A New Chapter

Within a couple weeks of each other, Brian made three big changes in his life...1) he bought a new car, 2) took a new job, and 3) had a new child. For someone who doesn't take big decisions lightly, this was a pretty big deal (with pretty ironic timing!)!

After 11 years with K&L Gates, he decided to take a new job with another area law firm, Brooks Pierce. He is excited about building a new book of business with them and working with some great new people. I'm really proud of him and how he has handled all this change.

Here he is on his first day on the new job!

Meeting Santa Again

We kicked off the month of December with a visit to Santa at Ace Hardware. It's our tradition after all! The girls have met this Santa many times before, but apparently that doesn't help any...they have the same trepidation year after year!

Here are two past years that didn't go so well with the big guy...

Addie didn't even make the picture this year because she had such a death grip on me. They both did manage to tell Santa what they wanted from him this year...Addie asked for a pink jewelry box with a ballerina on it and Collins asked for ear muffs. A bit of an odd request, but okay!

They were most excited that the visit with Santa came with some peppermint bark. Santa, we'll try for better results next year!

A Long Holiday Weekend

Because we weren't traveling for the holiday, we had a really long weekend in Raleigh with no plans and Brian off for four whole days. Now that's a switch! So  how to spend this extra bonus time?

On Friday, the girls begged to go ice skating so we agreed. Here's what ice skating looks like in NC- you wear sleeveless game-day gear! Carolina and State played their rivalry game in Chapel Hill later that day so the girls insisted on wearing their dresses...no comment on the outcome of the game.

 

Addie was so excited to attempt ice skating for the first time...

and Collins made vast improvements in her skating from last year. I'm sure we'll be back at this downtown rink before the holidays are over.

On Saturday, we decorated for Christmas. It's a big job, but we knocked it out pretty much in one day because we aren't going to have lots of extra time in the next few weeks. It had to get done fast!

The girls had so much fun bringing out all the ornaments and nativity scenes....

Addie sang a boisterous rendition of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" from the coffee table which pretty much made my holiday season. She finished off her singing with a gigantic leap onto the couch in a pretty dramatic finale. She could not be more entertaining these days!

Brian took Collins to the State basketball game (thank you Marty for the extra ticket!) where she proceeded to eat an ice cream cone the size of her head. They rushed home from the game because the tree was falling over and I caught it just in time...

and then my contractions started. For the next four hours, I had contractions about every five minutes. I thought for sure we were headed for the hospital, but they were only Braxton Hicks which meant they were nothing. Sure didn't feel like nothing that night, but it gave us a good enough scare and ruined the lovely steak dinner Brian had planned for us.

On Sunday, the girls practiced for the Christmas pageant at church and then Collins and I snuck away for an movie matinee and had a playdate with her friend Olivia.

We used our free long weekend in some pretty fun ways, and I'm so happy we got to spend some quality time with the girls before the baby comes!

A Thanksgiving First

We have always traveled to Hickory for Thanksgiving. This year, with the baby's due date being so close to the holiday, that was not an option. It was going to be a Raleigh Thanksgiving for the first time!

We started off our holiday morning with something neat to watch- the Ridgewood Turkey Trot. This 8K race has been going on a long time, and we have always been interested in doing it/watching it because the route goes right by our house. Running it was not really an option for any of us this year so we got our coffee and chairs and set up camp at the end of the driveway and watched the hundreds of runners go by. It was really neat!

 

Next on the agenda- the new All Children's Playground that the girls think is so cool. This was not an original idea because there were a ton of people there, but they had fun playing and getting some energy out.

I was determined that the day would have a relaxing feel so I went on a walk and was so glad I did. It was a beautiful Fall day (maybe a little on the warm side) and the trees were so pretty.

Next up? Baking. Thanksgiving meal is my favorite one of the year, and Donna was sweet to host at her house and prepare us a huge feast. But I was so happy to get to make a few of my favorite things. I contributed homemade rolls....

cranberry sauce...

 an apple slab pie...

 and a turkey cheeseball. :)

 There was a dance party at Donna and Marty's house and a whole lot of eating...

 which laid me out (and then invited Addie to crawl all over me).

 We had some silly turkeys on our hand that night!

