Weekend Rewind

We had a low-key weekend of enjoying family time and celebrating Easter.  As I mentioned on Friday, God has been so faithful to give us friends to celebrate with each year as we just live too far away to make it home for such a short weekend (and would end up driving home ON Easter--that's no fun!) visit.

Friday:  On Friday afternoon, Asa and I were browsing Target and found a perfect little table for Anna Reaghan's room.  It has a lower platform that's great for a clock/sound machine/cd player, a drawer (Asa's table doesn't have a drawer, other than that they're almost identical), and a table top that's just the right size for the little incidentals (WATER BOTTLE) that are handy to have nearby when nursing. :)  After Matt got home we went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner.  Asa napped late, so he was not too sleepy or falling apart and he ate every.last.bite of his refried beans (and dipped chips in salsa). :)  He went to bed later than usual after napping late, but it was worth it for a family night out.  A break from routine every once in awhile doesn't hurt him. ;)  Right before bed, we Skyped with G-Pa & G-Ma.  Asa was soooo excited to see them and literally bouncing up and down, playing peek a boo (that HE initiated), and "near/far" with them.  It was adorable.  He was devastated when we turned the computer off to get ready for bed, but we Skyped again later in the weekend to make up for it. :)  After Asa was in bed, I finished some sewing I started during naptime and then Matt and I cuddled up on the couch to watch The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the Chronicles of Narnia series.  Matt received a subscription to the Blockbuster movies/games by mail program (like Netflix) for Christmas from a friend, and while he misplaced his activation card for awhile, I found it after we moved. ;)  This was our first selection, and a good selection it was!  We both really enjoyed the movie.  Matt REALLY enjoyed it and proceeded to watch it 2 more times before we went to bed on Saturday!  When he gets into a movie, he reallllllly gets into a movie. ;)

Here's my Friday sewing adventure (made from a flat sheet I picked up awhile ago at a thrift store):

Saturday:  Asa slept in a little (yea for his 30 min. late bedtime not reversing sleep!!), so we got to sleep a little extra.  We all had breakfast together, and then we just kind of played around the house Saturday morning until naptime.  I love seeing Asa EAT UP playtime with his daddy.  He waits all week and you can just tell he delights in weekends when Matt has more time at home.  It makes Mondays kind of sad, but he usually perks up by lunch time on Monday.  During naptime, Matt watched the movie again and I looked up furniture stores.  We wanted to look for a new upholstered chair for Asa's room so his glider could move to Anna Reaghan's room.  Especially with Asa still being in a crib, we wanted a cuddly place to still curl up and read in Asa's room but knew Anna Reaghan will need the rocking motion of the glider more than Asa does. ;)  We tried a different furniture store in town a few weeks back, but nothing was comfortable or in a print that would even remotely work in Asa's room, much less transition to a living room/family room or whatever have you when Asa's room no longer warrants such a chair.  Of course a chair could be covered or reupholstered, but it would be great to find something neutral from the get-go.  At the very FIRST store we tried on Saturday, we found a chair on clearance that is comfortable AND neutral!!  Praise the Lord!!!  It was a very exciting find. :) :)  The chair will be delivered this Saturday!!!  I had been planning on leaving the glider in Asa's room until Anna Reaghan is sleeping longer stretches (as she'll be in a bassinet in our room until that time), and having the new chair in our room until she switches rooms.  But I realized it makes more sense to me to feed her in the living room (steps from our bedroom door) if we get up in the night--then I can listen to my faaaavorite lullaby cd (Sing Over Me) while she eats or talk to her or have a light on low without ANY fear of disturbing Matt.  So we're going to go ahead with the big chair switch on Saturday!

While we were there, we thought we  might as well see what loveseats and couches were on clearance as we'd also like somewhere comfortable to sit in the basement while Asa/the kids play.  We completely agreed on a couch, and it should be delivered in May or early June (it's on back-order).  I can't believe we found BOTH furniture items we were looking for on sale and at the same place!  SUCH a praise and blessing.  We have been praising God for overseeing even the little, trivial details of our life and hopes. :)

