Friday, January 25, 2013

Snow and Massanutten

Last weekend, we finally got some snow.  It was wonderful.  It started coming down Thursday after we were all home for the evening and it was beautiful.  It came quickly and melted quickly which is how I like it. 
 
Friday morning, Matt, Charlie and I headed to Massanutten to spend time with the Wheawill's.  On the way, Charlie decided that he would try out his new DVD player that was a gift from Pops and Mim.  He was excited to watch the choo choo or Thomas and it did provide a little bit of distraction from having to be in the car.  However, after 2 hours, he was ready to be there and we were so it was perfect!
 

We had such a nice time.  I love Massanutten for many reasons but I like that it's far enough to get away but not so far that it takes a days worth of driving.  There are so many activities and we didn't even do half of them but managed to fill up our days having fun and relaxing.
Charlie enjoyed the indoor swimming pool.  I think he's getting too big for his float.  While he was content in it, he really just wanted to be out and swimming.  He didn't even want to stay in our arms so I think we will need to look for some sort of float device that makes him feel a little more independent.  (These days, this boy is definitely showing his independence but that's for another blog!)  Anyways, he had a blast and got to go twice while we were there.
Matt and I went tubing for a couple of hours so we talked Aunt Kneeknee and Grandpa and Grammie to come down and bring Charlie for a few pictures.  He wasn't all that impressed with the snow and I think he was just ready to go play.  Anyways, Matt and I had a blast tubing!
Matt and I also skied.  For Matt, it was his first time and for me, it was my first time in about 12 years.  I picked it up quickly and soon remembered how much I loved it.  Matt did not like it at all.

Charlie was super impressed with the jacuzzi tub.
 

We sat around by the fire and relaxed. 
I found it relaxing doing puzzles, drinking wine and listening to music on Saturday afternoon.  We ate a lot of good food.  All in all, I would say it just went by too quickly.  We had such a good time.  Thank you Grandpa and Grammie for inviting us and even giving up the master bedroom for us.  Also, thanks for the pictures since most of these are ones you took.  I'm looking forward to future years at Massanutten but I think I'm going to need to find a ski partner!

As I type this, I'm looking at more snow from today.  It all came down between 3 and 6 which wasn't so convenient for everyone trying to get off work.  I think part of it is people aren't used to it in Richmond and don't handle it as well as Grundy but being downtown on Friday and trying to get home, was not too much fun.  I didn't have problems but it was very SLOW.  Anyways, we are all home and safe and sound inside our warm home.  Have a good weekend!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Super Wyatt and Super Charlie







20 Months

Where does time go?  I'm not quite sure but I can't believe we are getting close to having a 2 year old.  Well, I think I did say recently that I wanted to freeze time because Charlie has been so fun lately.  This week, not so much!  :-)  He was a bear most of the time and only wanted his "Daddo" which didn't work for Matt or I very well.  It was a hard week and I'm hoping that most of his tantrums and issues were surrounded around him feeling bad and not his age.  This is actually some pictures on the day of his 20 month birthday.  I think the pictures definitely show how bad he was feeling.  Luckily, he got much love from his Grandpa and Grammie.




I think he looks so much older these days.


My favorite thing that Charlie has done in the last week or so is that he  has started giving real kisses.  I probably have asked for more than my share but I can't get enough of the sweet kisses.

He is obsessed with his coat and hat and he will make sure to tell you to put them on before we leave to go out.  Should "Daddo" as he calls Matt wear a baseball cap, he must also.

He is learning all kinds of things.  I think he is saying his colors but really only consistently says "blue" or "red".  He talks all the time these days and repeats everything we say.  He's interested in the phone and has even talked a little on it.  He thinks it's hilarious to hold the phone up to Wally's ear so he can talk on it.
 
If he's not climbing, then he's running.  We still don't have many sit still moments.  Although, when Matt picked him up from daycare he was sitting in his seat at the table hanging out and Matt asked them how they got him to do that for longer than 2 seconds!  :-)
 






Friday, January 11, 2013

Christmas Post

I wanted to get this up before it was Feb and I was backing up to do my Christmas post.  I feel like I'm about a month behind these days so I had it done last weekend but I couldn't figure out how to post my pictures.  Apparently, it wasn't working with Internet Explorer.  Anyways, after my sweet husband researched the problem and showed me Google Chrome, here is the BIG Christmas 2012 post.

Christmas came and went quickly here in the Wheawill house.  We had a great time celebrating the holiday and enjoying all the traditions and sentiments, along with some new ones here at our house.  I was blessed with time off of work, much more than I had originally expected.  Being able to enjoy the holidays without stressing over your schedule is a major perk with my current job!  We are now back to no tree and everything is put away (except for a few random decorations that I have found this week).  All the new things are in their new place in a somewhat organized fashion, thanks to the Ikea trip that I took last weekend!

