Christmas Part 3: Bebe and J

The day after Christmas came without letdown because Noah knew that Bebe and Aunt J were coming with more presents. They got in after nap time and we settled down to have Christmas all over again, complete with more sausage balls (upon special request from Wes!) Noah opened his stocking and then chose the biggest present in the pile to open first. It was a race car set from my Dad and it was an absolute hit! Once those cars were open Noah was done...he barely paid attention to anything else the rest of the evening.

Opening his stocking from "Santa Bebe"

Hmm...I wonder what was in Wes's stocking that made him smile so big? Could it have been the latest issue of GQ?

One of the race cars that made all the other presents irrelevant.

Jessie gets some treats in her stocking. Perhaps Hanky Pankys and champagne make a dangerous combination - I didn't think that one all the way through!

And, this is how Noah spent the rest of the evening!

Christmas Part 2: "What's In There?"

So after a Christmas nap, Wes, Noah and I headed over to Nana and Pops's house to hang out and open the rest of the presents. We had a great dinner and then all sat down for part 2 of presents. Noah was very excited about his presents and everyone else's too. Anytime someone would start to open a present he would ask excitedly, "What's in there?" Of course it sounded more like, "Was in der?" Here are some more pictures!

All ready for round 2 of presents!

"Helping" Uncle Cy open his gifts.

Wondering what was so great about Pops's GPS system...it's no Thomas the train!

Ripping into a present...please notice how Noah has decorated his shirt with the stickers from his Thomas book.

Christmas Part 1

We had a really fun and relaxing Christmas in our family this year. No travel meant getting to stay right here in our own house which made the day wonderful. I have about a million pictures so I will have to post our Christmas events in several parts.

Christmas morning, Wes's family came to our house and we had a yummy breakfast and did stockings and Santa presents and his family opened their gifts from us. We planned on doing the rest later in the day at Wes's parents place and this ended up being perfect for Noah. He enjoyed getting a few gifts at a time with out experiencing present overload and turning into a cranky brat. Here a few pics from Christmas morning......

Noah getting his Thomas books from Santa.

Emptying his stocking of all its goodies.

Opening some presents from Nana.

Uncle Cy and Aunt Carissa

Very excited to get some new Thomas toys.

Playing with his Thomas Legos from Uncle Cy and Aunt Carissa. I don't know which of these boys enjoyed them more!

Taking our toys outside to enjoy the 78 degree weather. Hmm...I thought we had moved away from Florida.

And this is pretty much how we spent the rest of the day!

Countdown to Christmas

Well, things have reached a fever pitch here at the Shealy house. Christmas is tomorrow and that means that Santa comes tonight and, well, that means our two year old is a little out of control.

Of course, it has been building all month. He has wanted to go outside every night to look at the neighborhood Christmas lights. He loves to go next door to "see Mr. Paul's Christmas trees". Then somehow, and I'm not sure how because Wes and I have not been pushing the idea, he fully embraced the concept of Santa and started talking about how Santa was coming and was going to bring him a present. When we asked him what he wanted he said, "a Thomas the Tank Engine book." (A book? Cool, no arguments from me!) So that is what Santa is bringing him.

In the midst of all the crazy, we have been trying to stress what Christmas is actually about. I have tried to explain about how it is Jesus's birthday and he is our saviour and how that is the best gift we could get, Christmas or not. It is a difficult concept to explain to a 2 year old especially with the siren call of Santa lurking in the background. We have had some success though. Now when we ask him, "Noah, who is Jesus?" he says, "My Lord and saviour." It kind of breaks my heart.

Of course, I am waiting for him to get confused and declare that Santa is his lord and saviour and that Jesus is bringing him a Thomas the Tank Engine book. Ah, the perils of parenthood....

Anyway, from everyone here in our house, Merry Christmas!

How To Give Your Parents a Heart Attack 101

This is a picture of Noah in the middle of his favorite mode of transportation - running. Most of the time I find his running quite cute and am hopeful that he will still love to run later in life and I can live vicariously through his fast race times. However, sometimes his running can get him into trouble not to mention cause the adults in his life to have premature cardiac arrest.

A little back story - yesterday was his Christmas program at school. All the children participated, including the kids that go on Mon/Wed/Fri. Well, Noah's girlfriend Clayton goes to his school, but on opposite days and in a different class. Wes and I were curious as to what Noah would do when he realized that Clayton was at his school.

So we saw his program - very humorous to watch toddlers do the Christmas story. Baby Jesus ended up upside down in the manger. Afterwards Wes, his Mom, and I headed to his classroom to pick him up. The classrooms are located along a breezeway that opens into a courtyard and it was very chaotic with all the families there picking up their children. Long story short, the classroom is small enough that it did not take long for us to realize that he was not in it. His teacher, starting to panic, was sure he had come into the room with her. She turned to me and said, "Could he have run out the door?"


I almost laughed in her face. He's Noah. Of course he ran out the door!