On Saturday night Matt watched the movie again (seriously) while I sewed again.  I had seen these little onesie cuddly sacks on a blog and went to a site where they were sold.  I thought I could make one myself for MUCH cheaper, so I went for it.  I want to swap out the band of red polka dot fabric for some type of wiiiide grosgrain ribbon with red in it (and tie it in a bow in front), but other than that it's complete!  I LOOOVE little sacks--they're so great for easy diaper changes and babies with little kicky legs.  Asa would often kick his legs and scrunch them up to his stomach such that they'd get stuck in the tummy of his sleepers and then he couldn't get his legs back into the actual legs of the sleepers and get frustrated and fussy.  Little sleeping gowns were the perfect solution. :)  I think this will be perfect for lounging around the house, and I love that it has Anna Reaghan's monogram. ;)

Sunday:  Brought us EASTER!!  Christ is risen, indeed!!!  Hallelujah!  We got ready for church and were very pleasantly surprised to find it PACKED OUT.  That was really cool to see. :)  Asa cried when we dropped him off in the nursery for the first time in awhile, but he was okay when we picked him up.  I set up with the nursery director to complete my nursery orientation this coming Sunday, and then I'll be on the schedule every 4th Sunday (until Anna Reaghan arrives).  I am excited to serve in the nursery as they have so lovingly welcomed us and Asa!  After church we went to the house of friends from our small group.  They do not have family nearby either, and they thoughtfully invited us to join them for Easter lunch.  They have a little girl Asa's age, and a little boy 3 years older.  There were lots of cars and trucks around to keep Asa very entertained. ;)  And they had a cat, Honey, whom Asa met.  I'm not sure he'd ever seen a cat in person before and he was verrrrrry intrigued.  Now when he sees a cat, he says, "Honey!!"  Doesn't miss a thing. ;)  He also seemed to actually enjoy cake for the first time, taking a total of maybe 6ish bites before he was done.  Asa doesn't have a particularly sweet tooth and usually eats 3 bites of cake/cupcakes MAX... IF that.  No complaints here, and he hasn't been exposed to cakes/cookies much since we are still careful with dairy, but it was fun to see him enjoy it so much. :)

After a nap at home, we gave Asa his Easter basket. 

We got him a McQueen and Mater from the Cars stories (he has only read 1 storybook about Cars, never seen a video of it, but has really latched onto the characters from that 1 book) that he was THRILLED about!  His eyes just lit up and he grinned.  It was precious--you love finding something your child loves. :) 

We also got him some placemats now that he prefers to eat at the table instead of with the tray attached to his booster seat.  Two of the 3 we ordered arrived in time for Easter, and Asa is quite pleased with the trucks and farm animals on the table now.. just wait until the DOGGY placemat arrives! :) 

Our last Easter basket goodies were a harmonica (he LOOOVED hearing it at Caroline's house in TN), a book about Easter, and some toddler 100% fruit snacks he LOOVES (and calls "yummies" instead of "gummies"). :)

He is thrilled with both, and even this morning spotted the harmonica, brought it to me, and said, "Song!"  He hasn't figured out how to play it yet himself, but he just laughs and laughs and bounces along if you play it for him.  He is quite taken with the book as well and we have read it several times.  I want to build a collection of books about the real reasons we celebrate various holidays, and Easter was a perfect opportunity for my little bookworm to get another book. ;)  My parents sent some new pjs and some stickers, and Asa wore his new pjs last night (car!  zoom!  zoom!) and asks for more stickers frequently. :)  We're so glad he enjoyed his basket so much and that we could give him some little gifts to celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ

 enjoying his "yummies"

 See me drink from a cup?  I see you!

 Our trees FINALLY bloomed... on Easter Sunday!  NEW LIFE! :)

We had a very low-key dinner last night, then Asa had a FUN daddy bath before bed (he was faaaading fast from his big Easter day and a bath is a great way to stretch him to a reasonable bedtime).  After he was in bed, we took care of dishes and things around the house, Matt called his parents to catch up with them, and then we watched a movie (a different one!).


Next weekend is supposed to be warm (70!!!!!) AND sunny (lately if it gets to the 60s/low 70s, it's also rainy and stormy).  I don't know yet how we'll take advantage of that, but we'll find SOME way I'm sure. :)

We hope you had a sweet Easter celebration of our RISEN Lord and Savior!

