The girls plus one

While we were in Baltimore for a week, the boys (Dad, Daniel, Michael) left to join Lyle for a couple of days of hunting. (Disclaimer: No, I do not support the practice of hunting and am not particularly pleased that the male members of my family seem to enjoy it). So, while the guys were off practicing barbarism, Mom, Court, Jules, and I plus Carver had a few days to enjoy much more civilized things.

We did the usual, shopping and eating at my favorite Maryland restaurants (Yellowfin being the absolute favorite). We also found Courtney's wedding dress which is gorgeous and I am thrilled that all of us girls were together when she found it.

I just love weeks like this. Time spent with family, doing fun things but having no real agenda. We had such a good time, I was super sad when that time was over. And, I am really dreading the day when my sweet baby boy chooses to join his daddy for those sorts of activities.

Here are some pics from our week:

Jules and Carver at The Melting Pot

My Favorite...

(Note the matchy matchy Uggs)

Isn't she beautiful?!? And Carver loves her, and she is great with him.
It's a win win.

Birthday Party-- Part 2

(Note the monkey on the shirt!)

I may never tire of planning birthday parties for Carver, it is just so much fun.

Carver's second (or third, but who's counting) birthday party was in Baltimore. My parents, Courtney, Jules, and Michael, as well as Court's friend Angela were all there to help us celebrate. It was a blessing to be able to share this occasion with my family, if only Lyle and his crew had been able to be there it would have been perfect.

For this party I chose a zoo theme. This makes sense because Carver has been to the zoo 4 times already in his short life. Daniel again designed all of the decorations for me and we spent a number of hours cutting and creating all of the animals for the party. I thought it turned out quite well :)

For this party we had a "Chili Bar"-- Chili with a number of toppings; as well as Court's famous (at least to me) Mexican dip, a cheese ball, chips, and some amazing cupcakes. I made apple cupcakes (again courtesy of Ellen's recipe), and Courtney made S'mores cupcakes that were incredible. I won't divulge how many I actually ate but it was surely sinful.



Since pictures are worth a thousand words....

Christmas in Baltimore

The day after Christmas we headed to Baltimore to celebrate Christmas again with my side of the family. It was the first time we had ever had Christmas at Courtney's house and it was so much fun. I love celebrating the holidays in different locations though I really hope to be back in Bartow next Christmas-- there will always just be something about going home for Christmas that makes the celebration that much sweeter.

(Carver in his Christmas pj's playing with Julia's necklace..she didn't quite know what to think...)

(Haha)

However, I LOVE Baltimore. Before getting pregnant and then having Carver I actually spent quite a lot of time up there with Court and Jules... I've really missed both the city and them these last couple of years. Lucky for me I got to have about 5 days there and it was blissful.

By the time we did presents in Baltimore Carver had really started to get the hang of things, he liked opening his presents and especially liked having the boxes of his packaged toys inside baby jail. They supplied no end of fun for him, he pushed them around, climbed on top to stand or sit, and all in all had a splendid time.

And, you know, getting presents myself is pretty fun too :) I won't list all of my fabulous things here so as not to appear spoiled at 30 years old, but everyone was incredibly generous and thoughtful and we were all thrilled. I'm especially excited about my new computer (from my parents)-- and I love love, the 4 pairs of shoes I left with also...ok, enough about me.

Check out Carver opening his fun gifts.

Snow!

It's a funny day to be blogging about snow. This post was meant to be a blog about the amazing snow we had on Christmas Day (and the next day) while we were in Winston. But, in the world of funny coincidences we also had a big snow here in Demorest today-- the biggest in five years of living here. All of the following pics, however, are from Winston. Carver and I did not get out of our pjs today so all we did was look at the snow from the comfort of our toasty warm house.

I've said it before, but I really really LOVE snow.

Christmas in Winston

Probably the best part of spending Christmas in Winston Salem is that we get to see Daniel's extended family-- the ones we only see every year or two. The last time we were in Winston Carver was only 7 weeks old, so a visit was much needed.

Christmas Eve is always spent with the Redding side of the family. Daniel's Uncle Richard, and his cousin Angie and her family came over for dinner and we exchanged gifts after that. Angie has a son who is only a couple of weeks older than Carver-- it was fun to watch them interact and play together.

Playing with packaging from one of his toys. This sweater was a gift from a sweet neighbor

Christmas morning was relaxing and fun. It is entertaining even at this age to watch Carver open gifts and start to kind of "get it." Of course, he had a lot of practice over a two week period-- three birthday "parties," and 2 Christmases. In true kid fashion for the most part he enjoyed the paper and packaging more than the actual gifts. Out of all of the nice presents from Nana and Papa, the favorite was this red cup...

Showing Lea the coveted new cup.

The Bohannon side of the family comes over for lunch on Christmas day for BBQ and finger foods. It was great to visit and catch up and get to see everyone love on Carver for the day :)

Carver with Nana and Aunt Pam-- showing his typical enthusiasm for his pacifier.

An added perk was the impressive amount of snow that began falling around lunch-time and blanketed the world by the following morning. I love snow!

Playing with Ellen, Terry, and Emerson

These days I just do not get to see my friends enough. Ellen and I went from living together for two years in Asheville to only seeing each other once or twice a year. I hate it, I really do.

But, we did get to have a quick visit on Christmas Eve and I am SO thankful for any time we can spend with them. I love Ellen of course, but I also think that her husband Terry is truly great-- it only makes sense that their daughter Emerson is adorable, and so smart. (She does the cutest tricks!).

Oh please let's play again soon! And next time, I won't wear a sweater that makes me look gargantuan. Note to self: that sweater goes in the "get rid of asap" pile.

Birthday Party-- Part 1

On Thursday, December 23rd, we celebrated Carver's first birthday in Winston-Salem with Daniel's family. I absolutely loved the whole process of choosing party themes, finding and making the decorations, making the birthday cake, etc. It was a lot more work than I was anticipating but it was so fun. Luckily, Daniel was a big help and I even recruited Jenny to help when she was visiting earlier in the month. I think both parties (more about the second party in a separate post) were a big success.

For the Winston Salem party we chose a train theme-- with red/blue/white decorations. Daniel made the invitations and other party decorations and he really did such a good job. We spent several hours cutting out decorations and otherwise assembling things-- but it was fun :)

(Party favors)

The party was in the evening and most of Daniel's extended family were able to drop by. We had good food-- mini sandwiches, veggies, wings, cheese balls, etc and a really fabulous apple cake. And yes, I made it-- but the recipe was given to me by Ellen so I can say it was fabulous without being particularly prideful. Even Carver ate a few bites (a big deal since he doesn't eat "real" food).

We were overwhelmed with everyone's generosity-- Carver was showered with birthday gifts and more importantly, special attention from his family. We SO appreciated everyone helping to make the night special for him.

I think Carver's birthdays will always be a little bittersweet to me, but planning parties really is fun-- I'm already looking forward to bday #2-- though I hope it is slow in coming...