More birthday pictures!!

JR's bedroom...in route to destruction!
Gina and Ava Grace watch as JR opens presents!

Cake time!

Cousin Mackenzie

Cousin Abby approves the cake as delicious!

JR 3.0

The Birthday Boy before guests arrived--very excited about his party!The house (before the party)...decorated up for the big celebration! The very chocolate, very blue cake....made by Cakehead Bakery to match the birthday boy's request!
In full swing...the dinner portion of JR's third birthday!

Opening presents with help from buddies Sam (at right) and Bolen (left).

Snow, snow and more snow

January 10, 2011...we awoke to 5 inches of snow, and it has just now stopped and we are now awaiting the sleet!

The New Year's Adventures of Emery and JR!

What could be better than starting the New Year's with football and friends?

Nothing!

Friends Jaime, Chris and son Emery came up from Lakeland, Florida to hang out, celebrate the New Year and watch Clemson and USF play in the Meinecke Car Care Bowl. JR and Emery are just a few months apart in age and had a blast together......

sneaking popcorn

posing at Bull Hawg's BBQ

cartoon watching

hand reaching

book reading

New Year's Eve frolicking

and general silliness

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!