Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Kernersville Christmas Parade

Growing up Mom and Dad took us to the Shelby Christmas parade every year.  It was always on a Sunday afternoon and I was always so excited to go!  I remember being a little girl sitting on the cold curb with the sun shining in my face waiting with excited anticipation for the parade to start.  Bradford is old enough this year to truly enjoy the experience of a parade so there was no doubt in my mind that we were going to find one to go to!  We picked the thriving farm town of Kernersville a few minutes down the road!

Not much has changed with the parade atmosphere since I was a young. Parents still hurriedly corral their children down the sidewalk for the perfect seats to watch.  Vendors still go up and down the street selling cotton candy and inflated Rudolphs' and Santa Clauses'.  Kids  are jumping up and down asking their parents about when the parade is going to start.  We took Bradford in the stroller so that he was contained as it can be difficult to contain a 14 month old!  He was a little antsy so Andrew got him out and wrestled and tickled him to distract him from time passing too slowly.  We sat by a few older couples.  I could see one lady point to Brady and get her husband's attention and they smiled and said a few words.  I could tell she was reminiscing about her own son as she later told me she has only one son who is now grown with his own family.  These moments help me remember the little things and to take in every moment I can! Perspective!

Daddy and Bradford before the parade

Mommy and Bradford before the parade

Once the parade started he loved it.  There was so much to see, it seemed anyone who had a pick-up could be in the Kernersville Christmas parade!  There were big kids around us who would run out in the street to grab the candy being thrown out and he loved watching them go for the chase.  Boy was there a lot of candy!

11 pipers piping (for Nana)

Patriotic cement truck

Bel Aire

Corvette

Bradford with his first sucker!

Bradford on his first sugar rush!

I was disappointed that there were no horses...o well.  Bradford loved the dance troupes and cars!  He enjoyed candy to his heart's content.  After the parade when we were back in the car he was bouncing around for about five minutes straight squealing and then all was silent in the backseat.  I would say it was a successful day!

Friday, December 9, 2011

November/December pics

Someone just woke up from a nap!
  

Sweet boy!

Up to something!

Our little hoodlum!

Crazy hair






All things Christmas!

Last weekend Andrew went and picked out our tree and I was super excited to get all the Christmas decorations out of the attic and decorate the house!  Last year Bradford was only 3 months old so we have been excited about starting our own Christmas traditions this year with little man able to take part.  

For all of the grandparents this year we decided to do something fun and homemade.  We used Brady's feet and hands and some paint as part of our project!

The foot

Unhappy naked baby

Finished Product!


The new tradition I am most excited about is the Advent Jesse Tree.  I have other friends who did these last year, so I was over the top excited when I found out my MOP's group at church was doing a Jesse tree ornament exchange!   I signed up to make day 19 the Little town of Bethlehem and made 25 of them. This is an advent activity that goes through the lineage of Jesus from creation to His birth.  There is an ornament for everyday up until Christmas and a devotion you read pertaining to each one.  So everyday normally before bedtime we read the devotion and try and get Brady to pay attention (try!!) and then hang the ornament on the tree.  It has been a daily reminder to us of what the season is really all about!

The devotion book we are reading out of.

Our Jesse tree!

The ornaments I made.

My set of Jesse tree ornaments.  They are all so unique!

Here is a collage of some of our decorations.  Another new tradition is the Little People Nativity set out for Bradford to play with.

 


It is going to be here before you know it!

We put the tree in a new spot with only one side exposed so as to less ornaments being pulled off by little hands!

I love the smell of a live tree!

Even Bradford's room got a little decorated!  He has XS lights around his window!  They cast a nice glow!

Lights in Bradford's room!


 Instead of a traditional wreath, I opted for an idea I saw on a decorating blog to hang a picture frame and change it seasonally, and I must say I love the outcome!  It is a great POP of color.

