Time ticks on. That's what happens.
No matter what.
Last time I got through all the tough stuff, but what I never want to forget is our first holiday season with Landon and so much else. It's time for some light hearted happenings and a focus on life's positives.
Here's a recap of all the happiness from the final months of 2017 and how- despite it all- we made an effort to make every occasion worth celebrating. Because there is so much to cover this post is longer than usual, so grab a Snickers. Or kale...aka yard fertilizer. What else is it for, anyway?
I'll bet when you woke up this morning you had no idea that today would include time travel.
My advice? Buckle up tightly.
Fall & Halloween
We took our first portraits as a family of four when Landon was one week old. It was SO sweet! This ended up being the day that Papa went to be with Jesus, but instead of moping about it I can remember what a glorious day it was for him.
And I fully believe that Papa got a look at these.
You may remember our "Touchdowns or Tutus" reveal party, so I wanted to incorporate a football hat into the session. This is what you call #NoDetailLeftBehind.
For the second year in a row we fought the sweltering heat to go to the pumpkin patch. Was this October or August? We slid down big hills, got eaten by ants, and swam in the corn like naturals. It was oddly therapeutic.
We also went to Trey and Lauren's amazing wedding at Biltmore. It had been 6.5 years since I saw that incredible house.
Emerson absolutely loves choir and mission friends on Sunday nights with these amazing ladies, so I make every possible excuse effort for her to go.
Because Landon was only three weeks old at the time my parents kept him while we took Emerson to the state fair. I was finally able to go on rides with her again, but of course her favorite thing was the cable jump attraction, which was not included in the ticket price and was an extra $7 a pop. Hmm...if our Homeowners Association would get on board, and I found just the right size cables at Home Depot...
I love this photo of her looking out over the fair, as if serving as a reminder of how many sweet moments there are to come.
This was taken right before her last swing ride of the night. If I could freeze time, this would be one of those moments.
I just might have costume ideas through 2025...
We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for the first time, and I have to say that I was very impressed. One neighbor even hired actors and turned her entire home into a haunted house. Needless to say Emerson put one toe in the grass before declining to enter and thanked them for her candy before darting away. Smart cookie. I mean skittle.
That entire candy stash was the result of visiting maybe 15 homes. We are STILL eating this candy!
Boo at the Zoo was fantastic. From the haunted train ride and trick or treat stations to the singing pumpkins and dance-a-thon we all had a BLAST. This girl has moves like Justin Timberlake, and I'm not even joking.
Not to mention the TWO Shopkins Birthday parties, which had their entirely own post here: Shop, Drop, & Roll.
Emerson's actual Birthday fell on a Sunday, so we celebrated with Debra's amazing cooking, and Emerson sang with the preschool choir at church for the first time. I can't put into words how special that was to me. And her best Birthday gift hands down was the baby brother in her protective arms.
November & Thanksgiving
This year I was able to reflect on so many things, and although my Dad gets frustrated that he can't salt his food and is very limited on what he can actually eat the fact that he was at the table with us at all was a miracle. There were days in the hospital when we honestly thought it may be the end, so every day is a precious, precious gift.
Jay & Laura came, too! My Mom and I were nominated to pick them up at the airport the day before Thanksgiving, and you have never seen confusion like Ann and Katharine arriving at the Charlotte airport AT NIGHT...DURING CONSTRUCTION. Shall I mention again that it was the BIGGEST travel day of the year?
We pulled in the wrong lane and waited patiently with our blinker on for five minutes to switch.
We couldn't find - of all things- the TERMINAL. All we found were garages.
Every single station/garage looked exactly alike; it was like a time warp, and they were miles apart. How in the heck would we know if we were in the right place?
We got hopelessly lost amidst the construction, and if I saw one more detour or orange sign I was going to get out of the car and hurl it. EVERYTHING is a detour when you're confused...at night...right before Thanksgiving. I can't emphasize that enough.
We ended up on the level where you rent cars. So yes, you can technically say that we drove to the airport and ended up finding Jay and Laura via Enterprise. It. was. a. nightmare.
But...it was worth it! #Whew
You probably remember that Jay is one of THE best cooks in the universe, and he and Laura make a fantastic team. The rest of us stayed out of the way while they worked their magic- Fantasia style- with the pots, pans, and utensils.
Annnnd- turkey, rolls, stuffing....WHOOSH!
There were lots of sweet moments with them.
Naturally, Landon got lots-o-love on his first Thanksgiving, and just like with Emerson in 2013 he was passed around more than the sweet tea.
