No Black Friday for me this year

Hard to believe - I skipped Black Friday this year. I can not remember the last time I wasn't out shopping before the roosters were up. Usually, my Mom and I go out and it's just fun to spend time together. I did miss that part but I really enjoyed sleeping in (until 6:30am), especially since Eli had a rough night on Wednesday. We spent the day today together as a family. We actually did go to the mall but it was more to get Eli out and not to actually shop (thank goodness, it was a zoo!). Grandma & Grandpa N will be here tomorrow for the weekend. After that hopefully I can get pictures loaded and write about our Thanksgiving. We had a good time yesterday visiting with family down at the farm.

If you went out shopping today, hope you got some good bargains!

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope that everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving. We're headed to the farm to see Grandma & Grandpa C for the day tomorrow and then we'll have Grandma & Grandpa N here for the weekend. It should be so much fun. Lots of eating and hanging out with family! We have so much to be thankful for this year.

15 month check

Fall school picture - growing up fast!

Today was Eli's 15 month check at the doctor. He did so great. Everything looked good and he is growing along his own growth curve. We still have a big boy, that's for sure! Eyes, ears, throat, chest, legs...it was a good check all around. He wasn't very happy that he had to get two shots but he did great for them and didn't cry for too long. Poor thing, he even fell asleep on the way home. Here are his stats:

Weight: 27 pounds, 14.6 ounces - 75th percentile

Length: 33-1/4" - 90-95th percentile

Head circumference - 49cm - 90-95th percentile

Long and lean....just like his Daddy!

Snow suit fashion show

Snapped a few cute pictures of Eli in his snow suit this morning. The day turned out to be a nice one but it was pretty darn cold when we went for a walk at 8am (it was maybe 30 degrees!). Eli seemed to be warm and comfy in his snow suit - he even took a 20 minute cat nap during the walk. Notice the gloves, a BIG victory for Mom & Dad. Eli hasn't been very cooperative with gloves and hats. We won the glove battle (for now) but still haven't been successful with the hat / hood battle. Maybe soon.

Raleigh Christmas Parade

Today was a busy day. Very early in the cold, we set off to see the Christmas parade. Now, Tim & I have both lived here for a long time but have never been. We weren't too sure what to expect and quite surprised when the newspaper said it would last about 2-1/2 hours. Apparently this is the biggest parade between Atlanta and DC - who knew?! Parade started around 9:30am and we got there about 20 minutes before and found a pretty good spot. We had all bundled up in multiple layers - Eli actually had his fuzzy pajamas on under his sweatsuit, worked perfectly!! The parade started with the police department on motorcycles and horses and there were tons of things to see after that. Eli was so cute waving to all the parade people and making friends with everyone around us. His school had a float (#93 of 115 floats - that didn't include all the other bands, cars, horses, balloons, etc.) but Eli had pooped out by then. He seemed to have fun watching the entire thing. We even got lucky and were giving a 'Bob the Builder' DVD.

Post parade, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and a shopping excursion to REI. Got Eli an awesome snowsuit (not that we expect a lot of snow, just need to keep him warm b/c we CAN NOT spend the next four months inside!) and also picked up a few Christmas gifts. We spent the afternoon recovering (all of us) from our big morning.

Lots of pictures from the day...

Family photo

Monster truck - what a great Southern Parade!

Tractors - Grandpa would have loved this

Mid parade - looking for the next float

Flat Stanley went with us - he really needs that coat!

Dancing library carts - this was one of my favorites. They had a choreographed routine and had so much fun with it.

Snowman balloon - 1 of 4 balloons. Who needs Macy's?

Pooped out warm & snuggly little boy

Every good Christmas parade must end with Santa!

Meet Flat Stanley

Last night a special visitor arrived at our house - meet Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley came to us from Eli's cousin John in Florida. He is here to visit for a few weeks and explore NC. We hope to take him lots of places and document his visit here before he has to go back. It was pretty fun that we woke up to snow today so we had to let him play in it for a few minutes. They definitely don't see that in Florida!! We'll probably have to give Flat Stanley a coat as cold as it's been around here.

Busy Little Beavers

It has been a busy weekend around here...go go go!

Friday, during the day, I tiled our fireplace. We've wanted to do it for a long time but it just took forever to find the tile we liked. Now the tile is installed but we haven't gotten around to grouting it yet. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll get that and the finishing touches done. Friday night, our friends Kara & Brian & their son Owen came over for dinner. I tried to get pictures of the boys in action but they were running all over chasing each other. It's so fun to watch them interact and play together. Far different than their first "playdate" where they slept in their carseats!

