December 22: Giant Twizzlers

Gemma and I are both Twizzler eating fanatics.  It's totally okay, because they're fat free.  That means they're healthy, right?

Anyway...this morning while we were braving the early morning crowds at Wal-mart and Bi-Lo, stocking up for our upcoming Christmas festivities, I spotted a bag of GIANT Twizzlers and of course, me and my girl had to have them!

I gave Gemma one in the car on the way home from Wal-mart.  It was pretty much as tall as she was, but she managed to scarf it all down long before we made it home (we live less than 5 miles from Wal-mart) and was asking for more.

I love that I snapped a picture right as she opened her mouth wide to start cramming Twizzler in.  Priceless.

December 21: Christmas with Rachel

My family had planned on coming down and doing Christmas with us this weekend.  However...my mom has been really sick with severe bronchitis that was turning into pneumonia, and then on top of that, she had an allergic reaction to one of her [multiple] medicines.  Obviously, not a fun Christmas for her, and it meant that instead of coming to visit, she would be staying at home sick in bed, doped up on Benadryl and Zyrtec and a cocktail of antibiotics.  Luckily for us though, my sister still came to visit.  She brought us some presents from my family (which Gemma tore into with a vengeance - see hilarious video below) and we had a really good time.

Ethan had fun dunking all sorts of stuff in his new basketball goal: rubber ducks, Gemma's shoes, you know...the usual.

Gemma loves her new Periwinkle (Tinker Bell's sister) doll:

Both of the kids enjoyed playing with Ethan's new Laugh and Learn workbench together:

Gemma hugging her new stuffed Pete the Cat

Rachel and I kept ourselves in the Christmas spirit by watching multiple vampire movies over the weekend.  On Thursday night (after we nearly died at Zumba Toning), we ignored the massive windstorm raging outside and stayed up late watching Vamps, which was hilarious.  And then on Friday night, we finally got to go see Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (which was also hilarious, though not always intentionally).  I had found some absolutely hideous Twilight-inspired fabric online and made Rachel a purse and pillowcase out of it for Christmas, and she totally took the purse to the movie theater with us:

I felt so bad that my mom was so sick and we weren't able to see them for Christmas, but I was really glad my sister was still able to come down and spend a fun weekend with us.

December 20: Making Funfetti Cake

Since I missed posting a photo yesterday, I chose two from today.

This one I snapped this morning, when I had both of my babies on my lap and I looked down and the little one was clutching his sister's hand, which was clutching my arm.  So sweet.  I am so blessed and thankful for those two.

This afternoon, Gemma and I put on our matching Christmas aprons from my mom and we made funfetti cake together.  This was the first time Gemma helped me cook something, and it was so much fun.  She helped me pour all the ingredients in and then when I poured the cake batter into the pan, Gemma said: "Oh, woah." 

December 18: Pizza Buffet

For about two months or so now, Cy has been dying to go to some sort of pizza buffet.  Last week, I realized there was a Cici's Pizza near the Tanger Outlets, so today we met him there for lunch.  I am not a huge fan, but it was actually pretty good.

Cy and Gemma definitely enjoyed it:

December 17: Socks

Yesterday was a pretty hectic day and I realized this morning that I didn't take an official picture for yesterday.  I wished I had managed to snap one when Gemma got her stool from the bathroom and sat on top of it on the couch so she would be taller sitting next to our [tall] friend Nate who was over having dinner with us.  It was pretty cute.

I did take a quick photo though of this:

Amazon has been ambushing me daily with their lightning deals and the other day, I got suckered into buying this gift pack of Betsey Johnson socks.  They showed up in the mail yesterday and I thought they looked even more fun the way they were arranged in the cute little box!

December 16: Christmas Card Photo Shoot

This year, like every other year, we planned to schedule a professional photography shoot and have a Christmas card printed up well in advance.  And like every other year, suddenly we realized Christmas was fast approaching and it was too late.  BUT unlike every other year, we still might manage to get some Christmas cards in the mail this year...we just had to make do with whatever picture we could get.

So I set up my camera on a timer, got everyone decked out festively, and we attempted to get the children to look in the direction of the camera.  In the end, this was the best picture we managed to get:

And of course, for that one halfway decent photo, we had about three hundred ridiculous failed shots.