Scrapbooking Asa's First Year

These are 2 of the layouts I've been working on for Asa's scrapbook.  I'm actually done with all his first Christmases (1 in each of 3 locations :)), so now I need to do the general "cute, funny, & favorite" December pics, and I'll be on to 2010!  Woo hoo!  Then I just have 6 months left to finish this book.  Then I can start on the next one.  Whew!  It IS a lot of work, BUT it's sooooo incredibly easy on the computer.  I do not have to drag tubs and tubs of paper, stickers, pictures, glue, etc. out and  make a giant mess that Asa will just get into.  Everything is not only stored neatly on my computer, but it's all REusable!! :)  Thank you SOOO much to my sweet student and his aunt for giving me the Creative Memories digital scrapbooking software as a baby gift.  It is a complete game changer for me in the hobby of recording memories--and it changed the "game" in a very good way. :)

p.s.  click any of the layout images above to see it larger. :)

Five on Friday

It's my first 5 on Friday of 2011 and in almost a month!!

1.  We had a wonderful time visiting both our families, first in SC and then in TN, to celebrate Christmas.  Lots of time with family and friends and playtime with cousins and grandparents galore! :)  Asa slept great (always a concern on the road) and really rolled with all the changes of routine and such. :)  We are so thankful we got to see everyone and make more special memories. :)

2.  We came back to GRASS in Ohio!  Woo hooo!!!!  It's gone again, but we got to enjoy seeing it for 3 whole days!  Yippee!

3.  I am behind on unpacking and putting things away because nausea really kicked back in with gusto when we returned home.  I'm starting to get the house back in order from unloading the car though.  We WILL get there!

4.  We have my next appt. next Thursday.  I imagine we'll schedule the big anatomy ultrasound at that appointment!  We hope to know if we're having another boy or a girl next month, as long as the baby cooperates. :)  I really do not have my heart set either way, but I AM praying it's beyond clear either way.  That there is no room for doubt based upon whatever we see on the monitor. :)  Boy name is set, bedding is not.  Girl name is not set, bedding is. ;)  We need to get cracking on the name in the next month or so, so we can introduce you when we find out!

5.  We are celebrating our little family Christmas tomorrow morning.  With Matt's travel right before Christmas, we didn't get to before we left town.  It's kind of strange to me to be celebrating this long after Christmas, but that's okay!  We're excited to get up tomorrow morning and have some special family time and our little family Christmas traditions.  Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon!

The Boss Who Saved Christmas

Along with the general "blah" feeling of not being able to have the same home-related traditions with Christmas this year, we were having a lot of difficulty finding a tree.  And I'm not talking about being really picky here.  After seeing what was out there, we had to drop our "bar" of expectations down to "not spray painted!"

I had seen spray painted trees when my family lived in Colorado, so I noticed it right away.  There was one side-of-the-road stand of trees just down the street from our neighborhood that spray painted on dry years.  I just didn't think we'd move to the "heartland" in Ohio and find spray painted trees!  I was sorely disappointed and discouraged.  Home Depot and Lowe's had been our go-to hot spots for Christmas trees in Florida, this year is MY turn to pick the tree, and I couldn't stand anything I saw.

After Home Depot and Lowe's let us down, we tried a nursery down the road from us.  They were charging $70-80 per tree.  I suspected they would be more since they were a small nursery, but Matt really wanted to check them out.  Even their VERY Charlie Brown-esque trees were in the $50 range.  Not acceptable.

We drove by Walmart one night, because Matt's parents bought their tree down in SC at Walmart this year.  It was pitch black, but even in the darkness we could tell the 10 trees they had to choose from were not going to cut it.  We began serious negotiations about possibly having to resort to the 2 foot artificial tree from my classroom.

Enter:  The Boss Who Saved Christmas.

Matt's boss had seen in my facebook statuses how disappointed I was with trees and told Matt he wanted to make sure I had a happy Christmas. :)  He called Matt with information about a tree farm he knew of and suggested we try it.  We hit the road after lunch today saying we WERE going to buy a tree, whatever the best tree we could find was.  And if the best tree we could find was a Charlie Brown tree, then we'd just make it as beautiful as possible with ribbons and lights and ornaments.  This farm had some precut trees in a barn and then various firs and spruces all over the property.  We checked the barn first and found 2 contenders and then set out for the fields.

Asa was a huge fan of the sled they gave us for toting a tree back to the check out.  He road all over the hills (with some snow still on the ground!) in his typical I-have-the-straightest-most-serious-face-possible-but-inside-I-am-fascinated-and-loving-this fashion.  We found a grove of firs we liked, but as much as we wanted to "cut down your own tree" experience, we compared each of them to the one in the barn and the barn-tree always won.  A sweet family stopped us on their way to take in their haul and the dad, surrounded by his earnestly excited teen-aged and pre-teen kids, told us he had been coming to that farm since he was Asa's age. :)  You could tell they were all REALLY excited that THIS was the day they were going to cut down their tree at the same farm they'd come to for years.  Very cool.

