Christmas celebration....and Baltimore Part #1

Our Christmas this year was amazing.  Emmanuel is definitely at the age where he is putting together the Christmas story and he spend most of the month singing "Happy Birthday, Jesus."  It was a precious time.  We always start the season by cutting down a Christmas Tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  This year, we took some special friends along.

Jessica and her daughter, Jamiya.

Emmanuel loves this little girl.

We enjoyed a service at church on Christmas Eve, and we had a quiet celebration at home with our signature Christmas brunch after opening presents before heading to Sunday monday worship.

Emmanuel's gift was a huge firehouse/police station by KidKraft.  It's basically a dollhouse for all of those little boys who love rescue hereos.  He was absolutely thrilled and so appreciative.  He kept saying, "Thank you so much, mom and dad.  Thank you."  Reesie got some cars and a pretend play doctor kit.

Almost every Sunday the boys play the drums after church.

We headed over to my grandmother's house after naps and spent some time with the cousins and with my family, and the next day we spent some time with Eli's family in Chattanooga.  And then, what we had all been waiting for finally happened...we made our very first family trip to Baltimore.

Eli has been to Baltimore since our move several times...to close on our house and to attend several funerals.  I, however, had not been back.  One of my closest friends asked me if two and half years had been enough time to heal...was I still wounded...would it be too painful?  I honestly didn't know the answer to her question, but I knew that I had grown to love Baltimore.  It was the first city where I had my first real, post-college job.  I had my first apartment.  I finished grad school there.  We started my marriage there.  We rehabbed and bought our first house there.  I had my firstborn son there.  There were so many wonderful memories, and I was desperate to share those with my children.  Not to mention, there were several young men who are continually on my heart that I was dying to see.  I wasn't sure if two and half years was enough time, but I was confident that the joy would outweigh any amount of pain, and I was ready to experience that...

I was able to spend some much-needed time with my former boss, who is the Executive Director of HopeWell Cancer Support.  She singlehandedly shaped the way that I now view good, strong, positive leadership.  Not only is she one of the most intelligent women I've ever met, she is compassionate and loving AND tough.  She is beloved by her staff.  The Lord definitely used the staff at HopeWell to comfort me and teach me and grow me in so many ways.  I will be forever grateful to have had the opportunity to sit and learn from the best.

Our few days in town was also filled with spending time and talking with former board members of mine from FCA and visiting one of my closest friends, who had a baby on Christmas Eve.  Emmanuel and Reese were re-acquainted with their Godbrothers, Ceddy, Mook, and Darnell.  We got to reconnect with old friends who had moved back to Baltimore after a stint in the great state of North Carolina.  And, we got to hug another one of our favorite young men before he left to enlist in the Army and say goodbye to two special sisters before they moved away from Charm City.  We also got to eat at some pretty special local places in Baltimore and eating and sharing good food is always something that brings me joy! 

These sweet boys (I mean, young men)

One of my best friends in the world and her brand new baby!

Emmanuel with the Chanel and Brittany

Tavon reading to Emmanuel.

Zoe and Daniel...no longer babies, they are big kiddos!

Reese LOVED Won-Jung...I don't blame him!

Jamie's daddy with Hannah...he really resembles my dad, and my dad was also amazing with babies...so this was a special moment for me.

Hannah's eyes open--4 days old.

Emmanuel and Reese made new friends with Ms. Lucy's grandkids.

Ready to get on the road to head to back to the Ville...Emmanuel didn't want to leave Ms. Lucy's house.

Stay tuned for what the Lord did in my heart while we were visiting...

Emmanuel's 1st Haircut

Yes, I know...it's ridiculous.  Emmanuel is 3 1/2 and just had his first haircut.  I probably would have let it grow until he was 13, but he said it was time.

My brother found out, called me (this is a big deal because my brother is not a phone person, so he never calls), and said, "How long did you cry?"  I exclaimed, "What?  What are you talking about?"  He said, "You cry at everything that boy does..." And, yes, again, my big brother was correct.  I cried...and I'm embarrassed to admit that it actually was for a while.

Eli, of course, is the cool, calm, and collected dad.  He was like, "Carmen, it's just hair."  I, however, did not see it as "just hair."  In that moment, I was reminded that I am a crazy mom....a picture-taking, journal recording, macaroni-necklace-saving mom.  I just never imagined that it would be like this.  Ever.

Here are some before and after pics of E with his very first haircut!  Don't worry--we still kept the curls.  I wasn't quite ready to give those up yet.

Hopefully it won't be this traumatic with me when Reese is ready for his 1st haircut, but you never know! 

