Merry Christmas Y'all!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful new year! Ours is off to a good start. I regret not doing a Christmas blog right after the holidays because now we're into January and it's just another thing on my to-do list. We're leaving for Disney (whoop whoop!!) in a couple of days so it's now or never. I'll list things out as bullets in order to be a little quicker... laundry and packing calls!

* I enjoyed two fun and festive holiday parties at Duke. It was great to get to know my co-workers a little better in a social setting. New employees are urged (required, more like it) to participate in the holiday skit. I tried not to let on that I actually love that kind of thing! I think it was obvious though. I had a great time rehearsing and performing the skit and we got tons of laughs!
* The boys had fun celebrating the holidays at school and came home with tons of adorable crafts.
* Christmas Bunco for me. We don't play in December but do a white elephant ornament exchange instead. That game never gets old and I was pleased to go home with an ornament I like.
* We went to Polar Express Night at Prestonwood. It consisted of a delicious buffet, train ride around the golf course, reading of The Polar Express, and a visit with Santa. We shared a table with our good friends, The Campbell's. It was a very fun night.
* Judy arrived on Christmas Eve and then we went to the Watson's for a fun afternoon. My parents were there as well as the Gunderson's. We ate tons of delicious food, opened a couple of gifts, played with the kiddos and even snuggled on the couch for a movie.
* I was looking forward to making cookies for Santa with the kids but both boys fell asleep on the way home from Cristie's. They stayed asleep through pj's and potty so I guess they were whipped! It ended up working out well because George and I were able to start our Santa duties pretty early.
* Christmas morning was fun! CC, Day Day and Me-Ma were here too. The strangest thing happened. Drew's alarm went off on his new Darth Vader alarm clock. He got it for his birthday and the alarm never went off the two weeks between then and Christmas. But on Christmas morning it buzzed at 6:45am! He was convinced Santa set it for him which was pretty cute! Obviously, the button must have gotten pressed accidentally. We're just thankful it was set for 6:45 and not 5!
* The Watson's came over around lunchtime and we all had a fun day together. We did lots of eating of course; snacks and a light lunch followed by a turducken Christmas dinner. Yum! After dinner we did lots of singing! More on that in the pictures below :)
* My parents went home on the 26th. I've been teasing them that they must have gotten sick of us pretty quickly. Judy stuck it out one more night and went home on the 27th.
* I worked two days the week in between Christmas and New Years. The boys' school was closed so George took off work. They had a fun time and played lots of Wii!. We have all enjoyed Drew's gift. I am amazed at how quickly Drew picked it up. He is definitely way, way better than me but thankfully has the patience to teach me how to play.
* New Years Eve party at our neighbors' house. It was our 3rd year celebrating there and was fun yet again!

Wishing you a wonderful 2012!

On the front steps of Prestonwood getting ready for Polar Express night. The kids were supposed to wear pajamas. Wish the adults could have too.
The boys with their friends Ben and Nathan (aka The Real Nathan).

Shy David and super-cheese Drewby with Santa.

Christmas Eve

Fun racetrack from Me-Ma. She always find the coolest stuff on QVC :)

Oops! The kids got into Whitley's new make-up set and the boys got pedicures. Cristie said not to worry because the nail polish wasn't real. I've got news, it's January 8th and the boys still have some pink on their toes!

Nice pictures of Judy and George.

T and I with our gifts from Mae Mae.

David can't get enough of Whitley! Sweeties!

Drew with Mario Kart, a game for his new Wii.

So many fun presents!

Even Bailey got to open a couple of gifts!

Cristie got THE BEST gift, a sing-and-stand karaoke machine. You just plug an ipod into it, fade out the "real" singer, and go to town. It is an absolute blast. I sang more than my share of tunes despite the boos and endless pleading to stop. It was a hit with everyone. Drew and Whitley sang together and so did George and I. It was the icing on the cake to our wonderful Christmas! Thanks for sharing T!

Drew and Tom are up!

CC and Day Day with their Grands.

Love this picture. Not sure what they are laughing about but something tells me it was potty talk!

Pretty Grandmothers!

Handsome guys.

Thanksmas!

