Toys!!!

That was Noel's one word response to the haul under the tree Christmas morning. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. All Chase wanted from Santa was a drum set and Star Wars Legos. He said he would know Santa was real if he brought him a drum set because there was no way his parents would get him that. (Truer words have ne'er been spoken.) Fortunately for all involved, my Grandmother came through with the drums, and Santa with the Legos.

Noel is now the head chef at Elmo's Restaraunt Kitchen thanks to the Jolly Old Elf, and by the end of the evening he actually said no when asked if he wanted to open more presents. He is now officially 2, and, well, he acts like it. We hear a lot of "mine" and "no" at our house. We made an effort to recognize Noel's birthday but are still trying to have the big celebration centered around "A-Day".

We rang in the New Year with some great friends playing The Newlywed Game. We had all been married at least 9 and a half years, so it was quire entertaining. Chris and I came in a respectable 3rd place. And while this post is belated, like most of mine are these days, happy, happy New Year to you!

A Months worth of Fun Sons

Ok, so who am I to let a serious case of writers block deprive my loyal reader(s) of photos and updates on the 2 fun sons. So here goes...in chronological order:

Due to several extraneous circumstances, and mostly just because that is how our fall seemed to go, we carved a Thanksgiving pumpkin this year. It was just as much fun as it's overdone Halloween cousin and the leaf pattern provided a lovely decoration for dinner at Chris' parents.


Here we are in a rare shot that includes the entire family, and in this case, pumpkin guts.

Around the time of Chase's first Christmas, Chris' parents began a great tradition of celebrating the feast day of St. Nicholas with a stocking exchange. Chase's aunt Steph got him a booklet of 350 temporary tatoos, which he applied the first, oh, ten percent of that evening. I have to come up with an appropriate way to thank Aunt Stephie for that.

Noelly was especially excited about his 'pop' which is Noel for Lollipop.

Noel got his very own tree this year which he loves to take the ornaments off and put them back on. He actually does this very carefully and for the most part leaves the trees alone.

At last it was time to post for our Christmas card photo. Chris snapped this picture of Chase while I was running after Noel in the backyard. I had to include it in the blog because when I popped up on the computer for the first time I gasped and got tears in my eyes. Look at how grown up this kid is!!!

And lastly the shot that most of you have gracing your Christmas card holders as I type...

And just in case I hit another blogging dry spell, may God bless you and yours this Christmas and in the year to come.

Silent Saturday

Belated Halloween

Bear With Me

So I know that I am way behind on posting cute photos of the boys and updates on them in general, but get a load of this. I arrived home from a business trip last night just in time to tag in for Chris to head out on one himself. I was positively exhausted from having driven all day and had just about dozed off on the couch when I heard a strange noise. I was afraid because I was "home alone", but gathered my courage to investigate. I had a sneaking suspicion what I might find ...
The noise continued and I bravely flipped on the carport light. No more than five yards in front of me was a big ol' bear. Big, huge, ginormous, if you will. He( yes, I have decided it is a boy) did not even seem to notice his pursuit of the garbage bag had now been illuminated. After my initial shock, I ran back to Chase's room, and woke him up so he could see the bear too. By the time we got back all Chase got to see was the white trashbag disappearing into the woods.
I called Chris to give him the breaking news and while we were talking the trees started shaking and I could tell the bear was looking back toward the house(or me as I was convinced of at the time) because I could see his tongue licking every so often.
I got Chase up yet again, but he was never able to see the actual bear. Eventually he said, in a very underwhelmed tone, that he was going back to bed. The same could not be said for me. I was totally keyed up, and spent the next several hours alternately trying not to think bear thoughts and generating survival/escape plans in the event the bear were to somehow get in the house. I never claimed to be a rational thinker, but if you need a bear plan, I am your girl.

Orange you glad it's fall?

We sure are, because it brings so many of our favorite things! One of those being Clemson Football. The weather forecast called for sunny and 60, perfect football weather, so we decided to let Noel attend his first game. The weather reality was cold and rainy and we aren't so sure it cracked fifty up where we were sittting. We still had an absolute blast, though we stopped two times between home and the stadium to secure proper attire. Noel got all snuggly warm wrapped in a fleece blanket and a poncho (that was slightly thinner than a grocery bag) and slept throught the better part of the second quarter.

Here is our crew. Die-hard Tiger fans and (hopefully) Bulldog converts!

I am a little biased but, no matter the weather, I tend to think it is always a beautiful day in Clemson!

Other things do happen in the fall besides College Football, and we manage to fit those in as well. Noel had his very first field trip to the Pumpkin Farm. You will see Noel is sporting the latest in Halloween fashion courtesy of his amazing daycare teachers. I am so blessed to have him at such a great facility.

We enjoed a hayride (and throwing hay).

Looking at all the BIG pumpkins.

And trying to bust up into the chicken coop while "cockadoodledooing". Noel also stayed very busy making sure none of his fellow classmates borrowed his mom while we were there. Everything to Noel is "MINE" especially his mommy.

Where the Wild Things Are

The Wild Things are at a local Wildlife Preserve in these photos. It is a really neat place that allows you to see the animals up close.

They had tortises in a fence. Noel was terrified of them which is why he is on his Dad's shoulders in this photo.

Noel was fond of the "birdie" but we were so afraid the emu was going to peck his fingers.

The volunteer was kind enough to let the boys pet a lemur.

"What are we looking for PeePaw?"

I'm Back!

Top Seven Indications your Monday morning is off to a bad start...

1- After you get out of the shower you walk through the darkened kitchen to start the coffee, through a puddle of what turns out to be dog pee tracking it through said kitchen.
2- Mopping the kitchen floor takes up the time you now weren't able to spare by hitting snooze.
3- Your child will not wake up and everytime you leave the room thinking he is up and getting dressed, you return to find him sound asleep.
4- Upon walking to the laundry room to "iron"(i.e. throw dampened shirt into dryer) your son's shirt, a mouse (the most frightening thing in the world) crosses your path.
5- You speed to school like a raving maniac only to find you are already tardy. The office is a ten mile trek from the parking lot and you have to unpack your toddler and head through the chilly mist to check your oldest in.
6- While checking in, a fellow mom mentions returning to school to take photos of "crazy sock day", and you realize your child will be the only one without crazy socks.
7- You finally arrive at your desk frazzled but glad to have made it to work. When you sit down and pull up your electronic calendar, you realize you should have been at the dentist 15 minutes ago.
Perhaps these are not across the board indicators, but if you find any of the above happening I highly reccomend going back to bed. I certainly wish I had.