Saturday morning Eli & I did a long walk, we ran some errands as a family and then Ms. Katie came over to stay with Eli and his friend Ryan for the afternoon. We went to the NC State / Wake Forest football game with our friends Carol & Kevin - GO PACK!! It was a fun soggy afternoon. The crazy thing was that my brother and his girlfriend came up for the game and we all happened to be in the same section. It was so great to see them. Again I tried to take pictures of Eli & Ryan playing when we got home but they were all over the place. It's funny that Eli & Ryan are in the same class at school but they never seem to tire of each other. Good for us!!

Today we did some stuff around the house and some general weekend errands. Nothing too exciting but the day somehow disappeared! We did stop by to see Kara, Brian & Owen for a bit and the boys got to run around more with a football and basketball.

Hope you all had a great weekend....that's the update from here!

Progress on the fireplace - a 2x2 stone tile

Evia & her brother Billy at the football game

Carol & Kevin (they're both always smiling!!)

3rd quarter - had to break out the rain gear

Eli and his Sunday morning cheesy face - just can't get enough of that silly smile

Oatmeal for breakfast

Seems like it has been too long since I've posted pictures of Eli so here are some from breakfast this morning. Eli is learning how to use his spoon and fork. He's getting quite good at it but still manages to get a little bit of food just about everywhere!

Don't I look like a pro?

Oatmeal face - so cute!

Ironman World Championship 70.3

This weekend was such a treat for me. I went to Clearwater, Florida for the Ironman World Championship 70.3. I left Thursday around lunch to fly down to meet my friends Holly & Cary. Holly came from Vermont and Cary was there from Colorado. Cary had qualified for the race by her place in another Half Ironman and we were so excited to be there to cheer her on in the World Championship.

Thursday night we went for dinner in Ybor City. Friday, Cary had athlete stuff to do so Holly & I enjoyed ourselves. We went for a walk / rollerblade (Holly on rollerblades not me) after breakfast. Then some lounging by the pool reading a book. Lunch and then more time on the beach and by the pool. It was so gorgeous that I hated to be in the hotel room at all! Friday evening we had pizza at a great little spot and then it was early bedtime because Saturday was race day. Saturday started at 3:30am. We dropped Cary off at the race venue at 5am, grabbed us some breakfast and then walked the 30 minute walk back to the venue. The race was so much fun to watch. While waiting for Cary to finish the swim, we were able to see Team Hoyt finishing the swim. I don't know if many of you have heard of them but I have seen them featured many times on tv and to see them in action in person was absolutely amazing. I got chills and teared up when they passed me. Cary had a great day and met all of her goals. We were so proud of her. There were so many fit people racing and I was amazed at their abilities. The winning guy was 3 hours, 40 minutes - for a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run!! Being around the event was just so much fun. It'll be on tv April 12, 2009 so I hope I remember to dvr it!

Saturday evening we went out for a nice celebratory dinner and then an early bed. Sunday we got up, had breakfast and went for a walk again before having to leave for the airport. Now, I must say that my flights to Florida and home were exciting as I almost missed connections each way due to delays. I just had to run through terminals like a crazy woman!

Tim & Eli seemed happy to see me when I got home. I don't have pictures of their weekend but I understand they had a good weekend with Grandma & Grandpa N - they came to give Tim some help this weekend (THANK YOU!).

It was a great weekend with the girls and a much needed vacation away. I was able to truly relax and enjoy my friends. Thanks Cary & Holly for a fun time!

Sand sculpture at the venue

Cary's group starting the swim - they did waves here instead of one mass start

Team Hoyt

Finishing the swim

Headed out on the run

Almost to the finish line

Post race

Sunday morning - who says you can't maintain long distance friendships?

Umstead x 2

It has been another busy fun family weekend at our house. Of course, we had the normal errands, chores, etc but the fun part was managing two trips to Umstead. Yesterday we took Eli on a hike and he loved it. This was probably the first time he was awake the entire hike. This afternoon we went on a bike ride out there and, again, Eli stayed awake. He wasn't too happy for some of it (we had put the plastic down on his trailer and he wanted dust and dirt blowing on him instead) but overall it was a good ride. He must have used up a bunch of energy as he ate dinner like a mad man tonight. Hopefully he'll sleep well! Speaking of sleeping, fingers crossed but we think Eli has survived the time change without a problem. We kept him up later and later as last week progressed and tried to tire him out each day and it seems to have worked. Hope I'm not jinxing us!!

Video fun

We took a few videos of Eli today at lunch and thought we'd share two of them. First one, he's just giggling and showing off his belly. The second one, he makes all the animal sounds I ask for. I thought I got them all but I forgot horse. He's quite proud of his animal sound vocabulary - as are we! Enjoy....