Like this, in which Ethan got a great big handful of Big Sister's hair, and only half of me made it into the shot:

Or this, where Ethan gets all deer-in-the-headlights when Gemma tries to give him a kiss:

December 15: Christmas Trees in Downtown Charleston

Tonight after dinner, we loaded up the kids and drove downtown to see some Christmas trees.  First, we stopped on King Street and walked to Marion Square.  We wanted to walk inside the huge Christmas tree there.  Gemma was so excited, but of course we showed up the very second some huge troupe of bizarre performance artists invaded the Christmas tree with a bunch of boom boxes, iPods, and other audio devices...not sure what that was about...but in the end, we managed to elbow our way inside. 

 Dada put Gemma on his shoulders and she whipped her head back and forth, looking straight up at the lights.

It was a pretty cool view: 

After a few minutes of fun crammed inside a giant Christmas tree with a bunch of strange strangers, we loaded back up and drove to Colonial Lake.  The Christmas tree there looked so beautiful with its reflection shining in the water.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a really good picture that did it justice.  Also we were having to work very hard at keeping Gemma from drowning since she really really wanted to jump into the "black water." 

I was slumming it downtown in my oldest sweats and Citadel hoodie, but man was I comfy!

December 14: Rudolph

Today was Gemma's last day of preschool before Christmas and she came home with this super cute Rudolph craft:

Gemma's class had a Christmas party today before they headed off for the year.  At Halloween, I wanted to stay for the party but no other parents were hanging around.  This time, I didn't bother showing up for the party, and it turned out a bunch of parents attended.  I missed the memo.  Maybe I will get on the same page with the rest of the crowd one of these days.  It looked like lots of fun so I hated that I missed out.

While Gemma was off partying, I finished making a Christmas shirt for Ethan.  This turned into way more elaborate of a project than I had originally hoped, but it turned out cute.  Unfortunately, I had purchased only enough fabric to make a short sleeved shirt (I didn't have enough for the collar either) and was unable to find more fabric, so maybe it will warm back up again for him to wear it...that's assuming it even fits him anyway, since he is such a great big boy.

It's much more green and less yellow in real life, thankfully

 And of course, I was extremely saddened and horrified to hear about the elementary school shooting in Connecticut today.  My heart and prayers go out to all of those families.  It made me that much more grateful though, to have both of my kids safe and sound at home with me this afternoon.  And it gave me a bit of needed perspective as well - sometimes I get so caught up in my frustration with my children's trivial acts of misbehavior and forget how blessed I am to have them, and how empty my life would be if something were to happen to them.  Both of my babies got a lot of extra kisses and hugs today. 

December 13: Management Team Holiday Dinner

Last night, Cy's director at Blackbaud took all of his managers and their spouses out for dinner at 82 Queen to celebrate the holidays.  Nana and Pops came down to stay with the kids for the evening so we could go.  It ended up being a really nice evening out and we got to catch up with some old friends.  And the food was delicious.  I wish I had taken a picture of the amazing chocolate pumpkin pie (with melted marshmallow on top! mmm!) I had for dessert - it was fabulous!

The restaurant was decorated very tastefully and beautifully for Christmas, but this was the only picture I got a chance to snap.  Here we are, the earlybirds, hanging out at the bar while we waited for everyone else to arrive.

Hmm, I wonder which parent Ethan got that pointy chin from?

I think the best part of my day yesterday, though, was when we arrived home last night to find out that Gemma had insisted on wearing her brand new purple Crocs to bed.  She slept with them on all night long.  I found this particularly hilarious because I wore every new pair of shoes to bed when I was a kid.  My parents would take them off me and I'd get out of bed and put them back on and they'd find me wearing them in the morning.  Apparently it's genetic.  Who knew?

December 12, Part 2: 8 Months Old

I decided to give Ethan his own separate post because, well, he deserves to have his milestones be important enough to warrant their own blog entry...and because I couldn't figure out how to combine both of today's posts without having the title sound like I was dressing my son up like a fairy...hmmm..

