Dear friends

Friday night we were able to share a meal and celebrate Christmas with our dear friends, the Hwangs. This pic is a bit blurry but cuter than the other one I took....

Gingerbread House Decorating Party

Cate's class had a gingerbread house decorating party last Thursday which I was able to help out with! They each were given individual sized OJ cartons and lots of frosting and candy to work with....they were mini-masterpieces! It was interesting to see each child's different decorating technique as some used minimal candy while others used about every piece possible! They demonstrated some serious self-control, I must say, and waited until the teacher gave permission before digging into some of the extra candy.

However, Cate lacked a bit of self-control once the gingerbread house was home. I was finishing drying my hair Friday afternoon and Cate was with me but then disappeared. She usually finds something to play with but she seemed unusually quiet. When she came back to the bathroom, she had crumbs and sprinkes all over her mouth and on her shirt. When asked what she had been doing, she said, "Nothing." "Really," I say! I gave her a second chance to tell me and she said, "But I don't want to get in trouble!" It was a classic case of getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar and I just had to laugh (but did have a conversation about the importance of telling the truth always whether that means getting in trouble or not!).

Singing Bears

Cate's class took a field trip last Thursday uptown to see the singing Christmas bears! The plan was to take the city bus but due to the rain, we ended up taking cars. The kids had a blast and I enjoyed seeing Cate interact with her peers. They watched, danced, giggled, and smiled a lot!

Success

I'm not sure if you remember our gingerbread house making endeaver last year, but if you don't...it wasn't very successful. This year, we made sure to follow the directions resulting in a wonderfully sound and creatively decorated house! We started on Saturday and didn't end up finishing until last night which guaranteed a solid foundation:)

Don't mind the spaghetti splattered face...she was headed straight for the tub!

The tree

A couple of weekends ago, we took a family trip to the mountains for a wedding at Lake Junaluska. On our way home, we visited a Christmas tree farm so we could bring a fresh cut tree home. We hiked up the mountain, really large hills that seemed like you were hiking a mountain, to find the "perfect" tree. It was a bit overwhelming as there were so many "perfect" trees to chose from, but we finally settled on one. They cut it down for us and strapped it to our car while we warmed up in the tent with heaters, warm cider and snacks.

We were actually able to get our tree up and decorated that evening! Cate had a blast, meticulously chosing which were the perfect ornaments for her to hang. Drew just kind of wandered around, finding great interest in the large bin the tree ornaments and accessories were kept in! He's done quite well leaving the tree alone, much to my surprise!

So far, my December has been overwhelmingly busy. But, I really hope these last 9 days before Christmas will allow some time to sit by the tree and rest!

Merry Christmas!

With the birth of baby #3 approaching quickly, we won't be sending out Christmas cards this year. Instead, we'll send a Happy New Years card including our newest addition. But, I wanted to say Merry Christmas. We hope your Christmas is fun and a sweet reminder of God's love for us in the gift He gave us through Jesus.

"Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is LOVE and his Gospel is PEACE.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
let all within us praise His holy Name!

CHRIST is the LORD!

O praise His name forever!

His power and glory evermore proclaim!

His power and glory evermore proclaim!"

(From O Holy Night)

Puddle Jumping

Yesterday afternoon, it finally stopped raining which resulted in some great puddles and "streams in the street" as Cate called it. We donned the rain boots and made do with an old pair of boots for sweet Drew! He didn't care that they were pink. They had such a good time racing leaves and splashing in the puddles. Good thing it was fairly warm because they were both soaked afterwards!

You can't really tell from these pictures, but the water was flowing quickly and was fairly abundant! Fun times:)

Lobster time

Once again, Gmom and Papa treated us to lobsters. Cate went to pick them out and we even raced them before cooking them! There must have been some mental disconnect on her part since she really personifies everything. But, she had no trouble cracking and eating it!! Go figure!

Plymouth

While in Boston, we took a trip to Plymouth to see the Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower. The weather was not the best, very cold and rainy, but we bundled up and took a step back in time. It was helpful for Cate to understand the history of Thanksgiving better and a good refresher for us adults!

Plymouth rock just a short way down the road but I failed to take a picture!

