Goodbye, 2012

What a wild and crazy year this has been.  Last year at this time I was really pregnant and we were just putting out our applications to Chesapeake.  Gavin has been such a huge blessing to us and I cannot hardly remember our lives without him.  Moving here has been exciting, stressful and also a huge blessing to us (especially now that our house is under contract)!

This fall was a bit weird for me without having football games to go to.  I figured out that it was the first season since 1996 that I did not attend a single game.  I honestly missed it a little!  Of course it is nice to have Dustin home the same time as me and to have Friday nights with him too.

We miss Parkway Wesleyan, and the people there.  We really like Atlantic Shores, and I am really enjoying playing my flute again.  Of course with orchestra comes difficulty in finding a small group that we can really get plugged in with.  Since the church is going through renovation, we will be meeting in the Life Center and won't be playing every week, so hopefully we will be able to get in with a group that way.

So as I say goodbye to 2012, I get a little anxious thinking about all that went on.  I can honestly say that I am so happy, and I would do it all over again!

Nieter Christmas

After our morning at home, we headed over to Mom and Dad's for breakfast and presents with them.  

Rachel was excited about the stockings... Gavin just wanted to take off the guards to the fireplace!

Here ya go!

Dustin took a picture of Blake, Alli, Rachel and Gavin and we had it blown up for mom as part of her present... she was a little excited!

Cubs outfits from Aunt Bonnie!

Two of my favorite guys!

Gavin started taking a few steps with the shopping cart... watch out, here he comes!

The kids got a wagon from Mimi and Poppy- I can't wait for warm weather so we can go for walks!

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Morning

It was so nice this year to wake up in our own home and have Christmas together as a family of four!  Rachel was SO excited about everything, which made it even better for us.  We started out the morning by reading the Christmas story out of the kids' bible.  Then we came downstairs and opened stockings and presents.  Rachel was excited to see that Buddy Boy stayed one more night before heading back up to the North Pole to spend the rest of the year with Santa.  Gavin's gift from Santa was a big dump truck that he absolutely LOVES.  Rachel got a camera from Santa and she has been taking lots of pictures with it already!

Gavin got a Little People Airport and Scout, a Vtech dog, both of which he is having so much fun with.  Rachel got a piano- a huge hit, and lots of clothes... she is such a girly girl and loves them all!

Dustin gave me a shopping spree as my present!  I really need some new clothes, so I get to go out and just shop!  My present to Dustin is a night out.  Mom and Dad said they would watch the kids one night and we can go out to Gordon Biersch, a movie, and sleep in he next day!

What a wonderful Christmas morning!

McCollum Christmas

We had a bit of a whirlwind trip to North and South Carolina this year for Christmas.  Rachel got sent home from school early the day before school got out with Bronchitis and Dustin had a sinus infection. So when school got out on Thursday we loaded the car up (after a few delays) and headed to Smith Mountain Lake to see Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Jeanette for the night.  On the way there, we got a phone call from our realtor saying that we got an offer on our house!  There were a lot of phone calls made during that trip (thank goodness for cell phones!)  So we got to the lake and it turned out that only Aunt Jeanette was there because their dog had some major health issues and Ronnie stayed with it in Greensboro close to the vet.  We felt awful that we took Jeanette away from them, but she assured us that it was okay.  We had a wonderful relaxing time despite Rachel being a little cranky because of being sick, and Jeanette taking Dustin to the club house office to use the printer so we could get paperwork for the house taken care of!

The next morning we headed to Nannie and Papa's house to visit for a bit and of course Fuzzy's BBQ.  (and some more paperwork for the house)  While we were there, Rachel and Dustin started to feel better, while I started feeling a little under the weather.  We had a good time visiting, and in a bittersweet turn, got to spend a little extra time with them because Papa Puckett came down with a stomach bug and they said we probably shouldn't go to their house with the kids.  We visited Grandma Roberts a little while before heading to Katie and Benji's for the night.  

Rachel loved playing the piano and the drum set at their house!  It was great to see their house all put together and spend some good quality time with them.  (I felt bad because I wasn't much company since I was full-blown sick at this point)

So the next Morning (Saturday) we headed to Florence and had an amazing Christmas lunch that Dustin's mom made for us all.  Then we had our McCollum family Christmas!  Rachel was a little beyond excited about every part!  Gavin is pretty chill at the moment, so he just kind of went with it.  

The kids got a basketball hoop from Uncle Benji and Aunt Katie!

Rachel couldn't wait to get on her princess bike!

Gavin was excited about his bike, too!

One of Rachel's activities on the Advent calendar was to make a birthday cake for Jesus.  She and Grandma had a great time making the cake and decorating it!

The best part is licking the icing off the spatula!

We all may have gotten Dad M. woodworking books, and we may have previewed them and marked what we wanted him to make!  (I'm looking forward to my end table)

I wish we were all healthy and feeling 100% while there, but we still had a great time!  So glad we were able to spend some time with everyone!

Rachel's Christmas Program

Rachel's preschool had a cute little Christmas program.  It was for all of K3-Kindergarten so there were quite a few parents and video cameras there!  We weren't sure how Rachel was going to do, being in front of everyone, but she surprised us all!  (She told me when I dropped her off with her teacher "But I don't want to sing nicely, Mommy!")  She wasn't the loudest one out there, but she did sing and do all the motions.  

