weekend, they were able to move in to the house. It looks so great with all the new touches. I didn't get a chance to get all the good "after" pictures before the moving boxes arrived. But I do have a few.

The laundry/guest bath combo room was expanded into the alcove space in the garage and created two separate roooms.  The window was changed to a door and a small deck was added on back for easy access to/from the pool. 

Before:

After (but before the shower door was on):

 After:

 New laundry room space that was the alcove in the garage:

 Guest Bathroom Before:

 After:

 Left Side of Kitchen Before:

 Left Side of Kitchen After:

 Master Sink Before:

 Master Sinks After:

Once everything gets unpacked & sorted, I'll post some better after pictures of everything. It's coming along great! Everything turned out so beautifully.

And during all the unpacking, Evan helped us by rolling all over their new floor and doing some yoga moves by showing off his planking skills.