Thanksgiving

Backtracking a bit, we spent Thanksgiving at Gmom and Papa's house in Boston this year. Despite my slipping and falling down the stairs a couple hours after arriving and spending some time at the hospital, we had a really nice trip. Thankfully I was not seriously hurt and the baby is fine, but my tailbone is still sore today!!

Gmom cooked a delicious Thanksgiving feast for us and Aunt Faith even made special, theme appropriate hats....a pilgram hat for Cate and Indian headress for Drew!

Drew is serious about his food and is wondering where his is in this pic!

Aunt Faith is very silly and made the kids laugh a lot!

Here is Drew with his great grandfather, Pa!

It's cold outside....

I realize that I have a lot of blogging to catch up on...Thanksgiving, our weekend trip to the mountains, chosing and decorating our Christmas tree... However, until I have a bit more time I'll just post this one cute picture I took over the weekend. We are enjoying the COLD weather...it actually feels like winter:)

Bye-bye pink room

Last weekend, Jacob and I had a "work" weekend to prepare Cate's room for Drew to move in and prepare the nursery (Drew's old room) for a little girl. Our dear friends, the Hwangs, graciously kept the kids until early Sunday morning, a story I'll save for the end:)

Cate's room has been de-pinked, something I am actually quite happy about! It is now a creamy yellow. Here are some before and after pictures.

So far, the transition of Drew into Cate's room has gone fairly well. The only issues are very early waking. Drew is waking Cate up when he wakes up...this week has been before 7 am, a couple mornings, before 6!!! I'm hoping the newness of it wears off soon. We are going to keep at it for now and hope that Drew starts sleeping later and Cate is able to sleep through his morning cries.

Our work weekend was quite successful, even though cut short. I came down with the stomach bug last Thursday. Originally, we were going to head to Greensboro Friday night but decided to give it more time to see if anyone else got sick. So, I met Stacy 1/2 way on Saturday morning, hoping and praying all were in the clear. Unfortunately, Cate did end up getting the stomach bug in the wee hours of Sunday morning so we jumped in the car at 3:30 AM to fetch them. Stacy and Jeff took care of Cate as if she was their own and we are so thankful for them. It pains me that we exposed them to this yucko bug and kept them up most of the night but hopefully we can look back at these memories and laugh!! Thanks again, Hwangs:)

Hillridge Farms

I'm trying to play a bit of catch up here with the blog today! I really can't believe that Thanksgiving is next Thursday....November has really flown by. I took the kids to Raleigh for a few days at the beginning of November to visit my parents and some good friends. My mom found a great place for us to go when we were there, Hillridge Farms, about 45 minutes away.

We went on a hayride, picked out pumpkins, visited with the animals, walked through 2 different mazes, jumped on a moon bounce, inspected a teepee, walked through a "fort," played in a really cool gazebo filled with corn kernals, and had a picnic lunch! It was a beautiful day and we had a blast!

The Drewster

Drewster, the Drew-man, Drewy....these are all nicknames that we call Drew on a daily basis. He's 17 months old now and I realized that I haven't blogged much about him lately.


He finally mastered walking a couple of months ago and now he likes to pretend to jump!

He has changed from a child who would eat almost anything and lots of it, to a child who is extremely picky and eats far less (probably a good thing).

He has a strong affection for his passy, stuffed duck, and blankie. You will often find him retrieving these items from his crib and walking around the house with them. And, he can't have one without the other 2! I'm much more lax with Drew and his passy than I was with Cate....

He is becoming increasingly interested in construction vehicles, airplanes, cars, buses, etc. He's quick to point them out when he sees them and loves looking at them in books.

He is much less verbal than is sister was at this age. He knows a few words and will often repeat words we say. I think his vocabulary is bigger than I think but I can't yet understand it:)

He definitely has an opinion about things now and will cry when he doesn't get what he wants!

He throws almost everything. We are trying to teach him what is appropriate to throw (balls) and what is not appropriate (food, toys, etc).

He has the most precious smile and laugh. He's still very much a mama's boy. AND, he's going to have a rough time when his baby sister arrives!

He's a joy!

Trick or treating

Here are some pictures before we set off for trick or treating and then a couple of the actual trick or treating! We met up with some neighbors and went as a large group which made it a lot of fun for Cate. We certainly aren't lacking for any candy now! It certainly fills my need for some daily chocolate:)