Pre-Christmas Trip to Pigeon Forge, TN

My grandmother, Jo, who basically spends most of her weekends in Pigeon Forge, TN wanted to take me, Reed and Mom there for a weekend to do some fun Christmas things.  We went to dinner at the Dixie Stampede.  Reed loved it!  I think he ate more there at one meal than he ever has.  He was so enthralled with watching the horses that he didn't even pay attention to what was being put into his mouth.  We did lots of shopping throughout the weekend too.  Reed was pretty good for the most part, but he is so past the I-can-ride-all-day-in-my-stroller days.  : (

On Saturday, we headed to Dollywood to see the Christmas decorations and let Reed ride a few rides.  The park is decorated so pretty for the holidays.  Reed absolutely loved the rides.  The first ride that he rode was the carousel.  He screamed bloody murder when the ride was over.  Yes, he is that kid.  We also took him for a ride on the ducks and on a real train.  He loved every minute of it.  We watched the parade before we headed out of the park and Reed was very sad that Santa had to leave.  Our last ride of the night was Reed driving a miniature antique car.  Needless to say, we had to ride this a few times, because he was not very happy about getting out of the car.  

Overall, it was a absolutely great weekend with my grandmother and my mom!  While there is a lot of cheesy things in Pigeon Forge, there are some really great things to do especially during Christmastime.  They even have the 12 days of Christmas lining the main street, so you can sing the song going down the road.  Very fun!

My Mom, Reed and Jo

Me and my sweet baby boy!

I think I do a pretty good impression of this particular Reed face.

At the Dixie Stampede.  He looks like he's been herding cattle himself, lol!  It had been a long day.

He loved the choo-choo train.

And the carousel.  He squealed the whole ride.

Reed driving the car.  He loved it!

Sweet Reed!  He did so good the whole trip!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

We finally made it to see Santa this past Friday afternoon.  This year we opted for going to see the appointment required real (by that I mean, the actual Santa, not a Santa helper) Santa at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta.  Even though we had an appointment we still had to stand in line for a bit.  We took turns chasing Reed around.  He not very good at being patient.  I wonder who he gets that from?  Hmmm...

Prior to it actually being his turn, we kept taking him up so that he could look at Santa.  He seemed semi-excited, but he much preferred running around.  When it was his turn, Chris walked him up to Santa and this is what happened.

Poor baby!  Chris is trying to point out the Elmo that the photographer was holding.  The picture is blurry because I was probably giggling/crying.

"Oh, this is really bad!"

Elmo saves the day!

And then he just sat there and listened to Santa talk.  He would occassionally turn around and look at him, but he would quickly turn back around.

And, after getting out of Santa's lap we asked him if he wanted to sit in Santa's lap again, and this is the look he gave us.  Thankfully, he will still talk about Santa and tell us that he says "ho".

Remember this photo of our little guy giving his Daddy a smackeroo last year while standing in line to see Santa?

Apparently he did and he is making it a tradition, lol!

Everything is a hat!

Reed absolutely loves hats!  If he sees one in a store, he points to it and says "hat" and he usually wants me to give it to him.  At home, even though he has numerous hats, he always goes to the trusty kitchen cabinet to get his favorite hat.

Yes, that's right, a mixing bowl!  LOL!

Cool hat dude!

O Christmas Tree!

We held our annual family Christmas tree decorating night a few weekends ago.  Our night consists of decorating our tree along with the house and then settling in for some laughs with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Too, too funny!  Along the way, we have also been taking in as many Christmas movies as possible.  I love this time of year!

Reed trying to help me hang the first ornament.

And yes, we've had a little bit of a problem with following the do-not-touch-the-Christmas-tree rules.

He seemed to be more interested in inspecting the wheels on his golf bag though, lol!

Reed in the Santa hat we put on top of our tree.

"No Daddy, that's mine!"

"Yes, I got it back!"

Our tree!  Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you all are enjoying this season as much as we are!

I was totally....

.........cleaning my kitchen Adventures in Babysitting style this morning in preparation for the cleaning lady to come.  Unfortunately she can't come anymore.  Oh well, at least I felt like Chris Parker for a moment.  If you don't know this movie, it is a must see!  Well, at least it is in my book, lol!

