...And Then There was Thanksgiving

I swear it happens every year around this time... 

I do great blogging before/around Thanksgiving, and then WHAM! Between the celebrating, decorating, cleaning, traveling, cooking - whatever I happen to be doing - and life, I forget to stop and blog for a minute. Not to mention this year I'm also preparing to, you know, have a baby. That's kind of a big deal.

So, Thanksgiving!

We left Wednesday afternoon to spend the holiday weekend in North Carolina. A holiday! With family! *gasp* We've made it to see family for Christmas - usually - but this was our first Thanksgiving with family since before we moved to Hawaii. And seriously, that feels like a bazillion years ago now. Our lives were so different then... We were still newlyweds, still new to the Army, didn't have babies, and...just different. It was definitely a nice change. {Although I'm not sure if I will ever agree to traveling 9 months pregnant again. Even if it is only 4 hours in a car.}

We had a great time with family, but I have zero pictures from Thanksgiving. I'm blaming preggo brain on this one! I did attempt a few shots of Charlotte with her cousins, but none of them turned out well. Of course.

On Black Friday, we boycotted shopping {even though I was dying to get an iPad mini} and went to the mountains in search of Christmas trees. Even though we didn't come home with a tree, we enjoyed tagging along with everyone else. 

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Grammy, Gramps, (Joe's grandparents) and the kiddos.

Charlotte and Eden holding hands. They are the sweetest little girls!!

Charlotte and Auntie Sarabeth, clearly excited about Auntie Sara's tree. Haha

Charlotte and Auntie Anna

Family pic! One of us wasn't thrilled. 

My cuties. LOVE.

Saturday, my lovely SILs threw me a baby shower! It ended up just being family, but that was just fine. I didn't have any family around for Charlotte's shower, so it was a nice change. Although I did miss seeing my NC friends, I knew it would be difficult to arrange with it being a holiday. We also took some family pics, but I'm saving those for later. Spoilers. ;-)

The preggo and the hostesses with the mostest. ;-)

Family shot!

Me and the gifts. =)

We drove back to GA on Sunday, and I've basically been playing catch-up with laundry and housework ever since. We left the house in a bit of a mess (all of us got sick with a cold last week), and then Charlotte's cold got worse on Monday. And I'm 9 months pregnant and tired most of the time. So....bad combo! Plus, I've got quite a bit of things to do to get ready for Millie's arrival. 24 days, people. Twenty. Four. Days. Until my due date. I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one!

I have a couple posts rolling around in my brain, so stay tuned! I promise not to go completely AWOL unless I'm giving birth or something. ;-) And even then you know I'll be back with baby pictures!! 

How are you recovering from the holiday....and preparing for the next? 

4th of July = Fireworks for my Birthday?

So it feels like this 4 day weekend was really long... Anyone else feel that way? Maybe it's because it's the first 4 day we've had since we've been here that we haven't been traveling or booked solid with things. It was kinda nice! We did do a few things on the 4th, which was pretty nice. :)

First, we headed out to Chick-fil-a for lunch. I took a picture of the cutest person there! 

Some things about my kid? 1) Holy cow, I have the cutest kid ever. 2) She totally left those sunglasses on her head (which I put there ;)) until after she was finished eating. 3) She eats more than a 2 year old and is STILL smaller than an "average" 9 month old. *sigh* Anyways.....

After our much-needed CFA date, the three of us went to Target for diapers and proceeded to spend way more money than we needed to. It's funny how Target can not only suck me in, but also my husband. Especially that little "dollar" section at the very front of the store. Oh, this is only $1? Hey, this is only $3! Sign me up! After we spent all the moneys at Target, Joe decided he needed ammo from Academy during a rainstorm. We gladly let him do that while we stayed in the car, keeping our hair and clothes dry. ;-)

Basically, we had a really, really rainy 4th. The post had their fireworks show on the 3rd, and they all but got rained out. I think they shot off the fireworks despite the weather because there wasn't another event planned for a few months. Kudos to all the nuts who stayed out in the rain to see some fireworks. Anyway, for the 4th I decided I'd make dinner and cupcakes and have Amanda and her hubby over. We also bought a few small-scale fireworks to do at our house. You know, because they're actually legal in Georgia! {I couldn't tell you the last time I bought fireworks...even small ones like fountains! They're banned in Hawaii. Sads.} 

Unfortunately, I got exactly zero pictures of the food. Everyone said it was tasty, though. {Pregnancy is to blame for my weird tastebuds.} We enjoyed our crock-pot sloppy joes, oven baked fries, potato salad, and cupcakes. And because I wanted Charlotte to get in on the celebration, we took to the patio after dinner (and while it wasn't raining) for a few fireworks.

Joe setting things up, Jasper supervising.

