Christmas Eve

No, that's not our Christmas tree... it's the Christmas Tree at Disney's Magic Kingdom. We got up early (very early for Jessie) at 6:00 and loaded our things into the car and drove to Orlando so we could spend several hours with Mickey and all his friends. It was so much fun to watch Noah look at people, ride the rides, and see his favorite characters. He absolutely loved the Dumbo ride but cried crocodile tears when he had to get off the ride!

Waiting in line to ride Dumbo!

After riding Dumbo, Noah wanted to run around and get out some energy so we went to Winnie the Pooh's Play area. There was a slide so Noah thought it was the greatest!

Next we went on the It's A Small World ride which included three of Noah's favorite things: water, boats, and music. The wait was only about 10 minutes and it went by really quickly because Noah got to yell, "Boat" every time people got on the ride. He thought this ride was almost as much fun as Dumbo and he danced to the tune of "It's a small world". After that, we got to see Donald Duck, one of Noah's favorite characters. He walked right up to him and gave him a big five and yelled, "Quack, Quack, Quack".

We then had some lunch and realized that it is a great thing that Asians and Europeans like to spend money in America because there was at least half the population of China at the Magic Kingdom alone!! Nothing like a good boost to the economy at Christmas time! Because it was so crowded we finished our time at Disney by taking a ride on a River Boat then took the monorail back to the car and headed home after about 5 1/2 hours.

That's one really tired toddler!!

After we all got a little rest and cleaned up, we headed to church for a Christmas Eve service where we got to worship God and celebrate the birth of Christ, our savior.

Merry Christmas!!

Start of Christmas!

This Christmas Kelly and I are staying in Tampa so I can save up on my days off. We aren't spending it alone though because Kelly's mom and sister, Babby and Jessie, drove down yesterday to celebrate with us. Since we do not get to spend this time with the rest of our family and all of our friends, we are going to try to post a lot of picutres and let everyone know what we are doing.

So, earlier today we decided to go to a local park that has a large playground that is very friendly to young kids and that has a running trail that is paved. Kelly went for a nice run, Babby took a nice walk and Noah got to play in the park with Dad and Auntie J. Here are a few pictures.

After a lot of running at the park it was time to calm down and take a nap...

They've started...our new house!

Kelly and I had an e-mail from our realtor yesterday letting us know that our builder had finally gotten the permits required by the city of Charleston and had started construction on our future home. Then, earlier today, Kelly received a phone call from our builder letting us know they had indeed started building and would be moving at a very fast pace. As of right now, the scheduled date of completion is set for April 10, 2008 but we won't be surprised if our builder tries to finish sometime in March since that is when their fiscal year ends! I guess it all depends on the weather in the next few months!

Here are a few of the pictures that our realtor sent us yesterday.

And here are a few recent pictures of Noah.

Turd Ferguson's Midnight Escapade

Wes and I are discovering that our son has a dual personality. There is sweet Noah who gives kisses and hugs. The Noah who belly laughs and yells "Momma, Daddy" when we come in the door. He listens and does as he is told and eats all his dinner. Then there is his other personality......This little guy has rage issues. He gets red in the face and hits the wall when he is frustrated. He is also the one who has been staying up for 3 and 4 hour chunks of time at night. Wes and I call him Turd Ferguson. (This moniker comes from some old school Adam Sandler movie)

So anyway, last night Turd decided to wake up at 11:30 and scream his brains out. Our usual policy when he wakes up (which he usually doesn't do) is to let him scream it out. But last night he was screaming so loudly that we were afraid the people in our apartment building would call social services. Wes went in for an hour or so and tried to get him back to sleep but nothing worked. Finally he gave up and I told him to sleep, I would give it a go. When I got in the room Noah was kicking the sides of the crib and screaming like a girl. I took him out and tried to hold him and rock him in the chair but he would have none of it. All he wanted to do was get down and play. I knew we were in trouble when he started playing with his shadow - running back and forth, waving his arms and laughing. Then he pulled all his books off the shelf and proceeded to "read" them to me one by one. I decided I would lay on my pillow on the floor, close my eyes, and let him play until he tired himself out but that was not part of his plan. He kept lifting my head off the pillow and onto his lap to make sure that I was listening to the stories he was "reading". After at least an hour I thought maybe I could get by with putting him in the crib with his books and maybe he would be quiet. WRONG! He immediately started screaming and kicking so I took him back out and put him on the floor. He was so worked up by then that he just kept screaming and kicking - at the air - pulling his hair. Finally he kicked so hard - at the air - that he lost his footing and fell over backwards. I was so delusional that all I could do was laugh like a crazy person at little Turd Ferguson lying on his back pitching a fit. This was how Wes found us when he came into the room.

