Addie's Turn!

It was my turn, then Luke's turn, so that means Addie was next on the birthday train! They celebrated her special day at school early before Christmas break. And Brian, Luke, and I got to come to the party!

 Addie loves her teacher, Ms. Karen...

Addie's special request- doughnuts WITH sprinkles...

Favorite moment of the party...watching Addie choose and recite their blessing. She now leads us in prayer most nights at dinner time. Here's what she says (with hand motions!), "Hands up high, hands down low, hands together, just so. Thank you God for happy hearts for rain and sunny weather. Thank you for the food we eat, and that we're all together." Precious...

 

 

 

 It was a simple celebration, but one that made her feel special which is all that matters.

 

 The other neat thing that happened that morning at school was that the kids performed a Christmas sing-a-long for their families...loved that Addie got to lead her class in!

 

Addie can really belt out some Christmas songs, so I was not surprised to see her fully participate. :)

 

  Luke's first time in church! He was a little loud...

And that's a wrap...now on to Christmas break!

New Activity

Rock climbing! Randomly one Sunday, Collins wanted to go rock climbing. So we did, and they loved it. And turns out it's not as easy as it looks! But they left wanting to come back again so that is good. Any way to be active and get stronger is a win in my book!

Official Measurements

Hooray! Luke can officially join his sisters on the growth chart. We don't start recording our kids' height until they turn one-year-old and then we do a measurement every six months after that. It's our tradition! 

Luke measured 29 1/2" tall which interestingly enough is taller than both Collins and Addie were when at that age. He was not sure what to think of the measuring process...

At the doctor's office, he weighed 20 lbs 8 oz, did not like his examination or booster shots, and was quite wiggly the whole time. All very normal for a one-year-old boy!

Oh Yeah...

Luke wasn't the only person to turn a year older...my special day officially kicked off winter birthday season for our family! Donna was sweet to cook me dinner and make my favorite chocolate cake...

Per normal, it was a quiet dinner where Luke wore no clothes...

and the girls wore dress-up clothes.

I actually had a fabulous birthday because I got to relax and bake...

and see all of my family at Luke's birthday party. Then my special treat was going to our church's Hanging of the Greens service. It really started our holiday season off on a special note. I had a great birthday!

Charleston Wedding Weekend

I was laying in the bed with Addie- both in our pjs- when Brian came home from work needing an answer. Stay home or go to Charleston? After much back and forth, we decided to go. Which meant I had approximately 15 minutes to shower, pack our three kids for a weekend at Gigi's, and pack myself for a fancy wedding weekend away in Charleston. No problem, right? We were under the gun because if we did not leave in the next 15 minutes, we would not make it to Charleston in time for Brian's wedding rehearsal as best man!

We dumped our sick children on Donna and Marty's doorstep (we will owe them big for a long time!) and raced down 95 towards Charleston. We barely made it. I had felt better on the car ride down and sipped on a Sprite, but unfortunately that backfired on me when I got to the hotel room. I got sick again and felt feverish so made the call to skip the rehearsal dinner. I hated to miss it- I had a fun new dress after all- but knew there was no way I could eat and drink and have fun that night. I just felt really bad. So at 5:30 p.m., I got in the bed and slept until 8:30 a.m. Yep, pretty much slept 15 hours straight. My body needed rest I think. It had been through a year of sleepless nights and food poisoning, and it just needed rest.

The only view I got that night...

I woke up the next morning feeling like a new woman. And I'm so glad I made the decision to go because I had a delightful day in Charleston! I had never been to the city during the holidays, and it was incredibly festive. Brian and I had breakfast, then I strolled through the market and sipped coffee as musicians played Christmas music. Front doors, lanterns and churches were decorated for Christmas, and it was COLD which made it feel more festive. I was by myself (Brian has groomsmen duties), my phone had died so I was unplugged from the world, and I got to shop on King Street all day and get my nails done. HEAVEN! I had a wonderful day.

Meanwhile back in Raleigh, my children were doing much better. The girls at least. Addie was back to normal, and Collins finally got the sickness out of her system. The real issue was Luke, and the nasty cold he had developed. He ended up being the sickest child that weekend and had a terrible time sleeping.

Although you couldn't tell it from this picture...