We trudged back to the barn and our tree was still there. :)  The farm has a set and very reasonable price for any tree, all types all sizes, pre-cut or cut-your-own, all one price!  They shook the tree off on a special machine to get off loose needles (and various natural elements like bugs or nests if you cut your own), wrapped it for us, and tied it to our roof.  Matt was cutely excited to have a tree tied to his roof.  Until our move to Ohio, we both had sedans.  We always stuffed our tree into the trunk/folded down back seat.  But not this year!  This year he got to be the cool dad driving his tree home from the tree farm on his car roof. :)

They also had branches for free you could take, but our fireplace is downstairs and we don't spend much time down there.  It will be great for next year though. :)  Yes, I'm already looking forward to going again next year.  A HUGE shout out and thank you to Bret for giving us the tip and giving our Christmas that extra merry kick we were missing. :)

Five on Friday

1.  It snowed... again!  We have not seen the ground in over a week!  Thankfully, roads are clear most of the time, but it has snowed 7 out of the past 8 days!  I need to take Asa back out in it today or this weekend since we have a fun, fresh layer of snow (I think we picked up an inch or two this morning).  I will post videos of him shuffling through the white stuff very soon.  It's adorable. :)

2.  I finished our Christmas letter!  I just need to print it, stuff it in envelopes, stamp them, and they're off!  I'd love to get stamps and have them out tomorrow.  I meant to get them out the very beginning of this month since our address has changed.  Ooops.  Tomorrow wouldn't be too terribly late though, right?!

3.  Asa is much more open than usual to trying new foods lately!  We are still a definite "no go" as far as dairy is concerned (poor little tummy), but almost every dinner we had this week Asa ate for dinner also (or left overs from the night before if ours had dairy).  He's tried shredded barbecued chicken, shredded Russian chicken, white chicken chili, baked beans, and even a soft taco (minus cheese, of course).  It's so fun to see him willing to try something new. :)

4.  I am almost done with one Christmas sewing project.  I only have some decorative stitching remaining to complete it.  Then I need to start on my 2nd Christmas sewing project.  I've heard from pattern reviews that it comes together rather quickly, and I'm reallllly excited about the fabrics I'm using, so I hope that's true!  I have 2 other projects in the works as well, but I think they'll have to wait until after Christmas since they're not actually Christmas presents and my first 2 projects are. :)

5.  I put up a lit garland on our banister and a little lit tree and they are a HUGE hit with Asa!  Every morning he stands at the bottom of the stairs and points at the garland and tree until I ask, "Do you want your lights one?"  I hear an enthusiastic, "YEAH!" in response and see the twinkle in his eyes when I plug them in. :)  We're going to try again this weekend to find a real tree, but we might have to resort to my little artificial "classroom" tree if we don't find anything.  As I mentioned, I think we're both working through how different Christmas feels this year.  It's a good reminder that Christmas isn't about family or friends or even loved traditions.  Those things should not make Christmas for us. Jesus does.  Period, end of story.  So as weird as it would feel to use our little fake tree (I used it in my classroom when I was teaching), it doesn't affect one single iota of what Christmas is about.

I will close with this sweeter than sweet video. :)

Five on Friday

It's been a little while since I posted...

1.  Asa & I spent 3 weeks in TN!  Matt joined us for the last 1/2 week/Thanksgiving.  He asked me if I wanted to go home for a visit while he had some business travel, but that prevented him from coming to get me after 1 week.  And if he came to get me the 2nd weekend, we would have turned around and come right back 3 days later for Thanksgiving (not my idea of fun really ever, but I especially didn't want to subject Asa to that many days of all day car rides so close together).  While I was in TN, Asa had LOTS of fun time with G-Pa & G-Ma, Mimi, and his cousins.  We also got to visit with several friends and I got to attend a baby shower for a friend.  We missed Matt and feel very done being apart (6 weeks for the move, 1 week in July, 2.5 weeks before Christmas, plus another week or so back before the move for business travel with his old company and a few extra days smattered here and there for current company business travel... TOO MUCH), but I'm thankful for extra time with family. :)

2.  We are hoping to get our Christmas tree tomorrow.  We have a plan to gate it off so Asa can't play with it unsupervised, and we're going to hand our non-breakable, Asa-approved ornaments on the bottom 1/3 or so of the tree for when he IS allowed to touch.  In addition, he has his own little tree with a few non-breakable ornaments that his grandparents sent him after seeing how much he loved our birthday count-down tree.

