Christmas, Christmas and more Christmas

In JR's words, "Christmas is the best day ever."

But let me back up. First for family, and our Cousin's Christmas celebration in Columbia. We had a blast with all of our cousins and had a relatively mild Chinese gift swap. JR had a blast with his cousins, Mackenzie, Abby, Ella and Groves.

Back in Spartanburg, we got a chance to hang out with the Hipps (yay!) and the Brannons (double yay!), and Remsen had emergency oral surgery (pesky wisdom teeth--BOO!). We loved catching up with Aaron and Pam and hearing about their new (old) house in St. Louis, and we had a blast playing with Sarah Beth. JR was very good and shared his toys and only tried to run over Sarah Beth once with his big new fire truck.
On the mend and on Christmas Eve, we hosted Emme for presents and fun. JR opened his gifts with jubilation and excitement. He had so much fun that we completely forgot to leave cookies and milk for Santa (of course, JR didn't even notice).
Christmas morning came early (6:45am) and Santa left a LOOT of toys! We played with toys and then went to Nana and Pop's for delicious breakfast and MORE TOYS! After this, JR had the revelation that Christmas was the "best day ever!" To top it off, Spartanburg saw a white Christmas. This was great and fun but it postoned our trip to see PawPa and Grandmother Joan in Douglas, Georgia. We are looking forward to our New Year's with friends Jaime, Chris, and Emery.
Enjoy the photos, and have a wonderful start to 2011!

Christmas time!!

It is a magical season for JR. He is super excited about all of the presents Santa will bring and he's being extra good because Jangles the Elf is watching over him every day. He has only asked for one thing--Thomas the Train (he is, of course, getting much more). We have yet to seek out a Santa experience, probably waiting too late to actually go. We imagine he would probably be a little freaked out by Santa anyway. He loves Christmas so much he watches The Grench every day!
JR has recently gotten really into building with Lincoln Logs (well, we build, while he hits the little people figurenes and horses with the wooden logs). He calls Becca and Remsen "Mama Bear" and "Daddy Bear" and is STILL holding on the his crib, his hoopie, his taggie ball, and holding out on learning to use the potty. Today, on the way home, JR said, "I'm a baby, Mama Bear!" Indeed. He enjoyed the end of football season (even if ended by the Georgia Southern Eagles) and is really loving Wofford basketball. We went to the game versus High Point on Saturday night, meeting up with JR's best buddy Elliott and his parents. At halftime, JR and Elliott were hand-picked from the audience to "race" in little pedal cars on the court in front of the whole crowd! They did awesome and had so much fun! They just love each other and are too, too cute.

Other than the impending Santa-fest, we have been keeping busy with a few other things. Becca has been hard at work raising money for AccessHealth, and recently learned that the employees of Spartanburg Regional Hospital System have committed $400,000 to her program! Wow!

We spent Sunday celebrating Christmas with family in Columbia. Will post some pictures later!

Tomorrow night, we get to have a special visit with Aaron and Pam Hipp, as they take a quick stop in Spartanburg before heading to Hilton Head. YAY! We get to spend Christmas Eve with Emme and Christmas Day with Nana and Pop! After Christmas, we'll visit Becca's dad and stepmom in Douglas, GA and then return to Spartanburg to spend time with friends Jaime, Chris and Emery and go to the Meinecke Bowl to see USF take on Clemson! Woohoo!

Remsen will be having oral surgery on this Thursday to have his wisdom teeth extracted. He had hoped to wait until 2011, but his stubborn back toofus begged to differ, swelled up and forced the appointment for the eve of Xmas eve. Hopefully, the tooth fairy and Santa will combine forces to reward him for his troubles, and Christmas won't be too bad after all!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Oh the fun past month!

The past month has been amazingly fun--from football games to Halloween to Thanksgiving, we sure are enjoying life! JR is looking forward to Christmas and Santa; he can't wait for a Christmas tree and is already thinking about all of the toys he wants Santa to bring. Jangles the Elf will be joining our family on December 1st, so stay tuned for holiday pictures (once we buy a new camera!!).....

Until then, enjoy these pictures from the last few weeks.....

JR and Mackenzie at Furman v. Wofford home football game!

JR as a witch (or warlock?) for Halloween.

Enjoying turkey leg at Emme's Thanksgiving feast!

Grrrrr

JR's shirt says it all. 2.5= GRRRRR....

He's had a rough couple of weeks. This was one of the first times in days that we have actually seen him smile!

HHI trip September 2010

Here are the much delayed photos of our trip to Hilton Head Island back at the end of September....we had a lovely time thanks to the Hipps!

The absence....the updates!

Yeah, we've been lax. It's football season, and our camera is broken. Booooooo! In the last month, JR has really blossomed at school and is developing quite the clownish personality (in his own words, "I'm funny!") He is loving football season and his new best friend, Elliott. They are so cute together--very boyish and active and copying everything the other one does. It is hysterical.