Anyway...this great big boy turned 8 months old today!  I plopped him on the scale today because I was trying to figure out what size pattern to cut for a Christmas shirt I'm *attempting* to make him, and though it's not the most accurate way of weighing him, it seemed like it was consistently showing him around 19 pounds.  No wonder my back and arms are always killing me.

He still hasn't quite mastered the art of forwards-crawling yet, though he is fantastic at going backwards.  And it hasn't been a great week for this little guy-since Sunday, he has been trying to cut two more teeth and has not been his usual, happy self at all. 

But he managed to give me this great big smile.  Hopefully those teeth will pop through any time now and we he can be happy again. 

December 12, Part 1: Wings

This morning, Gemma of course asked to watch some Tinker Bell when she woke up.  I thought she might enjoy getting to pretend that she was a fairy, too, so I dug out these pink wings that I snagged on clearance after Halloween.  I had tried to put them on her a couple times before, but she hadn't been the least bit interested...until today.  I asked her if she wanted to have wings like Tinker Bell, and when I put them on her, she jumped and danced all over the room in them.  It was so cute!

Then, if that wasn't cute enough, she made up a new song to go with her new wings.  It went something like this:  "Tinker Bell, oh oh, Tinker Bell oh oh."  She sang this new song off and on all day long, but of course, every time I whipped out my phone and tried to get a video of the extreme cuteness, she got all shy and stopped.  Maybe I will manage to be sneaky enough to capture it tomorrow. 

December 11: Little People Nativity

A couple of weeks ago, we bought a Little People nativity set for the kids.  Since Ethan's still so young, it's primarily for Gemma this year (and she LOVES it) but while Gemma was at school this morning, I thought I would give little Ethan a chance to play with it too.  He also loved it - he thought it was delicious.

December 10: Helping Mama Decorate

This morning while Ethan was napping, Gemma was playing Play-Doh so I thought I could sneakily start unpacking and putting up our final Christmas tree and the little village I put up on the table beside it.  I was wrong.  Gemma noticed what I was doing immediately and came running over to "help."

Gemma applauds herself after successfully cramming a branch on the tree

To her credit, she did genuinely help me for a while by getting tree branches out of the box and handing them to me.  But then her "helping" started to look more like this:

And this:

And this:

And luckily for her, I didn't have time to finish so the box was left there all day for her to enjoy.  And enjoy it she did.

December 9: Preschool Christmas Program

This afternoon, Gemma's preschool had their Christmas program.  Gemma was very excited when we got her all dressed beforehand in her new Christmas skirt and her new sparkly black shoes.

 The two-year-olds darted around on the stage and "sang" two songs at the beginning of the program.  The little girls wore cute little halos made of garland and the boys wore/held gold stars.  They looked soooo adorable!

Gemma didn't really attempt to sing very much, but she did look cute standing on the front row waving and waving like a little diva. 

(Gemma is the one on the bottom right going up and down and being corralled by the teacher.)

The lighting was very dim so I wasn't able to get any great pictures because all I took with me was my phone, but despite the fuzziness, I thought this one of Gemma and Liam was really cute:

December 8: Christmas at Lake Murray

On Saturday, we drove up to Cy's parents' house on Lake Murray to have Christmas with his cousins and their families on the Shealy side.

Both of our kids really enjoyed getting to play with their cousins, and Gemma especially had a blast playing with Noah and Liam all day long.

Noah and Ethan

All four cousins.  Liam is channeling Gene Simmons.

The boys

One of Noah's presents was a stomp rocket, and Liam and Gemma (and Uncle Mike) had a fantastic time playing with it.  We may have to get one for our house.  :)

I love this video in which Uncle Mike tries to tease Gemma by blocking the rocket and then Liam just marches over and takes care of it.  Priceless.  

December 7: Rec Center Tree Lighting

On Friday night, the Bees Ferry Rec Center just up the street from our house was having a celebration to light their trees.  We really enjoy having the rec center so close to our house - I go there twice a week for Zumba classes, and the kids enjoy playing at the nice big playground there too.  For the tree lighting, they were having a winter carnival and a bounce castle and balloon room for the kids, as well as free hot chocolate and a bonfire to make s'mores.

