Christmas Day

Whew. After all these Christmas posts . . . you'd think we would have been done w. Christmas / Christmas Presents . . . but we werent. No . . . we had THREE more Christmas' to attend [ ours, the billingsleys and the kings ].  I know, didn't you think we had already done them! No . . . that was Christmas Eve . . . not to be confused w. the next day . . . Christmas day! j.

We started out Christmas morning off at 7 -- oh, wait -- there was no 'we' there . . . It was just me. I woke up at 7. Started the coffee, sat and watched a little of the 'Today Show' . . . enjoying the last bit of 'quiet' I would hear all day. Houston woke up about 8 / 8:30 and then we woke daddy up at 9 with a big 'SANTA CAME!' Laugh. Houston doesn't have a CLUE about Santa or what the meaning is . . . but he sure did know he wanted to open presents . . . However, he opened his first present and threw it down. Laugh. It was a shirt . . . his face was like, 'What the hell is this, mom?' Haha. Sorry Bubby. Then, he chose his second present . . . and I felt so bad, it wasn't 'his' present . . . so he couldn't open it. After me saying not that one, he pretty much could care less about the whole present opening thing. Ha. But, he had a good morning and opened plenty :)

Christmas Eve

Our next Christmas Celebration was Christmas Eve. A fun fun day . . . and a sick sick day for me. Whew. I believe I was high on cough meds . . . whoopsie. But, everyone else seemed to really enjoy the day :)

We spent the first half of the day w.  Duke and Deeda . . . Houston mostly napped the entire time there . . . so we just curled up on the couch and watched some TV and set up Deeda's new iPad w. games / books for Houston to play. And ever since . . . he hasn't gotten away from it! H loves to play games / read books on iPad / iPhone. He is such a little technology baby. I need to break him of some of it!

Then we headed to Jojo's for our Christmas Eve dinner and present opening w. the 'Cumalander' side of the family. It was a little weird this year cause Jess wasn't around . . . she was spending some time in NYC w. our friend Teresa and her family. But, we had some 'fill ins'. The Richardson and Lindler families decided to eat with us this year. So, we had plenty of entertainment and company :)

Take a look at some of the happenings:

Then we went back to Duke and Deeda's house for our 'Christmas Eve'. Papaw (Matt's granddad on his dad's side) and Uncle Bill were there. The Adams: Janie, Doug, Maggie, Katie and little Jaden walked over for a bit and we opened presents between the kids. We watched them play w. Houston's trucks together. It was funny to see them play together . . . to see what they like and don't like. Matt's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dewayne had also brought over a HUGE stuffed animal horse before they went to TX . . . and Jaden and H climbed all over it. Laugh. A bunch of clowns.

Friends Christmas Dinner

The Wednesday before Christmas, we had our Friends Christmas Dinner. Us girls decided to have our weekly girls night moved from Thursday to Wednesday since Jess was going to NYC and had to leave Thursday night. We had each person bring something . . . we drank and had a GREAT time :)

We had drawn names two weeks prior so us girls could exchange gifts . . . I mean, lets face it . . . men hardly EVER buy gifts . . . so, we thought it was best to do just girls. Plus, it feels good to pamper ourselves vs men sometimes. j.

We had a great time relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Friends always make you feel warm, esp. this group of ladies -- OH, and their spouses. j. Laugh.

Houston Family Christmas

Sunday, December 18th, we had our annual Houston family Christmas dinner / lunch. We drove up to Greenville / Simpsonville, SC to Nana and Papa's house (Matt's grandparents on his mama's side). We have such a LARGE family on that side . . . so, lunch is always eventful and full of love. There are about, 20 of us, when we are all present and I think about 18 where there . . . We had . . .