Santa will have to wait!

Tuesday we had an appointment to see Santa at Phipps, but Reed had other plans.  Yes, I was one of those mothers who wasted at least an hour online trying to get an appointment with this particular Santa.  I guess Reed showed me that this time was uneccessarily spent.  Our appointment was at 7 pm.  The plan was to head to the mall, grab some food and eat prior to meeting Chris and letting Reed probably be completely terrified by Santa.  We've been talking about Santa a lot, but I am pretty sure he will still be terrified.  He might surprise me though. 

Anyway, we got Chick-fil-a, I grabbed Reed a high chair, dragged it to the table, put him in it and then it began.  He got sick all over himself and all over the table.  Poor little guy!  And, poor mommy!  I had to clean it up all by myself, no fun.  I tried to clean him off as much as possible, but it really didn't do much good.  There would no Santa for us that night.  Thankfully I had purchased a pair of adorable pj's that he could wear home instead of his never to be worn again outfit.  He only got sick one more time that evening, thank goodness.  We were so scared that our little guy was going to have the crazy stomach bug that has been going around, but I think we may have dodged a bullet this time.  We spent Wednesday in our pj's taking it easy and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  He still seems a little unlike himself, but he is eating and playing so let's hope this not-as-bad-as-it-could-have-been bug is on its way out the door as swiftly as it came.

15 Months!

Yes, I am a few days late on this, sorry!!

Our little man is 15 months old! Holy cow! He is growing up so quick. Before we know it, he's going to be talking in sentences and telling us what he wants to do and when. Oh me!

Stats:
Height: 33 inches, 90th percentile
Weight: 24 lbs., 50th percentile (A drop in percentile but the doctor isn't worried, so we aren't worried.)

At 15 Months:

• Reed continues to be a little talker.  You say it, he will try to say it.  Most things don't come out exactly right, but it is still fun to hear him try.
• He is on a Mickey Mouse kick or Goofy kick, whichever he sees at the moment.  He loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and do the hot dog dance at the end.  He squeals with delight when it comes on TV.  He especially loves to see Goofy on the screen, which he calls "Goof Goof".  Too cute!
• He can march.  He started this a few weeks ago.  It is so fun to watch him pick his knees up and march around.  He can also do what we call the penguin walk, which is little baby steps while barely picking up his feet.  This kid is a trip!
• Reed is very dramatic.  Not sure where he gets this from.  I will say it is probably from Chris, lol!  Sometimes when we tell him no, he acts like we have just seriously hurt his feelings.  He will sometimes fall to the floor and put his head down while fake crying.  He can also make the most pitiful face ever, which is the cutest thing.  Hopefully he will figure out soon that this doesn't work on us.
• Reed learned how to blow out of his mouth this month.  I know, it's a weird thing to include, but it is pretty hilarious to watch him do it.  He's ready to blow out his candles on birthday #2 now!
• This past weekend Reed used a fork for the first time and he was a pro.  I've given him a fork at every meal since and he seems to like it.  Some things are just easier to pick up with his hands, but we are progressively moving away from eating with our fingers.
• He finally figured out how to go down a slide without giving me a heart attack this month.  For some reason, he would continuously try to walk down the slides versus sitting down.  Since the ledge of a slide isn't very high, he would sometimes have me bolting from one side of a double slide to another.  He has now figured out that sitting down is a much better way to go.  I think we have his gym class to thank for this!
• He can identify his ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hair, belly, feet and probably a few others that I can't think of right now.
• He continues to love blueberries.  Thank goodness they have been on sale the past couple of weeks.
• We started a Parent-Tot gym class this past month and he loves it.  He loves all the climbing that he gets to do there.  His favorite two things are walking on the balance beam and jumping on the many trampolines.
• His favorite book at the moment is Ferdinand.  This was Chris's favorite book as a kid.  He didn't like it at first but now we have to read it all the time.  Every time we read in the book about smelling the flowers, he leans in and smells.  So cute!

Okay, I think that's all I can think of at the moment and I am sure that I am forgetting something!  I am going to try to start writing things down in a calendar, so that I will be able to write a better post next month!

15 Months!

A blurry shot of the pitiful face he makes.

