Christmas Eve

Elisha's Christmas picture taken by our good friend Tracey Parron!

This was Elisha’s first Christmas and I wanted it to be special.  I know that he is too young to fully grasp it but it is a very special time of year and I was blessed to share it with him.  We spent the majority of the day wrapping presents for family and friends.  Once we had completed the task of wrapping it was rather late.  We decided to go to Bob Evans to enjoy breakfast for dinner.  This is my favorite dinner and I was excited!  We left the house with just enough time for dinner and our drive to church.  As we pulled up to the restaurant we were informed that they had just closed.  I was devastated and Andrew quickly tried to come up with other options but everything he had suggested was closed.  The fact that all of the places we tried were closed by 6:30 which was surprising to me since Andrew’s restaurant was open till 8.  Maybe we should have gone there.  After driving around Bel Air looking for a place that would serve us a special Christmas Eve meal we decided to drive to Church in Columbia and try to find something in White Marsh on the way.  By the time we got there we only have 15 minutes to eat and with fast food as the only option in that time frame we ended up at McDonalds.  I was less than thrilled.

We made it to our home church, Crosswalk in Columbia, MD with a few minutes to spare.  We were greeted with the traditional candles to be used at the end of the service and jingle bells for the kids.  Pastor George began the service by inviting the kids to jingle the bells throughout the service as an act of worship in this family friendly environment.  During every song and at various other times you could hear the bells which put smiles on our faces.  Every carol and hymn we sung was fresh and new to the ear with the arrangements the band had prepared.  Pastor George and Donna Lippitt are amazing musicians and we were blessed with their gift.  About three quarters into the service Pastor left while we were singing.  He came back in dressed like a shepherd who had just seen an angel and wanted to tell the good news to the children in the service.  At the end he gave each child a glow stick to be used at the end of the service when the adults would be holding their candles.  We thought this was a great idea and that every church should do the same.  Andrew’s favorite part of the Christmas Eve service is singing Silent Night by candle light and tonight we were blessed to sing it by candle and glow stick light.  After the service we hung out for a bit with a few folks from our Columbia church family.  Our time there helped us refocus our attention on Christ, the reason we celebrate.

When we got home we opened one gift from under the tree, our Christmas pajamas!  In college my roommate told me about her family’s tradition of getting special Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve.  I loved this idea and wanted to do it when I had a family of my own.   When I suggested it Andrew he was game so after four Target trips we found the perfect pajamas for our family.  Elisha was Santa and we were his elves.

Here we go!

Mommy this bow is fun! It is stretchy!

Opening his PJ's

Mommy is an Elf

Daddy is an Elf

Elisha is Santa

Barrett Family Christmas

We had Christmas with my mom’s extended family over the weekend before Christmas.  This year we met at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Ron’s house.  We always have a meal and then do our gift exchange.  This year we had chili and taco salads for dinner!  Andrew thought it was appropriate to say, “Feliz Navidad.”  Then we opened presents.  This was Elisha’s first experience with opening gifts.  He was not sure what to do at first but the first box was pretty large so he pulled himself up, using it as a support and then he banged on it to make noise.  He then saw the bow and grabbed that off.  Then he sat back down and was just playing with the bow.  The rest of the evening he was entertained with the bows and that is what he would pull off any package and he was content.  Great Grandma and Great Grandpa got him a Jumparoo which he already had so we exchanged that at Babies R Us for some other toys.  

Mom am I suppose to climb on this big box?

 Elisha loved getting everyone's bows.

He enjoyed his snuggle time with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma

His Great Aunt Debbie and Great Uncle Ron got him a Bingo Dog Piano which teaches English and coincidentally Spanish as well.  They also gave him a race car and driver which is really cool because when you shake the driver the car moves.  We all had fun playing with his new toys.   

Do you see him holding the bow along with his new toy?

He enjoyed his Bingo Piano!

Don't the boys look sharp in their new glasses? 

Watch me Grow 2

Here is a re-cap of his monthly growth pictures.  

3 months: July 12, 2014
He is a country traveler, he has been to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Washington D.C., and more to come.  

 4 months: August 12, 2014
He is 16 lbs 6.4 oz which is the 73rd percentile, and he is 26 inches which is in the 77th percentile. This month he went south and visited Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 

5 months: September 12, 2014
He is growing like a weed.  He started daycare and loves every minute of it! He also added Deleware to his states visited list this month; which means he has been to a total of 11 states and D.C.

6 months: October 12, 2014 
He is rolling over! He is now 19 lbs (76th percentile) and 27 1/2 inches (83rd percentile). 

