Christmas Parade Pics

We headed out to the Mooresville Christmas parade last Tuesday and had a blast! The weather was wonderful (it was hot and did not rain like last year) and both kiddos had a ball. It was the first parade experience for Elizabeth and Wyatt. Here are some of the highlights:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We have SO MUCH to be thankful for today and everyday. I am most thankful for my family. Enjoy today with your family, friends, and loved ones.

House Update!

Wow, our house is really coming along!!!!! The basement was poured last week and this week they have framed the back wall in the basement. There are spots for the windows and a double door. It looks awesome and I just love how HUGE the basement is. We will finally have room for all our stuff!!!!! Once the stairs get put in, we will figure out where we want to set up the TV, couch, etc. The basement is going to be a "man-cave" for Ceddy! Here are some pics!

And by the way, I should have posted on this earlier, but Elizabeth is a walking machine! She is walking all over the house! Where did my baby go??????

Tradition, Tradition (sung in the style of "Fiddler on the Roof")!!!

So one thing I can say about my family is that we love us a tradition, especially when it comes to the holidays! My mom always joked around Christmas that she was not going to do anything new because if she did it once, she would be doing it year after year. Here are some of of my family traditions growing up that still live on: putting up the Christmas tree at my parents house the Sunday after Thanksgiving (while listening to Kenny/Dolly Christmas CD), my dad reading the Christmas story out of the Bible and "The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve, eating country ham on Christmas morning, eating popcorn out of the same wooden bowl (I know this is one thing that my brother and I will fight over!), mom making country ham biscuits for the beach trip and putting them in the same green container year after year, leaving super early for vacations even though the room will not be ready when we get there (this one drives Ceddy crazy!), going Christmas shopping with mymom super early on "Black Friday" (Ceddy goes with us now too which is fun), and the list goes on and on. We thrive on tradition and do many things "just because" we have done it that way for years. I am instilling some traditions of my own with my kiddos.

Growing up, my grandfather made a beautiful nativity stable for me. Each year, I received a piece of this nativity from my parents. This is something I treasure dearly and will pass on to Elizabeth one day:

Gabriel received a Fontan*ini shepherd "Gabriel" from Aunt Janie on his 1st Christmas in 2008. We decided to add to that collection each year, so that he will have a complete nativity of his own when he grows up! 2009 he got Mary/Josesph/Jesus and 2010 the 3 kings. This year he is getting one of the animals. This is a HUGE collection and even has villagers which I do not plan on getting. I just love this nativity set. It is SO detailed and looks so fragile, but it is actually made out of some material that is unbreakable! Perfect for kiddos who want to play with it. I looked around this year and decided to go with the same set for Elizabeth, she is getting Mary/Joseph/Jesus this year, here is a picture of it.

Another tradition involves books. Each year on Chrismtas Eve, the kids receive a Christmas book from us, a nice hard back one. I write a note in it about things that have happened over the course of the year, their development, etc. All our Christmas books are boxed away after Christmas, then right after Thanksgiving, we bring them out again for reading, so fun! This year, they are both getting "The Night Before Christmas" that is recordable, so that we can record ourselves reading it with them! These recordable books can be pricy at H@llmark, but I found theirs at ABC Distr@buting online for 12.95, much cheaper than I have seen anywhere else. I order from them all the time and have been very impressed with their stuff!

We do not have a set "day" that we put our tree up yet, but in the past it has usually been sometime before Thanksgiving. I am thinking that maybe our "day" should be the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I have added more Thanksgiving/fall decorations and really want to have them up through Thanksgiving and it looks kind of funny to have the tree up with all those pumpkins/turkeys/etc. So maybe our "day" to put the tree up with be the Saturday after Thanksgving from now on...if I can make it that long...writing this blog has me in the Christmas spirit, you know I start listening to my Christmas music the day after Halloween :)

Invited :)

This is for all our friends that live too far away...Laura, Brianne, Cynthia, Susan, and the list goes on...Of course you are all invited to Miss Izzie's first birthday celebration, I wish I could snap my fingers and have you all there for the day, I miss you all so much. I just wish we all lived closer :( It is no fun having your best friends spread all over the country! In case you couldn't tell, she is having a cupcake themed birthday party. It is so much fun planning this girly stuff...it just makes me laugh at myself though, I never pictured myself as a "girly girl", but I am eating this stuff up!

The Story of a Quilt Set

So I found this awesome quilt set a few weeks ago on B@lk.com. I have been looking at things for our new bedroom and decided that I really wanted to go with a quilt. Mom got one a while back and loves it and I like the look of a quilt, it is cozyish and relaxing. I wanted to go with a new color...My bedroom has been green/khaki forever and I need a change. But it needed to match khaki/taupe, b/c that is the color I want the bedroom to be painted...not that I am against other colors, but I get tired of the "look" of my bedroom quite often...so if I painted it a wild color, chances are I would be tired of that color in a few months/weeks/days etc...khaki is safe and it matches practically anything...And I didn't want a quilt that looked countryish...And I didn't want anything too flowery...so you can tell I am pretty damn picky about what I want for a quilt and was amazed when I found this set...not green, not countryish, not too flowery and it has taupe and khaki so it will match the walls...and I love the blue! Isn't it pretty?

I waited several days for the free shipping event to begin on the website, then ordered this. After getting the wrong size sent to me 3 times, I FINALLY have the king set I ordered. Yes, they sent me the wrong size 3 separate times. I did lose my cool with someone on the phone after I received the wrong size a 2nd time...But luckily someone from corporate contacted me and she was awesome. Granted I did get the wrong size sent once more, but it was a warehouse issue with the barcode and she gotit worked out for me! I also got refunded the price of the quilt set, so I got this for FREE!!!!!! And you know how I love me a deallio!!!!!

House

Things are moving along SO QUICKLY with the house! The foundation is done and there is now gravel in our basement, they are getting it ready for pouring the concrete...Dad has also laid some of the brick on the back side and it is SO pretty, I justlove it! After the floor in the basement is poured, the framing will begin and then it will really start to look like a house! Tomorrow I will be waterproofing again...That involves painting this sealant on the blocks that have been laid for the foundation. It is really not that bad and I am glad there is something I can do that is useful :)

Halloween Pic Preview

I will do a blog later about how much fun we had this year at Halloween...but I am in a rush to leave for work, so here is a picture preview!