We went to Hilton Head in late September and had an amazing time, thanks to Jim and Edie Hipp. We played on the beach in beautiful weather, swam in the ocean and at the pool, and enjoyed visiting Harbortown (including the lighthouse!) and seeing boats. The oysters weren't half-bad either!

JR continues to work with his speech therapist, Ms. Kim, and knows his colors, can count to ten, and is working on singing his ABC's. "Fire truck" doesn't come out quite the way it should, but we know what he's saying (even if it sounds like cursing!). He says new words everyday. Today it was "bell" and "trophy". He also started apologizing for naughty things (like spilling or hitting) and woke up today and said (very honestly), "I'm sick Mommy. I want apple jacks." To be fair, he has had a random high fever since yesterday and can be pretty pitiful when feeling yucky.

JR and Remsen love to make up games to play; the games du jour are "Tent" and "Teddy Bear Tackle". Both of these games are played on our King-sized bed (as JR is still in a crib, and therefore too small for such games). Tent consists of being under our blanket (as if it is a tent), usually with a football or teddy bear, where we have an imaginary campfire on which JR cooks imaginary hot dogs and then feeds them to us, first warning that they are hot. Then he goes through a bunch of other foods and non-foods (like pizza and dirt and sand), saying yum or yuck. He has a great imagination and is really funny. The second part to the Tent game is being chased by "bears". Any noise outside the tent (outside traffic, dogs, whatever) triggers the same response from JR: "What's that noise?" "Oh" (makes o with his mouth and his eyes get really big). "Bears." On top of this step, our golden retriever Sadie, will sometimes act as our bear, sticking her nose in the tent, howling, and jumping on the bed to try to get us. It is awesome and makes JR squeal with excitement.

Teddy Bear Tackle involves JR's new BuildABear Workshop Bear (named BA-BALL) and Remsen runs the bear all over the bed and JR tackles him. He loves to tackle and loves football.

Potty training is coming slowly, and we aren't pushing him. He is getting more comfortable sitting on the potty but would rather just run around in a diaper. He does know how to take off his diaper, though, and is working on getting dressed and picks out his clothes and shoes.

Official growth stats (from this week's doctor's visit):

Weight: 35.5 lbs
Height: 36 inches

We are really enjoying our baby before he completely turns into a big boy...hope to post some pictures from Nana's borrowed camera soon.

CakeHead Bakeshop and the JR!

So, one of our favorite friends, Liz Blanchard, opened her very own bakery a few weeks ago in downtown Spartanburg.

Cakehead Bakeshop(www.cakeheadbakeshop.com) is located in the old Masonic Temple building, sharing a space (and great energy) with The Coffee Bar (Little River Roasting) and the Hub City Bookstore. I could hang out in the space all day and never tire of the experience, the people, the sights and smells. It is divine.

The bakery offers muffins, scones, cakes, pies and best of all.... cupcakes. One of the cupcakes offered is called "The JR", named after our very own kiddo! The flavor (taken from the menu): The JR: devil’s food, peanut butter icing, chocolate ganache, and toasted peanuts.

Devil's food cake....sounds about right, right?

JR enjoys cupcakes from Cakehead Bakeshop!

Interesting conversations with JR

This morning....

Me: "Good morning bubba! What would you like to eat for breakfast?"

JR: "Ummmm," (stopping to ponder--you can see him thinking) "I want poop."

Me: "Poop? For breakfast?"

JR: "Yeah (smiling now. because he knows how silly he is)."

Me: "That's gross, baby. We don't eat poop."

JR: "Yeah. from ou-side"

Me: "Not gonna happen, J. Pick something else."

JR: "Why?"

Me: "Because we don't eat poop. It's yucky."

JR: "Oh. Oh-tay. I want snack."

For the record, he next asked for an icy pop but settled for applesauce, which he only half-ate because he then asked for yogurt.

Sigh.

Countdown to football season: Terrier Tales Event 2010

Terrier Tales Reading Program Kick-off Party was held by the Wofford College athletic department at the Spartanburg County Public Libraries tonight to celebrate "Terrier Tales." The event featured interactive games for kids, and we had a chance to meet several Wofford football players, including Mike Rucker, Pat Illig, Clark Bishop, Trey Johnson, Ben Wilmoth, Jared Singleton, and Eric Breitenstein (whose #7 jersey is shared by JR)!. JR had a blast showing off his football skills--throwing the ball, catching, running, and tackling. The best part was giving the players high fives! He impressed the big boys!

Prediction: Tall like Daddy....O-LINE all the way. Mommy's shorty genes: FULLBACK

Wofford, Class of 2030

August in pictures

So here's August in JR's world.

Playgrounds and trains

Silliness!

Starting a new school!

Watermelon!

Golf and veggies

JR and I picked our last bounty of the summer season...our final squash zucchini and watermelon. JR took a break from teeing up his golf swing to help.

JR the builder

Remsen's Sunday project was to make a cornhole set for the upcoming football season. After JR's nap, he decided to pitch in and "help" and had some fun with tools.