GO EAGLES!!!

GO EAGLES!! Need I say more?

Christmas in the Wood House

Thankfully our little man woke up feeling better. He claims it must be Santa's magic. You should have seen him step in the soot and glittery magic Santa left on the hearth then jump on the sofa and jump off flapping his arms to see if that magic could make him fly like the reindeer!
This was the year that I thought Matthew would just tear into his presents without taking the time to appreciate them. Boy was I wrong!! It took from 7 am until to 5 pm to get them all open and he spent time playing with everyone of them! His phrase of the day?? "Just what I always wanted!" One time we asked him what the present was after he said it and his response sent us rolling--"I don't know."

Christmas Eve

Even though Matthew was still under the weather, he enjoyed our Christmas Eve traditions of PJ's left on the doorstep by someone unknown, writing a note to Santa and leaving out cookies, milk and reindeer food. Matthew even took the time to pose with his sister. When I put him to bed he said to me "Mama I love having a little sister." Talk about melting a mothers heart. Here it is Christmas Eve when most are concerned with when Santa will get here and his thoughts are of his sister.

The First Gift of Christmas

Family tradition is that one gift from an Aunt or Uncle can be opened after church on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately we woke up at 2 am Christmas Eve morning to vomiting. Then came the fever and diarrhea. Obviously no church so "when do I get open a present mama?" was his first question. My safe response was when Daddy gets home from work. The Daddy came waltzing in at 10:30 am (actually quite a blessing). Needless to say I gave into my sick baby and he magically picked the right gift for a sick day.



He and Daddy immediately set it up and began to play video games. He told me I had to get the camera to say thank you to uncle David but his poor brain wasn't working quite right so David-this was the best he could do!

The Family Tradition Continues

Katherine has cut her second tooth-this time on a dill pickle. Her daddy cut his first on a pickle too. Like father, like daughter! These pictures are from a week or so ago when she had her first pickle.

Katherine's Newest Trick

Although she hasn't begun to cruise yet, Katherine is very efficient at getting where she needs to go-no stairs too steep!

The Polar Express

We took Matthew on a surprise trip to the mountains this weekend to ride the Polar Express on the Smoky Mountain Railroad. He was absolutely ecstatic. Before we boarded the train, we visited the train museum. Although it was raining (as you can tell in the pictures) our spirits were not dampened one bit. Matthew enjoyed hot cocoa, chocolate covered marshmallow, singing, dancing and a visit from Santa himself.

The tree

We made what has become our annual trek to Penland Christmas Tree Farm on Friday to find just the right tree. Matthew's favorite part I think is the hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows. Katherine just took it all in.


Matthew took this picture with my heavy camera. It was the best one of Katherine by far. He said, "You just have to put the camera and Katherine's face and push the button. It's easy!

7 months Today

Its hard to believe that Katherine is 7months old today. We just had her 6 month check up on Tuesday (It was rescheduled because of our trip to St. Louis). She had Dr. Cook in stitches. Every time he tried to listen to her heart she took the stethoscope in her hands and looked up at him and grinned this huge grin. It took about 5 tries to even get the thing on her chest. He had me set her on the table and before he could half a sentence out she crawled to the other end and grabbed the charts out of his hands. She found the paper covering the table fun too. As he tried to talk to me she out spoke him. It was quite entertaining. All that being said, he said her motor skills are phenomenal. He is sending us to a pediatric ophthalmologist to be sure her eyes are working correctly. Vision may be the reason for the constant tilt of her head or it may just be her inquisitive nature. When he said he wanted her to see someone who works with babies, I jokingly asked him if he didn't think she was smart enough to read the letters off a chart. He looked at me dead serious and said--"there's no doubt this little girl is smart" . Her first tooth is also poking through. As it grows in more I will try to get a picture. Its her lower left front tooth so her tongue may make it difficult.
As for the stats-she weighs 15.7 pounds which puts her in the 20th percentile and she is 27 inches long which puts her in the 60 percentile. Her head is in the 82nd percentile.

Christmas has begun

Christmas craziness truly began this weekend! We attended the advent workshop at church Saturday morning then stepped out into the parking lot for the Christmas parade. It was a fun cold day. Katherine fell asleep during the parade and didn't even flinch when the fire trucks blew their horns. Then on Sunday, we worked on Christmas lights. Poor Brian was up on the roof (Our 27 foot ladder doesn't reach the highest peak!) and I kept my feet planted firmly on the ground. Katherine and Bailey supervised and Matthew helped put up the lower lights. I was the official ladder holder and assistant. I will get pictures from the advent wreath workshop and lights soon. Here are a couple from the parade and putting up the lights.