Happy New Year........the holidays are over.

I think I'm in denial.  As most of you know I LOVE Christmas!  This year the holiday came and went way too fast.  In fact we still have lights outside at our front door and Zach's cardboard xmas tree with lights is still making the basement festive.  Otherwise....all decor has been packed away.  

I'm not sure if it is my denial or just sheer procrastination that has caused me to not update the blog.  Either way I'm starting off 2013 just trying to catch up and we are less than two weeks in.  Our holiday had a bit of a rocky start.  We bought a new furnace 4 days before Christmas and a new car 3 days before Christmas.  Neither of the two were planned purchases but rather unexpectedly needed purchases.  As much of a shock as it was to our plans and our wallet, we do enjoy having a warm home and a car that easily accomodates Zach and will soon work well for baby #2.  For those of you wondering if I caved and bought a minivan......NO.  We ended up with a GMC Acadia but it still holds 7 passengers!

Below are some photos of our Christmas with Zach.  Nana and Boppa came to visit which was great!  I can't imagine a Christmas without them and I think Zach was more than spoiled by them.  I'm still trying to reverse some of the "holiday routine".  Zach is starting to understand the fun of the holiday and loves the excitement of it all.  After he opened each present he of course had to play with it so the process took a while.  I think next year he will be a handful!

And the spoiling begins.......

Notice the wardrobe change......Zach insisted on wearing the train sweater and hat as soon as he opened it.  Who knew he would be so excited over clothes?!

He needed a drill to help Dadda with all the basement work.

Nana had to help Zach grill some food as soon as his grill was opened.

Santa Clause made a stop at our house.  Zach must have been really good!

Zach had Christmas #2 at Grandma & Boppa Jim's.

Just a few days after Christmas we celebrated Boppa Jim's birthday with Mary's wedding!  Congrats to Mary and Mike.

Here was the best shot I got of Zach and Connor hanging out at the festivities.  They make me laugh

Nana and Boppa Bill were nice enough to look after Zach for a few days while Rich and I took a road trip to Door County, WI.  Thank you!  It was nice to get away for a few nights to ring in the new year and celebrate our 5th anniversary.  Yep....5 years!  We decided to celebrate a little early since Rich is in Atlanta for work this week.   Everyone remember where you were 5 years ago today??  Woohoo!  What an awesome party!!
 

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Rich has been out of town for work all week so Zach and I have found some holiday fun to get into.  Honestly Zach is a good boy for the most part so I don't expect my job of being a single parent for the week to be too hard but this week in particular he has been exceptionally good!  He has listened well, eaten well, helped me with chores, and really hasn't put up much of a fight regarding anything.  I just love him!  I know he is a daddy's boy but I sure like it when he shows mom a little love.

Today we went to see Santa.  I'm pretty sure this guy is the real deal.  I mean look at him!  Zach was fascinated by the automated train that he found while we waited for Santa to make his appearance.

Zach did great waiting in line for his turn and had no problem walking right up to Santa and hopping on his lap.  Unfortunately, he refused to smile for the picture but was more than happy to say "cheese!" once we were back in the car.  The second photo is Zach holding Santa's hand and matter of factly telling him that we would like a Choo Choo train and ice cream for Christmas.  He even specified that he would like green ice cream.  So is that mint or sherbert?  I'm sure Santa will figure it out.

We ended the night be curling up on the couch and watching a movie.  This is the first time Zach has really shown interest in watching a show/movie for more than 15-20 min.that didn't involve Curious George.

Wedding Fun

All right...I apologize but I'm going to do 2 posts in one night.  I just didn't think I could merge these two together.  Last weekend we were in VA to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Allie and her lucky man Luke.  We didn't get many photos but we snapped a few cute ones.  We had a blast!  Thanks for having us, Allie & Luke!

Here is the beautiful bride and handsome groom......

Sorry....I forgot the red-eye reduction before uploading this one.  Allie, you are on fire....and Luke looks pretty excited about it.

 

 Ok, now I'd like to know that was just said before I snapped this one.

Zach took these next two photos on his own.  Looking good Lynn!

Jeff, I'm going to have Zach take all photos of you.  I can't believe your hand wasn't in front of your face.  Looks like Rich may have been trying to help you out but his hand just didn't get up quick enough.

And when you take a 2 year old to a wedding, this is what ends up happening.

I can't wait for the whole family to be together again for the next family wedding.  Thanks for setting that up for us Molly and Jason!

Zach Turns 2!!

We have spent this part of the holiday season in the southeast with Nana and Boppa Bill.  I failed to take Thanksgiving photos but I made sure to document Zach's birthday.  We had a pre-birthday celebration with Grandma and Boppa Jim before our travels so Z has been on a birthday high for roughly a week now.  Yesterday and today were full of birthday adventures.  I guess when you turn 2 you deserve 2 days of fun however as he gets older I'm not sure we will be able to live up to the equation of # of years = # of days of birthday fun.

Could you pack all of this into 2 days??

Here is Zach, ready for his day to begin.

We took a trip to the Lazy 5 Ranch for a wagon ride to feed some wild animals.  I think the potbelly pigs and the buffaloes were his favorite but I didn't get a photo of them.

We followed that up with a trip to the local Build-a-Bear where Nana and Boppa treated Zach to creating his own stuffed puppy dog.  I think Boppa has all those photos but there is more fun to be had at the mall.

This morning started with one of Zach's favorites..........DONUTS!

Then we were in for the fun we could have around the house.  A ride in our trusty car.....

Bouncing on the new trampoline....

Directing the new train...

And learning how to work those pedals on his new trike!

And of course if you start your birthday with sugar you might as well end it with sugar!

Time flies when you are having fun!

If this isn't cute.......

then I don't know what is.

Happy Halloween!!

Ok, so I'm a day late.  Sorry!  We had some technical difficulties uploading our photos last night but I think we've got it figured out.  Zach did a great job and had a LOT of fun!  I was really proud of him for how well he said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at each house.  We got a lot of compliments on his costume and as any good kid on halloween, he ate a dinner of candy. 

Here is our little old school fighter pilot!

And here are some shots of our adventure up and down the block.

Boppa Jim manned our candy bowl at the house and was happy to hand out candy to his grandsons.

I think Grandma and Grandpa had as much fun as the boys.

And lastly, here is a little surprise for everyone.........
TRICK OR TREAT from our growing skeleton crew!

Construction 101

October has been the month of construction/renovation.  We gutted our basement on the weekend of September 22nd and have been working ever since.  Luckily.....I think we are in the home stretch.  I plan to post before, during and after photos when we are done.  Until then I thought I'd post a quick update on what Zach is learning and has found most fun through this renovation process.

#1.  Food is imperative!  If you have volunteer labor then you must be sure to feed them.  Donuts are a great way to start the day!

#2.  Boxes are not only incredibly useful for packaging but double nicely as a car and truck race ramp.

#3.  Shopping at Ikea to fill the new space isn't so bad when you have your own ride!