Oh, how I love it when these girls get to see each other. They are PRECIOUS friends and have a blast together, even if Emerson did swing face-first into a lawn chair during this visit and left screaming with a busted lip. Tis the season, though, right?
And how sweet that our annual photo in the blue chair grew by one, even if Landon doesn't look particularly thrilled. This looks like the average class at Winthrop- hahaha.
A group of amazing ladies that mean so much to our family threw Jay & Laura a reception over Thanksgiving. It was indeed a special day, even if my Dad was not quite well enough to come at the time.
This girl is one of the most fearless people on the entire planet. She's 100% princess and 100% tomboy in some respects, and I've never seen anything like it. Every day when she gets home she puts on her finest dress and goes about her evening. She loves riding four wheelers, going in the woods, playing outside, you name it. All in her dress.
Here are a few extremely likely scenarios and what Emerson would wear to each.
"I'm here to renew my license, please."
"Pardon me,sir. Is your ham on sale today?" :::Pushes cart through Bi-Lo:::
Yes, I know the invite said "casual dress."
I vividly remember the last time everyone on my Dad's family was in the same room. It was when we exchanged gifts two days after Christmas last year.
In less than 9 months things were about to take an unimaginable turn. Which brings me to:
Christmas 2017
This Christmas was completely out of the ordinary for so many reasons.
1) Good news first: It was our first Christmas with Landon, and he is an absolute sweetheart. We were SO HAPPY to have him with us and see him experience his first big Christmas.
2) I never imagined a Christmas without Papa; much less one without Nanny while she's still living. You may remember that tragic story from last time: What Didn't Kill Me. The situation has not improved at all, and it's getting worse. I beg of you to pray with us for intervention in many areas. That's all I have the energy to say at the moment.
3) I didn't see Jay at all. Now that he and Laura are married they will rotate holidays between families, which I totally understand. But I still really missed them.
4) The big deal. For two years Ryan has said that we must stay in Columbia for Christmas. I knew it was coming, but for 32 years of my life I had spent Christmas in Dillon. He had been mentioning it on and off for a while, and maybe part of me was hoping he'd forget.
But he didn't.
We weren't going to Dillon for Christmas in 2017. I wouldn't get to be a part of or even go to the FBC Candlelight Service that I have attended for at least 18 years in a row. I wouldn't get to wake up in my old room. Call me a moron, but having your house on the market makes it hard to feel like home when all the pictures are put away and it looks like a 24/7 museum sans the tape.
Ryan reminded me of Chevy Chase...
"I wanna have Christmas HERE. In OUR HOUSE!!!"
I'll be honest. I was completely heartbroken about it at first. I had already been through so much that the last thing I wanted to do was feel out of place for my favorite holiday and the culmination of the entire year. But after all my family has endured lately I realized that home isn't necessarily a place. Or a thing. It's your family...and that's whether or not you're in Timbuktu or your own bed.
I don't know what the Lord's plans are or where he wants us, but it's something I struggle with on a daily basis. I love our neighborhood, our childrens' daycare and Emerson's friends, the opportunities and exciting things happening around us, etc. But I miss my hometown, and some days I honestly don't know where I belong as far as places are concerned, because Heaven knows I love my groups of friends!!!
It's a debilitating feeling.
But then I look at these two precious souls at the end of the day and just think, "Wow. THIS. IS. HOME."
And every time we go to Dillon I am welcomed back with open arms, so in many respects I see that as having the best of both worlds.
Having said that, what was set up to be a strange Christmas actually turned out to be one of the best. Life does that sometimes, but oddly enough not when it comes to my following recipes...
Here are all of the ways we celebrated the month of December.
The babies had their first Christmas portraits. I took them both- by myself- as a surprise with outfit changes, bottles, you name it. I walked in that studio with everything imaginable.
Actual footage of me carrying my kids' things.
But...sixty minutes later when we were shown the finished product I was super pleased, despite the price.
You've got to admit that these are super sweet, and we'll treasure these photos for years.
On December 2nd - which also happens to be Jay's Birthday- we celebrated Lauren and Dean as they got married. It was so great to
These are two amazing and incredible friends!
Among our super funny moments: Emerson was helping me get one of our trees out of the box, and she pulled something out.
"What's this, Mommy?"
"A tree skirt."
Within ten seconds I turned around and she had it ON like an actual skirt. So funny. And so literal.
Emerson and I got to attend- and be a part of!- both the children and adult choir Christmas musicals. Again, this was tremendously special.
