On the 26th, we packed and left and traveled to Charlotte, NC to visit Seth's family. We had a fairly non-eventful trip there. Seth's older brother and wife had planned out our next day there. We all got to ride the Light Rail into downtown...which was really fun for the kids. We first went to ImagiOn (a children's library) and got to dress up in characters, check out some books, and attended a story hour. Ella especially loved it when Miss Leah read "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly"...she use to read that in one of her KinderMusik classes as a toddler and we have the actual doll she used to play with as a toddler as well. I was impressed that she remembered it. Our day continued at Fuel Pizza, where Luke had 3 pieces of pizza. We then went to one of Bank of America's buildings (I forget the name) and observed some silly bears singing some classic Christmas songs. There was one bear named "Ella"...needless to say Ella enjoyed that as well. Luke and their cousin Arden enjoyed it as well.



We parted with Dave, Lisa, and Arden...so Arden could take a nap. The rest of the gang went on to Discovery Place. We just happened to get in free, which made it that much more enjoyable. The kids loved playing with various things. Ella enjoyed seeing the stuffed animals and some marine life. Luke enjoyed the table of "sticks" to build towers with. Once back at Dave and Lisa's we ate dinner and enjoyed watching High School Musical...at least Lisa and I did. Here are some pictures of our very busy day....

I have a lot of backtracking to do, since much has happened in the last few days. Unfortunately, Seth and I didn't do the greatest at taking pictures...we were enjoying the moment more than thinking about pictures. The kids had a great Christmas...it was simple and non-stressful. We got to enjoy the morning together as a family and then headed over to my mom and dad's around 2:00 for a late lunch/dinner. I love Christmas and this was the first year, that honestly, I didn't care what I got and truly enjoyed giving better than receiveing. I guess my husband is rubbing off on me...since he tends to be the more generous one. One of the highlights was when Fonzie (our dog) got to open his present (special gourmet dog treats). He wanted it so bad, he was trying to eat it through the plastic bag. The kids got a special laugh out of that one. Here are some pictures of our special day.

Oh, the ways I love Christmas! We went to our church's Christmas Eve at the Charleston campus. We were able to see some friends we hadn't seen in awhile, since the TeaysValley plant. It was a great time to reflect on what Christmas is all about and the kids got to stay with us...Luke especially loved the music. Our church has a tradition that after each Christmas Eve service they have us to go out into the community and give people that have to work a gift and a sheet with the Christmas story. So we decided to stop by our local hospital on the way home. The kids were able to give the gifts to some lab workers...this was more important to me that they got to do this than to open their presents tomorrow.

When we got home, we enjoyed some Chinese food and ate it sitting around the Christmas tree. I so enjoy moments with just the four of us. Oh, the joys of Christmas time!!

Last Wednesday, me and Luke met up with several friends at the Clay Center. They had story hour and a special display of trains and Christmas trees. Of course, Luke loved the trains and we saw Christmas trees made out of balloons, crystal, and highly decorated ones. Luke also got to play with some boys around his same age. Lets just say that Luke had a great day!!! Here are the pictures to prove it.

*WARNING: not for the weak in stomach

O.K. so here goes...Luke and I were plagued by a stomach virus Friday and Saturday. The kids actually spent the night with Poppy and Nana Friday and I get a call early on Saturday saying that Luke has been vomiting part of the night. I replied that's nice because I've been up part of the night too. At this point Seth is at work (yes, he sometimes works on Saturdays till noon) and I am so torn because I want to be there for Luke but I'm sick myself and don't know how I could get there without throwing up in the van. Well, when you want to see your sick child you just make yourself do stuff. I made it there without any complications...thankfully. I immediately held him and he fell asleep on me and then I had to puke again and had to wake him up...it was so heart breaking to not be able to comfort him the way he wanted me too. Seth came to Nana and Poppy's house early from work and took us sick people home. We lied around all day Saturday and watched movies. Ella was able to spend the day with Grammy and saw the movie "Bolt". Luke actually went to bed at 6:30 pm and didn't wake up until 8:30 am the next morning. Thank you to Nana and Poppy for taking care of my sick boy for a time, to Seth for being a great husband and having a servant's heart, and to Grammy for taking Ella so she didn't have to be around sick people all day.

As many of you know, our son, is a whiz at construction equipment, big rigs, and garbage trucks. It is not an overstatement to say that he knows more than me. In fact, he told me what an outrigger was a couple of weeks ago. He has a play tower ladder fire truck that has what I would call "legs" on it. On this certain day he was calling them outriggers and I was like what the heck is an outrigger? He proceeded to show me and I said...aren't those legs? Honest to Pete his response was..."Mommy, I used to call them legs but that's not what they are...they are outriggers, mommy...that's what they are called". I was flabbergasted...I couldn't believe that a 3 year old corrected me like that. I guess I'll have to get use to it, since I don't plan on becoming an expert on big machinery anytime soon.

While I'm talking about Luke, I have to telly you guys this cute story. Lately Luke has been taking big growth spurts. In fact he has grown over 1/2 inch in two weeks. Anywho, as I was tucking him into bed last night, I was telling him how fast he was growing and before long he would be a strong man. His response was, "will I be able to reach the sink?"...how cute is that. In his little world right now, he is very excited to one day be able to reach the sink.

Last night we went to the annual Charleston Christmas Parade. It was so cold...but so well worth standing in the cold. The kids loved it and of course they got enough candy to last well into the New Year. I just love the Christmas season...it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Ella enjoying sleigh riding