My kids rock!

...literally. If you know Drew at all, then you know how he has headbanged in his bed and rocked on the couch for about two years. Well, Emma's either copying him or developing her own habits...uh oh!!

Here's the kids playing with Drew's new crane.

And Emma really did get ger two front teeth for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

On Saturday, December 11th, we went to the Huntersville Christmas celebration. Here's Emma and Drew talking with Santa. We met up with my friend Jessica and her husband so Drew could hang out with his best buddy, Luke. They got to ride the train, a little airplane ride, and the big slide - Jessica has pictures (our camera broke right after this Santa picture, and we had to get a new one a few days later.).

Emma was sick Thursday through Saturday (Dec 16-18) with a 103.5+ fever, so she and I missed Chad's family's gathering on Saturday. Here's Emma on Saturday morning holding the thermometer. Poor baby!

Here's Chad's family visiting Nana for Christmas on that Saturday: Alan, his brother John, Susan, Nana, Chad, his brother and Sherry - and of course, Olivia and Drew being silly in the front.

We celebrated Christmas with Chad's parents and opened presents on Sunday morning, December 19th. Luckily Emma woke up feeling better and we got there that morning to see everyone, open presents and hang out for the day. Drew took his race track to his Granddad, "open it up!"


Here's Emma relaxing with her Grandmom.

And here's our little Santa Baby!

Here's Emma and I opening her presents.

We flew to Indiana on Monday, December 20th. We got there in time for Drew to have some lunch and then take a nap. Then my brother and sister and their families came over. It was our cookie decorating night (we do it every year!). Here's Drew really concentrating on his cookie. As soon as he finished this cookie he ate it! (my mom made special sugar cookies that he can have.)

And here's Parker, Drew and Will...this picture must have been really early in the cookie decorating activity, b/c the table looks too clean!

This is more like it! That is a pile of red sprinkles...from one cookie! They all had sprinkles all over!

We celebrated Christmas with my parents on Tuesday morning. Emma looks so excited for Daddy to get her doll out of the box!

Here's Drew opening a present.

And then later that afternoon, we went out and played in the snow. They already had several inches of snow, but we'd gotten a little more on Monday night. Here's Emma and I.

Drew and Emma in the snow!

Emma's first snow experience!

Our three awesome snowmen that Chad, my parents and I made.

Chad let Drew throw snowballs at him!

Emma's helping my parents put the finishing touches on the snowmen.

Emma and my mom.

We had to take the kids to lunch at Zaharakos - they're known for their Christmas decorations. Here's Emma with my dad.

We opened presents with my brother and sister on Wednesday night. Here's Parker "helping" Drew open a present from them. I think he ended up telling him what it was before it was open - oops!

We all got together at my sisters' house on Thursday...my parents were completely surprised that the gathering was for them! We celebrated their 40th anniversary! Here they are opening their present - a frame with a bunch of pictures of their 6 grandkids.

Then we all flew back home on Friday morning, Christmas Eve. It was an uneventful flight and the kids were very good. Emma was so calm and good - I think I even dozed off a couple times with her just hanging out in my lap! We got a few groceries and drove around looking at Christmas lights. Then we got back home, played a little with the new toys, read The Night Before Christmas with the kids, and then put them to bed. Before we knew it, it was Christmas morning and our alarm clock (Emma) woke us up around 6:30am!

Emma learned how to pull up on Christmas Eve, so she had to stand to open her presents Christmas morning.

Busy busy on Christmas morning!

Here's Emma and Drew opening presents at our house on Christmas morning.

Emma stood up after her nap on Christmas day! Little stinker!

Drew and Emma on Christmas day.

Chad's parents came over for a lasagna dinner on Christmas. Here they are with Emma and Drew.

On Christmas evening it started snowing - it was the first white Christmas in this area since 1947! And by the next morning we had about 4 inches! We had fun playing in it! Here's Chad and Drew posing with Mr. Snowman.

Snow angels...sort of.

Here's Drew and Emma from sometime a couple weeks ago. Emma looks like a little elf in this picture the way the hat is pushing her ears down!

And here's Emma wearing BabyLegs - they're leg warmers for babies and, apparently, are quite trendy! A neighbor friend gave them to me! haha

Here's Emma today pulling up and playing. She crawls fast and pulls up on everything now!

Emma crawls and she has a tooth!

Emma has been on a roll lately! She is crawling for real now - and gets all over the house!! We finally pulled out the playyard so we can control her (or as Drew calls it, the cage). However, Drew has been the one playing in the playyard so far! I guess as long as his toys are out of reach, that works just the same. Here's a video of Emma crawling.

And Drew and I were cracking up at the silly faces Emma was making while I was feeding her. She really wanted her bites to come faster and she was straining to reach for them. Here's the video.

