Post Christmas Fun

We had a wonderful Christmas. Finn was so spoiled from all of the toys, love and attention that he doesn't know what to do with himself. After the hype of Christmas, we enjoyed a few days just hanging out . . . riding bikes, walks on the beach and of course, lots of playing on the swing set!

Pretty sure she is telling him that she will buy him ice cream

and candy when mom isn't looking

Learning to ride his new bike

This is for you Bop!

This just made my heart melt . . . he took night-night out to show her what Santa brought

Santa Delivers

This is what was hiding behind all that newspaper and waiting for Finn on Christmas morning in his backyard. Is he a lucky little boy or what?

Hands down this was the best Christmas thus far. It was our first Christmas in our own home, my family was able to celebrate with us and Finn was beyond excited (as were we). Coupled by the fact that we have been blessed beyond measure, to have friends, family and to be able to come home, made me feel extra humbled and grateful this season. We spent Christmas Eve with the Harvins and Weathingtons. Marla and I went to high school together--her mom was our PE teacher, her dad was our football coach. We go WAY back (as in back when we were both brunettes!). Our families are old friends and coincidentally, we bothmoved back to Charleston within weeks of each other and now are neighbors on SI. We reconnected (thanks Facebook) and pretty much picked up where we left off . . . circa 1997. It was great to celebrate together and spend a quiet Christmas Eve together.

Christmas morning brought lots of anticipation and excitement. Finn was pretty pumped too. After opening the presents under the tree, we emptied our stockings, where Santa left a little note telling Finn to go look outside because there was ONE present that wouldn't fit down the chimney . . .

Santa's Elves Hard At Work

Santa has something BIG planned for Finn this Christmas. His elves needed some extra time to prepare . . . so he asked me to cover our windows and keep Finn from looking and going into his own backyard. Which wasn't going to be that big of a deal except Santa's elves changed the plan last minute and wanted to come a little earlier than planned. So this is how our house looked for 3 days before Christmas. What do you think Finn thought about it . . . .? Nothing. That's what. He is so used to our house being covered in paint, tape, ladders, dropcloths, tools, etc. that he didn't even ask why there was newspaper covering all of the windows.

Our Super Hero Turns 4!

Our super hero officially turns 4 on December 21st, but we celebrated a little early with a birthday party at our house on December 17 (my sister's birthday). There's nothing better than letting a dozen or so preschoolers break in your new house and furniture! We had the perfect day--who would have thought that we would be able to have an outside birthday party in the middle of December? We had a big spiderman jump castle and batman cupcakes. This was our first party in our house and it was wonderful . . . seeing all of the kids running and playing, hearing the screen door slam a million times, and having our friends and family there with us! It was truly a fun day and the first of what I hope to be many, many more birthday parties celebrated in our home. Finn is very blessed to have made so many wonderful friends who were able to share in his special day. And one of the best surprises was that Mimi, Bop, Paige and Mary Daniel made the trip down to celebrate with us. Finn even talked Mary Daniel into getting on the jump castle with him.

Here are a couple of my favorites, the rest you can see in the slideshow. Happy Birthday Super Hero!

Hard to tell, but he seems to be having fun

Love this picture: when one decides to get in, they ALL want in at exactly the same time

Getting ready for cupcakes

A typical family shot these days . . . Finn brandishing some sort of

weapon and making a goofy face

No party is complete without a PINATA!

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Garden School Christmas Program

The three and four year classes put on a little Christmas program for all of us proud moms and dads before leaving for a long Christmas vacation. The kids perform about as well as you would expect them to . . .stage fright, potty breaks in the middle of the first song, picking noses, deer-in-headlights expression . . . it's all priceless and we eat that stuff up! My favorite moment was when they sang Jingle Bells about 6 times because no one could decide when to stop singing so they just kept going on and on and on. Here is a little excerpt of them singing the reindeer hokie pokie. PS yes that is my annoying cackle in the background. Sorry!

We also celebrated Finn's birthday at school with Batman cupcakes! His teacher told me that earlier in the day Father John (the pastor of the church where the school meets) was talking to all of the kids about Christmas and asked who's birthday it was. Finn said it was his birthday. Father John said yes, but who else's birthday is it . . . Baby Jesus, right? And Finn pipes up, "Baby Jesus and MY birthday!"

The City of Light

Christmas came early for me this year. In the form of a plane ticket . . . to Paris. In France. It all started a few months ago when my DC friends Alisha and Amy decided to plan a trip to Paris. They asked if I wanted in, and I did. So Mark gave me the trip for Christmas. And to sweeten the deal, Mark donated enough points for us to have a free hotel room at the Hilton. Don't let him fool you . . .he really is a sweetheart!

