Christmas in Bartow-- Part I

Christmas is my favorite event of the year. (Not to be confused with my favorite season of the year, which is definitely not winter). I love celebrating Jesus' birth, and especially love teaching the boys about the purpose of the holiday. We have really struggled with what to do "about Santa." We don't celebrate Santa, or promote belief in Santa...but we also haven't actively discouraged the boys from hearing about or talking about Santa/elves etc. I see nothing inherently wrong with Santa, but I also do not want anything to overshadow the real reason to celebrate (Jesus was born!). I don't want the boys to one day learn that Santa is not real and then also question whether Jesus is real... But, right now Carver kind of believes that angry birds are real things...and that Mickey Mouse is real and things like that are just a normal part of growing up and being a kid. So, I don't know. I'm just going to forget about Santa until next year and then we'll re-evaluate where we are.

For two years I've been planning on us going back to Bartow for Christmas this year. So excited! There is just something about going home for the holidays. No matter how old I get, or wherever I live, home will always be our house in Bartow. Lyle and Courtney and their families had to bail on celebrating Christmas there (boo), so that meant it was just my family at my parent's house. The week we were there was absolutely perfect. I am so thankful for all we did that week, and thankful that my parents are incredible and generous and thoughtful and willing to do anything we want to do. The boys had a great time and it was exactly what I had hoped for in my first Christmas back in Bartow in about six years.

We packed up luggage, boys, dogs, and strollers and headed down on the Thursday before Christmas. The drive was long, but the boys were GREAT.

A picnic lunch is sometimes so much easier with small boys and dogs.

On Friday we headed to Orlando to spend a couple of days there celebrating Carver's 4th birthday!

The weather was very warm...

On Saturday we headed to Sea World to celebrate Carver's big day!

SO excited to have Courtney, Darin and Whitney meet us there! I love how Courtney loves my boys so well.

Court took Carver on his first roller coaster ride :)

Daniel took the big kids on another ride.

Sunday we headed back to Bartow in time to go to my home church. I have been there so infrequently since I moved away that it still feels a little strange to return with my kids. Crazy.

A few pictures after church. They were not being particularly agreeable.

Oh those curls!!!

Sunday night we had the extended family over for appetizers and some time to spend together.

The spread....

Cargy spent the evening fascinating by the ornaments on the tree.

Monday we rested from the crazy weekend...

Quiet day playing at the park.

There are a lot of things that the boys really love about Grandmama and Granddaddy's house. Carver gets so excited every time we head down there. He LOVES my parents and their house. He loves the cows and goats and their cat, Chloe (or Cleo, as Carver refers to her). For this visit, my parents set up a small tent for Carver and he was SO EXCITED. He got to sleep in the tent, and he and Carson both played in it. I'm pretty sure he will expect it to be there every time we visit now.

He was too scared to feed the goats. And he would not let us take the crackers away from him to give them to the goats. So, Cargy participated by holding the crackers and watching from a safe distance.

Carver and "Cleo"

Carver's cozy tent.

Much more to come-- stay tuned for Part II!

Carver's Second School Christmas Program

In case you have forgotten the events of Carver's first Christmas program, please review.

Waiting to see the program! We're excited :)

Ok, so we are measuring success with baby steps....

Did Carver sing on the stage with his classmates?

No.

Did he stay in the general vicinity of the stage for the entire performance?

Yes!

That's him laying on the floor... apparently there was an issue with his reindeer hat-- the eyes fell off. Clear that was more than he could handle.

He hid under a table for awhile after the program.

The best picture I could get..... yeah.

Carver's 4th Birthday

This year we decided to plan a birthday party with friends for Carver. I love planning parties, though planning one for more than just family members proved to be a lot more stressful. To add to the stress, Carver was in the midst of his month of sickness so we didn't know until just a couple of days before the planned party if we would even get to have the party. So so stressful, especially for someone who likes to plan ahead!

The week of his party, Carver finally had some relief from his symptoms so we decided to go ahead with the celebration. It was fun, but Carver was definitely not up to full speed. We chose to do his party at the local children's museum, which he loves. The theme was.... angry birds. Not my favorite (how do you make angry birds cute??), but currently Carver is obsessed with them so I embraced the silly birds for his big day.

Angry birds party decor. We were so on the fence about whether we would even be able to have his party that, sadly, most of his party decorations had to come from Party City....

Balloons and treat bags.

Cupcakes! Daniel designed the toppers-- SO thankful for a husband that can do anything on the computer.

I adore this boy. Not sure what the face was all about but he is always so darn cute.

Carver missed a lot of school in the weeks leading up to his birthday party. Carver was SO excited to see his best friend Caleb at his party. They have been in school together since Carver started last year and they have such a sweet friendship.

Carver and Caleb-- best friends reunited!

Carver's very favorite room at the museum.

Carson loves the trains :)

Sweet Fin got a bicycle helmet while we were there (they were doing a bike safety event so all the kiddos got them)-- he didn't want to take it off!

Taking  a break at the end of the party. He did great there, but was definitely still in slow recovery from being so sick..

I'd say Carver's first birthday party with friends was a success! I am so thankful for all of the families that came out to celebrate with us.