Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

I've decided that I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. I love the "feeling" that the holidays bring, but I hate all the school functions, work functions, parties, gift buying/wrapping, decorating, planning, cooking, cleaning and increased stress that come with Christmas. Thankfully, we're not travelling at all this year--everyone is coming to us. I think if I had to add 16 to 18 hours in a car to this season, I might just go crazy!

We attended the town Christmas parade a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time, but it was frigid!


I snuck away before the parade to look around in a few of the shops downtown and came accross an empty alley and a great view of Christ Church...


After the parade we had planned to watch the Christmas flotilla, but it began to rain (eventually turning into our first snow of the season!) and we decided to go back to a warm house. But, before we did, Charles made a trip to the local nursery to pick up his very own crab pot Christmas tree!


Today is Riley's last day of school until January 3, so we'll get a bit of a break there--I'll get to sleep in!

We've ordered her birthday cake as well and should be picking that up this Thursday. I found a woman locally to bake it and who thinks she can tackle Riley's request: Boba Fett with a Santa hat. I'm confident she can pull it off--what sold me was a Seymour (from Little Shop of Horrors) cake she did. Amazing! Don't believe me? Take a look...


One issue did come up with the cake though--to make it look correct, the baker needs to make the cake a certain size, big enough to feed 35 people! I think we'll be eating cake for a full week after Riley's celebration.

Our house will be full for the next several days: My parents are coming in on Riley's birthday, the 24th, and staying through the 26th; Charles' mom Nancy is coming the 26th through the 30th; and Charles' dad is coming the 30th through January 2nd. Whew! It's going to be a busy holiday!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Tournaments, Teeth and Turkey

So, I haven't posted in quite a while--I get so busy that I don't take the time to log our lives like I would like to. Work has been all-consuming lately, but I'm hoping that additional help will arrive along with 2011.

First, let me catch you up on Halloween. I didn't take a lot of pictures--I was too busy having fun! Charles' mom Nancy was here with us, along with our wonderful friend and neighbor, Jessica. We had tons of wonderful food and a great time trick or treating. Here's a couple from the night...



We went 80s old-school Pac-Man for our pumpkin!
Here's Riley as Harry Potter.

After yet another drama-filled few weeks, Riley lost her other front tooth. She would not let us touch it or even talk about it. One morning, as I was brushing her teeth, the tooth went completely sideways. She began freaking out and running through the house. Charles got her in the bathroom and asked to take a look--she let him breifly touch it, but then started crying loudly. She said she knew it would hurt to pull it out and didn't want us to touch it. She went on for 10 minutes.

When she finally calmed down, Charles said, "Take a look." He opened his hand and there sat her tooth. It had literally fallen out of her mouth when he first touched it! All that drama AFTER the tooth had come out without her even realizing it!!



All she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth!

Last month, Riley competed in her first Taekwondo tournament. She was so excited and did an amazing job. She did her forms, broke a board and showed off her fighting skills...




Showing off her forms.



She easily broke the board with one kick!



Ready to fight.

Great punch!

On the medal stand--second place out of eight!!
We are so very proud of her! There will definitely be more tournaments to come and she even has a "Taekwondo Camp" December 17-19. She's so excited she can barely wait!


We stayed here for Thanksgiving. I really missed being with my family in Tennessee, but spending the holiday here wasn't too bad. Nancy (with dog Snowy in tow) rented a house for the week at Emerald Isle Beach and we had dinner there with our neighbors Jessica, Marc and Bruschi.
View from the front porch.

Riley and Snowy.


Our view from the living room.



Thanksgiving morning.