Ho Ho Ho

Merry Christmas!!!!

What a wonderful Christmas morning... and somewhat surprising Christmas morning for Blake. Hahaha! Have I mentioned that this is such a fun age!? Check out that expression!

Blake was spoiled rotten this year. Here are some of this favorite things that he got...

• Gothem City and Joke Jail (superhero toys
• Spiderman and Batman Legos 
• Marble Run
• Paw Patrol Truck
• Ninja Turtle Figures
• Portable DVD player and headphones
• Clothes and Books

Thanks to all of those toys, I am now ordering two toy boxes and trying to desperately find a way to organize all of these little Lego pieces. :)

Fun fact about me: I go into this OCD purge and organize mode the week before New Years. For some reason I feel like I have to start the year off on a clean slate.

Christmas Eve Traditions

It's finally here!!!!! Christmas Eve is probably one of my favorite days of the year. I just love the feeling of excitement and suspense in the air. Everything just seems to be covered in love and happiness.... and if you are in NC this Christmas Eve, you are also probably covered in sweat. It's 78 degrees here! What the heck?!?!

Blake and I enjoyed our Christmas Eve with our usual tradition. Rudy brought a special present from Santa for Blake to open. It's his annual Christmas Eve box! He got a set of Paw Patrol Pj's and a movie for us to watch. Santa also reminded him to make some cookies to leave out... which of course we did!

I love Blake! So much... it's amazing. We snuggled on the couch and watched his movie with the Christmas tree glowing beside us. Blake laughed at all the funny parts and I laughed at him. Seriously, how does life get any better than that?! I am so excited and blessed to have these moments with him. He is the best gift I could ever have in my life!

Santa stopped by, and I grabbed a quick picture before Blake woke up. I think it's safe to say he was on the nice list this year!!!

Pilot Mountain Christmas

Every year we go to Pilot Mountain around December 23rd to do Christmas with my mom's family. This year was a little special because Granny was back home! Long story short, my Granny has had a series of health problems that started around the summer. She actually spend around 6-8 weeks in the hospital this fall. We are so grateful to say that she was able to be home with the holidays surrounded by family. She even celebrated her 63rd wedding anniversary with my papa! She isn't 100%, but we are hoping things will be improving soon. She is a fighter for sure!

While in Pilot Mountain, we go to check out the Christmas lights! They were spectacular. There were SO many! Blake practically ran around seeing all of them. He was amazed at them all. It was an awesome way to spend the evening and really get us into the Christmas Spirit!!

Oh, Rudy

Rudy has been with us all month... and boy has he been into some exciting things...

One night the Avengers found him. Rudy must have been sneaking around the tree because the superheros tied him up quickly. :)

One morning Rudy brought a special gift from the North Pole... a batman ornament for our tree! Santa must've known that Blake loves Batman!

And Rudy tends to do some really silly things while we sleep at night. Oh, Rudy!

Santa and His Stuff

*** Preface: I am a little behind on my blog entry days. Our sinus infections really got me off schedule and it has take a while to get caught back up. Tis the Season I guess! :)

Blake was so excited to see Santa this year, especially after Santa called out to him at the Rolesville Christmas Parade. We picked a day to go visit Santa and we made it happen!

On the way to see Santa, Blake and I went over what he wanted to say to Santa. Blake wanted to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, he wanted to show him his new Buzz toy from Disney on Ice, and he wanted to check out Santa's "Stuff" (I guess that meant his presents and anything else Santa brought with him from the North Pole).

When we got to Santa, Blake got to spend some one on one time with him. Blake instantly ran to Santa and jumped in his lap! He was so happy. Santa tried to have some small talk and ask Blake how old he was, but Blake just jumped into saying what he wanted for Christmas. No time for small talk, Santa! HAHA! Blake ran around and showed Santa Buzz and got a candy cane. He was excited to tell Santa about his life and then give him a hug. I think the two of them really hit it off and it's safe to say Blake is on the nice list!

The cutest part was on the way home... I asked Blake a few questions about talking with Santa. Blake seemed pleased about it all and thought Santa was cool. However, in the middle of talking Blake said, "Oh man!!!!! I forgot to check out Santa's stuff!!!!" HAHAHA! I guess he was so excited that he forgot to see what all Santa brought from the North Pole. It made me smile so much. I love it! I love Blake's love for Christmas. I love how excited he was. I just LOVE Christmas!

I got a picture with "Santa" too... but my Santa was actually one of my students. HAHA! They make me smile.

Disney on Ice

I am so excited about this post... this is the second year we were able to go to Disney on Ice! I think it will for sure be a tradition now...at least for a few more years with Blake. He had so much fun seeing his favorite characters and of course Granny spoiled him by getting him a few toy surprises. :) I love that we get to experience this around the holidays. It just makes everything even that much more fun. Until next year...

** By the way, it was hard for Blake to understand that we were at an arena watching them skate, so he told everyone we were going to the movie theater. HAHA!

Snot For Days...

Sorry for the not-so-lovely title, but it's reality. Blake and I have been suffering from a sinus infection for about the past week. Luckily Blake's antibiotic worked very quickly and he only had one rough day. I, on the other hand, hand to suffer for 7 long days before my 10 antibiotic decided to do it's job. At least we had a beautiful tree to snuggle in front of and fun Christmas movies to watch. :)

Santa Baby

The cutest Santa Baby I have ever seen! And yes, he is still a baby in my eyes. Always will be. :)

Rolesville Christmas Parade

Just when I think we have conquered all of "the firsts".... today Blake attended his first Christmas Parade!!! :) And let me tell you, we had the hook up! The Rolesville Christmas Parade goes right infront of Memommy's house. We went up there early to eat lunch and take a nap, then we simply walked out the front door with our chairs and enjoyed the parade in the afternoon.