Without a word we fanned out and started looking for him. Nobody really started to panic until we found his favorite toy "little duck" on the ground and then the panic set in. We knew that he would never leave little duck. For a good ten minutes we ran in and out of classes and through the parking lot screaming his name (during which time, I might add, not a single person asked us if we needed help. Nope, those other parents were completely oblivious to us screaming and running. They better not ask for my help next time they lose their child...). Finally, as I was heading across the parking lot, my mother-in-law screamed that she had him. I raced over saw what it was that had made him leave his classroom and little duck. Walking down the hallway, hand in hand, with grins the size of Texas on their faces, were Noah and Clayton. "Mama, its Clayton! At my school!" he squealed when he saw me. I almost strangled him on the spot.

So you see, the love affair continues. Clayton is his favorite person these days. I even use her as leverage on some days, as in,"Noah if you don't let me change your diaper, you can't play with Clayton later! " The other night we went back to the county park light display to ride the train again but this time we went with Clayton and her family and Noah had a blast.




Getting ready to ride the train through the lights.



Posing for a picture holding hands...oh wait, that's not a pose, that's what they do all the time!

For a good laugh...

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/OA7Ad4cqVOltXLNDUIVo

Okay, my sister put this together for everyone's viewing enjoyment. Click on the link above and a have yourself a good laugh! If only we could ever get Wes drunk enough to dance like this for real!

'Tis the season.....

.....for Noah to see sights like this....

...and get excited like this.

I swear he has a tiny orgasm every time he sees a Christmas tree. Or Christmas lights. Or giant blow up Santas in mall parking lots. He has totally been captured by commercialism at an early age. Charlie Brown and Linus would be so disappointed.

Anyway, I guess we fed the monster by making a big deal about decorating our house last weekend. He had such a good time helping us put up our tree.

He was also very territorial about the ornaments that he put on the tree himself.

We also spent last night going to the Festival of Lights at the county park. The lights were really good and we got to ride around the park on a little train! That was the highlight of Noah's whole year. He yelled "chug-chug choo-choo!" the whole time and even charmed the driver into letting him ring the bell at the end.

Look how happy that stupid train made him!

So, the bottom line is we are really enjoying the holiday season here in Chucktown. Today we are headed to a Christmas parade. Noah won't know what to do with himself!

Oh, and here is a picture of my favorite light display from last night. It is the old Cooper River Bridge lighting up and then fading away as the new bridge lights up.

"Oh, here come the meat sweats!"

That was what Jessie had to say tonight after our bountiful meal! But wait, I am getting ahead of myself.....

Our Thanksgiving started pretty early this year. We woke up and headed downtown for the Turkey Trot 5k. Jess and my Mom watched Noah while Wes and I ran the race.



A few thoughts. If you ever run a race of any distance and are in possession of any of the following: a baby jogger, an eight year old child, an 87 year old man, a bum knee, or Dolce and Gabana sunglasses - PLEASE go to the back of the line!

Anyway the race was really fun and Noah had a great time running around making friends - as usual.


Noah helps Wes and me warm up.


Wes comes through the finish chute. My sister tried to get one of me but there were like, 5000 people running so, you know.....


We tried to get Noah to pose for a group photo but he was unwilling to stop running for even one second!



We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and cooking. Noah went down for a nap. Or so we thought...



What is that on his face you ask? Don't worry, it's moisturizer!




Finally it was time for our meal and it was everything we thought it could be!



Wes finishes cooking the turkey to perfection.


Bebe and Noah wait for some yummy food.




Happy Thanksgiving...and remember, you are what you eat!

Shoe Fetish

We all know that I love the shoes...it must be genetic. The love has been passed down to Noah. He got new shoes yesterday and loved them so much that he insisted on sleeping in them.

He literally kept them on all night! Oh my....

(sorry for the blurry picture. the settings on my camera got changed and i didn't realize until after i took the pics!)

I must be a really good Mom......

Those of you that know me well, know that I have many pet peeves. High up on my list - along with my husband leaving his papers all over my kitchen counter, and people who stand too close to me in line at the store- is singing children. I know, I know, its totally ridiculous but I hate the cheesy sound of a chorus of singing children belting out sappy songs. Don't ask...I know I am weird!

Anyway, our church is doing a children's Christmas program for preschoolers and Noah is making an attempt to be a part of it. Now, don't get me wrong, watching those kids stand in a line (sort of) while trying to remember the words and not fidget and screaming the words to their favorite part is hysterical! The bad part is listening to the CD of the program with Noah to help him learn the songs. The most convenient way to do that is in the car and I am sad to report that for the last several days I have logged many miles listening to small children singing the "Jesus" version of Mary Had A Little Lamb. The only thing getting me through is the fact that Noah loves it, and totally sings along which should be helpful if he does indeed join in for the Christmas performance. But, I tell you what. I am reaching my limit...that CD may "accidentally" get stepped on very soon.

I have told Wes that I deserve a medal for this but that an extra Christmas present or two will probably pacify me.

Wes Turns 30!

So, I have been very behind on my blogging lately. I am just now getting to Wes's birthday almost a week late!