The only week that worked for everyone was the 2nd week of December, which is really inconvenient time of year given all of the holiday parties, school parties, birthdays oh and that little thing called Christmas! But since there is no good time to go anywhere, we all went for it, and what a trip it was! Seriously, we all had a wonderful time. It was the perfect mix of sightseeing and vacationing, with lots of cheese, chocolate, girl talk and wine mixed in.

I'll give you the Reader's Digest version of the trip (because I more than make up for it in the volume of pictures!). We took a night flight from DC and got to Paris around 11 am the next morning. There is a 6 hour time difference and no one got much sleep. But, since it was Paris, we chugged some coffee, took showers and powered through. We covered lots of ground that first day . . . the champs elysees, Notre Dame cathedral, the Seine River, Musee d Orsay--all on foot. We crashed that night and slept a solid 14 hours and woke up on Paris time. We cruised the city, hitting some shops, cafes and Opera House. On day 3, we ventured out on the train to see the Palace of Versailles and then back to the Eiffel Tower. Day 4 brought more shopping, eating, the famed macaroon boutique Lauderee, the sneaking into the Ritz, crepes, the Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur, Montmarte, Moulin Rouge and probably a lot of stuff I am leaving out.

We ate at fabulous restaurants, some where no English was spoken (we have some mad charade skills), with no "mom jeans" in sight. Seriously, that was a stipulation of being allowed to come on the trip--you had to dress the part. No mom jeans, slippers, running shoes (I came close to breaking that one), makeup and jewelry were suggested! I am grateful to Mark for sending me on this trip, to my in-laws and sister-in-law for taking such good care of Finn (that I didn't call once!) and for Alisha and Amy for being such good traveling compadres. I am so thankful for their friendship and came away from this trip with a greater appreciation and respect for them than before. Cheers ladies! Here's to Italy, Greece and Croatia!!

Without further adieu . . .our pictures. All taken with the iPhone camera because we were all too lazy to lug around our big girl cameras. Feel free to skip some or all.

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Christmas Prep

Here is the scene from the National Tree during our Christmas last year in DC . . .

And here is the scene this year . . . shorts and t-shirts!

Not quite the National Tree but not too shabby.

The third time is a charm--I had to take the lights off 3 times and put them on again because one strand kept shorting out. I hate putting on lights and I did it THREE times. We almost had a Clark Griswold moment on our hands but thankfully when I flipped the switch the last time, they stayed on.

Mark took Finn to the Island Club gingerbread house decorating event. He said it was the ugliest cutest house there.

Finn thought it was all kinds of awesome

Christmas Card Photo Rejects

With an impending Parisian trip quickly approaching, the race was on to order my Christmas cards before I left. I then realized that I had NO appropriate pictures. Emphasis on the appropriate. "How can this be?" you may ask. I take lots of pictures . . . mostly of Finn, but many of them turn out like this . . .

or this . . .

and then there's this . . .

Not exactly the snapshot of our family I wanted hanging on everyone's refrigerator door. So I cleaned Finn up and took him and Lily out to the beach to capture that "perfect" shot. Which clearly is never going to happen . . . because being on a deadline and under the gun, coupled with an unwilling subject much much guarantees that this will not be happening. So, we did our best, and in the end came out with one that will do. Which is all that I can ask for!

Nope . . .

Not quite . . .

What IS Lily looking at??

Next . . .

Definite No

Ding Ding Ding

Merry Christmas from the Lyles

Thanksgiving at the Beach

My dad once told me that the best way to finish all of the small, nagging projects in your house was to schedule a dinner party. So naturally . . . we volunteered to have Thanksgiving at our house this year. In 7 1/2 years of marriage, Mark and I haven't lived below the Mason-Dixon line and therefore have never been able to host the Lyles family for any holiday. Clearly, it was our turn. It started out as a joke . . . let's do Thanksgiving at Robin and Mark's--but quickly became the motivation we needed to tackle some of the unfinished home projects that had been hanging over our heads. Don't get me wrong, we have a LONG way to go, but round 1 was completed before lunch on Thanksgiving!

It was so wonderful having everyone over. I didn't take many pictures because I was trying to be a good hostess (even though we ate off paper plates!). Finn especially loved having his cousins over and getting to show them his toys, room and play in his own backyard. At one point, he comes racing through the house wearing a shirt, and shoes (no pants) because Luke had taken his pants off and Finn wanted to be just like Luke. Nevermind that Luke had shorts on under his pants when he took them off. Finn did not. He was in hog heaven and hearing the screen door slam over and over was truly music to my ears. We loved having everyone over and hope that it won't be next Thanksgiving before everyone comes back. Here are just a few pictures Mark took on the beach.

