Week 94

Dec 22-28

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve as a family and enjoyed our usual fun family holiday traditions. We watched Christmas movies, wrapped presents, and drank in celebration of togetherness! After having four days in a row off of work I had to go in on Christmas day. Luckily I work the 11am-11pm shift so I didn't have to leave the house until 10:00 in the morning...giving me plenty of time to wake up and open presents with the boys.

Ed and I decided we would set our alarms and wake up before Jack usually gets up. We really wanted the chance to make some coffee, turn on all the Christmas lights, and make sure everything was perfect when Jack walked down the stairs.

He woke up right on time, just as we expected. It was so much fun to go get him and walk with him down the steps. He could see his choo-choo table right away, but the top of it was wrapped so he wasn't quite sure what to think. He walked right over to it and started ripping off paper in pure excitement! Honestly, I think we could have left it at that because once he saw the table and realized that I had put some of his trains in the drawer, he was set!

We had to pull him away from playing to start opening more presents. Once he finally figured out that every time he opened a present most of them were MORE "choo-choo's" he was willing to participate in the unwrapping process.

We ended up having plenty of time to open all of our presents and eat breakfast. After all of the excitement it was time for me to shower and head to the E.R. for the day and into the evening. It was basically a blur as usual because it was super busy. It really didn't feel like Christmas to me after I left the house. Oh well. The life of a nurse. I was lucky enough to get Christmas off last year so I had to do my duty.

The next day Ed's mom (Grandma to Jack) and Harvin came over from their hotel. They had driven down to FL from SC the previous day. We basically had Christmas all over again. :) It was a nice time! Jack got lots of fun new toys and of course a complete Ralph Lauren Polo outfit from Harvin. That night we went to The Charthouse for dinner (Jack wore his new outfit...I even found him some Sperry's to match).

Dinner was nothing short of delicious! Here are some pictures of everyone. These lovely picture include the sword fight between Jack and his Grandma while we were all having our impeccable Godiva chocolate lava cake. Yum! Jack definitely approved.

The next day we went through more of the presents and put stuff together. Jack helped Grandma and Harvin put together his Rescue Set. Later that day more family came by including Ed's Aunt Kathy, Uncle John, Cousins Ashleigh, Alyssa, and Jonathan, and Ashleigh's husband Jason. It was nice to see them! First we had yet another round of Christmas and then we hung out. We had a fun time playing board games, eating pizza, and drinking drinks!

Jack was hilarious when he opened presents. He even showed off his favorite new thing to do. I'll let the picture speak for itself.

To conclude this post we had a Very Merry Christmas this year! It was very sad to see everyone leave and be once again stranded in Florida away from our family, but Ed and I both take comfort in the fact that this is probably our last Christmas in Florida. Hopefully next year we will be in SC with our families surrounding us. Who knows what next year will bring? This year has been very good to us.

Thank you to all of our families and friends for the Christmas gifts. We thoroughly enjoyed each and every thing we got. We hope you and yours had a Very Merry Christmas as well!!!

Week 93

Dec 15-21

It is finally almost Christmas which means I finally get a few days off of work! :) I feel like I have been working nonstop lately. Even when I get 3 days off in a row it just doesn't seem like a significant break. I don't know if it is because Ed and I rarely have a day off together so it doesn't seem like it counts. It has been busy, busy, busy the past few weeks and I am grateful for some days off and for family to come visit!!!

The week before Christmas my sister Caroline and my mom drove down from South Carolina. I didn't even really see them the first two days they were here because I had to work. It was nice for Ed though because they watched Jack and he got to get some much needed time for school work.

Jack had a blast! My mom wanted to have a Christmas with her so she could be with him when he opened the presents she got him. We made it a true Christmas by cooking a turkey and a full dinner of mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, "crackies" (aka crescent rolls), and green bean casserole. It was so good!! Ed is really mastering the infrared oilless fryer. That thing is AMAZING!

It was kind of neat to spread Christmas presents over three different days because Jack got to get new toys, play with them, get more toys, play with them, and so on. Rather than get a gazillion toys all in one day and being overwhelmed. He loved opening presents. He got plenty of goodies including a Thomas "choo-choo" that follows a conductor light wherever you shine it. It is pretty neat! He also got a big ride-on fire truck that he loves!

We had a very nice visit! It seemed like they were only here for a couple of hours though and before I knew it we were by ourselves again. Jack really loved spending time with his Mimi and Aunt Caroline and I could tell that he missed all of the attention.

Other things that week...here are some random shots of Jack in the tub. He LOVES to play in the bathtub every night before bed. I took these because I realized he is getting so big! He enjoys getting on his stomach and "swimming" in the water. He takes up most of the tub now! I can't believe it!