3.  We had our first snow this week!  I'll post a whole blog about it soon, but it was snowing on Wednesday morning when we woke up!  It snowed off and on most of the day without any real accumulation but completely blanketing the golf course we live on.  It was so cold overnight (13 with windchill, I believe) that the dusting that fell overnight covered the roads so truly everything was white!  Then it snowed more yesterday AND this morning!  There's a chance of snow every day until Monday.  We are SOO not in Florida anymore!  Crazy!  Asa thinks the snow is very fun.  We took a very bundled up, short walk in it on Wednesday and he kept holding his hand out trying to catch snow flakes.  I took him out to play in it yesterday, and he loved shuffling his feet through the snow especially when he could get the snow to build up over the toes of his shoes and hide his feet.  He liked to pat and move the snow around with his little mittened hands.  And he didn't even mind when he toppled over and some got on his face!  In fact, he sobbed when we came inside.  He may be a Florida baby, but I'm thinking he's an Ohio toddler now. ;)

4.  I ordered my 50 free Shutterfly cards.  I need to write our Christmas letter and print it so it will all be ready to go as soon as the cards arrive.  Free cards are a nice treat. :)

5.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents, grandmother, my brothers and their families, and my sister-in-law's family.  The turkey was delicious and we even got to have left-over turkey sandwiches (with gravy--yum!).  Asa is still in love with rolls and he even decided he liked rolls dipped in gravy. :)  Attaboy! :)   We hope you had a sweet time with family and thanking the Lord for His provision and faithfulness!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, almost anyway. :)  I'm really trying to hold off on Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but I can't help but start to think about it at least a little bit.  I'll get to decorate when I get home, we'll get a tree soon after we get back to OH, I'm excited to pick out those perfect-somethings for friends and family... and one of my favorite parts of the holidays is connecting with family and friends with Christmas cards!  I love seeing pictures of everyone's family, reading snippets of what God has done in their lives the past year.  I love checking the mailbox to see who we heard from, and I love writing our Christmas letter and choosing a Christmas card.  Especially when it's a photo card. :)  What a testimony it is even to me to think over our year and recount God's faithfulness, and I hope it's an encouragement to those who read it as well.

I have been perusing some sites looking at different Christmas card designs, and I have to tell you I think I found a winner at Shutterfly.  I love love love their photo books for preserving Asa's days during the year, and their Christmas cards are a perfect to way to share your most special highlights during the holidays.

I think my favorite design that I came across is actually pretty simple with some opaque flourishes along the side of the card that perfectly compliment and showcase the photo of your choice.  You can even add your own text AND photo to the inside of the card!  I don't want to give away exactly what card it is, because you just might find it in a mailbox near you. :)  But I hope to send our cards out soon as most people do not have our new address (eek!).  My plan has been to mail our cards early and hopefully get our address out that way before cards start coming our direction. :)

If you're thinking of sending out a Christmas card, make sure you look at your Shutterfly options! :)

Quack Quack!

As promised, here are more pictures of our little ducky.  He even started saying "quack quack" this week (just a a few days late). ;)

Five on Friday

1.This week has felt fast and slow at the same time.  It's also been warm and cold.  We had been warm (70s-ish?), and then overnight it became cooooold and windy.  Our overnight lows are back below freezing even before the windchill.  BRRRRR!  The Florida in me says, "But it's only October!!" :)

2.  On Thursday Asa dressed up as a ducky for a moms group Halloween party.  I dare say he is the cutest little ducky you'll ever see. :)  When he got up in the morning, he hopped down from my lap where we were snuggling, walked over to his closet, petted the ducky costume hanging from the closet door handle, and then walked back to cuddle some more. :)  Here's one picture to tide you over until a full ducky photo shoot post. :)

3.  I can't believe October is almost over!  As of Nov. 1, I have been in Ohio for 5 months.  It seems like much longer and much shorter at the same time.

4.  I tried to make oatmeal raisin cookies this week, but we didn't have any oatmeal.  I intended to enjoy a spoonful of dough before I baked them, so I'd held off on a the egg while I mixed them.  In the end, we've enjoyed a couple spoons of oatmeal raisin cookie dough (minus the oatmeal and raisins) for dessert the last 2 nights. :)  I kind of doubt it will actually turn into cookies at this point....

