Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Festivities

Man, oh man!  Where to begin with the past few days?  We had my mom, Caitlin, and Bryant and Judy come into town for Christmas this year and  it was a whole lot of fun (at least I hope they thought so...)!  Let me just say that there are a whole lot of people who love these boys we have here, and at Christmas, they demonstrated this love like this:


Ummmm....yea.  The presents actually extend beyond the picture, but I didn't want to have Jeff put them together to do a panoramic.  

So, as  you can imagine, most of Christmas morning was taken up with doling out and opening up gifts!  Our church did a Christmas Eve service instead of Christmas day, so we had literally all day to just hang around the house with family, play with new toys, and fix a bit of food for dinner that evening.  

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas Eve :  






And some Christmas day ones: 


 Love at first sight...his very own Camelbak! (but he still likes to drink out of ours best)

 Jacob (and Thomas) gets super excited over his new comic book/superhero tie!

 Jacob's reaction to his Christmas goodies


 Thomas seriously digs his new ride!


 Yep, an insane amount of stuff!


 The aftermath


 I know Judy would be SOOOOO disappointed if she didn't get a shot on the blog after she woke up EXTRA early to get all pretty for the 7am Christmas story reading and following present opening!  (She claimed--probably rightfully so---that every time she doesn't take a shower, Jeff posts pictures of her in her bathrobe on the blog! Hahah!)  Caitlin and Mom on the other hand, may not be so thrilled with this picture... BLAME JUDY!!!

 Jacob playing with his hosptial


 Caitlin carrying her little sweetie


 Cruisin' the strip (aka, hallway) on his new scooter!


 Jeff's handcrafted snowman ornament he created using solely materials from the carpet industry!  It was a competition at his work and he got 2nd place!  Pretty (umm, REALLY) impressive considering he works in the same office as the DESIGNERS for Shaw!  



 Looking mighty cozy in his cozy coupe!



 The beginning of the many faces of Tom Williams... this one is called "Big Eyes" and he does it on command for Jacob.

 Playing a ROUSING game of Guess Who?  


 Another face...I call this "Sheer Shock"


 Papa and Tom Cat (I've been calling him T-Kitty a lot lately and I really think it sounds manly)

 Cute face

The "I'm done playing fo'real" face


It was so nice to have everyone here this year to celebrate together...two families joined by Jeffy and little old me!  Caitlin and I were talking about how after losing Dad it makes you much more thankful for the family members that are still here with us, and I thought about that a lot this weekend.  I was very humbled that everyone would agree to come here to our house when I know it was a little out of the ordinary for everyone to be with people they hadn't spent holidays with before.  Nonetheless, it was a good time and a good day that was still touched with a little sadness when things would settle down and I would think back 2 years ago to the first Christmas we decided to stay in our own house and not travel for.  That year we told everyone that they could come do Christmas with us and we figured everyone would JUMP at the opportunity...but it turned out the only one who JUMPED was my Dad!  That was a really fun year, where we first found Hunt Club Farms on Christmas Eve in Va Beach (and Dad taught a wandering peacock how to jump for a hot dog...it's true, I have the video, and I need to post it one day!), and had a wonderful Christmas day together...filled with a sewing machine for me (that gift has really taken off!) and a Wii for the boys (another gift that just keeps on giving), and most memorably, filled with Dad.  I am thankful beyond words for that Christmas together...it will ALWAYS be one of my favorite memories of Dad with my family.  


I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got to worship and celebrate together THE little baby in the manger who changed the entire world (and my life) forever- Jesus!  

So long, Christmas Tree



Check back later more pictures of the "before and during"

Friday, December 23, 2011

Slow Catch Up (Not to be confused with "slow ketchup" bahahahhaha)

Yes, I am ever so slowly venturing back into photo folders from back at the beginning of November to try to recap some of the excitement throughout the past month.  We've done a good bit, but also missed out on a good bit due to SILLY COLDS!!!  We have had to cancel out on practically all (it feels like) our fun Christmas time activities...cookie exchanges, carolling, birthday parties,etc.  In the end, we still have had a lot of fun celebrating (by ourselves!) birthdays, playing with friends in between colds/allergies (since I first drafted this post, it seems we have probably just been dealing with allergies this whole time that I thought it was a series of colds...oops!), and just doing whatever!  Here are a few more pictures from visits with grandparents, Thanksgiving, more birthdays, and beyond!

Weekend with Bryant and Judy, celebrating birthdays:










Pictures from my Grandparents house at the river:

(cool sky with the storm rolling in off the water)
Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings

Jeff's favorite dessert- Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings 


The aftermath of pico making---a new Thanksgiving staple!


I was so impressed that Grandma and Papa's roses were blooming!










Jacob and I mixing colors at the science museum in town on their special member appreciation day!

Checking out the pendulum

Waltzing