Siah's Video

It's December 22nd, technically 3 days until Christmas...

Our stockings are not hung by the chimney with care, because I never got around to making them.

We just finished shopping today. Nothing is wrapped.

Goodies have yet to be baked for friends and neighbors.

No Christmas cards have been sent.

Why am I not on top of my Christmas game?

Here's why...(watch video, turn up sound)

I have no idea

Seriously, we have no idea where he comes up with this stuff. Andy & I do not walk around the house with plastic tubs on our heads, I promise. One day, Josiah was playing in the tupperware cabinet and came running into the other room with this...he was so proud of himself! I don't know how it stayed on his head, but he got it to stick.

We have quite a little character on our hands!

Christmas is Coming!

To our faithful readers...

Thank you for checking the blog, even though I haven't posted in eons. We've been busy doing Christmas-y things around here and there just hasn't been time to load pictures and come up with witty postings. I would say that I promise to be better, but that would be lying, at least for the next month or so. So, I'll just post when I can!

Josiah is at such a fun age right now and it's been a treat to teach him (attempt to teach him) about Advent and Christmas. It's great to watch him as he sees lights and Christmas trees and everything else for the first time!

One of those new things is a Fisher-Price Nativity Set that Josiah got for Advent. It arrived via UPS during his nap one day, so I set it up nicely on the coffee table, with visions of him playing with all the characters and putting them in their places around the stable. Not so...here is what happened when toddler King Kong disrupted peaceful Bethlehem...



We're trying to use it to teach him about Mary, Joseph, & Baby Jesus. About the shepherds, angels, and wise men. So far, his favorite is the donkey pulling a cart. This donkey goes "vroom, vroom" all over the house and has given rides to all of the other people and animals. Now he even points out the donkey in any Christmas story we read. At least he knows something about the Christmas story!

Thanksgiving Nibbles

I have been a photography slacker recently! Our lives are full of fun events and travels and I am currently failing to document them properly. For example, we traveled around Virginia and saw all sorts of relatives & friends, and I came away with about 10 pictures. Shame on me...

So, here are some Thanksgiving "nibbles" - a few shots of what we did.

Andy & I hosted a "Practice Thanksgiving" on the Saturday prior to the actual turkey day. We invited a bunch of young couples/families from the church and had a great time! Here is our table for 30...

And no, that is not our house. We ended up having the party at the church, due to the large turnout :)

Then it was off to VA for a week of visiting family and friends. We got to meet our new nephew - Seth - on his 2 week birthday! I forget how small newborns are...

Proud Uncle Andy getting some cuddle time

The 3 kiddos - Josiah and Campbell played together all day and had a blast!

Josiah and Papa (Amy's dad) played cars & trains constantly while we were there. He would wake up and want to play first thing! One morning, he didn't even let Papa eat breakfast, it was straight to the cars. Here are some shots of that morning...somehow Papa snuck out of the picture. I think he was still in his pj's.

Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving - let the Christmas festivities begin!

Oh, Boy

Our little boy is ALL BOY and getting more adventurous every day. We've been outside a lot recently, enjoying the crisp fall weather. He ALWAYS has 2 sticks in his hands, inevitably bigger than he is. He digs, rakes, and fights bushes with them.

He has recently become a climber. Auntie AK, have you been teaching him bad habits from a distance? Tonight after dinner, he decided it would be much more fun to stand on his Mickey Mouse fire truck than to push it or ride it sitting down. I, of course, let him stand on it (after making sure he wouldn't fall on anything hard) and laughed the entire time. He was so proud of himself!

I'm King of the World!

I can stand and still push all of the buttons

Look, Mom, I can ride it backwards

Oh, what adventures await us!

Charleston Visit

Last weekend we finally got down to Charleston to visit some great friends. The Clarks became South Carolinians a little over a year ago and it was so fun to see their home, their new city, and of course just be with them for a few days...

We went to the aquarium - a first for Josiah! It's right on the water and is a beautiful facility.

The weather was great and we played outside a lot . Coleman showed us all how to play baseball. We batted, ran the bases, fielded, and cheered.