We celebrated "Thanksmas" over the weekend at my Aunt Betty and Uncle Mike's house in New Castle, VA. Their daughter and son-in-saw, Jenny and Nick, were in town from Seattle for a holiday visit. They termed the occasion "Thanksmas" since we all got together between Thanksgiving and Christmas to celebrate the holidays. We sure had a great time! Drew and I went along with CC, Day Day and Cristie. Since we were just going for the day and it's about 3 1/2 hours away we decided to take only one car. George stayed home with David cause we thought the car ride would be too much for the little guy (he's not the biggest fan!). Drew on the other hand stayed busy talking to us, watching movies and playing Angry Birds on CC's phone (I refuse to put it on my phone in fear he would beg to play it constantly). Aunt Betty had yummy food, lots of drinks (maybe too many for some people reading this??? Not me, I drove us home!) and games. We all had a blast and enjoyed lots of laughs!

Aunt Betty, Mom and T when we first arrived.
Most of the crew outside of the new cabin Uncle Mike built. He is so talented!

Drew thought the cabin was his own personal playhouse. Here he is in the loft :)

"The mule." So fun to ride around in around their property. Not that I actually rode in it myself! Drew was first to get in every time and somehow Day Day always managed to squeeze in too!

Drew took full advantage of being the only kid there (Whitley didn't join us on the trip because Tom's parents were in town). I was beginning to think Drew continued to run back to the cabin just to see who would race after him and bring him back. This time it was Aunt Cristie AND Mel Mel!

The guys. Drew loved being in that photo!

The cousins from oldest on the left to youngest on the right.

Uncle Mike built an incredible tree house! I wish I had a picture looking up at it. Wonder if it would make you as queasy looking at the picture as it does seeing it in person. Holy cow, it must be the tallest tree house ever built! It has three levels. Here's Drew going up just a few steps.

Jedi Training for Drew's 5th Birthday!

Our Drewby is 5!!! Gosh, that seems like such a big birthday! From the minute his 4th birthday party was over, he's been talking about the Star Wars party he would have for his 5th birthday. He stuck with that theme all year so that's what we went with! He only listed a few kids when we talked about the invite list so I decided to have the party at home this year. Thanks to the internet, I found lots of "Jedi training" games for Star Wars birthday parties. Drew celebrated with David, Whitley and seven good buddies. Although there were ten kids in the house, it didn't seem all that chaotic to me. I tried to organize lots of games to keep them busy and although they enjoyed those, they also just wanted to play. There were lots of costumes, light sabers and other Star Wars fun. Then on Monday the 12th, Drew's actual birthday, he celebrated at school with his classmates. He has really made some good friends there so I'm glad he was able to celebrate with them too. Thank you Sam's Club for the delicious cakes for both parties! Happy birthday to our smart, handsome, funny Drewby!!! We love you to pieces!

We went out to dinner at Red Robin on Drew's birthday. We had such a nice dinner out. It made George and I laugh that we all had such a good time. Drew turning five made me feel kind of old and then the fact that we had a fun dinner at Red Robin just confirmed that fact. Oh well, can't remember a time that I've been any happier than now :)

In costume (of course!) for his party.

Drew really wanted cool decorations. Here's what we did with the dining room table.

Whitley plays "Pin the ear on Yoda"

Stomping out the hot lava (red bubble wrap).

Grabbing the candy after attacking the Darth Vader pinata.

The whole group.

The "Yoda soda" was probably the biggest hit of all! See the empty punch bowl? Green sherbet and Sprite, an easy and fun treat! I glued Yoda ears on the green cups and George drew Yoda faces on them. They turned out really cute!

Tiger Fan Heaven

We seem to become bigger and bigger LSU fans the more time goes by! Seeing the Tigers play is definitely one of the biggest things we miss about Louisiana. We have been yearning to see them this season and were finally able to last weekend at the SEC Championship. Big thanks to Ward for the tickets! Not only did we see the Tigers play (and win!) but George and I had a fun little getaway as well. We drove to Atlanta, but without the kiddos, it was kind of relaxing. We talked and listened to our Tiger tunes and before we knew it we were there! Our first stop was dinner at Kelly Butler's! She is one of my best friends and I was beyond thrilled to see her!!! She and her husband Jeff were fabulous hosts and made a delicious dinner. Their boys, Clay and Austin, were sweet as pie and I enjoyed reading them a bedtime story since I missed my own little guys. After lots of laughs and good food, we headed downtown to our hotel. We grabbed a beer at a nearby bar and enjoyed seeing so many people in purple and gold! There was a dessert cafe attached to our hotel so we ended our fun evening with two huge pieces of delicious cheesecake. We slept pretty late on Saturday (8:30 I think!) and then went on a run. We ran through the College Gameday area and tailgate spots sporting our purple shirts. Gotta love those Tiger fans that screamed out to us that we were nuts and should be drinking! The morning flew by and soon it was time to go see Ward at the pep rally. We were like kids at Christmas when the band started playing! Makes me giddy just thinking about it! We sure enjoyed catching up with Ward and wish it wouldn't have gone by so quickly. We met up with Kelly and Jeff for a quick drink before the game and then headed for the Georgia dome! If you watched the game, you know LSU didn't exactly start off strong. But when they got ready, they really got ready and and we had an absolute blast cheering for them! Geaux Tigers! A couple of more beers post game with Kelly and Jeff, some yummy greasy food and another piece of cheesecake later, we called it a night. We got up and on the road pretty early Sunday, excited to see our the boys. They had a fabulous weekend as well, spending it in Myrtle Beach with their grandparents. Thank you to CC, Day Day and Me-Ma for all you did! They entertained the boys with a movie, Christmas train ride at the mall, visit to see Santa, beach trip, shopping and lots of good eats. A text I received from Daddy before the trip? "What do the boys like that you won't buy them?" I think they were a tad spoiled!

