Claire + Snow = Cuteness

Claire LOVED the snow. She cried when I would take her inside. She ran towards the door every time someone else went in or out. She played with snowballs, she sat in it, she even put her face in it! I think our child will love St. Louis!

And of course, these cute babies were teething and chewing on everything in sight :) 

Christmas in Asheville was wonderful! 

Merry Christmas in Aiken!

Nickell fam at Hopelands enjoying the lights!

Claire's first Christmas morning!

Enjoying her first big toy :)

The hubby and I goofing off of course!

And one more... 

Soro squat! 

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas....

and I almost got it!!! The weatherman was right for once! It started snowing early this morning and by the time I left for church it was sticking and piling up. No snow on the roads of course, but still, count on a least a few Aikenites to freak out - meaning that church attendance was rather slim. We had two inches by lunchtime, but around 2pm the temperature rose and it all turned to drizzly rain and washed the wonderful snow away :( Sad day.
But not to fear! We headed up to Asheville where there was plenty of snow to spare! The driving was great until we got into my parents neighborhood, at which point I (deciding to see if it was icy) slammed on the brakes while going around a turn and sent us skidding a few feet with the anti-lock brakes engaging and going crazy. No worries, it was fun and I drove carefully the rest of the way! Now we're here and enjoying the 16 degree weather and foot of snow. Tomorrow we'll head out into the cold and see what Claire thinks of it!

And our baby is......

a BOY! Or as Cole would say, he has man parts ;-) We are very, I repeat VERY, excited about this! We were both secretly hoping for a boy, but didn't want to be disappointed if it was a girl. Mainly, we just wanted a healthy baby. But now that we know, we are thrilled! We have always said we want one of each and more. I would post a picture, but because of how he was sitting, the ultrasound tech could only get good looks at his nether region. All of our pics have an arrow pointing to his man parts with "BOY!!!!" typed in all caps. The good news is that I get another ultrasound in a month so that they can get a better view of everything else.

Anyway, now would be the time to throw names our way! We're thinking about going for a Jr., but are not sure yet. Questions, comments???

Blah

I named this post blah because I really have nothing to write about. Just various pieces of news. They might be blog-worthy. Or not.

* December is cold, very cold. Aiken has surprised me this year. Because of this and the fact that the heat has died in my car, Claire has a new peacoat from Dee. It is red and adorable. She looks like a tiny little grown-up toddling around!

* Holidays call for cooking. The week after Thanksgiving I made three batches of Pumpkin Crisp. Last week I made three batches of fudge. They were wonderful! Today I am baking shortbread :)

* Cole's old roommate Aaron and his new wife Katie came up to visit last week. I read her blog all the time so it was nice to meet her in person finally! We sat around and talked, played some cards, showed them Aiken, went on a double-date, and sat around and talked some more. Oh, and tried to convince them to have kids right away :)

* I have no motivation to work out anymore. Which is really bad with Christmas parties all around me! I think I've gained 4 lbs! Shocking for a pregnant woman, I know.

* Here a some random pics of Claire from Emma May's birthday party a month ago. I thought they were cute.

Thanksgiving in Asheville

We spent the two days after Thanksgiving in Asheville with my family. We went from 75 degrees in Aiken to low 30's and 40's in Asheville. It was wonderful! Good food, catch up time with the families, and fun watching the little cousins bond!

Bruton - 9 1/2 mo's, Caroline - 2 1/2 yrs, Claire - 10 mo's

Thanksgiving and I'm getting crafty

This is about as far as my decorative talents go, but I thought it would be fun to be crafty this year. I made the wreath from scratch (thanks to Hobby Lobby) and the rest is just accumulations of years past. I also repainted our front door since it was looking shabby. 

Oh facebook!

Bath time!

Photo booth Fun!

I had never been at a wedding with a photo booth before. So I was quite intrigued by what it would turn out. Thanks to Tara and Daniel, here are the results.

Apparently lots of this:

And this: 

And again:

But eventually we got it right :)

Yay photo booth!