Christmas in Williamsburg

It's impossible for me to put into words how wonderful Christmas at Bean and Poppy's house was this year, so I'm posting my top 10 favorite pictures, along with a slide show, so that you can get a taste of our fun.

1. Cousins:



2. Bear Hugs:



3. Playing with new toys under the tree on Christmas morning:



4. Blue skies, beautiful weather, and fun at the playground:



5. Christmas-clad pajama bottoms:



6. Hair bows and helpers for Baby's First Christmas:



7. Poppy with his special boy:



8. Smiling buddies, checking out their new gadgets. Gabe is grinning here because he knows how to use his IPhone better than Uncle Honey (Mark):



9. Presents and adoration for our furry girl from all of her fans:



10. Sweet, sweet snuggles filled with lots and lots of love:

Merry Christmas!

Our sweet angels wish you a very merry Christmas!

Wake Forest Family

We took a day trip to Winston-Salem, NC, this weekend to go to a Wake Forest basketball game. It was Leah's first visit to WFU, and we were very excited to introduce her to her future alma mater. Luke was thrilled to see the Demon Deacon again, I was ecstatic to get pictures of both children with our beloved mascot, and Mark was happy that the Deacs didn't look too pitiful on the basketball court! Luke and I sat right behind the marching band for part of the game, and he was a little chatterbox, describing each instrument to me and singing along with the fight song. Luke also gave a running commentary of the game, telling me which player had the ball, and repeatedly announcing the score: "Mommy, #11 has the ball... Now #10 has it, he's going to shoot... DOUBLE DUNK!! (Don't know what that means)... and we have 24 points now!!!!" His exuberant joy really was adorable.






















After the game and lunch at our favorite restaurant, we visited our campus, where Leah crawled around on the quad, Luke ran through the grass, and of course I took lots of pictures of my sweet babies in front of Wait Chapel. We love being a Wake Forest Family, and spent a wonderful day at this special place that is so dear to us.

New Neighbors!

We interrupt this month of regularly scheduled Christmas-themed blog posts to bring you breaking news! The new phase of construction in our neighborhood is beginning, which means we have a brand new next door neighbor:



Luke practically gasped with excitement when he realized that the steamroller's new home is the field next to our house. This is only topped by the front loader that now serves as our alarm clock early every morning, as it moves dirt in the adjacent lots under construction. And the icing on the cake: The street sweeper that cleans and sprays water on the road at the end of the day, removing the layer of red Carolina clay that has been deposited by the other 'struction vehicles. This is today's view from our porch:



We literally didn't get out of our pajamas all day, as the day's entertainment was provided for us. One 3 year-old boy is on Cloud Nine, and will be having very sweet dreams tonight!!

Reindeer Games

My favorite Christmas attire for L&L this year is their coordinating reindeer footed pajamas. It's hard to capture how cute the little reindeer feet are, and how adorable it is to listen to Luke belt out "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at top of his lungs. We're certainly having fun this week with lots of reindeer games and Christmas festivities. Yesterday, we went to the Greenville Parks and Rec Christmas party, which was held at the same facility where we recently went ice skating. There were snacks, crafts, and inflatable bounce houses, but the neatest feature of the party was the snow that they made for the children in the skating rink. There was a giant "snowball fight", which was Luke's favorite part of the entire morning:





Petey the Penguin is the official mascot of the Pavilion. Both kids were happy to greet this friendly guy:





Poor Leah bumped her chin last week (one of the hazards of being mobile!) and has a big bruise on her jawline now. Hopefully her sweet smile, cute Santa shirt, and matching socks distract from her boo-boo:



Luke has been looking forward to his preschool Christmas party all week. Yesterday, he helped me fill the treat bags for all of his friends:


This morning when Luke woke up, he knew that it was Christmas Party Day. He excitedly proclaimed: "Baby Jesus will be at my party. We will see him in the manger!" Not wanting my son to be disappointed, I tried to use this as a learning opportunity about how Jesus is with us all the time, and we may not "see" him at the party. Luke impatiently waved me away and began playing with his trucks. The party was a great success, and the children's joy and enthusiasm were contagious.


Luke's preschool class singing "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus.



Santa left a box of presents in Luke's classroom for the children to open. This picture is of the teacher announcing Luke's gift...



Santa's preschool present to Luke: A Lightning McQueen car!



Comparing loot with his friend, Billy.


Tonight, we went to see Santa Claus. I had very high hopes for our annual Santa visit, and adore this particular St. Nick, but our picture didn't turn out so well. I guess every family needs a "screaming baby with Santa" picture, but Leah is usually so happy, and I'm sad that Santa didn't see her true, sweet personality. No worries, though: Leah is still on the "Nice List", and I'm sure that her first Christmas will be full of presents from the jolly old fellow!

Hollywild Christmas Lights

We returned to see the Christmas Lights at Hollywild Animal Park this year, and loved it again. There really is no place quite as "authentic" as this hidden Southern treasure, and we had a ball driving haphazardly through the giant field with our windows down, feeding the animals as they approached our car. It was a very warm evening, as as you can see, Luke was sweating and wearing a short-sleeved shirt for our annual visit to the Christmas lights. Gotta love winter in South Carolina! Despite the warm temperatures, we got into the holiday spirit by roasting smores by the fire pit, sipping on hot cocoa, and wandering through the adorable Santa's Village. We love this new family tradition and are still talking about what fun we had with the Christmas "amidals"!


Luke was positive that this was one of Santa's reindeer.



Nothing says, "Merry Christmas" like a wet zebra snout in your face.



Leah was mesmerized by the animals (and even more thrilled to be out of her car seat)!



Horsing around.



Mark's startled reaction here (when he turned around to see a MASSIVE cow poking its head in the window) was priceless. It still makes me laugh to think about how he jumped!



This is a terrible picture, but gives you an idea as to how enormous the cows are, as they tower over all of the other animals (and cars!).



The goat was one of Luke's favorite animals to feed.



Luke bottle-feeding the baby animals in the Christmas Village.



Leah: Take notes. Some babies DO drink out of bottles! (But I guess maybe she would, too, if I gave her red juice like this).