Feliz Cumpleanos A Ti

Happy Birthday Dad (Pop, Papa John)

Christmas Pics and Baby Update

Our Christmas festivities began Christmas Eve when Grandma (Jason's mom) came over for Christmas Eve mass. David fell asleep in the car and then slept in Jason's arms and then my arms the whole time which was a blessing since he didn't get a nap that day. Once we were home, Jason started a fire in the fireplace and we all watched Polar Express. That is easily becoming a family tradition. Christmas morning we woke up in our own house which is the first time that has happened since we've been married! That in itself was an awesome gift. David seriously could have been happy to stop after opening his stocking. He got 4 new wooden Thomas trains and he refused to even acknowledge there were other gifts to be opened for the longest time.

Here he is playing with Emily and Toby.
Charlie had a bone wrapped up for him under the tree. He was able to sniff out which one was his present and even opened it by himself! Another tradition in the making. After a short time here we loaded up and headed to my parents house.
Nephew Ben as a black power ranger-our gift to him. This kid loves any kind of super hero costume.
David in his new Bob the Builder tool belt and hat.
Pop helping David ride his new tricycle. Surprisingly he needed no instruction at all!

My poor mom with her booted fractured foot.

Despite having to wait to see doctor after doctor, specialist after specialist during holiday schedules/hours she remains in good spirits.
Nephew Will who is wearing David's Christmas outfit from last year. I really enjoyed seeing that since we've been able to use so many of Ben's old clothes.

All in all it was a great Christmas. David made me so proud by one thing in particular on Christmas day. My mom had the grand kids sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, but first one of the kids (which ever one was willing) had to take baby Jesus out of hiding and put him in the manger scene crib. David was up for the task and didn't have to be asked twice if he wanted to do it. For normally such a shy kid to take the lead with no problem

was really nice for me to see especially for such an important job.

*****Baby Update*****

In less than one month we will hopefully learn the sex of baby #2. I'll share with you the names we've picked out. If its a girl we will use the name we had ready last time which is Anna Catherine. If its a boy we've decided to go with Wesley James. If you ask David what is is mommy's tummy he says "baby sister". We shall see if he is right...I for one have no preference either way. If its a boy we already have lots of boy stuff. If its a girl then we will get to know what its like having a daughter. Either way its win-win. Even though we didn't think about it at all when choosing the names, I won't have to change the name of the blog-Royal Family it remains!

Merrry Christmas

From the humblest of places...

...came the greatest of gifts.

"Ouchy Foot" x 2

We're baaack! On Friday we left for Hilton Head, SC for Jason's company Christmas party. We so look forward to it every year. This year my parents were supposed to come with us, but my mom had an unfortunate accident last week. She had just finished putting some boxes up in the attic and was coming down the stairs. She thought she was on the last step but she wasn't and she lost her balance and fell. She fractured her foot similar to the way I fractured my knee in high school. She's been a trooper and continues to have a positive attitude about it. Crutches don't bode well for traveling so Jason's mom came instead. Thanks for doing it on such short notice Pat! Also, thanks to my sister and her family for agreeing to watch Charlie Dawg at the last minute too.

I didn't get any pictures of Jason and I all dressed up but some of his co-workers did and if they e-mail any, I'll be sure to post them. Here are some pictures of David enjoying the windy and frigid waters of the beach.

Friday night grandma was trying to get David excited about going to the beach and talked to him about playing in the sand. David told Grandma "but Charlie chewed my shovel" which is true, so she was quick to buy him a new set at the gift shop. He tried to get as close to the seagulls as possible.


The water was freezing and I could hardly stand to get my feet wet. Not true for David! He just loved watching the waves hit his feet and legs and could care less about the water temperature. Jason had to use his best tactics to get David out for his own health!

Aunt Marilyn (Pat's sister) drove over from St. Simons to visit with us for a few hours on Saturday. When we were waiting for her in the lobby David said something that just cracks me up every time I think about it. There was a statue of a bird dog pointing (similar to the one above). David saw it and said "Ouchy Foot". As the son/grandson of avid hunters, he will soon learn that is not the case!

