FROZEN FRED

Despite living in the USA through multiple winters, I have never built a snow man. Who knows why! It just never made it onto the agenda.
Well, after our monster snow fall (monster by North Carolina standards) this past weekend, we had plenty of snow on the ground to make a snow man...
Today is a blue skies, sunny day, and the snow has melted to a more manageable depth, so we headed into our front yard and built what is mine (and Lukes) first snow man.

We thought that because Luke seemed hopelessly bored inside, and has been whining to the point of near insanity for the last couple weeks (we assumed it was cabin fever), that perhaps a little fresh air and fun in the snow would be what he (and we) needed...but NOPE... we should be so lucky... instead, Frozen Fred was erected while listening to the ear wrenching, grating sound of Luke's never ending whining!

Whining aside, Jake and I still managed to have a good time building our snowman...


ROLLING A SNOWBALL... THESE THINGS GET HEAVY!

BEING LOUD!

 SITTING ON UNFINISHED FROZEN FRED

 DADDY BUILT ME A SNOW CHAIR TO SIT IN

 FROZEN FRED GETS A MOUTH (and carrot nose, oreo eyes and a leafy toupee)

 HANGING OUT WITH FROZEN FRED

 SCAVENGING FOR BITS OF FROZEN FRED'S OREO EYES

 MEET THE COMPLETED FROZEN FRED

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

I started this holiday season with great hesitation. Jake and I were going to be home for Christmas for the first time since we got married, and it's only the second time that I've ever spent Christmas without family (whether mine or Jakes)
I've always been a pretty big Christmas fan... I love the spirit, the excitement, the family time, and I'll be honest... I love a little bit of the glitzy stuff that goes with it too (as commercialized as that may be. lol)
I wasn't sure this year though, how things were going to go for us. No family to celebrate with, and no traditions of our own yet made... we were going to be winging it.
We decided on a simple Christmas... an easy lunch, and a few Christmas movies. Despite my reservations about our 'alone' Christmas, It turned out to be one that I very much enjoyed. Yes, we missed out on family gatherings, and yes, Luke missed out on the craziness of playing with all of his cousins at his Grandma and Grandpa's house, but Jake and I had a wonderful day together enjoying Christmas OUR way! I suppose at some point, every couple needs to start developing their own family traditions... this year was a great start for us to do just that!

 I decided to invite the missionaries over to join us for Christmas lunch. We are far from family, and so are they, so it seemed a great way to share a fun Christmas lunch with someone else.
I tried my hand at a beef pot roast, with carrots, potatoes and celery, in our Crock Pot (slow cooker), baked a loaf of cheese and onion bread, made a side of my moms special green bean mush (the only way I'll eat green beans) and made one of my favourite desserts... peppermint fridge tart... soooo yummy!
Everything turned out pretty good, and needed very little preparation, so I was able to do it all on Christmas Eve, and just start the Crock Pot early on Christmas morning...

Christmas morning, we all got showered and dressed, and then got onto the webcam, so that Luke could open his presents with some of my family watching. His Gogga, aunty Mandy, and great Ouma were all on the camera. He looked so adorable in his little Elf outfit (we got it on clearance the day before Christmas. lol)
Our little man got very spoiled. Needless to say, his play room will be getting a bit of a clean out this coming week, and some older toys will make their way to the attic until the next baby needs them.

The rest of the day was just lunch, games, toys, chatting to family, and a movie... a perfect Christmas day really! :)

READY TO OPEN THE FIRST GIFT... IT'S A BIG ONE

SUCH EXCITEMENT!

 THE CUTEST LITTLE ELF I'VE EVER SEEN

 OoooooH! A MOTORCYLE

I WANTED A PRETTY TABLE SETTING, BUT ON A TIGHT BUDGET...
MY NAPKIN 'RINGS'

 CENTER PIECE...
Vase I already had, filled with left over Christmas Baubles that didn't go on the tree

 SIMPLE, BUT IT WORKED!

 MY OLD SCHOOL SANTA IN FRONT OF OUR LITTLE TREE

 WHAT A HAPPY LITTLE HELPER... We love you my little sweet heart :)

 I TRIED MY HAND AT MAKING CHRISTMAS COOKIES THIS YEAR... NOT BAD FOR A FIRST TIME! :)

Our Christmas was not a white Christmas this year.. though that is not uncommon for North Carolina! The day BEFORE Christmas, we were out in the back yard playing in the leaves with Luke.

HOWEVER, the day AFTER Christmas was a VERY white day... I am quite surprised at the amount of snow we accumulated in one storm in North Carolina... over a foot already!

And now Christmas is over, and we are heading on to the New Year.
We've had a great holiday season so far, and Christmas was so much better than I ever thought it would have been. I'm quite excited for our next one.  For now, we'll just be enjoying our mountain of snow, and Jakes week of vacation until after the New Year...

BIG BALLS AND BOWLING SHOES

Yesterday, we drove out to Greenville, NC to attend a 'family' bowling activity put together by Jakes work.
It was good fun. Pizza, buffalo wings, and bowling.
I've only bowled a handful of times in my life, so I had a pretty rough start... the gutter was where my ball headed to for the first few rounds. However, I improved quite a bit by the end of the day, and am proud to announce that Jake and I played 3 games and I won 2-1. haha! :)

For the first 2 games, we decided to add Luke to the game, so that he could have a turn bowling too.(They have a metal ramp for little kids, so that they can just push their balls off the ramp instead of trying to throw them) He had great fun. He even got to wear his own pair of bowling shoes, because they stocked shoes in little sizes. He is getting to a really great age now where we are able to enjoy doing more activities with him.

Here are some pictures of the little man doing his thing.

Big Boy Bowling Shoes

 Daddy's got cool shoes too

Ok, need a ball!

 Oooh... HEAVY...
(I love this picture... such a sweet boy...and all grown up)

 Getting a running start

 Will it knock down the pins?

 Look Mom, it's going to hit one... :)

 Having another go

This ones a done deal

In other events. We bought Luke a little table and chairs for Christmas (Walmart had them for $20 plus free shipping... who could resist that?)
Anyway, so now we're encouraging Luke to sit at his table and eat his lunch and snacks etc. He seems to really love being a big boy now, and not using his high chair quite as often.

Of course another big benefit is that daddy sometimes sits with him, which is much more fun...especially when he leans over and steals food off daddy's plate... it always tastes better from someone elses plate. LOL