Santa!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!! This weekend we spent some time in Fayetteville with Nana and Grandpa (Brian's Parents). A trip to Fayetteville during the Christmas season just wouldn't be complete without a trip to see Santa at Cross Creek Mall. We got there just in time for Santa's break on Saturday afternoon (at least according to the lovely little Christmas elf that mommy wanted to have fired for her not so christmasy attitude problem), so we made the trip back out to the mall on Sunday after church. Even though the line was long, it was well worth the wait to see Isaac enjoy sitting on Santa's lap.

Here is a copy of last year's picture with Santa. I will say Cross Creek Mall does Santa up right...this year was the same Santa as last year. But just look how much Isaac has grown in a year. My little toothless wonder now walks and talks!! It's amazing how much he's grown since last Christmas.

Christmas Traditions

Growing up, my family had a number of Christmas traditions that just simply happened every year. To name a few...Fondue on Christmas Eve, the 11pm candlelight service at church, Christmas breakfast at Neenie's, chicken cordon bleu for dinner on Christmas, and of course Christmas cookies! Today it was time to share the Christmas cookie tradition with Isaac. My mom's family is german, and the absolute best Christmas cookie on earth (at least in my eyes) is a german cookie called Lebkuchen (which is best described as a molasses cookie). The fun of making Lebkuchen (at least as a kid) is the absolute and total mess you get to make of the kitchen. First off, you have to roll out all the sticky cookie dough with tons of flour so it won't stick to the counter and cut out all the different shapes with the cookie cutters. Then you bake them and let them cool. Finally, you get to the artistic part where you put the homemade frosting and your choice of sprinkles on. This is the part that Isaac got to help with...the artistic part! He jumped right in like he'd been doing it for years. He'd finish one cookie, and push it to the side to make room for the next one.

After he decorated the first few, he needed a cookie snack. But it was back to decorating and maybe sampling the sprinkles here and there.

We won't blame anyone for not wanting to try our lebkuchen this year!

Go Wolfpack!

On Saturday, Brian and I took Isaac to his first NC State basketball game. The Wolfpack played Georgia Southern in historic Reynolds Coliseum. Now for Brian and I, both NC State graduates, Reynolds Coliseum is just home as far as college basketball is concerned. While we were in school, it was rare that either one of us would miss a game. Brian was a cheerleader (stop snickering!), and I was just a die hard Wolfpack fan successfully managing to secure a "seat" on the front row by the scorers table for just about every game. So, it seemed only fitting that Isaac's first Wolfpack experience be at Reynolds!

Here's our little Wolfpack fan with his daddy before the game.

Isaac sat perched on his daddy's shoulders as we walked through the front doors, down the steps and into the coliseum. When we walked in, Isaac said "oh wow!" He got that right! Reynolds is just that for those who appreciate the history of it...oh wow! We found some seats on the second level and Isaac sat there for almost the entire first half just taking it all in. He was really excited about the guys playing ball, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, and he really enjoyed dancing along with the music of the band. He can't quite get his fingers to do the wolfies yet, but he can yell "go Wolfpack" with the best of them. We had such a great time!!

After the game, we took a little walk around campus. We even made a couple of friends in the free expression tunnel that let Isaac try out one of their paint cans!

It was fun day of first's for Isaac. It was so much fun just to be there. The game wasn't great, the crowd wasn't huge, but to watch Isaac experience it all for the first time, and to see things through his eyes was truly amazing and something that I'll cherish forever.

Isaac's ABCs

Tonight, Isaac decided to surprise us with a new song. We've been singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Baby Bumblebee" and "If You're Happy & You Know It" for a couple weeks now. So tonight when I asked if he wanted to sing a song, I was expecting one of those. Instead, Brian and I were both blown away when Isaac sang the first few letters of his ABCs...and he did it more than once! Would you believe we got it on video too?!? (Don't mind my lovely singing voice...just listen to Isaac!! Oh, and yes, Isaac's new favorite place to play as of Friday is under the kitchen table!)