They all walked in with masks, which helped her not have stage fright!

She was making a sad face...

Traditions

I love traditions.  Maybe it's because I like to know what's going on, maybe it's because I like to know what to expect, and what to be excited about... I don't know.  I just remember doing little things growing up and the fact that I remember them means that it was something special.  I want Rachel and Gavin to remember special things as they grow up.  Especially when it comes to holidays.  I remember making cookies (from scratch) with my mom (and her mom) around Christmas, having certain ornaments on the tree, sitting on dads shoulders to put the star on the top of the tree, climbing in bed with mom and dad on Christmas morning and reading the Christmas story from the Bible before running into the living room to open presents, and I could go on and on!

So with all of that being said, this is the year that Rachel will start remembering from year to year what to expect around holidays.  So me and my new best friend Pinterest got together and had some fun!  I made an advent calendar of fun things to do every day in December, I made a special wreath, some blocks that say "Merry Christmas" let Rachel play with a Nativity scene and we are telling the Christmas story with that all the time!  We will be making cookies (maybe not from scratch), going to see lights and decorations, watching movies, and reading books.  Quite possibly my favorite new tradition is the Elf on the Shelf!  Rachel has named our elf Buddy Boy, and she loves coming downstairs in the morning to find where he is hiding each morning.

I can't wait to read the Christmas story from Luke 2 on Christmas morning with the kids, visit family, go to Christmas Eve service, put out cookies and Milk, and so many more things.  I just hope that holidays are special and good memories for Rachel and Gavin, and of course Dustin and me too!

Balance

First of all, I would like to let all of you (however many that may be that keep up with me on this) that we are all alive and doing well!  I am, however, slightly  way behind on blogging and actually life in general!  Which brings me to the point of this post...

I am struggling right now with gaining balance in my life.  I am sitting here at the computer in the living room, making time to write this post, but it's taking me a while because I am distracted by the folded clothes in baskets that need to be put away, and the basket that still needs to be folded sitting beside of me.  All of the dishes are clean and most are put away (do bottles and sippy cups really count as dishes... they're NEVER ALL clean!).  I also see my bag of school stuff that awaits me.  I just don't know where to start.

I have so many things that I want and need to get done, I'm trying to figure out what comes first and what gets left off the list.  I loved having a spotless house in Roanoke this summer before we moved, but let's be honest, it's impossible to keep that up ALL the time (at least for me)!  I love doing crafts and having "cute" things around the house, especially around Christmas.  I love playing with my kids, and I'm working on having Rachel help me as part of our playing together, which sometimes makes the jobs take longer...   Then there's the schoolwork, that has been taking a back seat, and can't anymore.  There are just too many things that require more time this year.  And of course my running shoes look so inviting sitting by the door.  And you know what, the big jetted tub upstairs looks pretty inviting, too.  And of course last, but not least is my wonderful husband.  All he wants some evenings is just to sit on the couch and relax, which usually ends up with me falling asleep and not spending any time actually with him.

So with all of that being said, I am working on balancing all the aspects of my life.  I guess you will be able to tell how well I'm doing by when the blog gets caught up!

Santa!

Well, to be honest, I was dreading going to see Santa this year... for the last two years, we have gone to see the "real" Santa in Roanoke.  He was amazing- the story time, singing, taking time with each child to have a good (or as good as possible) picture.  I did not want to go stand in line at the mall to be rushed through a line.  I have flashes of "A Christmas Story" run through my mind thinking about it.

But, since we're not in Roanoke and I couldn't really see driving all the way just to see Santa, we went to MacArthur Center, where we heard the experience was really good.  So we headed out, not really knowing what to expect since Rachel was pretty terrified last year.  When we walked passed, Santa looked at Rachel and waved since he didn't have any kids with him right then.  She got really excited and decided she did want to talk to him.  The line didn't seem too long so we got in.  Then we heard someone say it was an hour and a half wait... geez, it was pushing lunch time and we hadn't eaten yet (which was a bigger issue for me than anyone else!).  We talked about coming back later in the week since we get off of work so early and the line probably wouldn't be as long.  But of course Rachel was excited by this point, so we couldn't tell her no!  I mean really, how horrible would that be to take a child out of line crying because we didn't want to stand in line...

Although it was an hour and a half, it didn't seem like that long.  And you know what, it was a really good experience.  There was an Ice Age set up right before we got to Santa, so the kids got to play a little and do some activities.  Gavin was fine, of course, and Rachel was a little unsure, but she ended up sitting on his lap!  Not a huge smile, but she was pleasant.  (And sometimes, that's what you aim for!)  She didn't say anything to him, but sure has talked about him since!

"Why are we just standing here?"

Standing!

At least Gavin got to eat while in line!

They had Ice Age playing... Rachel loves those movies!

There was a block of "ice" for the kids to touch

There was a giant snow globe for the kids to stand in... I was fine with Rachel standing in the white stuff, however, the mom of the girl behind us with black hair wearing a black velvet dress was not as excited!

The best picture of the day!