I tried to get in some good shots while we were waiting. Key word: tried.

"Ooooooh, aaaaaah."

Smiles for Daddy. :)

Apparently Daddy is way more funny than Mama.

Charlotte hanging out with Amanda. :)

We got a picture together this year! Score!

After we put Charlotte to bed {and waited for it to get dark}, we went back outside for more fireworks! We took our chairs to the driveway and got ready to set them all off.

We did about 3, maybe 4, when it started pouring down rain. *sigh* We tried to stick it out on the porch, hoping that we'd be able to see local fireworks, but not even the porch was keeping us dry. So much rain! So, after a very rainy 4th, we called it a night. We still have a bunch of fireworks left - including sparklers, which are pretty much my favorite thing ever. I'm kind of hoping we'll set them off for my birthday tomorrow. Or actually, today since I'll probably post this tomorrow instead of tonight. So, happy birthday to me! 

{Is it just me, or does 27 sound kind of old-ish? I mean I know I'm not old, but it sure feels a lot older than 26.... Maybe it's that whole one-year-closer-to-30 thing? Maybe.}

How was your 4th?

Sunset Beach

Warning: This post will be picture-heavy. But I promise you there will be cute beach baby pictures!

Every year, Joe's side of the family takes a trip Sunset Beach, NC for a week. I think we made it to one 'beach week' while we were living in Hawaii. Obviously we had plenty of beach in Hawaii, so that wasn't the draw for us. One year he was deployed, the next we went during post-deployment block leave, and then we had Charlotte (and also no money =P). It felt like we hadn't been in forever and the fact that we were able to drive this time was even better! {After 3 years of needing to fly everywhere, I am 100% in favor of road trips.}

After being stuck in traffic part of the way, we finally made it to the beach just before dinner time. Plenty of time to chat, stretch the legs, and chat a bit before eating.

Hanging out in beach chairs with Eden.

The next morning, we set off to the beach! I mean, it wouldn't be 'beach week' without the beach! 

Playing with Harry in the sand.

This was the first time my little Hawaiian baby has shown any interest in playing in the sand. Ever. To be fair the sand in Hawaii is very gritty, while the sand in NC (and most East Coast beaches, I'd assume) is very, very fine. Anyway, the girl was covered in sand in a very short amount of time. Silly. :) After a while, we decided to walk out to the water.

Much to my surprise, she sat down in the water!

But as soon as a small wave came, she freaked. 

Not much of a Hawaiian baby, huh?

We did many things at the beach like hanging out with Pop, snacking, getting sand out of our toes, throwing sand, dancing, playing with cousins, and just generally had fun.

Dance moves. ;-)

Charlotte basically followed Eden and Harry around all week. LOL

The kiddos weren't the only ones to have fun, either. :)

The girls and Kellan managed to get out to dinner one night.

I so love Eden's face in this!!

Then, one day some of us had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, where I ate zero seafood.

{We also shopped some after lunch, but no photos were taken. For shame.}

We had lots and lots of family time, which was nice and only slightly overwhelming at times. :)

Some Father's Day pics... 

"Aw, man! I have to take a picture with this guy?!" LOL

Playing with Auntie Anna. :) Love.

Ice cream with Pop.

We usually do a family beach picture whenever we go, but we opted for a picture of the kids in sunglasses from Pop and Bossi this year. It definitely worked out well for the adults. ;-) Kids are always cute no matter what they wear!

 

And, of course, my little miss thought all the fuss was about her. ;-)

Such a ham. :)

For the most part, we had a pretty laid-back week. The kids were a crazy mess, and it's always interesting trying to wrangle kids while hanging out with everyone, but it was really fun. I'm so glad we live close enough now to be able to do this sort of thing! 

Also, I've decided that I miss living at the beach. The weather is so much nicer! 

Do you hear me, Georgia?

Popping In

I'm alive. 

We took a road trip to Arkansas to visit family.

With Joe's parents.

With my parents.

I'm still recovering.

We have no groceries.

I've been back and forth to the clinic since we got back. 

(Don't worry, everything's peachy.)

I have a ton of pics to edit from said trip.

So that pretty much sums it up.

I'll return at some point with an actual update. Promise. :)

A Holiday Note and a Funny

Hello, all! I bet you've been wondering where the heck I am.... Well, I'm here:

After 3 very long flights, we finally made it to North Carolina!!! It's good to be here, especially after a long, hard travel. 

Charlotte did okay on the flights. She didn't sleep much, which really surprised me. We left at night {bad idea} so I thought that she'd just sleep, but no luck. There was far too much going on throughout the flight for her to sleep well. She did sleep some but it wasn't much. And she was in my lap the whole time, so I didn't rest either. Fortunately, most of the people around us on our flights seemed to be very understanding and patient. Or if they were irritated they didn't say anything. {For which I'm very thankful!}

We're staying with my SIL, Anna, and her little family which has been great! I'm loving seeing my niece and nephew so much. 