Both kids were ready for the big night, and I'll let the photos speak for themselves. It was absolutely precious!!!
On December 13th this little elf turned three months old.
And of course they each wrote a special Letter to Santa in the newspaper:
Dear Santa,
I received my greatest Christmas wish this September when my
little brother Landon was born. He’s so
much fun! Now that Mommy and Daddy are
paying double daycare costs I have to go to work, so I would like to apply for
a job as one of your elves. I am
proficient with iPad operation and can take toy orders nationwide. For a consumer fee I can also pre assemble
Lego sets before delivery, and I am excellent at making shapes out of play doh.
Just remind me to put the lid back on afterwards! I work well with others, laugh easily, and
have four years of life experience. I
can start anytime and will accept plastic jewelry in lieu of employee benefits.
For Christmas I would like the items on pages 1-100 in the Toys R’ Us catalog. I have been a good girl this year and look
forward to hearing your footsteps on the roof.
Please bring disposable bags for your reindeers’ potty breaks after the
long trip; it’s a neighborhood policy.
Love,
Emerson
Dear Santa,
I’m very excited about my first Christmas! Can you help me with something? Why do most toys say “for ages three and
up?” Let’s pretend that means three
MONTHS and not years. It will be our
little secret, and this way I can get extra cool toys. Besides, as an infant it’s almost impossible
to be on your naughty list, right? It’s
beginning to look at lot like Christmas in our house! I love staring at the four trees my Mommy put
up; Daddy told her to have fun when it’s time to take them down. For Christmas I would like some warm pajamas,
bath toys, and anything that makes noise (besides my big sister, Emerson). I will leave some cookies for you, but as the
lead consumer of milk in our house I am not willing to share it. Enjoy your orange juice, and please come down
the chimney quietly so you won’t wake me up!
Love,
Landon
The peppermint story...
Sweet Stripes are one of our favorite Christmas treats; they're melt-in-your-mouth delicious and quite possibly too easy to eat. During one of our car rides I handed the bag to Emerson and forgot to get it back. She had probably eaten eight of them before I realized it. And then the FUNNIEST thing happened a little while later. She passed gas...and it smelled like mints!!! We died laughing. I'll forever refer to this story as "Peppermint Poots."
We also had a few days where we hung out around the house and bonded.
Here are more fun Dillon happenings.
I may be biased but... (PSA: please don't forget the 'ed' on that phrase! It's like saying I got "kick" in the head instead of "kicked." Shoutout to my mother the English major and the greats such as Mrs. Kiesau and Philpot)
Where was I? Oh, this little sweetheart was a super cute reindeer!
The icing on this Hello Kitty gingerbread house was to-die-for...because you know, I accidentally got it on my hands while trying to help. This is the same reason why I'll never be hired at Outback.
Landon is already a camera pro.
I'm not sure this is what I had in mind when it comes to the concept of 'sharing,' but I'll take it!
We took the kids on many shopping trips. Naturally big sister took over on the shoe aisle.
My Mom accompanied me on one of the trips to Toys R Us, and Emerson had some words of wisdom before we left: "I want to pick out some things I want for Christmas and things I don't want for Christmas." Say what?? That made no sense.
But when we got to the store we found out exactly what she meant. Toys she "didn't want" for Christmas were toys she wanted NOW.
She didn't want to wait!
I've gotta hand it to you, kid. That was pretty brilliant.
Emerson did so great with her first movie in October that one of her daycare friends, Natalie, accompanied us on a mommy/daughter date to see "The Star."
We had the entire theater to ourselves, thank God. These two fed off of each other and did gymnastics on the bar- because let's be honest- if you have the option and don't sit where you can prop your feet up at the movies then I just don't understand...
They ran around the entire theater with a bushel bucket of popcorn, tossed candy, and talked/screamed/laughed the entire time.
We also saw the Polar Express in 4D at the SC State museum, went to Vista Lights, AND Saluda Shoals, where Emerson looked like cousin Eddie riding that tube slide.
At Vista Lights she saw a lady making (free) balloons and had to have one. I should have known there was a catch. They grossly underestimated the number of children that would want these intricate balloons, and a few of the following things transpired during our eternal wait...
1) The setting of the sun
2) Plants sprouting before our very own eyes
3) Landon trying out his new walker
Worth the wait? I'm still debating... I will say that it at least lasted long enough for show and tell that week.
Christmas Eve was rainy and dreary, but Emerson and I baked cookies together, which was super sweet.
