christmas: part 7 of 7! finally!

this is it folks!  the last christmas 2010 post....finally!  boy it's been a long time since christmas i literally thought i would have a "christmas in july" post! 

to end our wonderful christmas break we spent new years eve with emily, marc, eli, aimee and their doggy, lucy.

on our drive down from nc to ga, we left about 8pm the night before new years eve.  it was dark and at one point cashel and i had this exchange:

cashel: mommy, i'm scared

me: of what baby?

cashel: uncle marc

me:  why?

cashel: because he's so tall

hahahahahahahahahaha!

we all got a good laugh out of that one!

we spent the night at mary and kelly's then emily picked us up the next morning and we headed to loganville.

the kids had a great time playing outside for a while, but once cashel had to start looking out for dog poop in the yard he only cared to play inside.  seriously?  yes. 

aimee really took to cashel this time because he was totally out of the pulling hair phase, although he did have his moments of too much excitement, pushing, shoving, pulling, getting into trouble, etc.  his two-ness came into full effect at times.  eli enjoyed showing cashel his model train that uncle wayne had given to him, and trying to get cashel to play ball. 

later that night, after aunt ellen and uncle wayne had left from a chili dinner together, marc and emily had a few friends over.  we ate.  boy did we (me) eat some yummy, yummy food. we totally thought cashel would conk out at 10pm-ish but no....this boy saw the new year in!

we had a great time and we also grateful that emily braved a terrible storm to drive us the hour drive to the airport the next day.  thanks georgia family!  we're so glad you got to see us on your turf this (last) year!  (wink)

please tell me this first part is a phase

things cashel does that drive me a little bit nuts:

1.  always, always, always takes his shoes and socks off in the car.  no matter how short the distance traveled, the shoes and socks must come off

2. pulls my hair.  gets in trouble for pulling my hair.  seems to enjoy getting into trouble so continues to pull my hair.   the same goes with hitting jason's bald head.

3. getting into his car seat - or, rather, not getting into his car seat.  he always wants to "drive" the car.  just getting into the car is a process.  just getting out of the car is a process.

4.  always having to go on a neighborhood walk when we get home.

5. vacation with a two year old is no vacation.  he always wants to go home to cashel's house.

things cashel does that makes me love him more:

1. wrap his arms around my neck and push his face against mine when we're sleeping

2. he often goes potty with out me or jason then yells out "i did it"

3. always makes us come to look at his poop

4. tells his "sisters" to hush

5. tells us daily that he needs a set of drums that make noise (the wii drums don't make noise)

6. gave jason one of his boogies the other night, then as jason was leaving jason asked for a hug.  cashel looked at jason and said "dad, you have a boogie on your finger" as though to say, why would i hug you when you have a boogie on your finger

7. he's in this mode where he always asks us if we're growing.  mama?  are you done growing?  yes, cashel.  are you?  no.  i'm still growing.  i'm growing like michael jordan.

i heart cashel

snakes

anyone who knows me know that i have a deadly fear of snakes, worms, all things that look shiny in the sun and don't have legs.  they are disgusting.  they do not belong on earth.  i don't consider myself someone who would ever intentionally hurt one of god's creatures, except for these creatures.  they can all d - i - e as far as i'm concerned.  too harsh?  maybe, but  that's just how i feel about them.

cashel, on the other hand likes snakes.  allow me to re-enact our daily conversation, specifically the one from our drive home yesterday.

mommy, do you like snakes?

no, cashel, mommy does not like snakes.

do you like snails?

no.

do you like spiders?

i'm ok with spiders.

do you like snakes, mommy?

no cashel, i do not like snakes....they're yucky.

mommy, i don't like snakes either.

mommy, do you like snakes?

no cashel, mommy does not like snakes.

me eiver.

a little time goes by in silence, listening to music.

mommy?

yes, cashel.

do you like snakes?

and so it goes again and again and again....you get the picture

i was getting out of the shower last night as cashel was getting out of the bath and he was asking jason the same thing!  same conversation, but he was happier because daddy likes snakes.

on sunday morning, as he was waking up i was laying beside him.  he opened his eyes, saw me, and asked, mommy, do you like snakes?

this boy has an agenda.  he is trying to wear me down i think until i agree that i like snakes.  he's also using reverse psychology(?) by telling me he does not like snakes eiver.

he loves rolly pollys.  we have lots on our back wall - especially after it rains.  his favorite thing to do?  roll them into a ball.  then, under his breath he mentions, i like to stomp them.  as in...