My little turkey

Snuggling with Uncle Danny after a wipeout on the cement (notice the bandage!)

Benich Vist Take 2

Let me set the record straight here: 1. I love my friend Kriya. 2. I love her kids, Wade and Bree. 3. I want Finn to love them as much as I do (because he will be hanging out with them regardless)

Now, the reality of the situation is that while #'s 1 and 2 are most definitely true . . . #3? Not so much. At least this was the case this summer. I was so excited to finally be closer to some of my dear friends and even more excited when they are able to visit Charleston. Kriya and her kids spent a week at Wild Dunes this summer and I was so happy that FInn and Wade could be buddies and Kriya and I could spend hours chatting and catching up while watching our adorable children frolic in the ocean and develop a lifelong friendship. Which could not have been further from the truth . . . the entire time we were together they fought. It started out as innocent bickering and ended up in a full on knock down drag out wrestling match. Sad, but I was resolved that they would get over it and be friends eventually.

So, when Kriya called and said they were spending an entire week in Charleston I was thrilled and had to go ahead and book my day with them because she is a busy lady and has lots of friends and family to squeeze in. What followed was shockingly one of the most pleasant days I have ever spent. Seriously. The boys were angels and LOVED playing together and got along great. Not one fight the entire day. We played on the beach, lunched at Taco Mamacita's, hung out at the house and played on the beach some more. Seriously, one of the best days ever. Now, it is highly likely that this will never ever happen again, but that's okay, because this was one for the record books. Of course, I didn't take any pictures, but Kriya did. So you can see her's here.

Kriya, Wade and Bree: thanks for spending your day with us and we can't wait until your next visit.

What You Missed . . .

An encore performance.

Notice how he does his hand motions while holding an ice cream that doesn't fall off. What talent!

Harvest Dinner

Finn's school puts on a fun event called the Harvest Dinner. Reminiscent of the first Thanksgiving dinner between the Pilgrims and Native Americans (note to self, do NOT call them Indians!), all of the families gather together to celebrate, eat, give thanks and of course, hear 3 and 4 year olds sing songs, because I'm pretty sure Squanto and his buddies put on a show for their parents back in the day. The kids worked so very hard and did a great job. Everyone sang and no one ran to mom and dad until after it was over. Finn was so very proud and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing him in his element. As a proud mom, I will only force you to watch one song.

Emma, Easton, Gracie, Zack, Finn and Easton

Our Native Americans

Singing with the Pilgrims. No stage fright here

Clowning around with Zack

After a great show and a quick meal, it quickly went downhill . . . all of the kids were high on excitement and sugar and ended up climbing under, over and around stacks of chairs

School Pictures

I love that they take pictures at school so that I am guaranteed at least one photo of Finn where he is sitting still and semi-focused. These turned out way better than I expected, although Mark wanted to know why they put flowers in his hair.

2nd Ammendment Rights

We believe in the right to bear arms . . . and bellies!

Let the record show that it is November and we are still wearing shorts (and sandals!). Couldn't be happy to be back in the south again.

Samantha Comes to Town

We were so excited to have our first overnight guests since moving to Charleston. And even more excited that it was Alisha, Samantha and Barrett Slye! Alisha was incredibly brave to fly solo with two little ones and we were so happy she did. Finn was SO EXCITED to see Samantha. We even skipped school so we could enjoy every minute of their visit. Finn and Sam truly treat each other like brother and sister . . . hugging and loving on each other one minute and duking it out on the floor the next minute. We had a great, low-key weekend, hanging at the beach, playing on the playground, visiting the park and chilling on the porch. We even ventured downtown to the kids museum, only to find it closed. So we regrouped and hit a nearby park and they were just as happy rolling in the dirt. We were spoiled living in DC being able to see our dear friends on a weekly basis and miss seeing them so it was great to spend a few days together. Unfortunately, we didn't take too many pictures. It was hard enough wrangling all three of them, much less while holding a 5 lb camera. We did manage to take a few on the iPhone which are all blurry because they were never still. We miss you guys and can't wait to see you again!!

Hiding out in the tepee

Notice the budding artists . . . their artwork may be seen on each other's faces

It had been quiet for way to long and then we figured out why. They even managed to color all over poor Barrett.

Check out his blue "man-liner" The head wound is courtesy of a run-in with a fence post at the playground. A cool hand-drawn bandage by dad and he was all ready to go again.

Finn and Sam had each other . . . Barrett had Lily.

Girls night out! Mark volunteered to stay in while we went out to dinner.

Just kidding . . . all four of them were asleep before we left :)