Playing blocks with Eden and Harry. ❤

Attacking Eden's face with Pop {Joe's dad} supervising.

Side note: Charlotte loves Eden!

Charlotte and all her cousins!!! =D

Eden, Kellan holding Harry, and my sweet Charlotte. Love.

We're all having a good time here. Well, except that Charlotte and I both caught colds. She got one the first night we were here (Tuesday) and today (currently Friday) I woke up with a scratchy throat and stuffy nose...which turned into a runny nose, making me look like Rudolph. *sigh* Charlotte was pretty miserable there for a while and I felt terrible for her. She would catch her first ever cold during Christmas...and the one time we're actually around family! I'm not surprised I caught it, though.

So basically.... I'm not going to be around all that much for the next week or two {ish}. Joe's family is pretty big and there's always something going on. Rest assured that I'll be back after the holidays with pics and probably some great stories!!!

And just a little something to make you laugh...a hilarious video of Charlotte screaming at me. Enjoy! =)

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Vacating Life

That's the whole point of vacation, right?! Well, we definitely left the "real world" behind last week. We left last Friday to fly to NC and spend a week with family. We made it there and back again despite Delta's attempts to thwart our plans. Let's just say I'm seriously done with flying for a while. Anyway.

We had a great trip. And by great I mean awesome. =) We started off "beach week" by doing exactly what you're supposed to do on vacation - absolutely nothing. It was fantastic. There's nothing like doing nothing with a whole bunch of other people. Haha! There were two main things I enjoyed about being at Sunset Beach, NC last week. Their names are Harry and Eden. ;-)

I finally got to meet my youngest nephew...who is 3 months old already. *sniff*

And I got some great play time with my niece. =)

As did Uncle Joe. =)

{I love this picture!!!}

We shared a house with Anna and Jason, the kids, and Pete {my BIL} and his wife Caty. I felt like the house was a bit small for 6 adults and 2 small children, but it worked out pretty well. Joe's parents, grandparents, Sarabeth {my other SIL} and Kellan {oldest nephew} all stayed in another house. It's crazy how in such a short time the family has gone from sharing one house two needing 2. And who knows, we could need a bigger one {or even another one} by next year!

We had a pretty relaxed week, with only a few outings planned... Like dinner, shopping and going to a shooting range. The rest was a whole bunch of lounging and hanging out at the beach.

Me, Sarabeth, and Caty at Sunset Beach.

Joe and I. =)

...aaaand me with Anna!

{You only said not on Facebook!!! ;-)}

After a long, hot day of shopping we ate at Joe's Crab Shack with Pete and Caty. I also learned I'm not a huge fan of crab. *sigh* I wish I liked seafood...

And of course we had to take time for a BIG family photo!

One of just us...it's decent enough. =)

Oddly enough, by the end of the week Joe and I were the only ones left in our house. Saturday, Sarabeth and Grammy drove us back up to Wilmington so we could catch our flight out on Sunday morning. We spent the afternoon in our room {a lively bunch we are} and only ventured out for dinner downtown. Which, by the way, was the best dinner we've had in a looooooong time. We took a cab from our hotel down to Front Street and had dinner at a little place called Circa 1922. 

I loved it the minute we stepped in. As most restaurants in the downtown area of an east coast town, this place had a very colonial feel. From the chandeliers to real hardwood floors...it was great. The staff was super nice....and the food was uh.maz.ing. Joe and I both got steaks; he had the filet mingon and I had the New York strip. Best steaks we've ever had. EVER. It was definitely pricey, but I think it was well worth it. I'd totally go back. After dinner we walked around for a bit. I'm a sucker for colonial towns...and I'm fortunate enough to have a husband who enjoys them too. =)

Just so you know, one of the buildings on North Front Street is a fallout shelter. Handy information to have. ;-)

I just love this cute little building!!! If it wasn't for all the people around, I'd love to live in something like this one day.

We took a walk on the boardwalk and saw the USS North Carolina. =)

And of course we had to stop for ice cream. =)

{I had the best rocky road EVER here.} 

I just wish we'd had more time to spend in Wilmington. I would have loved to go to the Cape Fear Museum and the Bellamy Mansion. Oh, and visit the USS North Carolina.... Maybe take a carriage ride... Yeah, we'll definitely be going back there. =) Notice I also said this about Charleston, SC. I think I just have a love for all of the tangible history there is on the east coast. One day I'll live close enough to experience it more often. 

So, that's where I was last week. =) And after many flights and too many hours spent in ATL, we're back on the island enjoying the rest of block leave. 

Hope your week is off to a great start!