Let's just get this one out of the way right off the bat. Ok. Now that you're finished dying of laughter, you can feel guilty about it just like I did! Just know that it was so much funnier in real life. Needless to say, the boys were not too thrilled to sit with Santa. Maybe next year....
Decorating for Christmas is always one of my favorite traditions. I'm still waiting for the kids to enjoy it with me. Mainly it was just chaos and mess, so on second thought, yep, they loved it. :)
Henry finally decided to participate in mealtime by holding his own bottle. What a big boy!
On the solid-food front, he continued to amaze us by literally eating ANYTHING we offered him. Matt took him to breakfast one morning at a local cafe and he ate so much that he actually drew a crowd of shocked onlookers. Nobody can figure out where he's putting it! Here he is enjoying an orzo and spinach salad. So sophisticated!
Baking is also something I look forward to at the holidays. This year Finn was old enough to help! We made a gigantic gingerbread man with lots of lots of icing and "spwinkles".
Just a little taste....
Missing an arm!
There it is!
Finn wanted his picture taken by the statue of an astronaut that stands in front of the mattress store. But then he said it was scary (i.e. "scawy) and he wanted daddy to hold him.
We found a new awesome place to spend the mornings on my days off. A little cheerleading gym has a mommy and me morning on Mondays. The boys love the trampoline and all the mats and toys.
I'm sure these colored balls are clean enough for Henry to lick, right?
Finn had his first Christmas program at church and he practiced every.single.day for it! The words "Any room here? NO ROOM HERE!" will go down in infamy in the Carpenter family. Once it was time for the big day, Kim, Henbo, and I went to watch him. When it was his group's turn, I went right down to the front. Bad idea. As soon as he saw me, he yelled "Mommy!!!" and started wailing! The tears continued through the rest of the songs and skits. Oh well. The cookie decorating afterwards made everything all better!
We went to a Jamie Lynn Spears concert. Matt had these sweet shirts made. She was actually incredibly talented and we had a great time. An added bonus was that the bar had a mechanical bull, which made the people watching that much better.
Then it was time for Christmas! Henbo was excited to have family in town, once he warmed up to them. He's not too trusting initially!
We have a tradition of doing poppers on Christmas Eve and this year was no different. These poppers were special however and had a little whistle with a number on each one. We were supposed to use our own respective whistle to play a tune all together in concert, but we were definitely not smart (or patient) enough to pull it off! We did have fun tooting them though. :)
Sweet Aunt Dody made a gingerbread train with Finn and it was a true masterpiece!
Henry looked oh-so-adorable in his Christmas p.j.s
This little car that Aunt Michele gave the boys created hours of fun! Sometimes with Finn "hugging".....
....turns to "choking"....
But luckily Henbo is a tough cookie and doesn't mind!
Nana read a special book to Finn on Christmas Eve.
Santa went over-board. Again. Santa needs shoppers rehab. At least he admits it....
Finn was a little shy at first on Christmas morning.
But then he glimpsed his old pal Eli! And he warmed up right away. It's now April as I write this and we are STILL talking about Eli and when he may be coming back. "Next Christmas" is just way too far away!!!
One of our favorite gifts from Santa was a little band set. Of course it would be something noisy!
A froggy towel from Nana. So we can be clean AND cute!
Santa clearly meant to leave this pirate garb for us instead of the boys. Aren't we two scary scalawags???
When Finn asked me if he could open this gigantic sucker, he was all too delighted when I said yes.
So sweet to share....but just a little lick!
I promise that no alcohol was involved in the next three pictures. I just happened to catch three very drunk looks from Finn!
Finn loves his C.C.!!!
The whole Christmas Crew!
Matt smoked a ham for Christmas supper. Even though I was a nay-sayer about how it was going to turn out, it was actually delicious!!! I swear, my husband can cook any kind of meat and make it phenomenal!
"Fancy Poppers" for Christmas dinner with gold crowns!
After Christmas, we loaded up and headed to Columbia to celebrate with Matt's parents, his siblings and their families. It was just SO MUCH FUN! The boys loved hanging out with their cousins. My only complaint is that it didn't last long enough.
Henbo and Chandler, Matt's cousin.
Carrie and sweet Cate. This child loves her momma!
My Grandmother turned 100 years old in December so of course a party was in order. 100!!! Unbelievable! And she's doing so well too. She is modest and doesn't like a big fuss made, but we couldn't help it. She's just so doggone awesome! And we LOVE our Grandmother Dora! That's the birthday girl in the red.
Here's Henbo and his cousin Chip.
I think she likes her cake. ;-)
After partying in Rock Hill, we headed back to Columbia for a night. There were a lot of shenanigans that took place....
Henbo and the girlies.
Telling a secret behind Henry's back!
Aren't they the cutest???
Owen is such a ladies man!
After Columbia Matt had to go back to work, but I still had a few days off until the new year. The boys and I spent a few days in Summerville. Dody and I stopped on a whim and got some sparklers for Finn...or "farklers" if you ask him. :) He had a grand old time with them and surprisingly nobody sustained an injury.
"F" for Finn!
Dody and I took Finn to see his first ever movie in the theater! We saw Frozen and he was such a big boy. He made it all the way through! Partly because the movie was AWESOME, but mostly because of the Twizzlers.
He was so tired from all the Summerville fun that he passed out upside down in Nanny's bed!
To ring in the new year, Matt and I continued our tradition of staying in and falling asleep before midnight. But first, we did a little partying with the boys.
Cheers! Don't worry, it's just milk. :)
Whew! I could not believe that 2013 had come to an end! It was a spectacular year full of lots of memories made. It seems like every time I blink, another week has passed, and then another month. And God just continues to bless us through all of it.
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