Mountain Weekend

What seems like ions ago now, I spent a weekend getaway with my dinner club girlfriends. We had manicures and pedicures in Charlotte and then traveled to Blowing Rock to shop, relax, cook, talk and laugh. A daring few of us (that could ignore all of Dr Oz's gross warnings) hopped into the hot tub during the first snow of the season. (I'm still alive. It was worth it.) I love these women. They make me laugh. Until I cry. And, oh how I love to laugh with them. We share recipes, advice, miscellaneous shoes that no longer fit, books, music, matching pjs, a growing collection of ornaments, weekends away, funny stories, motivation to tackle new things (triathlons, home renovations, a filing system that will change-your-life), comfort and support during our trials and sadness, bottles of wine, rockin' eggnog, contagious laughter, a handful of silly songs & poems, maybe someday a fancy necklace or convertible (remember that article, girls?), and so many memories (that the girls often fill me in on, since my memory is equivalent to a sieve). This group gets it right. We are the perfect balance.

While I was away, my parents were in town. My dad and Mike took the boys to the Southpark Mall to have breakfast with Santa. This entire season, Miles and Noah have been on to the visiting Santas and know the secret -- that these Santas are really just the real Santa's brothers. They are so smart. :)

I ♥ Faces: Pets

This week on I ♥ Faces its all about pets! Here's a picture of our guy Bodie taken last summer on Father's Day. He was catching his breath on top of a playset after chasing his three favorite boys around. Love this sweet dog! 

Check out more cute pets at iheartfaces.com!

Gingerbread Houses

This afternoon our family decorated gingerbread houses at a Community School of the Arts event help uptown.  It was fun!  Each family was given two houses, a table and insane amounts of candy.  The boys loved eating the candy as much as they liked decorating (no surprise).  Turns out though, their favorite part was having Mike make snowmen out of marshmallows for them.  Go figure.  :)  

Afterward, we had dinner uptown and then drove around to see Christmas lights.  We showed the boys the spot Uptown where Mike proposed to me 10 years ago (December 18, 1999).  Miles' response was, "how did you know her name, daddy?" as if Mike proposed upon first seeing me.  Sounds romantic.  :)  

Banana Claus

We took the kids to a cute Christmas event at the Mint Museum today. "Banana Claus" is Santa and Mrs Claus' son and he is hilarious. All three boys loved it -- laughing out loud throughout. The Williams were there, too, and Ella was recognized for her prize-winning drawing. Go Ella!

PS Dad -- I could totally see you as a SC Banana Claus!

Another Big Boy

Griffin is such a little cutie. He's laid back, he's a little comedian, he's super affectionate, and he adores his brothers. He frequently says, "mommy, take a picture of me!" and then proceeds to pose. Its hilarious. He does things just to get a laugh and is quick to laugh when someone does something funny. He loves to chase his brothers around the house and pretty much loves doing anything they are doing. He still carries around his favorite dog and has added two others to make a posse (he's given them the names of "doggy", "peppers", and "snipper").

Griffin turned 2 1/2 on November 23rd. Two days later he started using the potty. Like clockwork. He's not 100% there yet, but I'm hoping to have him fully potty trained (during the day) by the end of the year. I forgot how cute little buns look in undies. I bought him tons of character underwear, but his favorites are the boxers. They came in a 3-pack, so all three boys broke them in one night before baths. :)

A few days later Griffin said, "I'm a big boy. No more passy." He proceeded to throw his passy away. Seriously. Can it get any easier? Mike, are you sure we can't have a 4th? :)

Dana's Shower

Lindsey and I (and several other girls) co-hosted a bridal shower for Dana. It was a fun afternoon and I loved seeing all of the out-of-town guests: my mom, Lindsey, Brad's mom Rachel, and her 2 sisters. Isn't this a great picture of Dana and her new mother-in-law (on Dana's right) and aunt-in-laws (on Dana's left)? Brad is a lucky man!

Our sweet mom came to town to help Dana celebrate.

Lindsey took a bunch of pictures with her new camera. Doesn't she look super cute behind it?


Check me out! Don't I look super tall? haha :)


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Here are a few of the engagement pictures I took of Dana and Brad. I took hundreds and narrowed my favorites down to around 150 (how do professional photographers do it?). A few more of them are on my flikr page.

Miles' Holiday Program

Miles holiday program was a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e. He'd mentioned a couple of times before the night of the program that he was "feeling a little nervous" about standing up in front of so many people --- which made it even cuter when he lit up and was incredibly animated during the program. He and some of his buddies ran around before the concert. When it was time to report to their classrooms, they marched ahead -- clearly a pack of boys that didn't need any adult supervision on their 1st grade hallway/turf. 

The program included: Winter Makes Me Sing, Shalom, Jingle Jive, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Blitzen's Boggie (clearly a secular school :).   

Dana joined us, which was awesome. Noah sat on her lap while Griffin sat on mine. Thanks for coming, Dana B!

James Island Festival of Lights

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the James Island Festival of Lights. It is an amazing display of lights (you drive through for about 30 minutes in your car) and also includes 'Santa's Village' which includes Santa (you can take your own pictures!), open fires to roast marshmallows, a carousel, a train ride, enormous sand sculptures, and so much more. It is top notch. The boys LOVED it. As we were driving through the light display, Miles screamed out, 'this is almost as fun as playing Wii!' All three boys were yelling and pointing out their favorite displays.

Lindsey, Dana, Jason and my mom were in the car in front of us. They said that they could hear the boys SCREAMING all the way from our car.

The boys asked for nerf guns. Parents have different opinions on guns. We've decided that since everything turns into a gun anyway (finger, stick, toilet paper roll) that "nerf" is the lesser of the gun toy evils. At least no one can shoot an eye out. :)

Me and my sisters. So lucky to have them as best friends, too.