Holiday Fun

The holidays are almost over and whew...I think we survived! The tree came down yesterday and a calm feeling came over me. As most of you know, I'm not the truly festive type. My celebration starts tomorrow. The new year brings me a huge amount of joy. I love the feeling of a fresh start, a time to set new goals, and the realization that another year has passed w/ Jason, Elyas, and myself experiencing good health and overall happiness as a family. I am extremely grateful.

To give you a glimpse into our holiday fun, here are a few shots of Elyas w/ some of his favorite holiday gifts.

The rocking horse has been a blast. This horse wags his tail and even makes a galloping sound when Elyas rides it. Thank you to the Skrabaks for such a fun gift!

We got our little guy a kitchen set b/c we think we may have a chef in the making. He LOVES helping me in the kitchen and is always wanting to be on the counter so he can help stir, pour, etc. (and oh what a mess that is!) He has started imitating behaviors that he observes and it's the cutest thing. He pretends to smell the "food" he's cooking and says "ummmm" and then he opens the oven and says "hot, hot." You gotta love it!

Santa brought him his own tricycle and he has scooted around our downstairs in circles every day since. Yep, I think we have a future bike rider in our house. Just what I need...another one!

And Santa also brought him a barnyard set that for some reason he keeps trying to get inside. I'm not kidding. He repeatedly tries to scoot himself in backwards and put his legs in the barn. I guess he hasn't quite grasped the size of himself compared to things. When not trying to get inside the barn, he enjoys throwing all the animals inside the silo. Poor animals.

And here are some pictures from our time in McMinnville.

Madeline looking adorable in her sequence attire...

Elyas opening gifts. Oh and a big event happened during all the chaos of gift opening. Elyas decided to take a few steps on his own. What a great gift to me :)

All the cousins....

The fam...

Rockin' out his spiked hair and santa suspenders.

And just a few others...this is his new cold weather fuzzy suit that he sports on stroller rides on cold days. Love it!

And we've had 2 big events this month. Jon turned 30 and Laura graduated with her nursing degree. Happy 30th Jon and Congratulations Laura!!!

I hope everyone enjoys the New Years Eve festivities tonight. We're taking Elyas to Kobe Steakhouse to let him enjoy some hibachi action. I'm sure our little chef will be amazed! Until next year, adios and Happy New Year!!

We're back!

Wow it's been a long time since I've been on here. I apologize for being a complete slacker. For all those who work for the school system...you should understand. Once December hits, it is crazy busy and you just start counting down thinking of all the things you are going to accomplish during your 2 weeks off. Then all of a sudden you are out of school and all you want to do is sleep in and not think about your to-do list. Since posting on my blog was on my to-do list, I can now check this off! There will be more to come soon of all the holiday fun. Until then...enjoy!

This is Elyas' best bud in the world, Townes. He lives right down the street and his mom and I really love hangin' out so it works out perfect.

Some outdoor fun while I was raking leaves awhile ago...

We went to Jason's mom's for Thanksgiving and ended up having a fun day w/ my the Haston's. They were in Sugar Mountain outside of Boone, NC which is very close to Star and Steve's. We had a great time hangin' w/ them for a day.

We bought Elyas a drum which he thoroughly enjoyed.

What a nice surprise it was to see his cousins, Madeline & Jalen.

Elyas had a blast w/ his Nini and Pappy. We always enjoy Steve's music.

This is a random shot but I had to share it. Isn't he cute in Jason's jersey? I'm sure once he is big enough, he will have his own.

Madeline has stayed w/ us this week and we've had a blast. I took her to see the Nutcracker Ballet on Sunday and it was beautiful. Elyas' babysitter's daughter, Marlena, was a garden fairy in it and she was fabulous! Madeline has been such a big help during my first week off. We've had a great time. We strolled around Opryland Hotel last night and it was gorgeous. Now it's time to go celebrate Christmas w/ the family in McMinnville for a couple of days. We will leave later this afternoon...should be fun.

And last, here is a video that shows that what kind of fun we have around the house. This is his favorite drawer. Every day as I cook he cleans out about 2-3 drawers and cabinets. Maybe the new kitchen set we bought him for Christmas will keep him from making such a disatrous mess in our kitchen!