Me and Kel!
George and I on top of Tiger One at the SEC Fan Fare pregame.

In front of all of the LSU scores. Impressive season!

Geaux Tigers!!!

When I told the boys they were going to the beach, David went and got this suitcase of CC's that is at our house, wheeled it to his room, threw five pajamas in it, sat inside and grinned! Hysterical!

Me-Ma knew that the local mall does train rides during the holidays. It was a big hit with the boys!

And Bass Pro Shop does free pictures with Santa. Mom took a picture of the picture and texted it to me. She's pretty darn good with that smartphone! The grandmas said David was very shy and Drew spoke real softly to Santa.

Thankfull (as in, stuffed!)

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with Judy, my parents, the Watson's and Tom's brother and sister-in-law, Dave and Terri. We hosted but it was so easy since everyone helped by bringing a dish or two (three for Cristie and Tom!). We had way too much food but it was all delicious. I thought it was one of the best Thanksgivings. The weather was perfect so the kids were able to play outside and we enjoyed our fried turkey right by the pot! Of course the occasion was extra special because we were able to celebrate with our loving family which we are so thankful for!

We went to see Mom and Dad the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was a gorgeous weekend so the boys were able to play at the beach for a bit.

The Davis family went out for the Cary Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Drew ran his first mile as a participant in the fun run! Way to go Drew! Then I ran the 8k. I placed in my age group and won a gift card to Inside Out Sports! It wasn't much but covered my entry for the race.

Drew proudly showing off his participation ribbon.

The David's didn't run but sweetly came out to cheer us on! We missed having CC there but it was nice of her to offer to stay behind and get the turkey started.

David wanted a shirt like Drew so I gave him mine :)

The first of two delicious Thanksgiving meals. Thanksgiving day warmed up and we had a great afternoon outside. We dug into our first turkey, a fried one, as soon as it hit the table. After pigging out, we played and hung out, hoping to work up an appetite for round 2, a more formal sit down dinner. I can't believe how much we ate!

Sweet Cristie brought Christmas ornaments for the kids to decorate. They were really into it! We also had some other crafts which kept them busy. Cristie did an awesome job of entertaining the kids which earned her a seat at the head table for dinner, meaning the non-kids table :) It was a funny story! Mom, Dad and I sat with the kids but actually had a very nice meal and good conversations. Well, except for one little incident. We went around the table and shared what we are thankful for. I broke Drew's heart when I didn't say his name first during my turn. I didn't name people, I just mentioned some things I was thankful for. When I looked at him I could see the hurt as he started to tear up and I realized what I had done. It was hard to explain to him that as a Mom, of course he and David are what I'm most thankful for. All he kept saying was, "Well, if you are most thankful for me than why didn't you say it first?" I couldn't dig my way out of it! I spent the next few days reminding him how thankful I am for him and he eventually got over it. Whew!

David and Me-Ma preparing the whipped topping for pies. David always makes his way to the kitchen, stool in hand, if he hears someone cooking!

I love this picture!

Whitley with her Uncle Dave and Aunt Terri.

Silly Drew making us laugh.

Had to get a picture of Tom and George.

We put a movie on after dinner and those little rascals asked for popcorn. Day Day delivered of course, not one but two bags of movie theater butter.

We worked on Christmas decorations over Thanksgiving weekend. Had to share this picture of the tree after the boys put the ornaments on. They were so proud of their work. Their work is very clear, David's ornaments are all at the very bottom and Drew's are about a foot higher. It's been three days and I'm embarrassed to share that I haven't gotten around to fixing it. Hope it doesn't tip over before I do!