Noah finally reemerged and fell asleep a little while later. Wes and I salvaged a few hours and managed to stumble through the next day - barely functioning. We are hoping that the next few nights will be uneventful so we can catch up on our sleep. I just thought that our friends and family should share in our frustrations by hearing this story, and for those of you expecting your own babies soon - sorry Andrea and Emily - just shake you head and reassure yourself that our child is crazy and that your child will never put you through a night like that!

Gobble Gobble Day

So....after two weeks in Charleston - one planned, one not - Frank, Andrea, Noah and I climbed in the car to drive to Tampa for Thanksgiving. My Mom and Jessie also drove down from Atlanta for the holiday, known to Noah as Gobble Gobble day. It was a very low key day with lots of yummy food - including a turkey with no white meat, right Wes? :) Noah was happy to be back in his own house and he spent most of the day running around like a crazy person. I say crazy person because of his antics right before bedtime. Jessie had given him a bath and he ran out into the living room naked as a jay bird. All of the sudden he got a sneaky little grin on his face and the next thing you know, I look down and he his peeing on my carpet! Yes, my son was so glad to be back home he decided to end the evening by marking his territory.

Cleaning up after a great meal

Noah gets his bath - and prepares to soak the carpet!

The day after Thanksgiving we all made the short drive to see the manatees that hang out in the warm water by the Tampa power plant. They stay there all winter and the people there said that by the time January rolls around there will be about 300 in that one little bay. Noah really loved running back and forth across the dock and pointing at the water. I'm not sure he knew what he was pointing at but everyone else was doing so he did too! All in all it was a great holiday - we all ate way to much and enjoyed just hanging out!

Bebe points out the manatees to Noah

Still Alive

It has been awhile since we posted anything, but we wanted to let everyone know we are still alive. Things have been very crazy for us over the last week. We packed our car, loaded Noah up and drove to Charleston for a short house hunting trip with a vacation at the McKee's crambed into the middle! We had the best time with Adam and Andrea and we can't wait until we live closer so we can see each other more than once every 3-6 months! If you want to know more about our visit please see our link to the McKee family blog. You will find info on what we did and several pictures.

You may be wondering how the house hunting went....well, we ended up signing a contract to build a new house!!! It is in the West Ashley area and will put me about 10 minutes from work which is about 1/3 to 1/4 the time I commute to work now! I won't give away too much information about the house right now....I will let Kelly get on here and answer all the questions that girls will have about the house (guys could really care less). If I try I will most definitely mess it up. If you want to check out the neighborhood click on this link: www.carolinabaycharleston.com
We are building in the Salt Grass division and have picked the Berkeley Floor plan.
Please keep Kelly in your prayers as she and Noah are still in Charleston finishing the initials details of the house. They will be coming back to Tampa with my parents for Thanksgiving.

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year Noah was going to be a duck but after I realized that he was going to scream bloody murder every time I put the fuzzy costume on him we went with plan B. Instead he dressed up as his favorite Playhouse Disney character, Handy Manny. He put on some jeans and we made a little toolbelt and called it a day. He loved walking around wearing his tools and carrying his plastic pumpkin. However, the pumpkin didn't stay full for long. Once Noah realized that it was candy that people had put in there he proceeded to grab pieces and eat as he went along. Wes and I were unaware that he was such an expert at unwrapping candy! Anyway, Noah had a great time until the older (and louder) kids started coming out - he was not very fond of them and kept giving them glaring looks. By then he was tired anyway, so at 7:15 we called it a night and went home. Noah had a bath and went to bed, and Wes and I did what all good parents do - we ate our son's candy!

Noah licking the last of the chocolate from a Reese's cup wrapper.

When it got dark we used the frog lantern that Bebe sent to light our way.

One very tired Handy Manny!