Waiting patiently for Santa

Dad is uh-mazing!

Singing and Dancing to Christmas 2012

The boys are really getting in the Christmas spirit!

Singing and Dancing - Xmas 2012 from Corinne on Vimeo.

A Visit to Santa

I can’t believe I’m going to write this, but we actually went to visit Santa this weekend (our fourth year in a row with the Chin family) and for the first time ever, it went beautifully!  We got there on time, the line wasn’t bad at all, Sean told Santa exactly what he wanted (even spoke on behalf of his brother), they sat with Santa, got their picture taken and we were done.  No crying, no screaming, no people in line yelling at each other.  Whoohoo!  It went a little something like this…

Santa: “What would you like for Christmas this year?”

Sean: “A rocket ship and a rocket ship airplane and my brother wants his own chair”

Santa: <confused>  “What does your brother want?”

Sean: “His own chair because he always sits in mine!”

Thanksgiving 2012

After 3 years we finally made it back to the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving, but this time we came as a family of 4! We had such a good time catching up with everyone and were so lucky to have an awesome cottage (thank you Mike and Gale) for the week.  Sean and Dylan just loved hanging out with their aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents.  We did a little bit of everything and were sad to leave – it’s always so fast.  Here’s our week in pictures…

Scootin’

I’ll never forget coming home from a work trip on June 1st 2012. As soon as I walked in the door John said “Check this out – look what Dylan’s doing!”  Sure enough, Dylan decided his first mode of transportation would be scooting instead of crawling. At first we thought it was so cute and laughed at how funny he looked.  But let me tell you, by September we didn’t think it was so cute.  I was bargain hunting at the stores buying endless supplies of shorts and pants because every time I turned around he had ripped holes in another pair. And not holes as in ‘oh I’ll just patch that up’ – I mean his diaper was hanging out and he was definitely feeling a nice breeze kind of holes.  It seemed like the poor child would never walk.  But Dylan got really bad double ear infections and pneumonia in October and would you believe that a double dose of steroids was what it took to make that kid walk?!  I brought him home from urgent care on Sunday afternoon and instead of going to sleep like I thought he would (the poor baby was so sick) he proceeded to start singing and walking all over the house.  And as they say, the rest is history!

I made this video to show how good Dylan at scooting – no wonder he wasn’t interested in walking! The first clip is from that night back in June when he just started.  By the end he was going as fast as he would if he were to walk, and was even able to “jump” when you asked him! haha

Happy Halloween 2012!

Well Sean sure got some good use out of his Knight costume this year (Dylan had to miss a lot of the fun this year because he was sick… but he was always there in spirit).  We went to a few parties over the past 2 weeks and topped it off with some great trick-or-treating last night.  We had double the fun with Jen and Grant (Grant’s daddy was out of town for work) and made it to almost 10 houses!

 

Family, Zoo, Boats – Go!

Better late than never, right?

Here are some collages I put together (how did I forgot to post?) from our trip to MD in August.  We got to visit lots of family, meet new baby Hayden!, go to the National Zoo, and take a beautiful sunset cruise on Pinch Me with Aunt Noelle!!  What a busy but great visit.

I think that officially wraps up my August photos.  Phew. Now on to fall pictures :-|

A Visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s House

One of the trips we made in August was to visit Grandma and Grandpa up in Pennsylvania.  I don’t know how to explain it but their house has always held a special magic and I think that’s especially true for me and my cousins Phil and Paul.  Being a kid there playing in the pond, wrecking driving 4-wheelers, skeet shooting, and family ping pong where you learned how to strut your stuff are the kind of memories that stick with you for a lifetime.  Although as an adult I haven’t been able to spend near as much time there as I would have liked, it was so special for me to bring Sean and Dylan, if only for a day, to hopefully share in that magic and recapture some of those wonderful childhood memories of my own.

