Happy New Year

I cannot believe that it is 2013 already. That means I have a little one who is going to have a birthday soon :(
2012 was a great year for us. We had a sweet little baby girl in 2012. I was trying to think of other big things that happened but I think that was the highlight of our year. Thankfully everyone has been healthy and safe this year, we didn't buy a house or change jobs or anything like that. We did however buy a mini van!!! Something Josh said we would never do :) And just tonight we drove it over to my parents and Josh commented on how nice it was getting the kids in and out...my point exactly.

We had such a fun New Year's this year. We got together with 4 other couples at Jenna and Jared's house and we had a blast. The boys had a little too much fun and the girls enjoyed laughing most of the night at them. We have not all been together in awhile so it was so good to see everyone. Josh's parents were so nice to come and babysit for us so we could go out. They brought Peyton with them and Wade was thrilled. They had the best time playing and all they talked about at dinner was us leaving so they could have their New Year's party. My mom got them a little New Year's kit with hats, lays and noise makers and they were all set. Nana put WK to bed after we left and then the big kids had a New Year's party at 9pm. They had pop tarts and little white donuts and you would have thought it was the best thing in the world!! They kept saying "Par-tay" and "the party is going to be off the hook!" Pretty sure Poppy taught him that one! They were so cute!! Wade was so sad when they had to leave the next morning.

We had the best lazy day on New Year's Day. It was cold and raining so we really stayed in sweats all day. We met all of our couple friends at Bojangles to start our New Year off nice and healthy. After brunch we played and took naps and just stayed at home. My mom cooked a New Years dinner and we all went over and ate with them tonight. I am so thankful for 2012 and we are hoping and praying that 2013 will be just as great. I haven't really set any "resolution's" but I am just hoping for a great year with my family. Getting these last 10lbs of baby weight off would be a nice thing too!!

Little Getaway!!

Josh has vacation every year during Christmas. I love it because it is such a busy time of year and it is so nice having him home to help. The only downfall is that he only gets one more full week during the summer. However now that he is president of his company he has a little more flexibility with taking off if we need and extra day or two :)

 For our anniversary last year he got me a day at The Umpstead. It is a hotel in Cary that has an AMAZING spa!! I was pregnant when he got it so I wanted to wait to use it. Well of course with having a baby things got a little crazy and with breastfeeding I haven't felt like I could really getaway and enjoy the entire day...until now. So last Friday I got up and got ready and at 1030am I headed to the spa. It was so nice to get to drive my new van too!! We got our new mini van the night before.

The spa was fantastic...I had the most relaxing day. I had 5 hours of spa treatments and a two hour break with lunch. Of course the food was great too!! I ate in the women's lounge and sat curled up in a chair with my book by the fire place. When you are not having your treatments you can use the hot tub, sauna, steam room or just sit and have a snack in the lounge. I didn't get done until around 615p and when I was checking out they handed me a card. My sweet husband left a card for me and it had a key to a hotel room!!!! It said "I hope you enjoyed your day, here is your key to your room. You will be staying over night. See you soon for dinner." I was so surprised. I did not have a clue he was going to do that. I thought I was coming home to see the kids before we went to dinner.

We had planned on my parents watching the kids so we could go to the Angus Barn but the over night stay was a big surprise. I have never left WK before and he wanted me to finally get a goods night sleep. I am glad it was a surprise because I don't think I would have agreed to it just yet. I wasn't planning on leaving her until she was over one. Josh already had my bag packed and had it waiting in the room when I got there. The room was so nice and I just sat and relaxed until he got there. We had dinner at the Angus Barn and ate way too much and enjoyed eating and talking without worrying about little one's. I slept great but of course I automatically woke up at 3am and 5am (imagine that) but was able to quickly go back to sleep. I got up around 830am and got ready and headed home to see the kids. Since it was Josh's vacation too he stayed and slept/watched TV until check out at noon. I think he enjoyed some alone time too!! Thank you so much to my thoughtful husband (who hardly ever looks at our blog!) I had such a great time and it was so nice to get away from our sweet little one's for some "me" time. A big thanks too for my new van-I never thought I could love a new car so much. It is so perfect for life right now!!

And here are the kids and I playing while van shopping!!

Christmas Day 2012

I don't know who was more excited about Santa...Wade or Josh!! Wade got up at 7am and could hardly even wait to get downstairs. He was so happy when he saw that Santa came. Wade's big present from Santa was his new bigger boy bike. He had a little 12 inch bike but it was time to get a bigger one. We found a lime green one at Walmart that he LOVED. They only had one left that night we were there so Josh had to rush back and get it. We kept it in Ashley's garage!! He also got lots of super hero action figures, a Jake sword, Super Hero suitcase, sleeping bag and some books, movies and clothes!