While eating lunch Blake made sure to tell GDaddy everything he wanted for Christmas. Hope GDaddy took notes!

Blake waited patiently for the parade too start. I think he was still trying to wake up from his nap a little. I love my little stud.

He got so excited to see some of the parade items. He loved the firetrucks, the tractors (yes, we are country), and the marching bands!

I enjoyed sitting and watching it all with my favorite lady in the world, my Memommy.

Then we all got to see a bit of Christmas Magic. Blake saw Santa's float and got really excited. He stood up and waved and yelled, "Hey Santa!!!" Well, I guess Santa heard his precious little voice because he looked directly at him and responded, "Hey there little guy!" Oh wow!!! Blake looked at me like he was the happiest boy on earth! He sat back in his seat and had to put his hands in his lap because he was just shaking with excitement.

I loved every second of it. I love seeing Christmas through Blake's eyes. As an adult, it is easy to see a lot of negative in the world, but then there are those small moments like Blake had today that restore the goodness. I am so lucky to be able to have these moments and I am beyond blessed to have Blake show them to me.

The Perfect Tree

It is December!!! That means we were on a mission to find the perfect tree... and I think we succeeded!

This year Blake was really into decorating the tree. He is obsessed with the ornaments. In fact, he thinks some of the specialty ornaments are toys, so I have to keep an extra eye on him! Either way, it is all the start of the magic of Christmas! Blake was so excited about putting the angel on top of the tree!

Rudy has also joined us back at the house! He is already getting into some really fun things at the house!

Thankful Hearts

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We have been celebrating all week and it has been such a good week!

It is very easy to get caught up in all the challenges of life, but when we stop and look around there is so much to be grateful for! Often I have the bad habit at looking at the past 2 years of my personal life (failed marriage, etc) and get down on myself, but then I look at Blake, my house, my job, my family, and so much more... I have SO many amazing blessings in my life.

Our Thanksgiving week celebration started off at Blakes Preschool! We had a Thanksgiving Day luncheon!!! Blake thought it was really awesome to have visitors come each lunch at his school. We might want to work on his table etiquette though... when talking about his current favorite movie (Alvin and the Chipmunks) he wanted to share the scene where the chipmunk farts. Sigh... boys... I couldn't help but laugh. I was just so excited to be there with him and sharing this little moment.

Even though Blake is on 3, I am trying to teach him how the real meanings of things. This Thanksgiving, we took time to donate canned foods to a food drive. We talked about how we need to share with those people who maybe don't have all the nice things that we do. I think he somewhat understood. It is good to serve and that's something I hope that we can do each year around the holidays.

Finally it was our Thanksgiving Day! We spent it with our family and we loved all the food, watching the Macy's Parade, and watching football! I am forever grateful for this little turkey of mine. He is literally my everything!

Blake really liked Thanksgiving.... but he REALLY REALLY wants Christmas to be here!I don't blame him. It's right around the corner!

Pilot Mountain

This past weekend Blake and I went to Pilot Mountain! He and I have done this visit before, but this weekend things were a little different....

1) This time my Granny was in this hospital. She has been recovering from a few things, including a broken hip and liver failure. Blake did a great job visiting and brightening her spirits. He wanted to make sure "Granny Johnson" felt better. It was hard for me to see her like that. She looked very frail and tired, and that just isnt how she normally looks! We are hoping and praying that the doctors will know  how to care for her and that she will be able to come home again soon, especially for the Holidays!

2) This trip was different because it was the first time Blake has been hiking on Pilot Mountain! Yay! Saturday afternoon, we took the time to drive up to the mountain and explore. Well, it was more like chasing Blake around the side of the mountain. Haha!

It was a little late in the year, but the leaves were still gorgeous!

This was us before our little hike!

Blake loved climbing the rocks and the hills!      

He made it to the top!! (In like 10 minutes flat. HAHA!)
       

 I think he slowed down a little in order to take in the amazing view.

I love my little man and the moments I have with him!!

October Resolution

Ok... I am STILL going strong with my resolutions!!!

Crafts for the month:
Pumpkin Painting and Blake's trick-or-treat foot

Book for the month:
Jellicoe Road

Sweetie Pie

Be still my heart.... I can't wait and I wouldn't miss it for the world, kiddo! I am SO grateful for these little moments!!!

Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween...a few days late. I guess we are slowly recovering from Halloween weekend AND time change!

I think I say this every year, but Blake is seriously at such a fun age for holidays!!! Perhaps he just keeps getting better with age ;)

This year he made out like a bandit. He even had TWO trick-or-treats to attend. We celebrated for sure! His first trick-or-treat was at his preschool Halloween party. He decided to be Iron Man for this event.

Secondly, we did our family neighborhood trick-or-treat. I went as a witch and Blake was Captain America! We were quiet the crew.

Blake really enjoyed walking around and dressing up, but he was a little shy when it came to actually saying "trick-or-treat". I guess he is a master at stranger danger! His shy side might have worked in his favor because I think people gave him MORE candy because they thought he was cute and quiet.I bet next year will be the total opposite.

We also had time change this weekend. It is now getting dark around 5:15. Yuck! Thankfully Blake adjusted pretty well and I'm hoping he will continue to sleep in a little on the weekends!