7 months: November 12, 2014
He started sitting up on his own. 

8 months: December 12, 2014
He is on the move, as of November 30 he is a crawler! 

  

Thanksgiving Break

We were very busy this weekend.  We spent Thanksgiving Day in Calvert County at Nana’s house.  Both of my brothers joined us and my mom made a great meal!  Elisha even got to have a little turkey, although he was not sure what to think about it.  

Nana Love!

Hanging out with the Uncles. 

Friday morning we got up and drove to Poppy’s house because Great Poppy and Great Mommom were coming for lunch.  I know they were mostly coming to see Elisha!  It was wonderful to visit with them because they had not seen Elisha since Labor Day weekend and in baby timing that is a long time! 

Playing with Patch! Hopefully next time we are there she will not be as scared of Elisha because he loves puppies! 

Playing with Great Poppy!

Snuggles with Great Mommom!

Play time with Poppy!

Then Friday night we headed back down to Calvert County to have dinner with my cousins.  My great aunt and uncle and their kids had come in from West Virginia to visit their son/brother who lives very close to my mom.  We normally only see them once a year so it was nice to get in an extra visit and catch up with the family.  This was also the first time some of the cousins had met Elisha so he enjoyed being passed around and getting all kinds of extra attention.  

The sweetest place on Earth!

Who knew that Hershey Park was still open at Christmas time? I did not.  But I hope that it becomes a yearly tradition for our family.  

He's my miniature!

We are a Reese's family!

The park was decorated in beautiful Christmas lights and decorations.  They even renamed rides with Christmas names!  They only had part of the park open so we were not able to ride any roller coasters but we enjoyed the zoo, carousel, the monorail, and a visit to Santa!

The Zoo

Christmas Faces of Timmy and Elisha

We went to Hershey with our Daycare mom, her family, and one other family from daycare.  Elisha loves his Mrs. Beth!

Snuggles with Mommy!

Snuggles with Daddy!

Elisha slept through his first carousel ride, he was a sleepy boy. 

He loved Santa! He was totally enthralled with his beard.

Who needs mistletoe when you have Hershey's kisses?

We also enjoyed the Hershey’s Trolley ride through town to learn about Mr. Hershey’s story.  

He was wide awake for the trolley ride. 

Then we drove across the street to the Hershey Sweet Lights drive through display.  This was the largest lights display I had ever seen!  It seriously took us at least 45 minutes to drive through.  There were so many different scenes and villages.  It was a very well designed display.  Although we did live and learn; you should buy the ticket for the sweet lights at the park because then you get a discount.  We did not know about that deal this week but next year we will be sure to get it at the park. 

We definitely plan too!

Mr. and Mrs. Armes & Kassouf Thanksgiving

Mom and Dad came up in early November to babysit during our dear friend’s wedding and to celebrate Thanksgiving a few weeks early!

Andrew was a groomsman in Joel and Katie’s wedding.  They were married outside at Pond View Farm.  It was a cold but beautiful day.  The reception was held in a new barn built for large events which was the most beautiful barn we had ever seen.  Katie and Joel had planned many details making their day unique.  One of our favorites was the bible where people were asked to highlight favorite passages as encouragement for them.  It was an honor to be a part of their day!  Meanwhile, Grandma loved her snuggle time with my little man!  

Mr. and Mrs. Armes

The next day Uncle Tim, Aunt Erin, Mom and John joined us for an early Thanksgiving dinner.  We had the whole spread: Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, broccoli, spaghetti squash, and apple pie! No Holiday meal with the Kassouf family is complete without Mom’s apple pie.

Play Time with Grandpa!

Snuggle Time with Daddy, and smiles for Grandma!

Halloween

I woke up the morning of Halloween not feeling well.  After spending the day in bed and relaxing I felt better.  Although I knew that Elisha would not remember anything about this Halloween I still wanted pictures of my little man all dressed up and I wanted to visit a few people to show off my cute little sock monkey!! Isn't he adorable! 

Elisha's First Halloween

We started at Aunt Erin and Uncle Tim's church for Trunk or Treat.  It was super crowded at Community Christian Church (CCC). We waited on a 30 minute line to get in which was way different than what we expected but it was fun and exciting to see Uncle Tim and the Walker family! 

Superman and a Sock Monkey

Photo booth fun with Uncle Tim

Happy Halloween

He's our little monkey!

After leaving CCC we went to visit our friends Joel and Katie.  They had just bought their first house and they were 1 week away from their wedding.  We had a wonderful time visiting with them and are looking forward to their wedding! 

Elisha loved Katie's scarf.

Oh my silly boys!