Christmas Eve

Adam and I wanted to start a new tradition as a family of 3...until now we had just taken part in our childhood traditions which was fun but having 4 Christmas's was pretty exhausting.  Last year we were in Australia on the beach and unfortunately that option wasn't on the table for this year. 
We began the day with breakfast at the Flying Biscuit Cafe (EXCELLENT...this will defiantly be continued next year.

Then we came home, packed and got ready for a gathering at our friends house.

We all went to Church together.

After church we came home I made appetizers,

Adam poured the wine,

and Zachary examined the gifts.

"FOR ME???"

After our snack we opened gifts...this was a very exciting Christmas for me...I finally came up with a gift for Adam that he wouldn't expect and that he would LOVE, and it was my little man's first Christmas.  I really didn't expect much out of him, but his excitement was awesome.  He was crazy crawling this way and that way opening gifts, playing with new toys, eating bows and smiling and laughing all night. 

We took turns helping him open gifts

yes, he is chewing on wrapping paper...but this is the coolest toy ever for babies who love i-phones.  You can put your phone in here download the Fisher Price App's and your baby can play with your phone without damaging it.  It has a drool guard and a cover for the power button.

he was so overwhelmed that he fell and rolled 3 times over his clothes.

Adam's gift was a Keurig coffee maker (which he opened last)...he began by opening coffee and a thing of creamer that he thought was to bring to work...

but no...it was for his very own machine!

I am super excited because Adam got me a ravioli making attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. 

basically we officially have a tripped out kitchen.
Of course we had to play with all our new "toys".  My camera strap looks perfect on my camera.  Adam made his first cup of coffee...oh and...

Adam let Z play with his i-phone

Adam blew up the ball pit

I took a turn...they really should have included a pump

This was the most still he was all night

guess who LOVED the blocks...

yep...I was asked to hold Zack back so he could build it really tall

We settled little man down with a bath and a bottle,

We had dinner (baked ziti...perfect make ahead dinner)

and desert...gilato and a canoli (had to keep it Italian...next year I am thinking Mexican).

We hung our stockings on the baby gate hoping Santa would visit!

Moving on

It is super sad to say goodbye sometimes...it may sound strange but I am very sad I have to start saying goodbye to some of Zack's clothes.  He still fits in the 9 month sizes, but the pants are getting a bit short.  I think this is difficult for me because the only reason I put his 3 month clothes away was the cold weather...now it's because he is getting so big.
Here are some of my favorite outfits of the past:

I wasn't a huge fan of these pj's but they were the only ones I found that were the under 7lb size.  I bought these pj's just in case thinking I wouldn't need them meanwhile it was the only thing that would "fit" him and was his "take home" outfit.

I bought this in Australia...it says "Mum's little prince"

I LOVE the little athletic shorts

even though this is a 3 month outfit he wore this until fall (about 6 months)

I also went through toys

Having issues with flipping pictures today

Moving on means making way for the new...which makes me as excited as I am sad about packing up the old.

this plus what he is getting for Christmas should be good for the rest of the winter

This is actually 2T but don't be surprised if you see him in this now...it was a hand me down from another Elon Alum.

Caught in the Act

It only took him about 2 weeks to find these gifts under the tree...

Yes I should have known that he would eventually find the gifts and go all "Zack attack" on them...

Part of me was just curious about what would happen...don't worry he only took the bow off his own present.





Yes, this is something we do everyday...

honestly I am just rooting for the little guy to get a hold of the paper and rip it...

meanwhile he is more interested in the bows

Cree Christmas Party

Adam and I look forward to the Cree Christmas Party all year long.  It is a huge event!  Cree goes above and beyond giving their employees a special night out. 