Basketball

One of Isaac's favorite things to do is play ball. For those of you who know Brian and I well, you probably won't find it hard to believe that basketball is Isaac's sport of choice already. He has a basketball goal in his room (it got moved out of the living room when we put up the Christmas tree), and much to most parent's dismay we play ball in the house regularly! He learned to dribble as soon as he could stand up, so anytime he finds a ball he immediately starts to bounce it. Over the past few weeks, Isaac's vocabulary has really taken off. We enjoy listening to him learn to say things. "Basketball" is one of his newest words, and it is very entertaining. "Basketball" in Isaac's language is pronounced "beketbeketball". As we've continued to emphasize the correct pronunciation, the number of "beket"s has significantly decreased. You'll have to listen close, but here's the best video we've been able to get!

Christmas Miracles

Saturday during nap time, two miracles occurred:

1) The Christmas Tree went up without incident. No problems with the lights, no broken ornaments, no hitches. Never EVER happens!!

2) The Wolfpack beat the Tarheels in football. For us Wolfpack fans, that completely erased a totally depressing season. Who needs a bowl game as long as you beat Carolina!

When Isaac woke up he was so excited to see the Christmas tree! He walked around to all of the ornaments identifying each one. He saw the superman ornaments which he identifies with some string of babble that i can't even begin to spell to describe it. He found a basketball goal, pronounced "bekabekaball". But the funniest was the shiny red and silver balls. He sees his reflection in these so he calls each one "Isaac". It is hilarious! Here he is exploring his new tree.

He has also become very attached very quickly to his newest hat. He loves his Santa hat!

Here he is kissing one of "Santa's Wooden Reindeer" straight from Opa's farm in the city!

Finally, here he is hanging the new moose ornament that my Aunt Karen sent to us this week. He's like a little elf of my very own...always there to help. We are so excited about Christmas this year!

Picture Time

It's that time of year again. The time when we figure out exactly what pictures we need to take for the Christmas cards. This year we got smart and did them outside where you don't need a flash on the camera. On my camera, when you don't use a flash, you can take about 4 pictures per second while holding down the button. This comes in handy for the group of photogenically challenged people that we seem to have in our family! You'd think that the children would be the problem right...getting them to look at the camera or smile or whatever. But nope, that's not usually the problem...it's the adults. With Oma and Opa, it's trying to get Opa to stop talking and making faces at the kids, or trying to get him to quit critiquing Oma's pose. Hate to tell you Opa, but you're the problem with the picture!!! With myself and Brian, it's trying to get us both to smile in the same picture instead of making a face like someone smelled a big old turd or like we're high on drugs or something. Then there's Aunta and Uncle Mark, "Mr. and Mrs. We're Perfect in Every Picture"...makes me crazy!! Kind of makes me smile knowing that Madeline doesn't usually like to smile for the camera!! :) All I have to say is thank goodness for digital cameras because we'd pay a fortune in film trying to get a decent picture for these Christmas cards!!

Here are a couple pics of the little ones on picture day.

Miss Madeline: "That's enough posing Aunt Rachel! No more paparazzi!"

Isaac: "You know I charge by the hour right?"

Here is Isaac and his Uncle Mark (who he calls "Gark") having a heart to heart after the photo shoot. Isaac sure does love his Gark!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. It revolves around family, friends, food and fellowship. Every year Thanksgiving dinner happens at our house, and this year was no different. Aunta, Uncle Mark and Madeline came in early Wednesday and the kids played and played. By the time we got the pizza for dinner, one little one was too pooped to even finish!

As always, mom was up early Thanksgiving morning to put the turkey in the oven for us. This year she had some company...Isaac and Madeline are both early risers when they sleep in the same house! Here they are taking a break to watch the parade on TV.

After the parade, Madeline was nice enough to show Isaac that the drawers in the kitchen actually open. In 18 months, he's never once bothered the napkin drawer (thanks a lot Miss Madeline)!! Today though they found it and were nice enough to sort all the napkins on the kitchen floor. But his greatest discovery was one drawer up...big hands...or to the lay person, oven mitts! He was super excited about these. We can't keep them in the drawer now. Here he is showing off his "hands"!!

Dinner for 16...including Oma & Opa, Aunta, Uncle Mark & Madeline, Nana & Grandpa, Aunt Rhonda and Aunt Cindy, and the next door neighbors The Kohls...was served at 1pm. Here is Isaac enjoying his first real Thanksgiving dinner!

It was a great meal and a fabulous day to spend with our friends and family!!