Disney Rockin' Ever After

This past Saturday we attended the Disney Rockin' Ever After ice skating show in Raleigh.  This was our second year going and it was by far better than last year and not just because we had front row seats, but that always helps :)  Savannah of course loved seeing the princesses---Ariel, Merida, Rapunzel, and Belle.  Unfortunately the show ended without her seeing Snow White or Sleeping Beauty so she was a little disappointed.  She's one tough cookie to please.  

So much fun!  I think Oscar's got the itch to head back to Disney World sooner as opposed to later.  I'm sure he'll hear no complaints out of Savannah.

Before the little guy arrives.....

A couple of days before Thanksgiving we met up with our good friend Amber Byrd (aka Lila's mommy) to do a family photo session.  I was hoping the get a good Christmas card photo out of it but Savannah wanted no part of being in a shot with me and Oscar.  She did great letting Amber take her picture by herself but she refused to sit, stand, walk, or anything beside us.  Oh well.  We got some great photos of Savannah by herself and a couple of me and Oscar together.  Here are a few of my favorites.

my beautiful girl

notice the displeasure on S's face

me at 37 weeks preggo

The next time we do a family session there will be 4 of us!  Only about a week to go!

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we enjoyed another nice and quiet Thanksgiving at home.  Lucky for us we have Michael close by so he came and spent Wednesday through Sunday with us.  I prefer not to cook for Thanksgiving---it's just too much work for such a short lived holiday--so instead I make reservations.  Once again we headed to The Carolina Inn for their brunch.  As always, the food was great; however, being 9 months pregnant really limited the amount and type of food I was able to enjoy.  But Michael made up for what I couldn't eat by returning to the buffet at least 5 different times.  

After lunch we attempted to take a family picture for our Christmas card but our sassy 3 year old wanted no part of it.  Every picture she was either fighting with us or else I looked like a beached whale.  Oh well, I tried.  

As soon as we got home I began decorating for Christmas and I didn't stop until after 10:00 that night.  Oscar even completed all of the outdoor decorations.  Now the house is all set for the season.  

On Friday we choose to skip the black Friday crowds and stay home for most of the day.  Oscar and Michael played in the annual Turkey Day Touch Football game on campus.  Thankfully neither one of them got too injured but they did both have to whip out the ice packs for the next couple of days.  

On Saturday we went into Raleigh for a quick shopping trip and then stopped by the chicken place for lunch before coming home for the rest of the day.        

yummy Christmas cookies

all set up for the family pic...now where is Savannah???

attempt #1

attempt #10

me and Michael

attempt #20 back at home

final attempt.....no luck this year with a good family picture

Overall we had a very nice and normal family Thanksgiving.  We watched the parade, ate well, decorated for Christmas, watched football, and did a tab bit of shopping.  It doesn't get much better than that.  We have so many things to be thankful for this year---our family, our health, our home, and our healthy little man coming in just a few weeks.  

Savannah's 3rd Birthday Party

Savannah had her 3rd birthday party on Sunday, November 18th at Chapel Hill Gymnastics.  She had so much fun playing with classmates, gym buddies, and good friends.  This was her first party outside of our house and I'm now a huge fan not only of this facility but also of just having it away  from home.  It was so nice to not have to worry about cleaning for guests and then cleaning up after guests.  For this party I simply put together the decorations which I really didn't have to do since the gym would have provided some for us.  But my prissy girl being who she is wanted to have a ballet theme so everything was ballet pink.  I purchased cupcakes and candy, favors, and a giant balloon.....easy stuff.  We arrived 30 minutes early to set up with the help of the gym staff and then just sat back and supervised the fun.  The best part was that I didn't have to do any clean up.

decorations

she's considering digging into her cupcake

"Where is everybody?"

party favors

the birthday girl observing her guests playing with the parachute

classmate Katherine

now she's having fun

gym friend David

her favorite activity was swinging from this rope

classmate Helen

more friends on the trampoline

baby Tripp

fun in the foam pit

Cal

classmate Caroline and gym friend Elia

Brad coming to knock down S's tower

time to blow out the candles and the birthday girl is far away

thanks Brad for taking charge

she's not too happy with the attention all on her

snack time

still unsure

back home opening presents

I think all the kids had a really great time and the parents were really impressed with the facility.  It was a win-win for us all.  Savannah even came around to liking the idea of having a birthday party--minus the singing.  I may need to go ahead and start planning for next year :)