5.  We have family coming to visit soon and we are SOOO excited!  We can't wait for you to see all of Asa's newest tricks and to spend time together.  Hooraaaaay! :)

My Little Pumpkin

When I pulled out our fall decorations last week, Asa was immediately smitten with this leaf-covered artificial pumpkin.  He loves to carry it around the house, drop it (and laugh), beat it like a drum, kick it, roll it, you name it.

It's so fun to see my little pumpkin playing with a pumpkin of his own. :)

The Fourth & Family

We drove down (boy that sounds weird when we've been saying "up" for 4+ years!) to TN for Independence Day weekend.  My grandmother, aunt, and cousin were visiting from California and Asa needed to meet them!  Last time Grandma "saw" Asa I was 5 months pregnant!  Since my family had traveled all the way from California, we knew we wanted to try to make it down while they were visiting.

The trip involved putting Sammy in a kennel for the first time in OH.  But that's a story for another day. :)  Today I just want to recap our July 4th celebration. :)

The whole fam came over, all 5 grandkids included, Dad grilled, we had several yummy desserts to choose from, and then we had fun playing BUBBLES outside.  Mom & Dad had a bubble machine that the kids LOVED.

Evidence:
(I purposefully chose pics where the cuzzies faces aren't too obvious, to protect their privacy, just so you know)

After bubbles we took a whole family picture, well, as many of us as were in TN (the original TN fam + the visiting Cali family) :)

the whole crew

It was fun to see the kids chase and pop bubbles amidst squeals and laughter.  Even tiny Jacob came out for a little while to be cuddled while his big brother and cuzzies played.  I'm so thankful we got to have this time together and make these memories!

Mini Shoot

Matt was recently out of town on business (happy 25th anniversary and national sales meeting to them!) in Miami. He was gone over the weekend whereas his trips for surgeries are usually during the week. I'm used to Matt being gone during the day on a weekday--he's at work. The nights get long and lonely without him, but we manage. Having him gone on a weekend was a whole different story! Yuck. Usually we get great Daddy and family time together, and I can even run to the grocery store... by myself! :) To help pass the time on our daddyless weekend (during which Asa started working on the appearance of his 2nd tooth), I did a little mini photo shoot with him. You can see all the pictures at his photo site, but here are a few of my favorites. :)

Filling in the Gaps

So, between my previous two posts we celebrated 3 holidays, saw LOTS of friends and family, and took our longest road trip/vacation yet at as a family (technically Matt was gone from work one day longer for our wedding and honeymoon, but our longest since then).

What did you miss?

1. The end of November Asa took his first road trip to South Carolina to see Matt's family for Thanksgiving. He got to see Poppy, Nana, Auntie Lakey, and Izzy again and meet Uncle Steve, Uncle Tyson, and Anne.

We had delicious Thanksgiving food (including a very yummy and moist turkey) and enjoyed time with family. On Friday Matt's family always goes out in search of post-Thanksgiving shopping deals. We wound our way through Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, Target, and a few other stores. We got Asa a fleece jacket, hat, and mittens at ON and found an adorable ornament for his stocking at Target. Our trip home from SC was Asa's worst road trip yet. We learned that even when you do not anticipate an all-day drive, leave first thing in the morning. Our sweet boy was beside himself and completely OVER being in the car seat later in the day since we took a leisurely start. Thankfully, he did much better at Christmas. :)

2. G-Pa and G-Ma came for a visit in December. G-Pa came down to see us/pick up his new 'stang (which he and Matt drooled gallons of drool over). :)

G-Ma stayed a little longer and even got to decorate our Christmas tree with us! I loved that. :)

3. On the weekend before Christmas, we celebrated our first Christmas with Asa. Dada read about Jesus' birth to us from the Jesus Storybook Bible, and then we opened stockings. Asa got a Sophie the Giraffe teething toy (that has since been renamed Lolo) and his ornament--a cute little yellow bird that says, "Baby's first Christmas." Then we moved to the living room and opened gifts. Asa was a big fan of the bows and tearing paper off packages. He received 2 books and a toy. We took lots of pictures and video of him opening gifts. :) After he went to bed, Matt and I had our traditional gourmet breakfast dinner (my baked French toast worked with rice milk--it usually has cream!) and I even found dairy-free cinnamon rolls for desert. I gave Matt the movie The Count of Monte Cristo for Christmas, so we watched that and then went to bed.