Nana and Papa
Leanne and the three girls (Emerson, Logan and Kenny Brooke)
Donna and Bob
Aunt Gaga and Jimmy
Aunt Barbara, John and Allston
Kendall and Peter w. their cute new little puppy
and Matt, Houston and I

Whew, that is how many? 18! We were missing Grant and Sarah and Uncle Billy. We missed seeing them . . . But, we still had a GREAT time. Houston mostly played w. Matt's trucks he had at Nana and Papa's when he was little . . . along with running around with the girls, Kennedy and Logan and Emerson. . . while us adults laughed at the kiddos, caught up on what everyone was doing and playing w. Kendall's new pup!!

We opened presents at the end . . . and it really is like Christmas when we all open presents up there!! Paper every where! Presents being passed left and right. The kids opening their new toys. Everyone talking. Smiles. So much fun :) 

I didn't take any family photos cause, stupid me, some how my camera got 'turned' on and the battery was dead . . . and I had a photo session that afternoon and so, my batteries were charging. Boo. I know. Plus, so much was going on . . . I'm not sure I could have captured it all!! 

Raleigh Christmas

A couple weeks ago, we spent the weekend with our dad's side of the family in NC. Matt, Houston, Jess and I drove up Friday night to spend the night with our Aunt Carol and Uncle Eddie in Liberty -- about an hour or so shy of Raleigh (where the rest of the King family was staying). I was nervous to make the Christmas adventure . . . for most of you who read our blog, Houston doesn't travel real well . . . and our last adventure to Raleigh ended a day early due to the lack of sleep. So, this mama was VERY nervous for our two night, two day 'King' family Christmas.


The drive up is about a 3 hr 15 min drive . . . that took us 4+ hrs to our destination. Which, wasn't bad considering we made several 'pitt' stops for dinner and diapers changes, etc. AND the best part . . . the drive 'lulled' Houston to sleep! Horray. All we had to do was get settled in and lay him down and cross our fingers he would sleep ALL night!

Oh, I forgot to mention, Carol and Eddie have a camper down by a pond behind their house . . . and Matt and I decided that we wanted to sleep down there next time we visited . . . so we did. BUT, we didn't think about where everything would fit. Laugh. Between, Matt, Jess, Houston and I . . .  we were packed in there!! It was a tight squeeze, but a warm squeeze! Thankfully, the camper has heat, it has electricity, it has a TV (Matt was THRILLED!), it has everything you 'need' to survive and more. So, we 'moved' in, got Houston's pack-n-play set up and made the transfer . . . and baby slept ALL NIGHT! I couldn't believe it. I was beyond words.

NIGHT ONE:  Success

That morning we drove over to our Uncle and Aunts home in Raleigh and spent the entire day with them. It was a blast. We went to a local flee market in Raleigh and walked around . . . went to a park and let the kiddo's play for a bit.  Came back and had a wonderful dinner prepared by our Aunt SueSue. Then, it was present time!!

DAY ONE:  Success

Houston then again, fell asleep in the car on the way back to Liberty . . . transfer two into the camper . . . Success! And he then again, slept ALL night.

NIGHT TWO:  Success

That morning, we woke up and spent family time w. our Aunt Carol and Uncle Eddie. Just around the house, relaxing, talking . . . them, getting to see Houston. We walked their barn, saw their cows, ate breakfast. By lunch time, we decided to hit the road back to home.

Busy Christmas

Since our last post, we have been busy trying to prepare for our Christmas Celebrations.

We've been to Raleigh / Liberty, NC for my dad's family Christmas, to Greenville, SC for Matt's mom's family Christmas, we've had a friends Christmas dinner, been up to Jojo's for her family Christmas and then around back and forth in Chapin for our families Christmas' . . . whew. Not to mention a few Christmas 'parties' here or there.

I have photos for 'most' of our Christmas events . . . to be posted soon. But, till then, we just wanted to wish you all a VERY (late) Merry Christmas!

I've been sick with a nasty virus of some sort that has made Christmas quite 'blurry' due to meds and such . . . but, overall, it was a wonderful time with us Billingsley's. Matt was off for 5 straight days and we LOVED every minute of daddy being home with us!

Houston got more than enough for Christmas! Although, he could careless about the opening of gifts . . . he was quite excited at each new toy that was presented to him. 

