Christmas 2013

Christmas just snuck right up on us this year. I usually have my decorations and tree set up no later than Dec 1. This year, we barely got it up the week before Christmas. With a new house, expecting a new baby, and full time jobs, it's just hard finding time to do anything these days.

This was the first year in EVER that all the relatives were coming to our town for Christmas. With me being 9 months pregnant, it made it really nice that everyone came here. My parents and Vince's parents both got to see Evan open his presents. We celebrated Christmas Eve by making gingerbread houses, Santa cookies, and having all the kids open a box of small toys and Christmas pajamas. It was nice being able to visit with everyone. I only wish I had more time off from work than just Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year.

On Christmas Eve, after the kids went to sleep, Santa visited them all in their beds.

 On Christmas morning, we saw that Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk that we left out for him. The kids enjoyed eating more of the cookies than decorating them. We all opened our stockings and presents at my parent's new house here in Spartanburg. Evan had a great time with unwrapping and playing with tissue paper.

 

The kids all looked great in their Christmas pajamas.

 The men looked great in their matching shirts.

 

 Our funny family.  We had a nice day and I am so glad we got to spend it all together (without me having to travel for once).

Merry Christmas!

New Nursery

We put together the baby's new nursery this past weekend.  We ordered a new crib and mattress since Evan still uses his; however, we were able to reuse the teddy bear themed decorations. 

On Monday, I had the non-stress test (NST) at the doctor's office.  The baby did not want to wake up so they kept zapping him with this buzzer thing to make him move more.  Of course after I left, he moved for 2 solid hours. 

The strip shows contractions on the bottom and the baby's heart rate on the top.  You can see where they zapped my stomach to make the spikes.  I wasn't really having any contractions. 

Hopefully, we only have a couple of weeks before baby Alex arrives!

Dickens of a Christmas

It never fails that every time some cool outing or party comes up, another one gets scheduled for the same day.  This time, I was invited for the first time to a ladies' Christmas dinner and gift swap with the ladies at my new work.  I was excited about going and getting to know them all better.  Then we found out that Dickens of a Christmas would be the same night, Dec 3.  So how did we handle it? 

I went to the work party for about 30 minutes and then came home and Vince, Evan, Barbara, & Jerry, & I all went to the wet and cold Dickens of a Christmas event in downtown Spartanburg.  We get invited each year to the United Way Young Leaders event, which is held indoors (out of the icky weather).  They had a great view of the lighting of the tree and they have a fabulous Santa Claus!  Evan checked out Santa and had his picture made.

Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg - 2013

Each year since Vince and I have known each other, we spend Thanksgiving in Gatlinburg. This year was no exception. While being 8 months pregnant was a lot more tiring while walking from the hotel to downtown, it was worth it! This year the weather was biting cold, with temperatures around 25 degrees. We bundled everyone up and still enjoyed the local shops and attractions. Since bad snow hit the area on Wednesday, we decided to leave on Thursday morning.

 

Our Thanksgiving buffet appointment was at noon. We arrived early with time to spare even though we drove down some icy roads to get there. Evan is a great little traveler. He just goes with the flow. He was ready to eat when we arrived. In fact, he grabbed the roll right off my plate when I sat down and started chowing down. He loved the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, salmon, rolls, and chocolate pudding. And we all loved all of it. We stayed at a great condo within walking distance of downtown Gatlinburg.

 

The first order of business was to baby proof the room by rearranging the decor and plugging in safety plugs in all the outlets. The Gatlinburg Convention Center always has a Christmas tree show for free.

 

 

 

This year they had a free Santa as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took our time with Evan since no one was in line. He was a great Santa!

 

The next day we drove to Sevierville to the Bass Pro Shop.  Evan and Vince rode the merry go round at Bass Pro. Evan rode on a polar bear.

 

 

 
 

Despite the freezing cold weather, we had a wonderful visit.  Our time passed by way too quickly.  I wish we had had time to do so much more (as well as more energy). 

 

Luckily, Evan had enough energy for all of us. He even did some yoga while there.

 

Fall Family Photos

We had our favorite photographer, Jessie, take our family photos for the upcoming Christmas season as well as the maternity pictures for the new baby, who by the way finally has a name! His name will be Edward Alexander Williams and we will call him Alex. Edward is Vince's first name, so both boys now have part of their dad's name. Jessie was able to capture the best pictures ever for us. I'm so pleased with how they turned out. We used our new home's backyard as our backdrop.

Halloween 2013

This was the first Halloween in our new house. We weren't sure what to expect in the new neighborhood, but we had a blast. They have a pre-Halloween block party that starts around 5:30pm at a neighbor's house. The kids went on a hay ride (minus the hay) and they provided pizza and drinks for everyone. Around 6:30pm, folks left to go trick-or-treating or to go home & pass out treats. We went to a few houses with Evan, but only one neighbor was home yet. We then went home & passed out treats to over 100 kids. They came by the car load! I saw cars lined up on the streets with their hazard lights on. Evan had a good time watching kids come to the door all dressed up. He was a great little pirate! He also enjoyed his Halloween party at school that day. The dinosaur was his back up costume. Luckily, he did not need it.