Josiah learning how to bat.

Running the bases, with Coleman and Bella in hot pursuit!

We also got to see Coleman in action on the soccer field...they were amazingly good for 5-year-olds.

After the game we headed downtown to the Farmer's Market, where we ate yummy crepes, wrestled and played with dogs in the city square, and people-watched.


Then it was off to the College of Charleston for a quick tour!


Thank you, Clarks, for a fun weekend! Somehow I managed to only get pictures of your cute kiddo...next time we'll get one with all of you...sorry!

Parades & Websites

I posted a few weeks ago about becoming a Pampered Chef Consultant. I now have more exciting news...I have my own website!

www.pamperedchef.biz/amywood

You can visit my site, look at all of our products, and place an order - all at your own convenience!

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One of the common sights around our house these days is a parade. At least once a day, Josiah & Andy march in a circle around the house, with Bella close behind. She doesn't want to miss out on any excitement! Josiah thinks this is the most fun thing ever and giggles the entire time. I'm usually laughing pretty hard as well. Soon we'll need to get uniforms and instruments! Here are some pictures of the fun...



An action shot - they're fast!



If you're in the mood for a parade, please stop by...they usually get going in the late afternoon!

The State Fair

Yes, here we are with thousands of our closest friends, being wooed by racing duck and balloon dart games, enormous stuffed animals, rides that are not attached to the ground, and of course the smell of funnel cakes and those fabulous turkey legs. We made our inaugural trip to the State Fair on a chilly morning this week! Our good friends Jim & Emily accompanied us for this momentous occasion. I cannot say fairs are my favorite thing (Andy, however, went back the very next day with more friends), but we had lots of fun and Josiah LOVED all of the animals. We could barely keep him on our side of the fence!

This crafty little goat figured out an easier way to get food.

And this one apparently won "king of the mountain"! Poor cow...

That's it for fair pictures. Jim & Andy refused to play any games, therefore Emily & I walked away with zero stuffed animals. We're so bummed. Maybe next year...

Awesome-ness at the Mall

Really? Awesome-ness at the mall of all places? Yes, Andy & I pretty much rocked the mall "grocery-game" style yesterday. We went shopping (a rarity) for clothing for us (a bigger rarity) and we got the best deals!

Harold's has a lot of clothes on clearance.
And they're having a "25% off everything in the store" sale this week.
And we had a coupon for $20 off our purchase.

Cue Drum Roll...

Andy got a sport coat - originally $400 - for $77.32!

I got a beautiful skirt, wearable in 3 seasons -
originally $118 - for $23.10!!

You could say we're quite proud of ourselves!

**Bonus - Josiah charmed the saleswomen and pretty much had the run
of the store while we were there. Too bad they don't sell kids clothing...

Our Punkin' at the Patch

We took Josiah to his first Pumpkin Patch today! Hill Ridge Farms is about 30 minutes away and sooo much fun! If you're in the area and have little ones, I highly recommend it. There were animals, games, a big slide, a hay ride, a train, and all kinds of great stuff!

Sliding with Daddy

Playing in the "Corn Box" (a gigantic sandbox filled with corn kernels). As you might imagine, our little digger did not want to leave this corn extravaganza. He and Andy were shaking kernels from their jeans for a while!

This pumpkin looks good!

No wait, I like this one better

Our attempt at a family picture. It was just a LITTLE bright outside.

Yardwork

It all started with wanting to grow grass. As usual with house projects, this one snowballed! Before we laid down grass seed, we needed to aerate, put lime down to kill moss, and put fall fertilizer down to prepare the soil. Well, then we decided that the gullies and holes in the backyard needed to be filled in. Therefore, we had 5 yards of topsoil/compost dumped into the driveway and began to spread it out.

Josiah decided he could be very helpful with the wheelbarrow.

"Guys, this is easy and fun. Outta my way!"

"Oh, you want to take my picture? Sure..."

"Maybe I can just move all of this dirt with my bare hands"

This sweet face is ALL boy! He loved playing in the dirt and helping Daddy dig.

Hopefully we'll get the grass seed down before it rains!