We have also been accused on 6 different accounts to being pregnant since my nasty virus is making me feel so sick . . . but, I can assure all of you that is NOT the case! Our little Houston Monster is just enough for us!! AND, not to mention, he will be turning TWO in just a couple of weeks!! So, details on his birthday party will be soon to come!!

My, lots to catch up on. Seems like I never get a break! j.

our 11 month old munchkin

our lil' Houston is 11 months old!! I cannot believe that in less than 4.5 weeks, he will be ONE.

Today, I signed him up for the Mother's Morning Out Program at Gateway Baptist Church. Sigh. He is officially a little man. No more baby for us. But, I must say... I have been blessed and thankful that I have been able to watch our little man grow so fast.

Merry Christmas all! Hopefully when we start the new year, there will be more posts... we are still trying to get all settled into our new home!

SANTA CAME!

Matt and I woke up Christmas morning -- I mean, I woke up Christmas morning at 8 and said, 'SANTA CAME! Can we get up and open presents?' -- sigh, I am such a kid!

After opening our presents at our house, we headed to the Billingsley (Deeda and Dukes -- aka Matt's parents) household to open our gifts. Everyone got lots of good presents! Matt and I gave his parents bluetooths... boy where they excited! They immediately hooked them up and got them working before we could head out the door to our Christmas movie! (we go every year to see a movie as a family on Christmas day) After the bluetooths were hooked up, we headed to our Christmas tradition movie -- movie of choice for the year was 'Sherlock Holmes'. I loved it! Although, not really a Christmas movie - a little dark - but still good (better than 'Molly and Me' last year - ahem, Donna - we balled our eyes out last year!!!)

We then headed to my parents house to 'wrap up' the day with more gifts!

Houston's stocking at the King's.

Josie got a camera... therefore, we MUST take pictures of EVERYTHING... 'Sit right here Ca-Ca and take pictures'... SO, we did...

We took pictures of JoJo's socks...

We took pictures of Mommy's socks... (and everyone elses... even Daddy's who wasnt wearing Christmas socks... but, I decided not to post the 'ugly' ones)

Even pictures of Wes and Mommy reading...

Besides the 'picture taking extravaganza' -- follow Brandy's blog for a post from Josie and Wes' camera -- it was a good evening w. the King family. Lots and lots of gifts to be opened... and yes, One at a time! And when kiddos are involved... it takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R!

In the famous words of Mr. Earl Cumalander. 'I just want to thank everyone for everything!"

Matt, Houston and I had a great holiday season!

- the baby {M.E}

Christmas Eve Celebrations

Matt and I had a great Christmas celebrating with both our families! It started at home on Christmas Eve:

Our beautiful tree with all the presents (that didnt stay under the tree long)!!

Matt's Baby (Belle)

My Baby (Mister Zoe)

Our Baby (Houston, who will soon be here!)

We have another baby, Jackson, but he never stays around for family 'fun time' -- he is our wild cat that roams the neighborhood and catches rats and things... so, he gets to 'exempt' family time. laugh.

After our quiet Christmas Eve morning, we headed to my Grandma's house (JoJo) for Christmas Eve Dinner and then to open our Chinese Gifts!!

The entire night, all Wes wanted to do was to turn the lights off and on.

While Jess didnt want to give up her Chinese gift... so she hid it from everyone. 

JoJo opened all her gifts from everyone, but never knows what each person gave her! She's too cute.

JoJo gave the kiddos 'ja-mas'

 

Wes wanted to put his on top of his clothes... then he realized it was too tight... so he just carried it around on his head/back.

And finally... Jess and Edwin left with a PILE of appliances (for the second time)....

After we got done at JoJo's, Matt and I headed over to the Billingsley household! To spend the rest of the evening with his parents, brother, uncle, the Adams and the Hefley's!

We listened to Janie's newest obsession, Sean John (maybe) while snacking on a few things and chatting about pregnancy AND celebrating the seasons!

 - the baby {M.E.}