When I told Carson that he would be participating in a nativity at a friend's house on Christmas Eve, his first idea was to be one of the gifts that the wise men brought. Later he decided that being a camel would be a much better idea. So we threw him in a doggie costume and rolled up a towel for the hump in his back. He was definitely the best looking camel there!
For Thanksgiving, my parents came, picked us up, and took us on the perfect little weekend trip to Charleston, SC. My dad's two aunts recently retired there and were wonderful hostesses. We will always think of them and their two friends as the lovely ladies of Sea Lavender. Visiting with them was a blast! Thank you thank you to Sooze and Annie for the fun time and delicious food.
Rick ran around for a bit before Thanksgiving dinner to make room for more food.
Sooze instructs my dad on carving the bird.
We had so much fun visiting with the ladies that we didn't even really see much of Charleston. During the couple of hours that we were going to sight-see, it started to rain, and we decided to just head home instead of making the boys sit in the car for additional hours. We want to go back to see the city, but for now we were perfectly content with our visit!
This kid was made to be three. (And I love his eyebrows.)
I wasn't terribly excited about covering the house with balloons and streamers the night before his birthday, but Rick insisted. When Carson woke up that morning and saw the display, I decided it was worth it. He still talks about waking up and seeing yellow streamers and knowing it was his birthday. Guess we will keep up that tradition!
Carson's Grandma GJ sent this great package with lots of Christmas-y birthday presents. Carson had his own tiny tree to decorate, a nativity to play with, and other fun things. We had a great time with that package!
We gave Carson a baseball tee.
He had a party with just a couple of neighbor friends.
Everett had the best one-liner at the party. He pointed to Jamie's belly and said, "BALL."
We played games like Pin-the-Wheel-on-the-Tractor, and one that Rick made up where the kids were bulldozers racing to push their balloons across the floor. We ate sandwiches shaped like trucks, and the much-anticipated digger cake. I don't really want to talk about the cake. It kept falling apart, and I should have put a layer of fondant over it but decided to just quit while it was still standing. Oh well; our big three-year-old was very happy with the cake and his birthday!
I think everyone in Winston-Salem experienced a little bit of Christmas magic when it started to snow as we were opening presents. Apparently this is the first white Christmas in over 40 years. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the snow for about 10 minutes, and Rick worked hard to make our lovely snow family. Unfortunately it kept on snowing on top of our snowmen, but we can't expect endurance of Frosty every year!
Rick’s spirit was made bright as he started his third year of medical school. Rotations are much more fun than lectures! He is still very involved in intramural sports and the Youth and scouting programs in our church. He plays with and wrestles his two boys any spare minute he can find!
A bright spot of Page’s year was visiting and introducing Rick to her favorite place in the world: Santiago, Chile. Page still enjoys running in the mornings (even 8 months pregnant!), doing craft projects, grading Spanish tests, and mothering her boys.
Carson (just turned 3) is our bright preschooler. He lives for his home-school preschool activities once a week. Carson’s memory and understanding continue to amaze us, and he loves helping mommy cook, sew, clean, etc.
Everett (20 months) brightens up our days with his sweet smile. He is such a fun, snuggly little boy and is often the family’s entertainer. Now that our boys share a room, hearing his sweet little voice talking to his brother at night is just so cute.
We will welcome another bright little spirit into our family in January. I am not sure how I will fit three little ones on my lap, but we are so excited!
We know that it is Jesus Christ, our Savior, who can make each of our spirits bright this holiday season. We are so grateful for His miraculous birth, His momentous life, His noble death, and His continued influence in our personal lives. We pray that we can all look to our Savior to find true and lasting happiness.
Shopping for a real Christmas tree was a first for us this year. We love having it in our home!
As usual, Carson was "a little nervous" about a few things. Here, he was probably worried about the machine the farmers used to put the tree in the stand.
But this boy doesn't get nervous about much of anything!
Everett associates two things with my dad: pick-up trucks and chandeliers. During my parents' last visit to our home, Pappy hung a chandelier in the new baby's room, and then there is his obvious ownership of a big white pick-up. Whenever we walk into a room with a chandelier, or whenever we spot a truck in the parking lot, you will for sure hear a cute little voice yelling, "PAPPY!! PAPPY!!"
It felt so good to make the final purchase and put the finishing touches on our home-made gifts today. We are done! Tomorrow should be a beautifully peaceful day to turn our hearts towards the One we are celebrating.
Does this look like a boy face or a girl face?? I have been pondering this all morning. Up until now, I haven't been tempted at all to find out the gender of this baby, but after my ultrasound today, I'm very curious!!
Here's the evidence, one way or the other:
I'm carrying high, so it must be a girl.
Carson is convinced he's getting another brother and won't even consider the alternative, so it must be a boy.
This baby is very calm in utero, so it must be a sweet little girl.
This is the first pregnancy where I felt at all nauseous during the first few weeks, but I can't remember if that means it's a boy or a girl.
The ultrasound tech did look to see the gender at this appointment (while I covered my eyes), and it took her all of 10 seconds to say she was done checking out that part, so it must be a boy.
I have bins full of boy clothes and 0 girl things, not even one outfit, so it must be a girl to allow me to do a little shopping!
I would really, really, really like a daughter at some point, so it must be a boy to test my patience a little.
We will see in about a month! This delivery is going to be so exciting!!
I'm always just behind enough on blog posts that the pictures seem like old news. All the leaves are gone now, but they were pretty a few weeks ago! The boys had a delightful time raking and playing one evening when Rick got home.
Everett loves our neighbor Barbara. He walked right over and knocked on her door all by himself the other day. She lets our kids watch TV and eat popcorn, so what's not to love?