Here are two random pictures of Jack in our yard with some of the decorations we have. It is going to be sad to take down all the Christmas decorations and especially the outside lights that we worked so hard on. This was our first year putting up lights outside and I think we did a great job. I will miss our bright little house!

Earlier this week before my mom and sister came to visit Jack got to see the antique fire truck from Ed's station all decked out in lights with Santa on top! Ed made sure to tell me where to park so that they would drive past us. Jack and I waited patiently and when the truck came around the corner he was in awe. He was looking at the truck so intensely Ed startled him when he walked up and tried to hold him. At first Jack didn't recognize him! When he realized it was his Daddy and that he was giving him a "Can-cane" he was happy. I only got one picture and it ended up being blurry because my camera wasn't set right and I was in a big hurry since they had to keep going down the street, but here you go. This doesn't give the whole moment any justice. Ed was in his firefighter gear and he said it was the most awesome thing he has ever done. Little kids looked at him like he was a hero and he said it was the best feeling ever!

Jack and I got home before Ed since he finished the route with the truck. The whole ride home I heard Jack in the back of the car saying, "hohoho...Da-da...woowoowoo(siren)...lights...hoho" chatting on and on about what he had seen. Then I heard "CRUNCH!" and realized he was not only eating, but biting his candy cane. I listened carefully to make sure he didn't choke and by the time we got home (5 minutes down the street) he had consumed half of the entire thing. Here are some pictures I snapped when we got home.

He was a very excited little boy that night! :) It was a great week for us!

Week 92

Dec 8-14

Happy Birthday to me! :) When you are turning 27 and feeling a little blah about it...what better way to celebrate your birthday then to spend it at the happiest place on earth?? We took Jack to the Magic Kingdom!

We started out first thing in the morning and left our house right away. We weren't quite sure about how the whole schedule/nap/attention span thing was going to work. Jack typically takes a 2 hour nap from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm so we figured he would either skip it altogether and be fine since he would be so stimulated from the sights....OR we would have to drag him out of there kicking and screaming and leave early. None of the above ended up happening.

One of the first things we did when we got there was get Jack some classic Mickey ears. I didn't think he would wear them, but he had them on most of the day. He looked so cute!
After some rides we decided to get a bite to eat. Here is Jack enjoying his "pee-pie" aka pizza. He pretty much devoured the entire thing. I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the food at Magic Kingdom. When we went to Animal Kingdom and had brunch with the characters, the food selection and quality was much better. Unfortunately when we tried to book a brunch here at Magic Kingdom we were told reservations were made as far as 6 months in advance so our little 2-week notice was practically laughed at. Oh well.
So the rides we went on was pretty much determined by the wait times. We were quite surprised that Disney was very crowded at this time. My birthday is exactly two weeks before Christmas but we thought (incorrectly) that this would be the perfect day to go because there would not be many people. There were people EVERYWHERE. I don't remember it being that crowded when I came as a kid.
Any rides that had an hour or longer wait we went ahead and skipped. Here we are on the "It's a Small World" ride that had just recently been refinished. Jack seemed to like it. There was lots to look at. The song is a tad annoying because it's the same thing over and over again.
We brought the stroller but there were times when Jack really enjoyed riding on Ed's shoulders because he could see more than just the people walking in front of him. He kept covering Ed's eyes...he thought it was hilarious!
So the nap dilemma was solved with the train that loops around the park. We could tell Jack was getting a little sleepy and once you get on the train you can ride it as long as you want. We figured it was worth the try...and it worked like a charm. Once he fell asleep we sprawled him across our laps and he slept for about an hour. :) He woke up in a great mood, ready to go back for more fun!

Here we are in front of Cinderella's castle. I love this picture because Jack is making a funny face. He was being so cute that day!

This is a picture of Jack eating his first funnel cake. You can see the delicious powdered sugar on his fingers. :) He definitely enjoyed it!
Towards the end of the day we were waiting to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride. Unfortunately the wait was a little too much for Jack and he was getting hungry/tired so he finally threw his first fit.
Ed got this great shot! :) His one and only meltdown of the day. Not too shabby! It lasted about 60 seconds and then it was time to get on the ride. He was fine.
Here are some more candid shots with the castle in the background...I made Ed take like a million. I am so annoying. I couldn't help myself though, it was such a nice angle and there were no crowds at this little place.

Here is Jack looking back at the park as we are about to walk out...
Riding the ferry back towards the parking lot I took this shot because it looked like a shooting star against the sunset. I made a wish on it. :)
Goodbye Disney! We will visit again someday!!
All in all it was a WONDERFUL, MAGICAL, BEAUTIFUL birthday! Thank you to my wonderful husband for making it great! XOXOXO