Sean’s 3rd Birthday

Our baby turned 3 years old last month – yikes. He had a great birthday at Pop Pop and GG’s house and we were thrilled that so many people were able to come!  We had great food, opened lots of presents and were able to make some time for the boats and wave runners.  Sean didn’t love us singing to him (in fact I think we may have permanently damaged him with the Happy Birthday song) - he was more interested in playing with all of his new toys :)

The “Cool” Family Visits

Earlier last month we had a great visit from Uncle Marshall & Aunt Megan and Cousin Katie and Rob (or as Sean liked to call him, “Bob” (I think Sean will get along splendidly with Mamaw Bryant - haha)).  The boys - John included - were really excited to hang out and everyone kept busy going to the pool, for a ride on the boat and playing guitars.  It’s a heck of a drive from home for all of them and we were so happy that they came and spent some time with us!  I guess this means that it’s our turn to drive up next… :)

Sean’s 1st Day of Preschool

I just got back from dropping Sean off for his 1st day of preschool (he’ll be going T/Th in the afternoons). I was prepared for a lot of tears (from both of us) but as usual Sean made the transition easily and seemed really excited about going to school. He brought his “Lightning McQueen & Mater backpack” with a water bottle and change of clothes. He’s excited because they have a fish tank there and as soon as we walked in he asked Miss Sally their names (Nemo, Goldie & Oreo). I can’t wait to hear all about his new adventures and given the amount he talks these days, he’ll go on and on until it’s time for bed telling us about it!

Catch-up: Surprise Trip to MD

I was talking to my mom one Friday morning on my way into work and she mentioned that the Blue Angels were flying that weekend and that Grandma and Grandpa were coming down so they planned to take the boat up to Baltimore to see them fly.  As I was sitting at work I kept getting this nagging feeling that I needed to be there. It was Father’s Day, too, and it just seemed right.  One major problem: I was sitting at work at 10am on Friday with no plane tickets, nothing packed and hadn’t mentioned anything to my family.  So I called John and told him about my crazy idea of taking Sean up for the weekend.  Whatever I could pack I would pack and just buy anything else I needed when we got there.  I don’t think he believed that I’d actually do it (I wasn’t sure I would either) but we did agree that it was too fast of a trip to take Dylan so John said he would stay home with the baby and I would take Sean with me.  I have to say that leaving John on Father’s Day was almost a game changer but he really is awesome and was supportive of my crazy idea (as usual).  So but the time I worked all that out, it was 4pm before I logged onto make a plane reservation and was lucky enough to find a flight that evening at a reasonable price.  I decided not to tell anyone I was coming because I never do things like this and it just added to the drama :)

So, I raced home from work, got home around 5:15, packed and was out the door at 6:15!  Sean was excited and did a great job on the plane (he didn’t stop talking about all the things he was seeing – it was so cute) and I pride myself on taking both of us, our suitcases plus a car seat and getting it in the cab without much hassle.  Needless to say, we ended up on my parent’s doorstep close to 10pm on Friday night.  There were no lights on and I started to get scared thinking a) they’re not home and the cab is gone. perfect. b) they’re all in bed and now we’re going to wake everyone up.  So I rang the bell which goes to their phone (I know, fancy) and I saw my mom get up and go to answer it. I told her it was a special delivery which she wasn’t buying and before long I thought she was going to call the cops on us! Finally my dad came closer and told mom she better open the door.  They were SO SURPRISED to see me and Sean standing there!

To make a long story short (too late) we had a great weekend! Sean was a fabulous traveler and it was exciting to be able to just pick up and go with him.  Once Dylan gets a little older there’s no telling whose front stoops we might end up on… so look out!

McDaris Reunion 2012

We had another successful McDaris Reunion weekend in Asheville NC last weekend.  Pop Pop and GG came down for the long weekend, Ashley met up with us in Asheville, and we were jam packed as usual!  Friday was spent playing in Charlotte, Saturday we headed up to Ashville and ate pizza and danced at the bluegrass festival Shindig on the Green, and Sunday we went to the reunion and explored our family’s land in the mountains before heading back on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Like my Pop Pop used to say, “They blue, ain’t they?” 

You know each year our reunion seems to sneak up on us and we’re always so busy that it’s easy to think ‘I just don’t have time’ this year.  But once you’re there and take time to just relax, enjoy your family and the beauty of the mountains, you realize just how important it is to make time for family and to honor your history.  Very important indeed!

Ashley’s Visit

Now that my cousin Ashley lives in Christiansburg VA (and yes Hokie friends, we plan on crashing at her house for a game or two!) she was able to come visit for a long weekend. We had a lot of fun and Sean told me that he likes “Ash-a-wee” because “she’s a lot of fun to play with.”  We were busy – took the boat out, watched some movies at home, visited the pool, went to a movie in the theater (a rare luxury these days) and had some pretty nice meals! Oh, and don’t make fun of my awkward smiling-a-bit-too-big pose below, I was on my tippiest tippy toes trying to be as tall as Ashley ;)