Christmas is coming.....

Geez! I apologize (yet again) for our tardiness here. Sad but true, I uploaded these pictures LAST TUESDAY night but never sat down to "blog" about them. How pathetic am I? In reality I have this ever fast paced, crazy week to thank for my lack of chit chat on here. Work was BUSY last week, we are short staffed and definitely starting to feel the difference this time of year with holidays and illnesses upon everyone. The lack of help is even more apparent when I look at the weekend schedule for the upcoming year (yep, gotta work Saturdays sometimes- babies don't take breaks on weekends and holidays- so, neither does the Newborn Screening Lab!) Well we used to work every 7th-8th Saturday-not next year-we all pretty much work a Saturday each month, not to mention LOTS of state holidays, bah humbug to that one! Enough whining, sorry for the detour. I am VERY thankful to be off this week and thoroughly enjoying the extra time with Todd and Lucas, and other family and friends. The days go by so quickly though when you are having fun, that is the only drawback. I could definitely get used to this!!! A girl can dream, right?
We have had some busy but great weekends in amongst the Christmas preparations and normal weekday business. Two weeks ago Lucas and I got together with some girlfriends from college and their little ones for lunch and an gift exchange. As always we had a great time chatting, eating yummy food, playing, and chasing the little monkeys around. at least I spent a good part of the time chasing Lucas away from the stairs. He loves to climb them and we let him sometimes at home as we follow close behind just in case. The look of accomplishment on his face is great once he reaches the top! He loved playing with/near all of the other kiddos :)



After lunch we headed back up 95 to meet Todd at Bass Pro Shops. If you have not been there, you HAVE to go. No worries if you don't hunt or fish, you haven't seen me donning any blaze orange or waders right? ;) That place is nuts! It is huge for starters and has just about every outdoor toy for the big boys that you can imagine. They also have a giant fish tank/aquarium full of all of the freshwater fish you can find in VA. Really cool for the little ones. Lucas was fascinated but a little intimidated at first by the waterfall. Plus right now there is a huge SantaLand and free pictures with Santa too! So....we did what every other loving set of parents does with their kids this time of year. Ventured over to see St. Nick. Well, after about 40 minutes in line- slightly grumpy, antzy minutes for Lucas, we made it to the big man himself. Well I'll let the pictures speak for the reaction he got.....
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!" My God, I have never felt him hang on so tight and seen that reaction. Poor Santa, can't you just see the look of joy on his face. Needless to say we weren't the only family that ended up taking home this picture of our visit with Santa.....

You could tell that the employees were very skilled at setting up this shot to prevent anymore angst to the little ones! Maybe a few years from now he will forget this traumatic experience, I know that we won't. ;)

A happy family shot :)

Lucas playing on the 4-wheelers while we waited in line for Santa. I think these were strategically placed along with the boats near SantaLand to keep the dads happy/content while you wait :) Seemed to work well and the kids had fun at the same time :) But I have to note, where has my little baby gone too? He is such a little boy now, even that facial expression.

So that was last weekend, since then we have been busy shopping, finally getting the house all decorated, baking Christmas goodies, and visiting with family and friends. This past weekend we got to visit with lots of Todd's family and family friends at his dad's annual Christmas party and another get-together at Kristi and Barrett's. Lucas has been busy polishing up his walking skills, he has got the hang of standing up on his own now without pulling up on things. He will squat to play and stay that way for forever it seems. We got him dancing yesterday to a new musical toy-it was hysterical! He was rocking out life and having a blast laughing at mommy and himself. We tried to get it on video but then he stopped-of course! We'll keep trying and get it up here for you. :) He also has been chatting up a storm again- still obsessed with the cat and the dogs, but we have been working on other words too, outside, cup, milk, etc. We finished off this past weekend by spending time with great friends, the Edmond's family. So that is us in a nutshell for now. Just finishing up the shopping, baking, and wrapping for the big day. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas week and safe travels to all that are heading away from home!!!

We'll be back sooner, promise ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!