And some more big news for Emma... she has a tooth coming in!! One of her bottom teeth has broken through the gums. So, the mystery is solved. Emma had some rough days of fussing, fighting naps, and wanting to be held and now we know why!

Emma clapping and Christmas events

Last week, Emma started clapping when Drew and I clapped! She hasn't done it much since - I think she's concentrating more on crawling. She can now crawl 3-4 steps on hands and knees before she drops down to her belly to army crawl. Here's a video of her clapping.


On Friday night we went to the Christmas in Davidson event. We had never been, but I'd heard a lot about it. Well, apparently everybody else did too...it was SO CROWDED! And with a stroller and a 2 yr old, that makes it hard to move through a crowd and see all the stuff. Drew got to meet Curious George (and gave him a high five), watch the horses pull carriages, listen to some live music in one of the shops, listen to carolers on the street, and see some cool decorations and even a neat toy train in a window. But mostly, we squeezed through the crowded street, turned around, and squeezed our way back.

Then on Saturday we went to the parade in Davidson and Cornelius. It is a much better parade than the Charlotte Thanksgiving parade! However, we had a surprise that we were not expecting at all while we were there...within 5 minutes of claiming our spot and setting our chairs up...SNOW! ...and ice, and sleet... But the snow was really cool! It continued to sleet and snow for most of the parade.

Drew tried to eat it.

And a video of us all trying to stay warm and dry.



We were all pretty much bundled up, but I don't have mittens for Emma. So, I let my hands freeze and I put my gloves on her.

These horses were amazing...and HUGE!

Both kids were good sports about the sudden drop in temps (low 30s) and the wet weather. We kept asking Drew if he wanted to go and he said he wanted to stay there "all weekend!" And Emma was happy in her little tent that we made her. About halfway through the parade I felt guilty that she might be cold, so I picked her up and wrapped her in our quilt...and she fell asleep! So heavy!! haha

And Emma's pretty bow - it's attached to her few long hairs!

Santa Picture

Here's the kids and Santa. We're not sure how to make it bigger - but it's still pretty cute! They're making serious faces, but there were no tears!

Family pictures, Thanksgiving, Emma's getting faster!

The weekend before Thanksgiving we put our indoor Christmas things up. Here's two partners in crime checking out the tree.

My mom got Emma a winter coat - with matching pants! So cute!

We FINALLY got some family pictures taken! The photographer took a ton of pictures and then gave us a cd of all of them to do whatever we want with them. There's a bunch of really cute ones - here's a few of our favorites.


Emma was super distracted with the new surroundings and didn't feel much like smiling!

On Thanksgiving, we invited Chad's parents to join us for the day. We went to the parade in Charlotte, which seemed to be mostly school bands and paegant queens. Last year there was more variety! It was 50 degrees and drizzly, and when the drizzle became rain we headed out early! Here are some pictures of us passing the kids around (both to keep them warm and to see over the rude people who came and stood right infront of us).

Note to self: never wear a scarf and fuzzy sweater when I'm gonna be holding a baby! She had black fuzzies all over her drooly chin and the scarf became a choking hazzard for me! haha

After we got back and ate lunch, Drew took a nap. But he woke up early b/c he was too excited about our company. So Chad brought him down...and he fell asleep for another hour like this!! He never does this! I think I was the only one in the house awake for awhile - our comfy couches sucked everyone in.

Thanksgiving night we decided to skip the 10pm sale at Toys R Us after hearing about the 2-3 hour waits to get into the store and another couple hours to checkout...and we are so glad we did. We ordered our things online at the same awesome sale prices!! I did go shopping Friday morning around 7am and was surprised at the lack of lines or crowds. Then we all went to Concord Mills mall, which was busy. The kids even sat on Santa's lap...no line for that even!! I'll scan the picture from that and post it later. Then Friday evening we took the kids to BounceU - a facility full of inflatable bouncers and slides. Here's Emma cheering Drew on.

And here's Drew at his favorite thing there.



And another one.



And I just wanted to show you how Emma can get around now...and FAST!

On Saturday, we went to Chad's parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner. Grant, Sherry and Olivia were there too. Olivia and Drew are good buddies and had a blast! They ran around like crazy kids and loved every minute of it - even though we were trying to control their chaos! haha And we had to protect them from the mean Buffy cat (apparently the kitty is an angel for Susan, but she isn't too fond of our kids). Sharon, Susan and Alan's good friend, stopped over with Christmas gifts for the kids, which was so sweet of her! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera - there were some cute photo opportunities! I hope to get a copy of a picture of the three cousins that everyone else took and I'll post it later.

On Sunday, we let Drew pick out an outdoor decoration at Wal-Mart, so we ended up with one of those moving reindeers that light up. So, we got home and put up all our outside lights. We even put some on the back deck so we can enjoy them from inside the house.

It was a busy 4 day weekend - but lots of fun!! Definitely too short though!