Going downstairs to see if Santa came...We had one excited little boy!

Westin Kate's and Wade's pile's!!! Westin Kate crawled right over to her music table-she loved it! Wade went right to his bike first.

WK had a great 1st Christmas. She loved it! Even though she doesn't understand she got so excited when she saw her stuff. She crawled right over to her new music table and loved it. They have the same one in her class at church and she always plays with it. She got a couple of little toys, a ballerina mouse doll, some shoes, clothes, books, movies and her very first suitcase (it is black and white polka dots and so cute.) Josh surprised us all with new suitcases. He also surprised the kids with a special toy he picked out for them. He loves doing that and I am so glad he did because it was Wade's favorite toy that he got. Besides his bike Wade loved his sword and suitcase the best (the two things Josh surprised us with!)

Ashley & Zach and Mom and Dad came over for breakfast and too see what Santa brought the kids. We had a really relaxing morning and enjoyed watching a movie and playing. It was so nice outside so we took a bike ride/walk as well. We packed up and around nap time we left to head to Winston to do Christmas with Josh's parents and Matt/Kendal and the kids. We got there around 2pm and Wade was once again over the moon excited. He loves going to Nana/Poppy's house and loves seeing Peyton (and the boys but Peyton is his best buddy!) We all had a great dinner together and then let the kids open their gifts. It was present over load with 5 excited little kiddo's. The kids got such cute things and loved getting to open more presents that night.

Two happy kids and their new baseball bats from Nana and Poppy

Wade playing with all his new power rangers...sister loves her new "bike" from Nana and Poppy!

We found somone hiding and eating Nana's puppy chow!! He is such a mess!

Nana and WK riding her new bike. Without all the craziness with 5 little one's I forgot to take a picture with Nana and Poppy and all the grandkids. We will have to get one soon!

The day after Christmas we headed to Thomasville to do lunch with my dad's side of the family. My dad has a much bigger family and we all met at my Grandparents house. I don't get to see all of my cousins on that side very much so it was so nice to see everyone. Some of them had never met WK and they were so excited to meet her!! There are lots of little cousins on that side so the kids have fun playing with everyone. We stayed that night and had dinner with Josh's family before heading back home. It is nice that we both have family so close together. Josh has been on vacation all week and it has been so nice.

Christmas 2012

We had the best Christmas this year. Of course it went by WAY too fast. I am so sad because -Josh's vacation ends tomorrow. He has been off since Christmas Eve. On the 23rd we had Christmas with my mom's side of the family at her house. We had dinner together and then gave the kids their gifts. It is such a small group of people but we always have a great time!! This was WK's first time opening presents and she loved it.

Westin Kate was enjoying some ice cream...looks like she is in an ice cream coma here!! Its so funny because I would have never let Wade have sugar/sweets before his first birthday. Oh how you relax and change with the 2nd one! Oh at least it is sugar free!!!!

I had to work Christmas Eve this year from 9a-3p (thankfully from home!!) Josh was home so he spent the day with the kids. There is this great park across from my parents house that has a playground, soccer field and baseball field and he and Wade got to go play some baseball. Wade is really into baseball these days and he even got a new glove, bat and bat bag for Christmas. He is so good and can hit the ball better than I can!! I think we may be signing him up for T-ball soon! We went to our church's Christmas Eve service at 430p with my family and then we all went to Red Robin to eat. We had a great time and have started a new tradition of going out to eat on Christmas Eve. It was a busy day so it was nice that nobody had to cook/clean. After dinner we went over to Ashley and Zach's house and did Christmas with them and mom and dad. Wade and WK had a blast and got WAY too much. After present over load we loaded up two cars (too bad we didn't get the mini van a few days earlier!) and went to look at Christmas lights. This has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. We always did this growing up and have continued it with our kids. We put their PJ's on and look at lights and look for Santa. We thought we saw Rudolf's nose in the sky but my oh so smart 3.5 year old says "that's not Santa/Rudolf that is just the red light on that tower!!" We went to this amazing house that was decorated so well. It was crazy how many lights they had. We had to wait awhile to see it but it was so worth it. After we got home we left some reindeer food out in our yard and got Santa's cookies and milk all ready. Wade was so excited he could hardly stand it. We read the Christmas Story before bed and then "Santa" came. Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve!! My sweet babies all dressed up before church.

I love this one of her on her new horse looking up at my dad...so sweet! The next picture explains perfectly want should would have rather been doing the entire time we were there. She loves to keep us on our toes!!

Here are the kiddos getting ready to go look at Christmas lights. Wade was so excited to see if he could spot Santa in the sky!