All of the Inflatables

In annual tradition we travelled across town to see the spectacle that is Santa on Mountainview. 

It seems impossible but this year is probably even better. It seems as though the Mountainview house's neighbor has now fully extended the lights to the corner and it really makes that walk up even more spectacular. 

But don't worry...Santa didn't disappoint. Rudolph was there to greet us 

And there's the big guy just inside too!

We managed to grab a shot wth the Avengers in Hooville...

And a family photo too...

If you haven't been yet, head on over. You can't miss it off 20S (you can even see it from 64). It won't disappoint and will bring holiday cheer to even the grinchiest of you out there!

Walking in the Sea of Santas

Well Thanksgiving has passed and we ate our fill of turkey and cranberries. Now we're moving along to Christmas and are getting our fill of Santa too! We already saw Santa a few weeks ago with John and his older son. The boys loved making Gingerbread houses and hearing the Grinch Who Stole Christmas before getting some QT with the big guy. (No sneak peaks yet!)

Today we took the event a little further and decided to participate in Arc of the Piedmont's Santa Fun Run & Walk.

Ready for the Santa Walk!

A was even excited to do it, so we walked the event (it was only 1 mile) and he kept it up for a strong half of the walk before getting on mine and then Daddy's shoulders. It was fun seeing the sea of others dressed up like Santa and his elves...we may even have to make it a new tradition!

Happy New Year!

2014 was a pretty great year, and if you need a reminder read through the archives here on the blog. But I think 2015 is going to be great. A even did a little celebrating this year with us at a friends house. Everyone had a blast. 

But what are your resolutions this year? Last year I pledged to read more and do more yoga. Well I did both, but the yoga could still be increased. This year I plan to keep the upward trend on yoga, cut back on added sugars consumption, and try to put down the phone more and just play. Disconnecting is hard when this shiny fun object can pander to my short attention span, but I think we could all do better at that.

Ironically, I want to mention two apps out there I plan to use more...one of which requires no actual use of it during the day and the other of which will help me cut back on added sugars. The first is Breeze, which is a pedometer. My mom is a champ with her pedometer, and while not being able to carry my phone for 8 hours a day at work, it will still be a good check on the nights and weekends. The other app is Fooducate, which tracks your meals/calories/nutrition, will help you diet (if you so desire), and has a database of 25,000 foods including the added sugar data. The FDA is going to start requiring that labels carry this information, but until then you can use this app. So cool! It also rates foods for you on an A-F grading scale. 

So here's to 2015...and hopefully by laying this all out there I'll have some more accountability this year!

(belated) Merry Christmas!

Well, I'm only 6 days behind...not too bad considering the whirlwind our house looked like after a house with a 3 year old celebrating Christmas! But here they are...a few action shots...and a few shots by the youngest photographer in the house himself! Santa was quite good to us all this year...perhaps best of all for mom and dad who get to take a little vacation in February! (Thanks in advance to all the grandparents for helping with that!) But A had a pretty darn good one too! Here's a quick recap...

First Santa came, bringing instruments and Jake gear!

But the Jake gear needed some more Jake stuff to go with it...

and of course a Lego/train table! (the picture of the car and man are courtesy of said young photographer)

So from our merry family to yours...hope you had a fabulous holiday season! Bring on 2015!

The Giving Season

I like to give back and I think it's an important way to connect with the community. But I don't want my time with the community to take time away from me and A, and so it just happens that taking him along provides that connection on multiple levels. 

The last few years I've just done an angel tree (or 3) gifts. But this year I decided it was time to step it up a notch. (We still did 3 angel tree gifts too, don't worry!)

Enter Meals on Wheels - Charlottesville, just after Thanksgiving. 

And then packing boxes of food in Rockbridge County with DD and DaDoc. 

It doesn't take much, but I'm hoping he eventually remembers these times. It's so important to keep us all humble and remind us of the reason for the season

Oh and sometimes it even pays off quicker than you expect. Here he is just after receiving a special fireman hat just after doing Meals on Wheels. He was ecstatic. 

We followed up with a thank you note of course :)

Here comes Santa Clause!

We're getting ready for Christmas time here. The tree is trimmed and cookies baked, so that means we're waiting for the big day. 

We have been doing an Advent calendar every night which is fun, though Christopher the elf is providing more antics of course. 

He's checking to make sure we're all behaving of course. Last weekend we had breakfast with the big guy, at which point A reminded him expects a xylophone for Christmas. Let's hope the elves are musically inclined!

 

Easter

Well it's Easter and spring has sprung. We celebrated the coming of spring by planting flowers in the yard and of course, an egg hunt. A has gotten quite a bit of practice over the last few days between day care, DD and DaDoc and us. He is quite the expert now.

Needless to say, we had fun. And just so you don't think we're horrible people celebrating without church, I read him the story of Jesus' return from The Book, given to me by my Dad when I was 5. How 'bout that?

Santa time!

I know you've all been waiting for it...a picture with Santa. Well, it's Christmas now, so here you go!

The first try didn't go so well, but luckily day care pulled through and we had a second chance to sit on Santa's lap this year :)

But the real question you all have is, how was A's Christmas? He had a blast of course! Kyle did a great job pulling off the Santa thing this morning, complete with his own leaf blower. 

Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas too!

The Infamous Elf

Don't believe all the hate you read...elf is magic and fun for all. The 30 seconds it takes us to move elf on a given day is worth every second of joy that A gets out of this. If you don't yet know about the excitement the Elf brings to a young child, then watch A's excitement in this video. 

Since December 1st we have been hiding the elf everyday. Our elf even has a special book that explains his magic and why he came to visit. Honestly? I think it's fun. A loves to scream "ELF!" upon waking, running to find the elf's latest antics. We had elf make a mess (in addition to the laundry as seen above, he also had a great time with some wrapping paper), and he tons of fun hanging from the light fixtures. See a few more we captured on camera.

Where's elf?

Hello!

Tomorrow elf will return to the North Pole also known as our basement) during nap time tomorrow. But first A will wake to find the elf's final hiding spot...just where Santa will visit on Christmas Day :)

Starting some traditions

I suddenly realized that A is at an age where we can really start some Christmas traditions.  We started a few this year and I think we'll definitely have to continue.

First, everyone needs a good Christmas flick. I've decided Polar Express must have been made especially for A...trains and Santa? Ho Ho Ho!

And of course we must have cookies! A helped with molasses cookies this year. He cut and decorated :)

And of course we had to have one...it goes perfect with the end of the movie!

Let's see what other great traditions we can make :)

Happy Halloween!

Well, we made it through our first "real" Halloween, and luckily Kyle didn't ask for a divorce after all the festivities I forced on the family! We had a blast though, attending 2 parties, playing on the Lawn, and trick or treating with friends. Here is a collage of the highlights :)

I'm sure you can all clearly see that A is a train conductor. My and Kyle's are a bit more cryptic (it was a Monster Mash-up theme...) so I was from Soul Train (together...Soul Train conductor) and Kyle was Apathe-tick-tock). I know, we're funny :) 

Lucky for us, the train conductor is really darn cute :)