 

I missed my family on Thanksgiving, but was thankful for the relaxing time spent in Raleigh with all of us Forks. And was thankful that the baby didn't come that night...surgery would have been nearly impossible with all that food in my belly. :)

Kicking Off the Holiday with some Music

We were so excited for Collins to have three days off of school for Thanksgiving. We kicked off the holiday with a fun girls outing on Wednesday afternoon- first Zoe's Kitchen then the symphony! Donna was so sweet to get us tickets to the show. The N.C. Symphony was performing its kids show featuring Christmas favorites and some music from "Frozen". The audience was invited to wear their favorite "Frozen" attire or their pajamas. When I told Collins about this, she said, "Simple! We'll wear our Elsa nightgowns and be able to do both!". Hard to argue with that.

So these are the outfits we settled on...

You would think getting to actually meet Elsa and Anna would be a good thing, but the girls disagreed. Their faces say it all...too overwhelming!

But they did get in to the face painting (of course)...

and into the show. I couldn't believe how good they both were. The concert was right in the middle of Addie's naptime so she just powered through. The show was about an hour and 15 minutes and only started wiggling at the very end. I was really proud of them!

I really enjoyed the concert. The music was so festive, I got to hear the Raleigh Boys Choir perform for the first time, and had a little too much fun with the audience sing-a-long at the end.

After the concert, Addie was inspired to dance on stage...

and Collins was inspired to dance around the fountains. Safe to say we all really enjoyed our afternoon of music to kick-off the holiday season!

Thanksgiving at School

Good news. Thanksgiving in Kindergarten is not that much different from when I was in school. They still make a criss-cross placemat, an Indian headdress and vest, and they still get up and say what they are thankful for. I'm not going to lie, the kids' performance was a big ole' mess. There were tears, some blank stares, and some bizarre answers (Collins was thankful for dessert!). But it was still a treat to hang out in the classroom with Collins, eat a Turkey cake, and see how cute they all looked in their Thanksgiving best.

Fall Winds Down

The best season of the year is quickly coming to a close, and we have been trying to relish what makes Fall so special around here...

Walking home from school on one of the few last warm days and enjoying the beautiful leaves...

Enjoying a little bit of extra time with Daddy as he transitions from one job to the next...

Bazaar season at church....lots of pie baking, but thankfully no Bake Sale-leading this year!

And the last home football game of the year...

 

 

 Tailgating season went by fast!

After a gorgeous Fall day of football, a cold front rushed in that Saturday evening preparing us mentally for what was to come....Winter and the holidays! We went to the North Hills tree lighting with Missy that night, and the girls were shocked by how cold it was and delighted by the lighting of the large Christmas tree. Guess we have officially moved on to a new season! 

A Wrightsville Weekend...and No Baby!

I thought it was a little risky to go to Wrightsville Beach a month before my due date considering Addie's early entrance into this world. But we decided to chance it because it had been so long since we had been there, and we missed it! And we figured if we took the baby's car seat and packed a hospital bag and were actually prepared this time, it would probably would not happen. Luckily, we were right!

Here is what the end of a long road trip looks like. A spare pair of underwear is found in a bag, worn over normal clothes, then thrown into the back seat at Collins. I'm always so relieved when we make it to our destination.

We headed straight for lunch at Dockside. It was a gorgeous day!

 

When it's 70 degrees in November at the beach, you feel pretty lucky. I have decided the beach in the offseason is the BEST. No crowds, no heat, pretty views, cozy fires, and good food. I love it!

 

 

When there aren't tons of people around, you can get away with scootering around in your pajamas in search of a sunset...

We tried an experiment that weekend...letting Addie sleep in a big girl bed in the same room as Collins. We thought it would be a good indicator of when she could join big sis in the bunk beds at home. Surprisingly enough, she actually did pretty well. She fell asleep fast on her own and did not try to climb out of bed, but she did wake up several times throughout the night yelling for me. Sometimes Collins would wake up and sometimes she would not, but I think that told us that she's not quite ready for a shared room yet!

They renovated the Wrightsville Beach park, and it is AWESOME. Gone are the days of the normal playground with swings. These new parks they are building these days are fancy. The girls loved the double seesaws...

and zip line swing!

The weather got a little colder and gloomier each day we were down there so by Sunday we didn't have tons of outdoor options. We decided to go on a cold shell hunt down on the South end of the island which was fun.

Yep, still pregnant! No beach baby thankfully.

Brian and Collins also went fishing and look what C caught! It was a really long fish that we had never seen before. She was pretty proud!

After some Sunday football, we headed back to Raleigh. After all, Collins had school the next day and Brian had a big week ahead...starting a new job! So glad we had some down time at the beach before things got crazy with a new job and baby. Thanks, Donna and Marty!