That night we cooked dinner and popped fireworks outside before 'Santa' came.
A few minutes after they were in bed I played Santa and meticulously set out all of their gifts. If you remember our great debate from last year, I believe half of the fun is opening the gifts. You don't eat an entire meal in one bite, do you? It's called savoring.
One good thing about having Christmas at our house is that we got to have THREE Christmases: one as a family and two more with each set of parents.
Here are their gifts from Santa and Mommy/Daddy.
It was so special to see Emerson rip open her things and take mental inventory of the items that she put on her Christmas list. She forgets nothing. Gift highlights were the Doggie Doo game (the noises are HILARIOUS), a Shimmer and Shine carpet ride playhouse, barbie with puppies, matching games, and movies. For Landon: a run-around Monster ball play set, activity cube, singing bathtub dolphin, drum, and books.
Someone put me on a strict budget when it came to gift giving this year, because "the kids are still so young and won't really know the difference." But in true Katharine fashion I like to bend the rules...just a little. So I would buy little things here and there "as stocking stuffers." Ryan kept finding random items "for her stocking" around the house.
How big is this stocking, Katharine???
Ryan's parents and brother arrived right around lunch on Christmas Day, and we had all kinds of appetizers before our big dinner that night. Here was the Moody stash of goods. These kids are so fortunate to have so many people who love and care for them! We will always teach them to be grateful for what they have.
Fun items included: a live hatchimal which was like giving birth all over again. You actually had to hold and rub the egg, etc to get it to hatch. And then it talks and makes noise. Just like a real kid! She got her own carousel, the infamous Lionel train set, and baby boy got lots of bath toys, chew beads, clothes, etc.
And yes...a BB gun. It's called a Daisy and is safe and (shockingly) okay for kids as young as four. Does anyone honestly think I had anything to do with this? Ryan and his parents asked my permission well in advance, and - knowing that I'd be able to use that to my advantage in the future- I reluctantly said yes. Honestly, Ryan is more careful with that gun than I am with anything else in life. For example, I'm famous for dropping and cracking my makeup powder within one day of buying it.
But I figure if I want to travel, go on a (small and reasonable) shopping spree, etc, I will always have that card in my back pocket to pull out because I was agreeable. They call this the marriage game.
If we were going to spend this pinnacle of a holiday in our house, we were going to do things elegantly and properly, and that meant using our Christmas china and sitting in the dining room with matching glasses and cloth napkins. Not everyone may understand, but I wasn't budging on this. Our meal turned out to be delicious. Ryan scoped that meat out in the Fresh Market catalog, and it didn't disappoint.
We also went to the Christmas lights at the zoo, which Emerson really enjoyed, despite the freezing temperatures.
Then came the moment when she got FACE TO FACE with a SEAL!!! Look at that! He is staring right at Emerson with those beautiful eyes. I thought this was incredible.
The next day we came to DILLON! YAY! Now it was time to celebrate the Carlson Christmas. Special gifts included: a set of 11 Disney princess dolls, a marble run factory (one of my personal favorites), a massive Shopkins play house, a hatchimal home, Frozen jewelry box. For Landon: a Zebra walker, whack-a-lion play set, running turtle, books, and Beaufort Bonnet PJs. Behold the glory. Those are my newest craze, and they are the softest, most wonderful pajamas in the entire world. And they make them for adults, too!
We have already had much excitement and many events- even a setback or two- in the new year, so I have a lot of catching up to do and will make that happen.
A few weeks ago I heard a sermon by the incredible Jamie Arnette. He asked, "Would the life I live today be worth the death Christ died?"
Please make every day worth it. I've heard so much news lately of sickness and sadness. God means for you to be where you are at this exact point in life, whether or not you like it. But what you don't see is that He is intricately working and tying things together to result in His divine plan.
When we go outside of His will and make bad choices and unwise decisions things become infinitely harder than they should be. And the scary part is that in many cases our bad decisions don't just affect us; think of the drunk driver who kills someone. Now you've hurt their families and loved ones, as well. It's a domino effect.
Trust that God is tying the greatest bow in your life. He is stringing events, people, and relationships together so that you can take part in His plan. Don't be the knot. Don't resist His calling or force things. It only makes it that much harder to untie.
Something tells me that there will be people reading this tonight- or at least one person- who might need that extra push and have not yet answered God's call in a certain area of their lives.
For 2018 and from now on: make a point to be shaped and molded by the One who created you.
Whether you like the circumstances...or knot.
DON'T BE THE KNOT!
