December

So far the month of December has been crazy despite being in a city with nothing to do. After getting back from St. Louis, we welcomed our friends Jill and Isabelle to Charleston. Isabelle is 3 and one of Emma's dear friends from Cincinnati. We enjoyed some good time hanging out and playing.

Enjoying some time snuggling and reading...one of the few quiet moments of the week.

The girls decorated cutout cookies. The amount of icing and sprinkles everywhere was a good indication that they had a great time. I don't know that I have ever seen so many sprinkles on one cookie.


While Jill and Isabelle were here we attempted to go to the Parade of Boats. Apparently there is a large parade of boats decorated for Christmas through the harbor. We pack dinner and the kids and went. On the way there Jonah projectile vomited everywhere. It was awful. We cleaned him up and since he seemed fine, we kept on going...it is amazing what you push through when there are two three year olds whining in the back seat. The biggest problem was lack of clothes for Jonah. So, we wrapped him in Mike's sweater and put him in the carrier. We arrived at the viewing site and waited for the 5:00 parade to begin. We abandoned the effort when at 6:00 there were still no boats. The kids were so excited to see the lights at the Christmas tree stands on the way home that it made up for no parade.

We enjoyed a few trips to the beach to play in the sand. I was pleasantly surprised to find how delightful the beach can be this time of year with my kids. There is minimal mess to track home when they are not getting wet. Since then we have been back to the beach again since Jonah asks to go everyday and carries his shovel around all day long.

Emma has been enjoying dressing up. She dresses herself up as well as all of her babies...and her brother.

Emma and I had "girl time" with Mariela and Ms. Miller. We went to the holiday lights display at the county park. While it was not the Festival of Lights, it was an amazing display. The girls got to ride the carrousel, roast marshmallows, and ride the train. It was a really fun night and good to enjoy something fun in Charleston.

Warning...they do break. I dropped my phone - completely my own fault and shattered my screen. Thankfully it still works.

Mike joined us for some play time at the beach and built a turtle with Emma. She had so much fun with Daddy while Jonah and I ran around and played ball.

We decorated our tree. Emma hung all of her own ornaments and some of Jonah's. There is a high concentration of ornaments on about three branches. Jonah has done really well leaving the tree alone and just talking to the ornaments. He especially loves the snowmen ornaments. A very special addition to our tree arrived last night - ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa's tree. It brought back memories for me and when I told Emma what they were, she broke into tears and said how special it was. We are all missing Grandma this year.

For Christmas we are headed to Cincinnati to spend time with the Woods family as well as briefly see Ben and Erin and Grammy and Poppa. I am personally dreading the trip physically and emotionally. Emma already has asked if we can just stay at our old home and live there. I know it will be a great time with family and dear friends, but it is going to be really hard to come back to Charleston.

The exciting thing is that once we are home we begin the countdown to welcoming this baby into our family! We have lots to do to get ready for his arrival so hopefully Mike and I will get motivated and finish most of what we have planned to do. Emma is so excited about her brother and with as much as Jonah loves babies, we know he will be excited too. Life is about to get VERY interesting!

As for churches and getting settled...we have decided to settle at a large Baptist Church. We know it will be difficult to get connected there, but we also have come to the conclusion that we will not be getting connected until after we adjust to this little guy and having a family of 5. I am totally fine with that, and it is nice to have some of the pressure lifted to "make friends" quickly. It is a little lonely without having any friends here, but I am also enjoying not having any commitments or obligations for this season after being so committed in Cincinnati. All of the traveling has helped break up the stretches of loneliness and kept us distracted as well as keeping us from really being able to get connected at a church.

Emma and Jonah continue to love BSF and dance class. I think Jonah enjoys dance as much as Emma because he and I get alone time. We have been busy getting ready for Christmas and running errands, but we have managed to squeeze in lots of time at the park and on the bike trail. Our neighborhood park has just been mulched to cover up the sand and that makes it a much more desirable destination.

Here are a few videos to enjoy.