I spent this Easter feeling very blessed.  Just to update all of you, this is where we get to live.  We found a house.  A home.  We are likely moving on our 8th wedding anniversary next month.  We’re holding on.  April is going to be a whirlwind of a month.  I miss this space when I’m not writing regularly.  Bare with me.  Life is exciting right now.

For the next few weeks we will be soaking up every last memory in our little townhouse.  It’s one of my favorite places in the world and we have to leave it.  It’s very bittersweet.

I hope your Easter was this happy…

I haven’t written since Christmas, and even then I didn’t really write.  I’ve just enjoyed my vacation.  It was a week of uninterrupted time with family and friends and exactly what our little family needed.  No work, no blogging.  It was really fantastic.  Do it if you can.

It could be the excitement of having Christmas with a 2-year-old that made this year special, but that’s not all of it.  I can’t put my finger on one thing that made it fantastic.  It was every little moment.  I think we have to go back before our actual vacation, to the week before Thanksgiving.

• That is when we took Charlotte to her first Christmas parade and the Santa mania began.  She didn’t even want to sit in her wagon.  Nope, only our shoulders would do.  She wanted to see everything.

• During Thanksgiving she watched her first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  She couldn’t wait for the Sesame Street float while she sat on her Sesame Street potty.  Greyson and I laughed and laughed at our little naked baby.

• Charlotte ran to Santa and gave him a hug.  She asked him for a baby doll.

• One night in December, Greyson and I had a date night to see Raleigh’s famous version of “A Christmas Carol.”  My former colleague and great friend, Mark played Nephew Fred.  I was so proud I teared up.  When the cast ran into the audience as part of the performance, he found us and hugged us.
• Another night I had a girls night at “The Nutcracker” I told all of you about.
• We got an extra special treat when Greyson’s parents surprised us and flew in from Colorado the weekend before Christmas.  They got to give Charlotte her new kitchen set.
• I got together with my friends from my old dance company growing up since everyone was in town for the holidays.  Some still dance.  For others like me, competitions, recitals, bleeding toes and tutus are all part of a past life.  It was exciting to catch up with them and plan dance days for our own daughters.  

• I also got to meet up with friends from high school.  It was like herding cats for Meagan, Megan and myself to keep track of our two-year-olds.  I love seeing old friends from the past and seeing their life successes.  It does my heart good.  For me, when I look at old friends I see the 17-year-old me, forever preserved in them.

• Santa came!  Her beloved baby doll was in her arms.

• We traveled to my Grandparents houses for a little extended-family time.  Charlotte has not stopped talking about her second cousins Lana, Emma, and Willow.

• New Years Eve we went downtown to Raleigh’s First Night celebration.  We drop an acorn because we’re the City of Oaks.  It’s silly, we know, but it’s our thing here in the Capital City.  We went to the 7:00pm Acorn Drop for children.  This was Charlotte’s first and she couldn’t have been more delightful.  If she kissed us once, it was a million times.  I teared up singing Auld Lang Syne at 7:01pm.  I was that ridiculously happy with my bundled-up little family.

 

Quick sidenote:  This holiday I realized how often I use my Instagram.  (Duh! See above post.  Half these pics are IG.) Seriously.  It’s as much as I use Twitter and Facebook.  I’ve had my account for about 1 1/2 years.  I was shocked at BlogHer ’12 how many bloggers I recognized from Instagram.  Therefore, I’m keeping my account even though many are jumping ship because of all the drama.  I’m considering watermarking my pics.  I dunno.  I just don’t want to worry about it.  Anyway, let me know what you decided.  Let me know if I’m not following you!  

In case you didn’t already know.  I GEEK OUT over Christmas cards. I LOVE them!  I can’t wait to display them.  They are the only Christmasy thing I leave up well into January.  I made our card this year.  It makes me chuckle.  I find myself stealing glances at my silly little family.  It’s very “us.”

I’m worried not everyone will get the joke if they haven’t seen “Elf.”  Oh, and the “2” sort of looks like a “1” now that I look at it.  Oh well.  They’re printed now. What do you think?

I bought an Elf on the Shelf, but I decided to hold off this year. After an extensive discussion on with other moms on Twitter, I decided she was a little too young to fully understand and appreciate the Elf. Plus, I knew she would try to touch it. That’s okay. We have a little elf in our house this year.

I can’t stop looking at this elfish little face. This picture of Charlotte perfectly captures the mischievous nature of my little girl. Oh, how I hope this stays alive in her! Even if it drives me crazy in later years.

Let’s hear it for little elves!

By-the-way…when did you start Elf on the Shelf? Did I do the right thing by waiting? I mean, she just turned 2.

I look at these pictures and I. can’t. even…

This beautiful child is ours.  It blows my mind how much she has grown.  I look at the 2010 picture and it seems like a million years ago and only a moment go.  She was our newborn at only 5 1/2 weeks old.  Last year she was my sweet one-year-old, 13 months to be exact.  She was this funny little baby/toddler hybrid.

This year Charlotte couldn’t WAIT for her turn to sit on Santa’s lap.  She pulled her little two-year-old self up on Santa and smiled for the cameras.  She quietly told Santa what she wanted for Christmas. (A baby doll.  She’s been practicing her request.)  Then she gave Santa a hug and waved bye-bye.

It was ridiculous how proud we were of her.  We’re feeling all Christmasy around here.  Happy December!