cashel, do you like rolly polly's?

yes.  i like to roll them into a ball and (as he's walking away, he says quietly) and stomp them.

my biggest fear of him bringing a worm inside has not yet happened, but i do truly fear that i will pass out when he does.

christmas: part 6 of ?

see this sweet face?  this is emma.  she is my beautiful, smart, athletic, funny neice.  she loves to play "would you rather" and has a strange obsession with scenarios related to dying.  for example, "would you rather be eaten alive by a snake or by a rhinoceros?" she will play this game for hours if you let her.  she even has an ipod touch app for the game. 

don't let this sweet face fool you.  she has a fierce determination to win.  to win at bowling that is. 

let me set the stage.

we went bowling while in kernersville. on a whim mimi decided to go with us.  yea!  mimi loves to bowl.  she used to be on a bowling team.  maybe she'll resume that practice....who knows.  it was me, jason, cashel, molly, emma and mimi.  we went to the infamous countryside bowling lanes establishment - still reeked of smoke although the indoor smoking ban had started almost a year before. 

cashel was, at first really excited about bowling.  he kept calling the pins "shakers."  why?  we have no clue.  after about 4 minutes the thrill was gone for him and we just wanted to wander around the bowling ally...so we took turns chasing him. 

in the meantime, we were all bowling, knocking down some shakers, having a great time....everyone except emma, that is.  she just wasn't having any luck this day.  that's how the game goes, but her confidence was shaken and we weren't sure she would ever get it back.

mimi to the rescue!  mimi took this opportunity to take emma under her wing and really help her to improve her game. 

mimi was patient, loving, caring, sharing, and in the end.....that emma!  that emma....


beat


us


all!

are you kidding me? 

nope! 

that sweet little face.  those kind eyes that were empty of a spark.  she had us all worried that her rough first half would wreck her for life. 

we were all just putty in her hands....

christmas: part 5 of ? - the raleigh edition

everytime we go back to nc we go to raleigh to see old friends.  we tried to convince ourselves that we didn't really need to do that this time.  to be more laid back and not feel so rushed but cabin fever set in with the darned snow and all and we were more than ready to get out of the house....besides that, greg and heather had just had their third child, liam, a month earlier....who can resist seeing a new little one :-)

cashel, of course, loved his time with parker and meadow.  they were both super sweet to him but by the time we left meadow was ready - as you can see, cashel spent most of his time trying to and actually succeeding at attacking her.

we also got to see another one of our favorite families in the world...the masons!  it was the first time in forever that we were all together.  good times catching up and having cashel show off!

until next time raleigh! 

christmas: part 4 of ?

and off to kernersville we go!

well...after a trip to hickory, of course, to see jason's childhood bff, kristen.  no pictures of that though - next time, i promise!

so by december 23rd we had finally made it to kernersville, k-vegas, the big k.  the place i thought encompassed the entire world as a little girl.  we made it there around 10pm, cashel still wide awake.  california time, remember?

granddad made it there the next day so we spent christmas eve hanging around the house, going to the fourth of july park and eating tons of food.

christmas day it snowed!  it was beautiful but jason and i hated it but we were shamed by mimi to take cashel out into the snow.  we are spoiled californian's now (just kidding mom, i'm a kernersvillian and jason's a hickoryian - i just made those up....could ya tell?)....anyhoo...we have no cold weather gear anymore!  i mean, i did make jason search through about 50 bins under our house for my old nj coat to bring with me, but we had no gloves, etc.

regardless - we took cashel out into the snow.  he loved it as all little boys do, but, he was very confused as i was making my snow angel.

here are some other pictures from christmas day!

a few days later the rest of the family (except for randall) got here and we had our traditional family christmas. we read the christmas story and opened presents and ate more food.

 and...while we were together we celebrated both grandmother's and jonathan's upcoming janurary 6th birthdays.  grandmother was getting ready to turn 99! and jonathan 45!  (just kidding jonathan)

i was able to see my bffffffff

and we had a cookie making contest with more than willing judges.  team robin/emma, aka, "remma" and team jason/molly, aka "jolly".  both teams had lots of help by cashel and remma won by a landslide:

when jason wasn't making cookies or playing wii he truly relaxed:

we left the night before new years eve to drive back to mary and kelly's house and spend new years eve with emily's family (post to come soon!)

we all agree that this was one of the best christmas' in a l o n g time!