For Jason

In case you couldn't tell when you get home from work, your boys really miss you a lot during the day. You get to see their excitement when you walk in the door, but I thought you might enjoy seeing what happens leading up to your arrival. "And now the rest of the story"...

Good Grief Charlie Brown and Weekend Pics

My version of "A Charlie Brown Christmas". We've been watching that movie a lot around here. David just cracks up laughing during certain parts. He's a kid after my own heart. By the way, you don't have to tell me that isn't the real Snoopy sitting by Woodstock in the above picture. I've loved Snoopy for a long time and I can easily spot a "fake"...
This picture of me was taken way before I left Snoopy at a McDonald's on one of many trips my family took to Missouri. By the time I/we realized he was gone, we were too far to go back. My parents tried a pretty neat trick though. They went to the store and bought a new one and told me that they had found Snoopy. Too bad it didn't work. I quickly replied "That's not Snoopy!". Good Grief Charlie Brown. (If you enlarge this pic you can see I'm also wearing a Snoopy necklace.)

Moving on to some cute pics taken this weekend. Saturday we had dueling Drew birthday parties, and Sunday we had our prayer group Christmas party. Drew and David. We went to Drew's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. He got a train table and lots of other train stuff. Its amazing to me there are other kids out there who are as obsessed with trains as David is!

Here are Ben and David at my brother-in-law Drew's birthday later that evening. I just love the moment I captured above. David is pointing to a baby picture and Ben is saying "that's me!".


Elena and David. I wish I could take credit for these two shots, but our friend Jason took them. His son Bobby was sick and had to stay with grandma. Hope you are feeling better Bobby!

More David Videos

So he's missing an e-i, but who's counting?

Too bad he doesn't really have a choice in the matter. Sorry kid, one day you'll really appreicate having a sibling. Also, I'd really like to know who taught him the phrase "no way". Not cool.

Questions Answered

Thanks for all of your well wishes. We've known for a month now, but we wanted to tell our family first, which we did on family picture day. (A special thanks to Caron for the picture she took that I used in the last post.) I actually hadn't planned on announcing this so soon here, as I wanted to wait for my first ultrasound to make sure everything was going well. The group that delivered David didn't perform the first ultrasound until 10-12 weeks. We've moved since David was born so I needed to change doctors. My first appointment was today and to my surprise they did an ultrasound. Apparently this group performs three ultrasounds, and I'm pretty happy about that! My due date is June 30th, but due to complications from David's delivery, and the surgery I had to have as a result, I will have a scheduled c-section during week 39. So far this pregnancy has been very different from the first. Although I was tired last time, it is very much magnified by the fact that I am also taking care of a two year old this time. Also, I am very nauseated almost all day long. I did not experience this at all with David, and I am really hoping that it goes away after the first trimester. We will find out the sex, as long as the baby cooperates with us!

David's Big Announcement

Thankful

I've been tagged by Katie once again! Since Chris said it so eloquently I'm gonna go ahead and quote her on the rules ..."I'm supposed to blog 7 things I'm Thankful for this season. I'm guessing from the few I've read we're supposed to give 7 random things other than the obvious traditional ones. So you all know how thankful I am for my {handsome son}, my loving husband and our supportive family...so here is the fun stuff..." (Thanks for that Chris!)

1. I'm thankful for our new mattress. It rocks. I don't toss and turn like I used to and I don't wake up with a sore back either. Getting a good night's sleep is priceless.

2. I'm thankful for my awesome hairdresser Desi. I trust her completely. She has never once given me a bad cut or color and I've been going to her for 7 years now. We have such a good relationship that she has even opened her salon just for me on a Saturday she was supposed to be closed. Also, she will often stay late or rearrange her whole schedule just to get me in. I consider her a very good friend.

3. I'm thankful for sweet tea. My drink of choice, although lately I've been ordering a lot of 1/2 sweet 1/2 unsweet to cut back on the sugar. I'm thankful my mom taught me how she made it for me growing up (and still tries to have some on hand when we come visit). I'm thankful my mother-in-law showed me how to make a glass of sweet tea when you happen to go somewhere that doesn't serve it (oh the insanity). Ask for a cup of hot tea and a glass of ice. Put your sugar in it while its hot. Once its done steeping pour it into the ice. Pure Genius. I often use this method at home just to make a single glass for myself.