Unfortunately, it didn't start until close to 6:45 which was getting too close to Ethan's bedtime.  We lasted through the actual tree lighting and then Santa said hi to both kids (which they were very unsure about) and by then Ethan was fussing so we had to pack it up and leave.  But it was nice to get out of the house for a change and do something Christmasy.

Gemma was so excited she just kept running back and forth from tree to tree (there were three Christmas trees).

 (Not sure why this one is so blurry but it's the only one we got of the three of us.)

December 6: Cute Kids in Cute Christmas Clothes

Today it was *slightly* cooler outside, so I dressed my kids in some festive new clothes (courtesy of Nana and Grandma). 

Then, because they looked so incredibly cute, I plunked them in front of the Christmas tree and bribed Gemma with Oreos and took a couple of cute pictures. 

I didn't even have to offer her another Oreo to get her to hug Ethan.  She just really loves him.  :) 

December 5: Another Warm December Day

This is pretty similar to my post of a few days ago (but then again, most of my days, sadly, are just about identical to the ones before), but the subject for my photo challenge today was "temperature."

I was whining (yes, whining, I admit) to Cy last night about how it just doesn't feel like Christmas.  It got cold for a brief stint and I was really enjoying the chance to use the fireplace every evening and drink hot chocolate and tea and now it's just too hot.  And it's been getting warmer.  Today it was pushing eighty.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...now if only it would just start to feel like Christmas too.

December 4: Paper Plate Angel

Gemma came home from preschool yesterday with this precious angel she had made out of a paper plate, some paint, and her own two little hands.

It was just the perfect size to serve as a tree topper on one of our smaller trees.  Isn't it sweet?

December 3: Christmas on the Coast

Today's picture doesn't look all that festive, but it's kind of hard to feel Christmas-y when it's a balmy 75 degrees outside!  So we listened to "Christmas in the Sand" by Colbie Caillat and we celebrated like Charlestonians...frolicking outside in the warm December weather like this:

And for the more "official" photo-a-day challenge I'm following, today's subject is red, RED, RED!!!  I will not be taking any pictures of any murderous red squirrels (that's for you, Laura!), but instead, I chose this:

A yard of Robert Kaufman Christmas fabric that I got in the mail today.  And okay, so it's not completely red, but there's a lot of red in it so I totally think it counts.  Plus, I love it.

December 2: The Light

Today at church, Phil preached on "The Light," using passages from Isaiah to talk about Christ's birth as the arrival into the world of The Light. 

I actually wanted to snap a photo of the Scripture with the Advent candles in the background but it didn't work out, so I took this shot instead.  (Unfortunately, my paper also got a little wrinkled due to Ethan trying to eat it.)

And speaking of light, as I was hanging up this wreath on my front door, I was struck by the way the sunlight hit it - it looked so pretty, so I snapped another picture.

Last (and completely unrelated to the title of this post), I was trying to find a specific "photo-a-day challenge" that had topics for each day of December.  I stumbled across this one and the subject for Dec. 2 is "favorite holiday movie."  I'm still going to try to come up with my own Christmas-themed subjects but it might be fun to follow a prescribed challenge as well. 

I tried to think of a not-lame way to do a picture of my favorite holiday movie, something besides just taking a picture of the movie box.  Then I realized that, duh! I was already wearing a T-shirt from my favorite Christmas movie, so I just had Cy snap a picture of me in front of our tree (one of them):

I look goofy as usual, but there you have it:  my favorite Christmas movie is Elf. 

December 1: Flamingo Tree

Everyone else seems to be doing this December photo-a-day thing, so I thought hey, why not...maybe at least it will motivate me to actually post something on this blog (because if you scroll down, you will see just how not motivated I have been of late).

Anyway...here is a photo I took yesterday of my decorated flamingo tree.  And yes, I am so obsessed with flamingos that I decorate an entire Christmas tree solely with flamingo ornaments (and pink twinkle lights) every year.  Awesome?  Yes.

Also, this year, my newest addition to this tree was this FANTASTICALLY FABULOUS Lilly Pulitzer glass ornament.  How excited was I about this?  I cannot even begin to describe it.