Stock and Heather got married in the oldest church in Charleston- St. Michaels. It was built in 1752 and had these interesting pews that looked like cattle stalls. :) They had a nice (long) wedding...

and then the reception! It was at a renovated warehouse on the other side of town. We had a great time. I loved the new dress I got for the occasion, and Brian rocked the tux as usual. It was really fun hanging out with the Davidson crowd as we won't get too many more weddings out of this crew!

The weekend started off really rocky, but could not have ended better. Spending a weekend away with Brian, catching up on sleep, experiencing Christmas in Charming Charleston, and having a fun night out was exactly what I needed!

Luke's Disastrous Actual Birthday

As good as Luke's first birthday party was, his actual birthday on Dec. 7th was that bad. Disastrous actually.

Let me explain, but first a cute moment...was getting the Advent calendar out and Luke was opening and closing the tiny doors (his favorite thing) and look what we found?? The card from December 7, 2016- the day he was born. Finding "You get a baby brother!" and seeing this precious boy in his Santa jammies one year later totally warmed my heart. :)

On to the disaster. I knew the day was not setting up to be a good one when I realized that we had not one, but two doctor appointments scheduled, Addie's last soccer practice of the season, and Brian was going to be out of town in Cleveland. Pretty much no special time for Luke. 

So we went to doctor appointment #1 where Addie completely flipped out on me. I won't go into the long ugly story, but let's just say she was screaming, Luke was knocking over trashcans, and I left that office completely humiliated. Then I got to go back four hours later with Collins AND Addie and Luke. Sigh...that appointment went better, but it was still no fun. 

Oh and look what Addie got? Her first ever medal! I wouldn't say she loved playing soccer, but she finished strong and I was really proud of her. She was thrilled to get the medal. 

After debating on whether to go out for a pizza dinner or order in, we made the choice to order in. Oh if only we had gone out....we got Hungry Howies pizza and two cupcakes and had a little celebration for Luke.

 

We realized we made the wrong decision when I woke up the next morning throwing up. Then two hours later, Addie started throwing up. Then two hours later, Collins's teacher called to say she had just thrown up all over her....OMG we got food poisoning from the pizza. Disaster! Thank goodness Luke never got it (he must have not eaten enough), but now we were left with a real dilemma. Brian and I were supposed to be leaving for Charleston that day for Adam Stockstill's wedding (in which Brian was the best man). Do we leave our sick kids with Donna and go? Would I be sick the whole wedding weekend? What were we going to do?!?!?

Oh and happy birthday, Luke. :)

Luke Turns ONE!!!

It was finally time! Time for our baby to turn one year old! After months of watching Luke grow and change and reach new milestones, it was time to celebrate making it through that tough and joyful first year.

And how did we plan to celebrate? With a football-themed party, of course. Luke likes balls, and we like to eat game-day foods so a theme was born. So I ran with it!

Football jammies while we set up..

Playtime outside because can you believe it was almost 70 degrees on December 3rd?!? North Carolina weather makes no sense at all.

 

 

 Playtime inside...(musical chairs)

 

 

 And we had not one, but two hostesses that day...

 

 

 Nana and Poppy arrived from Hickory along with a very large present...

Finally, we were party ready! Football game on, Christmas tree up...

 

appetizers out...

favors bagged...

 

and the cutest football cake you have ever seen. Alli really just out-does her self every time. She told me weeks ago, "I want to make Luke's cake!" And I was like, "umm, of course I was assuming you would do the cake!".  

Donna made the adorable football cookies. I do love that our parties are always a group effort!

 Now just to get this sleepy-head up from his nap and find something appropriate to wear for this ridiculously warm December day...

 

 There were football crafts...

 

a baby football field...

time to run around...

and chicken wings. Lots of chicken wings. 

When it was time to sing and do cake, Luke was not having it. As you will see there is not one smile on his face UNTIL he gets to eat his cake! :)

 

 

Collins and Tyler stepped up to help blow out the candles...

More distress...I think he just wanted cake.

 

Grey showed him how to do it...

 Okay, happiness...

 and a huge mess (Luke-style).

 

A successful party to celebrate our favorite one-year-old!

It's hard to put into words the joy that Luke has brought into our life in this last year. He is the perfect final addition to our family- a cuddly, funny, mischievous, happy, active boy- that makes every day more fun. We could not love you any more, Luke. Happy 1st birthday!