This year the theme was based on Pan Am.  They had girls dressed as the Pan Am flight attendants and we "traveled" to places like Africa and Las Vegas.
They rent the Raleigh Convention Center and each room has a different theme.  The Africa room had live African acrobats and a live band, the Las Vegas room had casino games, photographers and a DJ.  They had LOTS of amazing food and each Cree employee got 4 free adult beverages.  In addition to the party they provided rides home for people who weren't able to drive themselves home and a discounted rate at the Marriott hotel connected to the convention center. 
How were Adam and I able to spend the night out by ourselves?  My parents were very excited to spend some time with their grandson.  Adam and I took advantage of the discounted rate at the hotel and and enjoyed a full nights sleep while mom and dad took care of the little guy.

Backwards Blogging

I apologize to anyone who follows my blog for the major blog dump that is about to happen.  I used a Shutterfly picture share sight as our blog while we were in China (actually that was the second one I started...the first I wasn't able to use once we left the States).  One of my New Years Resolutions is to minimize and organize.  Step one get all the blogs together.  I am really enjoying going back and reading about my first impressions in China, and I am amazed at some of the pictures I took...so many pictures of food...
So far I am to mid March (how exciting to re-read what I was doing March 26, 2010...1 year before giving birth.
I have a feeling this will take a while (uploading pictures and trying to match the pictures to the event).  It is going to be REALLY worth it.  I have been wanting to print out and keep my blogs from China but I want the pictures with them and since I am not exactly a scrapbooker...it would be way to much stress for me...I hope to order print outs of the blog bit by bit.  Most importantly I want to save all my memories of my pregnancy and Z growing up in one spot. 
I've saved 22 entries as drafts (thank goodness I saved everything in a word document).  It took everything in me not to update the entries with facts that I now know...my favorite was being excited about the first 2 contracts we signed for the "perfect" apartment that ended up falling through.
My goal is to have this finished by spring!

Meeting Santa!

Can I just say I loved teaching Kindergarten partly because we went to see Santa and I was able to interact with the big guy!  Now my excuse to see Santa is Zack...and I am guessing I can use him as an excuse for several more Christmases.  Will he remember this day? No...

Will he care that we took him to see Santa for his first Christmas? Probably Not...

Does Adam think I'm a little crazy for making this trip a major priority this Christmas?  Yes...but that didn't stop him from insisting on being there.

Adam was SUPER happy that I made him take a picture in the middle of the mall food court.

Adam had to work on Saturday (AKA cookie day) which means he gets a day off during the week.  This made both of us happy because the Sunday we tried to see Santa would have made us wait an hour and I have been to the mall several times and have seen NO line for Santa.  Seeing Santa on a Tuesday worked out perfectly!

So how did Zack feel about Santa?

Looking Santa up and down...every other picture is like this.  Poor Santa tried so hard to get Z to feel comfortable.

"Mommy who is this man????"  I have to say he was really brave, the whole time we were there he was whimpering but didn't break down until I covered my eyes in attempt to get him to laugh by playing peek-a-boo.

And after we got home I had to take some happy pictures of Z in his reindeer hat...

good thing I don't keep things for a scrapbook...

So proud of himself for getting this hat off his head...next he started eating it.

...and, yes I was the sucker who paid $15 for the official photo even though little man was not thrilled.  I figured it was $15 today, but in 20 years that little photo will be priceless!

2011 Christmas Card

Most of you should be getting one of these in the mail:

I made this card myself using backgrounds I found (from the same place as my blog backgrounds) and my free photo program. 

I wanted to "blog" it since this is basically my memory book.  Plus I thought I could add some outtakes of our little photo shoot.

I used this one in the card...I love his smile.  What happened next is our first outtake:

He pulled his hat so hard trying to get it off that he pulled his whole body down!

"Mommy I can't see!!!!!"  There are several of these.

Still trying to get the hat off.

part of the problem taking pictures on my own was I had to entertain and snap...sometimes the entertaining messed up my snap.  I was so mad because he was so cute laughing in these shots.

a little better...these look like the pictures I took on purpose when he was about 2 months old because he was balding like an old man.