Sunday, January 29, 2012

Surprise 60th Birthday

For my aunt's 60th birthday, we decided to surprise her w/ a trip to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando.  And boy did we have F-U-N!!!  My mom and I traveled to my aunt's house on New Year's Eve and enjoyed a nice dinner just the three of us.  New Year's Day we got up and hit the road to Orlando.  We passed many "Gamecock cars" on the way down.  However, this truck was a little confused - it had Nebraska magnets and Gamecock magnets.
 After a LONG detour (we were following my uncle, enough said!!) we finally arrived at our condo!  YAY!
 We quickly changed and freshened up and headed to the pep rally!  So much fun to see all the Gamecock fans gather together to hoot and holler.


 The next day was game day and it turned out to be a GORGEOUS day!
 We arrived at our tailgate spot and quickly began setting up.
 My uncle doesn't mess around when it comes to tailgating.  We had banners - one even autographed by Alshon himself!!

 The guy that parked beside us brought his entire sound system and played every USC song known to man.  My aunt instantly made friends w/ this hilarious woman (who was more "fabulous" than Joan Rivers {lol}) and Sandstorm came on and they had a ball!  LOL

 We had awesome seats thanks to my uncle.  (See, he IS good for something! LOL JK!!!)

 And the Gamecocks pulled out yet another victory so it made our trip that much sweeter!!
Happy 60th Birthday, Sandra!  Hope your year is full of magical and wonderful memories!  Love you!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Meet Rudy, the Elf

Santa sent us our very own Elf on the Shelf and this year, he really came to life.  Check out just a few of the fun places he appeared at around our house.




Stella is STILL asking every once in a while, "Where's Rudy?!"  Needless to say, we loved having Rudy around this Christmas and can't wait til he comes back again this year.  

Christmas Festivities

Being a part-time working, nauseous-experiencing first trimester, expecting mommy has been hard to adjust to.  BUT, I think I've finally gotten the hang of it and I'm not sleepy and puking at 6 p.m. every night now so maybe the blogging will pick back up.  So, for now I'll catch you up on what we've been up to over the past few weeks.  **Warning - photo overload!**

We searched for the perfect Christmas tree.

Tried to untangle all the lights.
Took precious pics of our adorable children.  Yes, Bella is still considered one of our children. ;)


Enjoyed the RH Christmas Parade w/ Yaya and Pop Pop.
Went to the Edward Jones and Junior Welfare League Christmas parties.  In the same outfits mind you.  {Hey, my dresses don't come close to fitting these days thanks to my precious bump I'm sporting.}
Luxed Yaya & Pop Pop's tree.  SO beautiful and I love this tradition.
Some even joined Santa's crew of reindeer.
Had Christmas arts and crafts time.
 Enjoyed a yummy brunch at the club and was greeted by Santa himself.



 Someone loves posing for pics.

 More arts and crafts time.  Thanks Pinterest!
 We built our very own gingerbread house.  And enjoyed eating the candy off of it too!
 Had "coffee" in a Santa coffee mug.
 Had a blast on a fun play date w/ the boys.
 More Christmas arts and crafts time thanks to Pinterest.
 And then, it was finally Christmas Eve!  We celebrated Christmas w/ the D's on Christmas Eve and loved every second of it.







 Afterwards, we headed home and quickly put out reindeer food and cookies for Santa so they would be SURE to stop by our house.

 And Santa DEFINITELY didn't skip over our house.  Our tree was surrounded by tons of fun gifts for the whole family.  Especially one precious princess.
 Not sure why but this pic is turned.  Stella got drums, a guitar and headphones - just like The Fresh Beat Band.  We have our very own rockstar!!
 Then it was on to Columbia for Round 2 at Granma & Papa's house where we scarfed down a yummy breakfast that Papa made and quickly opened presents.  We were all spoiled once again.  The D's must have been good this year!


 Then we headed to Mimi & Steve's for Round 3 w/ the McMichael clan.  The kiddos were too cute this year.  Hard to believe that next year there will be another one added in the mix.
 All the kiddos enjoyed a dance party w/ Great!  Especially Stella - she copied EVERYTHING Great did.  It was hilarious!
 The final stop on Christmas Day was at my Aunt Joan's house for Round 4.  I'm so glad we were able to spend time w/ my grandparents, aunt and cousins.  There are 4 great grands on this side so we decided to just do gifts for the children and it was perfect.  They had a ball and we loved watching them open presents and play together.

What a special Christmas we had.  Our last one as a family of 3.  That sounds so weird to say and while it makes me sad, I'm SUPER excited about next Christmas w/ our new little one and to be a family of 4.