Wes turned the big 3-0 last Thursday and to celebrate we had his family over for dinner, cake, and presents. I made Mexican (Wes's favorite) and we enjoyed a lovely meal. Ah, who am I kidding....we enjoyed our meal until Noah took a bite of something he didn't like and intentionally made himself throw up so he didn't have to keep the undesirable food in his body. Happy Birthday honey! After the throwing up incident people were anxious to get up from the table so we moved into the living room to open presents - always my favorite part, even when they're not mine! Obviously they are Noah's favorite part too. He was Wes's little helper the whole time.

I think he just enjoyed playing with the wrapping....

In other news, I am finally running again! Last Friday evening Wes and I joined people from our church to run and pray through Park Circle. Our church is actually relocating to this area soon and our pastor started a Run/Pray time where members from our congregation run through different areas of Park Circle and pray as we go. I had been wanting to join in ever since he started but had to wait for my foot to get the all clear. It was the most perfect first run back...focusing on other people, running through brand new places in the dark. Hearing mainly just our little group's light footfalls as we ran through the neighborhoods of the people we hope will join us in worship someday. Even as we "crossed the tracks" in the dark I was not bothered in the least.Somehow it did not feel like we were going through "unsafe" areas. We simply ran and prayed!

And, finally, Noah is now seeing his girlfriend Clayton on a pretty regular basis. He had her over for a dinner/play date the other night.

I reminded him that it is a good thing she is two and still dazzled by peanut butter sandwiches and milk!

Election Day

So yesterday, after I dropped off Noah at school, I grabbed my coffee and a book and headed to the middle school down the street to cast my vote. I got there at 9:05 and figured it would be a couple of hours. I joined the line at the same time as several other people and we all settled in to wait, armed with our no nonsense "don't bother talking to me" faces.

Pretty soon people started trickling out of the building - the line barely crept forward - and they informed us it had taken them 3 hours to vote! We all looked at each other in shock and that was all it took to get rid of our outward defenses. "Holy crap, 3 hours!" was the general consensus. I quickly called Wes' Mom and asked her if she could pick up Noah from school and then got ready to be really bored.

Except that I wasn't. In these types of situations it seems people are usually very grouchy and get increasingly frustrated the longer they have to wait. I kept waiting for that attitude to come but it just never did. They people around me seemed happy, excited, to be there voting. The longer we stood, the more talkative we all became. We joked about coffee and trips to the bathroom, we danced to ring tones on peoples phones. One women passed out hard candies from her purse, and some of us learned that the people around us were neighbors who we might never have taken the time to meet otherwise. Ironically we did not learn anything about any one's personal politics. Not once did anyone talk about the candidates or the issues. It just didn't seem to matter. We were all doing our part in the democratic process and that was enough. Politics were simply irrelevant.

I left - 4 hours later! - with more than just the phone number of a new friend. I left with a new knowledge of the people that live in my community. People that are not a part of the circles that I run in, but maybe should be. I left glad to have taken part in what is sure to be a historic election. And I left glad that there are times when it is not all about politics.

I think we should all try to remember this now that the election is over and decided. Americans are not as different as our political parties would have us believe. I hope we can all take a moment to make politics irrelevant and enjoy the knowledge that we live in a great country full of diverse, interesting people who are more alike than different. Let's take a moment to appreciate the historical significance of this election and how far our country has come in the past 50 years. Let's also remember that our God is sovereign and is not at all surprised by the outcome of this election. I hope we can trust in that and instead of being fearful, be hopeful for what the next four years can bring.

Carolina Bay Trick-or-Treat Mania 2008

So last night we did the whole trick-or-treat adventure and it was a blast. Noah spent all day gearing up for it by practicing ringing our doorbell and screaming "trick-or-treat!" when I opened the door. Finally, around 6:00 we got ready to head out.

Noah wanted to wear his hat hip hop style, but I explained that Thomas the Train was NOT hip hop, he was British. So we conceded to wearing it the normal way.

After getting our costume on we went running down the street to pick up our buddy Clayton, the pirate.

We started around the neighborhood and within 5 minutes Clayton and Noah decided that they would hold hands.

They literally went the whole night holding hands. They would get their candy and then look around for each other, "Where is Clayton? I gotta hold her hand!" It was so cute!

When we first started we were the only people out and I worried that there wouldn't be many people in our neighborhood to trick-or-treat with. But pretty soon all the other people came out and we ended up going around in a huge mob. The best part is that most of the kids in our part of the neighborhood are really young so it was really cute to watch all the little kids walk around together. I was also pleasantly surprised that most people were home to hand out candy and they really got into it. Lots of them dressed up and sat out on their porches and were excited to see our mob of little people.

Here are Noah and Clayton at Mr. Paul's house. He was a hit because he gave lots of candy and because of his giant blow up pumpkin in the yard!

Come on guys, lets get more candy!

After a little while we lost most of the mob but Noah and Clayton and their friend Abby still had energy to spare so we kept going. They formed a three man train and we roamed the neighborhood like this.....

Noah and Clayton stuck it out until the end but finally exhaustion got the better of them and they hitched rides on Dad's shoulders to head home.

And of course when we got home, the first thing Noah did was dump out his candy, sort through it for the good stuff, and say "have some please?" So we did!