Christmas Day in N.A.

After Graem and I got married, we began the tradition of spending Christmas Eve with the Roper family on the farm and Christmas Day with the Clark family in North Augusta. I am so thankful that our families are close enough for us to spend time with both of them during the holidays (and the rest of the year, for that matter). Now that we have children, I truly appreciate that we established a tradition before they were born which allows us to spend the night at home on Christmas Eve, so that the children will always wake up in our home on Christmas morning.

This year in particular was exhausting for me...the preparation of getting the presents purchased & wrapped, the food cooked, burning up I-26 and I-20...but I know that when we look back on the Christmas of 2011 we will not remember those details, but instead will remember the good times we spent with our loved ones. Worth it, for sure!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Day with the Clarks...I have just recently started using the external flash for my camera and I was disappointed with the exposure on these pictures...I need to tinker with the flash a little more. It was a birthday gift, and considering my birthday was back in March, it was about time I figured out how to use my new flash! I'm sure I'll get better with practice. :)





{M&R forced their way into the picture with Brian & Trish}


Yes, Roper is wearing rainboots. He pitched a royal fit about having to wear overalls...he wanted to wear pants like his brother. He was not a happy camper. The rainboots were a peace offering...I packed his bucks to change into but they never made it on his feet. Oh well! It rained all day so at least his bucks didn't get ruined in the mud.

All I Want for Christmas...

The boys were delighted that Santa granted their Christmas wishes of headlamps, Razor scooters and flashlights.

Christmas Cowboys

Another title for this post might be, "What does it take to get 3 boys to look at the camera (smiling optional)?"

My mother gave her grandsons cute cowboy hats for Christmas and really wanted a good picture of the three of them in front of her tree with their hats on.











At least I got a pretty good one of M & R.

Now & Then

This is the third year in a row of getting a picture of the boys' in their Christmas pajamas...

2011:


2010:


2009:

Update on Baby

Time has been ticking right along and much to my amazement I am now in my third trimester! It really hit home this morning...I had an OB check-up...the one with the dreaded glucola test...and afterwards they wanted to book all the rest of my appointments through my due date, starting with an appointment in two weeks. I can't believe I'm already at the point where I have appointments every other week. For so long, March seemed forever away...and now it is just around the corner! This third baby boy is going to be here before we know it!

We settled on a name...if you know us it won't surprise you that it's another family name. Some people say that family names are traditional...some say that they are unoriginal. Both arguments may be true, but the reason we prefer family names is because they mean something. And our families have pretty good names. :) We are using both of our mother's maiden names...Duncan McKendree. McKendree was also my middle name...which I hated for most of my life...until I got married and dropped it, and all of a sudden it made me sad to get rid of it. So I'm glad to pass it down, and hopefully baby Duncan won't hate it like I did!

I haven't even started on the nursery yet. The first step will be to get Roper out of the crib and into his big bed so that we can move the crib back to the nursery. My mother is coming down one day next week to help me with that. A few weeks ago Mason told Roper that baby Duncan was going to take his crib, and Roper started bawling! Hopefully once he realizes he has a big boy bed to sleep in he won't be so upset about it. I have a set of twin beds for the {big} boys' room, and I'm anxious to get it all set up!

I have shopped a little for nursery bedding...I've looked at catalogs and checked out some local shops. Back in 2009 I ordered the bedding for Mason & Roper's room from Javis Davis & was beyond pleased with how it turned out, but sadly, they have gone out of business. I found a shop on Etsy that carries some nice bedding. Quite honestly, I've been disappointed with what's out there. I was expecting to find more of a selection on Etsy. Maybe I'm missing something? I'm over the "cutesy" stuff...I don't want a theme or motif...I just want something different and a little modern without looking too bold or harsh. Please send me ideas if you have any!

Here are some of the fabrics I like in the one Etsy shop that I found...I should be receiving swatches of these and a few more any day now. I didn't search out a gray & yellow color scheme, I just really like this one fabric with the animals on it & then tried to pick others that I thought would complement it. What do y'all think?



















I tried to put these all together in a collage for better viewing, but I couldn't figure out how to do that on Flickr {sorry}.

Here is an example using different fabrics, just to help you visualize how she puts the coordinating fabrics together into bedding...


Here is the link to the Etsy site.

Merry Christmas!

Luminaries

Our neighborhood had our annual Luminary Night on Sunday, and as usual, Santa Claus made an appearance! He flew in via helicopter for the event, while the reindeer caught up on their rest at the North Pole. I look forward to this night every year because we get to visit Santa without having to wait in a line a long line. We also have hayrides throughout the neighborhood, which stop at various "host homes" that serve hot chocolate, cookies, etc. As much as I complain about living in suburbia, surrounded by neighbors, I really enjoy our neighborhood, especially on Luminary Night. I didn't see a single house this year that didn't participate...the streets really look so pretty with all the little glowing bags. And the weather was much more pleasant this year than last year, making the whole event much more enjoyable.

Our buddies Ruth Ann and Tripp joined us...



Please ignore the fact that my child is not wearing his boots...



I forgot to mention that there is also a display of public safety vehicles on Luminary Night...this year we had a fire truck, DNR boat and a robot that I think is used by the bomb recovery team (?). The fire truck was a hit, no surprise there.





As you can see from the following pictures, the Santa visit was not a "climb on Santa's lap & smile for the camera" experience. The boys took the opportunity to have a nice chat with the jolly ol' elf. Mason rattled off his standard requests this year for a razor scooter and a headlamp. Roper, hearing Mason's requests so often, also asked for a headlamp as well as a flashlight. And then he threw in a last-minute plea for some candy.





I enjoyed looking at last year's pictures, when Roper was still scared of Santa.

And here are the pictures from 2009 , when both boys were so much smaller!