Anyways, I'll start with Christmas Eve.  We went over to Aunt Kneeknee's since we didn't have any plans to be at her house and we wanted to see her decor.  She does such a great job decorating.  We had a really nice visit over there just hanging out.  Charlie especially loved seeing Coco and unfortunately, those are the only pictures I took.



After a nap, Charlie and I went to the grocery store so he could pick out the canned food for the food offering to stock the food pantry for children to participate in at the Christmas Eve services.  He chose peas and carrots and applesauce.

(Pictures on our way home from the grocery.)
At 4, we went to the Christmas Eve service and it was so nice.  I absolutely love Christmas Eve service and I was afraid the kid friendly early service may disappoint me but it did not.  Charlie did good with taking up his applesauce and peas and carrots to the alter but wasn't 100% okay with leaving them.  Luckily, he did without too much argument so we could get back to our seat.  :-) 

We didn't do cookies for Santa this year or anything for the reindeer since I figured all the other children would feed them and Charlie didn't really have a clue what was going on.  Matt and I fixed a nice dinner with steak, grilled onions, mashed potatoes, and salad.  We even opened a nice bottle of wine that we got back in August when we celebrated our anniversary.  Charlie had some chicken and peas and carrots.  Charlie was in the best mood.  We put on his new pjs after bath and read The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas story.





Charlie and I sang Happy Birthday to Jesus about 10 times.  He kept saying again and again and so we did it a ton!  Matt and I weren't up too long getting things straight for the next morning.

Christmas morning, I woke up about 5ish.  I wanted a shower but didn't want to miss a minute so I decided to get up extra early.  However, Charlie slept until close to 8am.  Not sure what that was about but when he woke up, he was real rested and happy!  Matt and I had a nice morning before Charlie got up just relaxing in bed.  Maybe that was Charlie's present to us.  Anyways, first thing we came down and were surprised to see what all Santa brought us.

 This was Charlie's reaction when he saw what was downstairs.

 Charlie loved his kitchen but I really can't say what was his favorite.









He gave every toy equal playing time and was just so happy and excited about it all.  We all opened our stockings.






Charlie enjoyed pulling out the goodies for us to see.  Santa was a real prankster and bought Daddy some GI Joe tightie camaflougies.

The rest of the Wheawill clan (Grandpa, Grammie and Kneeknee) joined us about 9 for breakfast.   We did more presents and visited for the rest of the morning. 








Charlie got a late nap and everyone scattered so we could reconvene at Grandpa and Grammie's after nap for a dinner.  We had a great time.  



Charlie just got silly by the end of the night.  He was so happy all day.  I would say that he had a great day!

The following day, we had a nice breakfast with friends and met Alice for the first time.  While it's not been so long that I still remember Charlie being a baby, but it's hard to believe he was that small.  :-)


Charlie went to daycare to play with his friends and take a nap while I ran errands in the cold and rain.  Matt went on to work.  The rest of the week, we worked and Charlie went to daycare.

Friday night, we had Christmas with the Hamricks.  Oh my!  Those boys had so much fun.  It's too bad I didn't get any pictures but Wyatt and Charlie were crazy playing and had probably the best bath ever.  They laughed so much!  By the end, Ali and I were soaked from there wild playing but it was pretty cute.

Later Friday night or more like early Saturday morning, The Matneys came.  My mom and dad got here first and then my sister and Seth were about an hour behind.  Charlie was very surprised on Saturday morning to wake up with a bunch of house guests even though I told him they were coming.  We had Christmas Saturday morning with everyone.





Then Saturday, we had an early dinner at Maggiano's.  Yum!  It was bit ambitious to think that a 19 month old would sit through that kind of dinner since we were there about 2 hours.  He did good for the most part.  We all got to eat.  Matt did have to take him on a walk around the mall and I did end up our in the lobby with him at one point but he ate really well so did the rest of us! 

Sunday, we had a nice visit with Uncle Rob and Aunt Susan.

They were nice enough to come from NC for the day.  We had such a nice visit and even had the opportunity to celebrate Aunt Susan's birthday which is on December 31st.


That evening, we went to visit a couple of houses that are on the tacky light tour.  We go to these houses every year and they are close to the house.



 Mom did bath duty and put Charlie to bed.  Matt, Meredith, Seth and I went out to show Seth a little of Richmond and stopped off for a drink and a couple appetizers.

New Year's Eve, Dick and Debbie invited us over for a very nice brunch.  It was so sweet to have my family over and I know everyone enjoyed the visit.  Charlie showed off the rocking horse that he loves.

Also, he got a few more gifts from his Great Aunt's.



That night, Mim and Pops took on Charlie duty again and the rest of us did a little NYE celebrating.






That finished up our Christmas and New Years, after a nice brunch, we had to say our goodbyes.









Charlie went over to spend time with Grandpa and Grammie while Matt and I undecorated and cleaned a little.