Christmas 2009

What an awesome Christmas we had this year! Carter is at the age where he really got into it - but, still young enough to take his time with each and every present... which in turn made for very long present opening! After it was all said and done Carter had 4 present opening sessions.

Christmas Eve we of course left cookies & milk for Santa!

Christmas morning before Carter woke up.... errrr... before we woke Carter up! It was almost 9am and the kid was still sleeping. Josh and I were getting a bit impatient.

The drums & guitar were a big hit.... not only for Carter, but for Josh too!!

Of course the highlight of Josh's Christmas was his PS3 - I had him SOOOO fooled. He had NO idea.

On Christmas afternoon Mom came over - Carter awoke from his nap for yet another Christmas tree full of presents!

Enjoying one of Mom's yummy deviled eggs. If you remember from last year - he had us take the devil out of it. He seemed to like the whole thing this year!

When Carter woke up from his nap the day after Christmas there was another load full of gifts under the tree from Mem, Pep & Auntie Mallory.

At this point he had it all figured out......

I'm not quite sure what is in this box - but, Carter seems to like it.

His Hot Wheels Jeep Jeep like Josh's was a HUGE hit.

Sunday evening Josh's parents arrived with MORE presents. I was beginning to think Carter was going to think every day was Christmas!!

Sporting his new WVU hat.... fits perfectly. Granddaddy had to give in and order online!

Enjoying a good story with Granddaddy! Poor Carter ended up with Croup over Christmas. Nana, Granddaddy & Auntie Ramie got the worst of it. He was in rare form because of the steroids they had him on. But.... we all managed!

A true highlight of their visit was racing around the house.....

Of course TONS of pictures were taken... click here to check them all out.

FINALLY!!!

After two long months Carter's bulldozer bed is finally DONE! His new room still needs a lot of TLC - but, it was done enough for us to move Carter in last night. So, last night was night one for Carter in his new room and big boy bed... drum roll please.... it was a SUCCESS!!

Here are a few quick shots of the bed!


Kudos to Josh... he worked really hard on this. Keep in mind, he had no blue prints to go by!

Pre-Christmas Festivities!!

About 5 years ago Josh, my mom and I started a yearly tradition of making chocolate covered pretzels. We thought it best to do them while Carter napped this year! He was excited to enjoy them when he woke up -- yummy!!

My Mom's boss Bruce... aka Santa decorates his house and dresses up as Santa every year. Last year Carter was terrified of him - luckily, he was much more interested in him this year!

Knuckle bumps for the jolly ol' fella.

Sitting on Santa's lap was not his favorite; but, he did it long enough to tell him all the things he wants this year.... Drums, drum sticks, guitar, garbage truck, garbage man and toy garbage!

I bought him a Christmas music CD and he LOVES to listen to it. When Frosty or Rudolph comes on he plops down in front and listens (and sings).

A few days ago Carter rc'vd a package from Nana & Granddaddy. Enclosed in the package was a very special reindeer that Granddaddy's Grandaddy made for him when he was little. He thought this was a good year to give it to Carter, so he can enjoy it over the years just as he has. Carter and Josh put it together, it now sits in front of the fireplace. Carter loves to say hello to him every morning and evening while turning the Christmas tree lights on & off.


Auntie Chris sends a package of cookies to all of us every year. Carter LOVES them... every night after dinner he gets to pick two from the cookie jar. His favorites are any with sprinkles!!

5 on Friday!

Thanks Nana for the suggestion -- I think I can handle this a bit more often than 10 on Tuesday!

1) Our 2009 Christmas cards were placed in the mail yesterday - yippee!! Finally able to check something off my long to-do list. Here is a sneak peak. Thanks to Laura Ann Photography. As always, she did a great job!

2) Carter seems to be excited to sit on Santa's lap this year. Tomorrow evening we will be making a visit to Bruce's annual Christmas party - Santa shows up for an hour to allow the kids to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Wish us luck!!

3) We have a date... so mark your calendars! February 24th, 2010 our little girl will be brought into this crazy world we live in. That is of course if everything goes as planned -- we all know that never happens! However, our Dr. went ahead and put us in her books.

4) Little lady here has decided she wants to only use 1/2 of her real-estate, meaning she has her entire body on the right side of my stomach. It is SO uncomfortable. Sitting for too long is painful, standing for too long is painful, lying for too long is painful… no fun. The doc says to take it easy, um... does she realize Christmas is right around the corner?!? It is not possible to take it easy this time of year! Auggghhhh… I’m going to do as suggested though, don’t want to end up on mandatory bed rest.

5) Most of you have heard by now that Sony Ericsson will be closing its RTP branch by June 2010. Yes, that means all of us that are here will be without a job. Some will be offered a position in Atlanta or California just as the news said – however, that number will be limited. Anyhow… a phase out will begin early next year. No one really knows when it will be his/her time to go. So, we just wait. All good things have to come to an end. Sony Ericsson has been good to me through the years....

The Holidays.

With Christmas fast approaching, we've spent some time having some fun! Last weekend we put up the tree, a process Josh was dreading considering all the decorations were tucked in the far corner of the garage! Carter was super excited, at least that is what we thought. He looked at us after putting up just a few ornaments and said "I all done". So, Josh and I were left with the rest... crazy boy!!

Every night Carter enjoys putting the ornament on the Santa tree! Only 15 more ornaments to go. Scary!

Of course what are the Holiday's without homemade Mint Chocolate Chip cookies! Carter loves to help make them; however, he doesn't like to eat them (not cooked anyway). Hey, more for me!!

Relaxing with Mr. Penguin... guess all the baking took its toll on Carter!

For quite some time now Carter has wanted a fish - just like Grandmas! So, my mom brought him his very own. Carter quickly named him Nemo Dylan (Dylan is Grandmas fishes name). He has been really good about feeding him every night. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly!

Poor Daddy! His long days have him pretty worn out... he can't even make it though 30 minutes of Dora before book time!

Henry The Elf has arrived! The package truck delivered him last night and by this morning Carter had already come up with such a clever (not) name. Lets hope this little guy does what he is supposed to do -- keep Carter in check!!