POP!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Some of you might remember my November challenge of being thankful in all things!  I did pretty good until around Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Shelby and my grandmother flew in from Houston!  It was a lot of us that were able to be together, 10 1/2 counting Kayley (my niece on the way).  The first night I barely slept because Brady did not sleep like at all that night. I was exhausted and if I remember correctly had a really bad attitude on Thanksgiving day.  So the day you are supposed to be most thankful I was unhappy until I took a long afternoon nap with my sweet boy, the attitude improved with the nap!  I did math problems with my sister (a few) or at least tried and mom and dad got out all our old schoolwork and that was hilarious for all of us to look through.  Bradford had a great time playing with all the fun toys at Nana's house.  There is just something funny about kids playing with toys that are not their own.  Brady loved this stuffed kitty, the little rocking chair and the riding firetruck the whole four days we were there and did pretty well about staying out of the kitchen cabinets but not so well staying out of any trash can he could get his hands into!  We also played Mexican Train Dominoes Friday night and went shopping Saturday morning for awhile!  We headed back Saturday because two years ago we left Sunday afternoon and the normally 2 hour drive took us 6!  There was no question of whether we wanted to repeat it so we made it back in a whopping two hours Saturday and it was nice to have Sunday at home to relax before Andrew had to go back to work.  Here are the few pictures from Thanksgiving and the cutest little turkey I know!

Happy Thanksgiving

Daddy's got some big shoes to fill!

Having fun on the fire truck!
                                             

Fit2Fat2Fit

Those of you that have not seen Andrew lately do not know that he has lost close to 20 pounds in 4 weeks!.....I know right???  I am SO proud of him!  This is one of those decisions that a person has to come to themselves.  I live a pretty healthy lifestyle for the most part minus all the dairy and Mexican food I consumed while pregnant (gorging yourself often while pregnant is not the best idea...cough  cough, gaining 47 pounds)!  Anyway this post is not about me, it is about him.  The boy I fell in love with:)

Gosh we look young!

I think Andrew's best friend Matt told him about the site fit2fat2fit.com.  This guy named Drew Manning that lives in Utah is a trainer on the side.  He got tired of a lot of his clients telling him you don't know what it's like to be fat and have food cravings and want to eat certain things.  He set out to prove to them that they can get fit and live a healthy lifestyle!  This guy was ripped and took 6 months to get fat by basically letting himself go and eating whatever he wanted.  People sent him food challenges like eat a dozen doughnuts in one setting etc.  Drew definitely got fat.  He went from like 193 pounds to  265.  At the end of the six months he started the process of getting fit.  When Drew the trainer started the fit process Andrew and him were the same size.  He has done what Drew does as far as diet the first month and now the exercise is being added in.  My man has been disciplined in everything from his eating to waking up at 6 AM to go workout with his boss.  He wants to set a good example for Bradford and live a healthier lifestyle.  I have definitely seen a lifestyle change happen to him.  I am excited to see Andrew on this journey and it has challenged me to be healthier to just like iron sharpens iron!  Love you babe!

Para sailing, 3 months overdue!

Since it has been way too long, Andrew and I got the opportunity to go para sailing when we were at the beach with some other members of the family back in September!  Andrew was the 3rd runner up from the spoons competition after Keith who one and Kathleen.  Thanks to his competitive spirit and desire to succeed I was able to partake in this exciting adventure with him!  He has been sky diving I have been bungee jumping and white water rafting, but none of these things have we experienced together.  It was exciting for us to be able to share this opportunity together!
Leaving to go parasailing!

                                      
On the boat before the big adventure!

We even parasailed in the order of the the winners, not on purpose of course!

Ellen and Keith went FIRST, up in the air!

Kathleen and Amy about to head up second!

Yay!  Our turn, I was so excited!!!

And we are off!

Andrew is a ham, and of course makes me laugh constantly and while in the air he is shaking around and freaking me out as well as trying to flip as you will see in the picture below...Crazy!


We were way up!


I loved the experience!  It was so peaceful up in the air and very quiet.  You can see for what feels like miles and we saw a lot of jellyfish and barracudas.  The water was beautiful and I loved getting to share the experience with my awesome husband!  Thanks Sandra and Gary for an awesome surprise adventure!