4. I'm thankful for any and all swiffer products. They make cleaning so much easier.

5. I'm thankful I live where I live. Stores may be a few more miles away than it is for most people, but it takes me the same amount of time to get there as traffic here might be just one more car on the road.

6. I'm thankful that for now I still have 20/20 vision.

7. I'm thankful the invention of the microwave. I don't know how I would survive without it.

Weekend Update

We had another busy and very tiring weekend. Saturday Jason and I went to the Georgia vs. Auburn game, and I have to say it has been my favorite game to date, which is saying a lot since it tops all the games we viewed from the student section! In one week the bulldog nation came together and decided to have a "blackout", and all Georgia fans wore black to the game. There were rumors the players were going to wear black jerseys. They showed up at the dawg walk and pre-game warm-up wearing red, but we still had hope when Uga and Hairy dawg were wearing black. The crowd erupted when the players ran out wearing their new first time ever worn/used black jerseys! The fans were into every play of the game and you could see it really kept the players hyped up. We hardly sat down and with good reason as the dawgs whopped the war-eagles, er, the tigers (which is it Auburn?) with a score of 45 to 20-a game we were only favored to win by one point! I was going to post pictures, but I'll just link to some since the ones I took look absolutely crummy next to my girl Caron's amazing work. Sunday was picture day and Caron drove out to us which really made it easier for the kids. Here are just a few of my favorites...

Thanks Caron-you're "simply the best, better than all the rest". Soooo sorry about Dora!

David meets Spike

Its been slow blogging here lately. Like Becky, I keep leaving my camera at home. Here are a few pictures I managed to take on my cell phone last Friday. We took David to his first UGA basketball game. It was an exhibition game so it was free.

David was overwhelmed at first, and he had this stunned look on his face for a long time as he took it all in.
He lit up when the cheerleaders did their routine during a time-out. David said "Do it again!".
The seat kept folding in on him, as he was barely able to keep it down!

The highlight of the night was when Jason took David to see Spike who came up in the stands to give David a high five. I just love living so close to Athens.

Trick or Treat

The Royal Family certainly had a happy Halloween indeed. Knowing that to send any child trick or treating by walking from house to house in our neighborhood might be considered child abuse (because of the long distance between houses) I asked David's good friend Elena if we could tag along with her and their crew. That was a couple of weeks ago and what started out as just a few of us grew into a huge friends and family party! It was awesome. Here are some pictures from last night.

We borrowed my nephew Ben's hat and hook since David wouldn't keep his other hat on.

Bobby as a Giraffe-he did really good in his costume.

Lana-her parents dressed up with her and it was really cute. They pretended to "hold up" each house and raid their candy.

Me and my nephew Will in his skeleton shirt.I didn't get a picture of Elena in her costume, but she was

Remy from the movie Ratatouille.

My sis Lara and I. I'm seriously going to cut my hair to her length now.
Our boys- Ben aka Spider man, and David.
Oma and Pop with their youngest grandson.
Ben, Drew, and Lara enjoying the fire. Julie had a nice little set-up for all of us. She made apple and pumpkin muffins with apple cider. After making the rounds we let the kids play together and eat a little candy, while the adults ate and relaxed by the outdoor fire pit. It was just perfect and we vowed to do it again next year...except, about a week ago (after I had long made plans with Julie) our neighborhood decided to put together an annual hay ride to take the kids to trick or treating at each house! Next year I am really going to have a tough time trying to decide what to do!

Every Dawg Has His Day

A post of blogger shout-outs...

Tara, this is how I know what Evan's next move will be ; )
For Angela per her special request. We finally caved in a bought David a toy vacuum. On Friday I was able to vacuum without David yelling "my turn". He was content to use his alongside me copying my every move.
Caron, Caitlin, and all the other Georgia fans out there...HOW 'BOUT THEM DAWGS? The highlight of the weekend was watching the Georgia/Florida game. The dawgs had their day on Saturday as they won 42 to 30. Whoohoo!