Getting a little Ferdinand reading in before/during the photo session.

"I know, I know, I am that cute."

He loves books!  This was as much dressed as I could get him before he headed off to flip through another book!

Thanksgiving Weekend!

We spent this Thanksgiving in Summerville with our families.  It was a great time hopping from one family gathering to another.  Reed was such a trooper going without a nap until 4 in the afternoon!  We are so very blessed to have a wonderful family, we have so much to be thankful for! 

I opted for no shopping on Black Friday, which I believe is the first time I have ever skipped.  We took a spur of the moment trip to Nashville on Saturday and Sunday with my Mom and Grandmother.  We did a little shopping, a tour of celeb homes navigated by me (lol), and a trip to the Opryland Hotel to look at the beautiful Christmas decorations.  Chris and I headed to Tootsie's after leaving Reed for the night with our babysitters!  We appreciated the chance to get out for a little bit!  We all really enjoyed Nashville.  I definitely want to go back.

You can't get much cuter than this!

Playing in the leaves.

Emme and Reed playing golf while the big kids played football.

Family pic at Barbara and Guinn's house.  Reed wasn't as cooperative this year.

Family Pic.....This is the first time we've done this, not sure why.  I think it should definitely be a yearly tradition!

Reed and I riding the train at the Opryland Hotel.

Jo, Nana and Reed on the boat.

A very cool old sign, that just so happens to have Reed's name on it.

Did anyone catch this photo of Jake Gyllenhal and Taylor Swift?  I took it. 

Okay, just kidding.  I didn't take it, I didn't see them.  I wish I had.  But, we did go to this place and it was yummy.

After opting out of standing in the long line at the Pancake Pantry, we headed over to Fido a block away to grab breakfast.  This is where Taylor and Jake were spotted the day before.  We were just a day late.

Happy 50th Birthday Mom!

Yesterday my Mom turned 50 years young!  Reed and I drove to her work to surprise her for lunch.  She was super excited when we walked into her office.  She works at Georgia Power which allowed Reed to do one of his favorite things, pretend to drive a truck.  He was too cute!  They even gave him a hard hat.  After a little playing, we headed to downtown Cedartown for yummy sandwiches.  Thanks to Brandi for going with us to lunch and for covering for my Mom while she played with Reed!! 

It was great to be able to see my Mom on her day!  Mom, I hope you had a wonderful birthday!  We love you very, very much!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Reed "driving" a big truck.

He loved the hat, he just had a hard time keeping it on.

Doing a little bit of work, lol!

Reed loved the pickles at lunch.  He only made a sour face a few times.

Getting a little crafty!

So, I have to admit that I am not the most crafty person ever.  I am not one to come up with great craft ideas on my own, however, I am pretty good at following instructions.  Take the two projects below for example.

Christmas Wreath.....

I saw this post on High Heeled Foot in the Door and knew that I had to try to make a wreath myself.  I have a hard time going into stores and finding just the right Christmas decorations.  I mean, there are so many options that it makes it difficult to choose.  This project allowed me to just do my own thing and give me a chance to say that I actually made it.  The tutorial that I used can be found on this site.  I really enjoyed the outcome of this wreath, although I gave myself a headache staring at the yarn while I was wrapping it around the wreath.  The total cost of this project was around $10, not bad, right?

Chair Rehab....

I have been dying to try my hand at reupholstering a chair.  I have read about how easy it is, so I couldn't wait to try it myself.  It required the purchase of a staple gun, which I opted for the more expensive one since I figured I would be reupholstering chairs on a regular basis, lol!  I found the chair below at A Classy Flea in Marietta.  It was only $10.  I figured I should jump on it since it was so cheap.  And, if I ruined it with my first chair makeover project, it wouldn't be the end of the world since it was so cheap.  The total cost for this project was around $25.  It is currently sitting in our little nook of an office outside of our kitchen.  It looks great there!

Definitely not the best looking chair I've ever seen but certainly worth $10.

A little better picture of the fabric.  I actually think this color chair might have worked perfectly if they had chosen a better pattern for the fabric.  It made it look blah.



Ta da!  I spray painted it black and reupholstered the seat with some fabric that I got from the Fabric and Fringe Warehouse.



Even Reed likes it!