4. On December 23rd we hit the road for Tennessee. It took about 10 hours (same as last time) and even though Asa didn't nap as well as his September trip, he only had one melt down.... when I let him out of his car seat while Daddy took a break at a gas station. Apparently it wasn't a long enough break because Asa had a FIT when I put him back in the car seat... as in screaming for the following hour. I will NOT do that again. He's only getting out of the seat if it's a real, long break (like a meal). Whew! Brad, Joy, C, & C came over for dinner that night. The next day we went to the Christmas Eve service and got to see some friends afterwards at church. Dad grilled steaks for us and Mimi for Christmas Eve dinner. Then on Christmas morning Brad, Joy, and the kids and Mimi came over for stockings and gifts. Matt and I had not been there since the kids really "got" the whole present opening thing . It was funny to see how much the flow has changed! But we worked around them and Asa's naps and had a sweet time. :)

The rest of the day we lounged around, played, napped, and such. We had a delicious Christmas dinner, as well as the traditional breakfast Mom made earlier in the day. I missed the egg souffle, sniff, sniff, but it will taste SOOO good when I CAN have it. :) I had waffles instead with Brad. :) On Saturday we got to play games with Brad and Joy. He dominated.... big time. And on Sunday I met Jessica for breakfast, saw friends at church, met another Jessica :) and Melissa and their babies after lunch, and we met Kerry, Ruthie, and Jessica (and husbands) at Barley's Sunday night. Around lunch time on Monday we set off for Rock Hill. Our time in Tennessee was SOO fun and a blessing; it just passed too quickly!

5. We got to South Carolina on the 28th... and we got to see snow on the way! There was snow on the side of the road through the mountains. So technically, Asa has seen his first snow. :) There was another first the same day... Asa got his FIRST TOOTH! You read that correctly. I know I posted about it earlier, but it was visible just below the surface of his gums in the afternoon on our way to SC. By the time we got to Matt's parents' house, a corner had poked through (thanks to LOTS of chewing), and the next morning the entire top edge had poked through! CRAZY!

(more recent picture of his pearly white)

He was not the greatest sleeper in SC. He woke up every 2 hours (sometimes less, sometimes a little more) all night.... every night. WHEW! I was one tired mama! He knew he was not at home and I think he didn't like the smaller size of the portable crib they had there. I hope to have him sleep in his pack and play some before our next trip to SC and get him used to it. Then we could just have him sleep in IT so it would be familiar. I'll let you know in plenty of time before our next trip to be praying about that. ;) We got to see Matt's sister's family and his aunt who recently moved to SC. Izzy was at the house all day Tuesday and Wednesday, so we got to see her a lot. :) We had lunch with Tyson & Anne and took Asa over to see Tyson's family too. And Asa got to see Matt's mom's best friend and her husband as well. Matt sweetly took me to 2 fabric stores where I found a little bit of fabric and a couple kinds of ribbon I liked. We had a sweet Christmas with them!! I also read the book My Sister's Keeper (it was on the nightstand so I figured, why not?) while we were there.

6. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day arrived while we were in SC. Asa wore his 2010 onesie that Jessica B. made him on New Year's Day. He looked really cute in it. :)

On New Year's Eve, UT was playing in a bowl game so we watched that (and I read and fell asleep on the couch). Unfortunately, UT lost. But I think Matt enjoyed the time just hanging out with his dad. On Jan. 2 we headed back on the road to FL. We fit everything into Matt's car (this was the first big road trip his car has been on since we got married) and made our trek south. We left early (remembering our lesson from Thanksgiving) and took nice, long breaks from the car for breakfast and lunch (this WAS Asa's 3rd big car trip in 11 days). Asa did GREAT! Praise the Lord! We got unpacked and let Asa play and stretch when we got home. Then we settled in for the night, headed to church the next morning, and got to pick up Sammy that night while also hosting our Bible study for our monthly meal together. THAT is a whole story in and of itself. Just wait--you'll want to hear it.

I am SOOOO glad we got to spend so much time with family for Asa's first Christmas--4 whole days with each family plus travel days. We missed Sammy, and she definitely looked a little thinner when we picked her up, but she is back home now and all recovered from her time at the spa. :)

And there you go! We are caught up! What a wonderful whirlwind of family and friends. :) Thank you to everyone who made time for us!