Ahhh...EA

My friend, Erin-Ashley...

I love her.  I can't say enough wonderful things about her.  She is such an inspiration to me.  I love how she loves her husband and her children.  I love how she passionately pursues the truth of the Gospel.  I love that she loves food and enjoys laughter.  I love that she doesn't make excuses for who she is....I am so humbled to have her as my friend.

EA came to visit for a few days in November.  My kids took to her instantly.  And instead of doing a million things in typical Carmen fashion, I gave her space so that she could just be still.  I didn't want her to have to worry about cooking or seeing all of the Nashville sites...I wanted her to come and rest.  It was my great pleasure to host her in my little home with my little family.

I am in awe of how God has continued to draw us closer to one another despite being separated by crazy time zones and schedules.  As a mom of two small children, I am learning that I am desperate for meaningful relationships with my girlfriends.  There are never enough hours in the day and real relationships take a lot more time and energy to nurture than I have to give these days, so to have time with EA--with a real, solid, fun, crazy, godly friend--was a gift.  It was as if the Lord wrapped His loving arms around me and gave me permission to exhale.

A huge thank you to EA's family (Andy, Emma Grace, and Jackie) for letting you wife/mom come and rejuvenate me.  I am so grateful.

Halloween surprise?

I know that I have written numerous times about Emmanuel's obsession with rescue individuals....firemen, policemen, ambulance drivers....he loves anything related to being a hero and saving people.  So, I just assumed that for Halloween, that he would want to be a firefighter.

I had it all planned out.  I have a lot of firefighter accessories from his party when he was 2 years old.  We play Fireman Sam almost everyday, we have a total of 5 working firemen hats (we've had more, but they are broken), firemen gear (gloves, mask), and firetrucks (I can't tell you how many firetrucks we own).  Even Reese, who is 18 months old, says the word "firetruck" everytime he hears a siren.   These boys love anything related to rescuing people.

So, I was quite surprised when Emmanuel said that he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween.  He loves the show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," and I am ok for him to watch it because Jake and his crew are good guys.  But, Emmanuel was very clear that he wanted to be "Jake", Reese was "Cubby," I was to be "Izzy," and Eli was "Captain Hook."

Emmanuel loves his "Jake" costume and wore it several days for about 6 weeks leading up to Halloween.  Before Halloween, we went trick or treating with the MOMS Club and we visited some local churches as a family....

First taste of cotton candy... 

For the both of them.

It was a smart thing because the day before Halloween, Emmanuel was up all night with food poisoning.  Everybody got it but Reese!  So, on Halloween day, E and Reese dressed up in their pirate costumes, but  instead of going door-to-door, they gave out the candy to our trick-or-treaters.

So, I was surprised that Emmanuel wanted to be a pirate...and I was surprised that we didn't actually go out trick-or-treating on Halloween.  Although Halloween didn't work out exactly how I thought it would, it turned out to be a great celebration.  We learned that our 3-year-old is obsessed with many things, not just being a firefighter, and we also learned that he handled the disappointment of not going trick-or-treating very well.

Every day, my babies amaze me and teach me more about love and more about grace.
And it was good for me that we didn't end up with pounds of candy in our house because I probably would have eaten the majority of it!

Welcome Back....Happy Fall!

I have had a little bit of a writer's block over the past two months.  Well, writer's block...and picture's block (I took a lot of fab pics on my mom's DSLR camera and I still haven't gotten them off her camera yet)...and "I'm a mom of two very energetic boys, so I don't have any time to sit down and write" block.

Anyway, after many people asking if I was giving the blog up, I figured that it was time for me to get back to blogging....so here is a round up of our Fall in a nutshell (with not as many pics as I would like)...

Our Fall was filled to the brim with pumpkins:  visits to pumpkin farms and patches, pumpkin carving with the cousins, pumpkin painting with the MOMS Club, and baking a pumpkin pie from scratch (this was all Emmanuel).  I do love pumpkins, but I must admit that I think this year we went a little pumpkin crazy!

Visits to pumpkin farms:
We went to Gentry's Farm, which is super close to our house, with the MOMS Club and had a lot of fun.  It is just the right size and scope for my little guys.

We also went to our favorite pumpkin farm in the history of pumpkin farms, Owen Farm in Champmansboro.  We have been there every year that we have lived in Music City, and this year we invited some of our favorite friends (we got a really good deal on livingsocial), the Masons and the Jordans.  These families are so much fun.  We are going to make it an annual event!

We also painted pumpkins at home and with the MOMS Club!  And, of course, Fall would not be complete without the Annual Pumpkin Carving Celebration with the cousins.  This year we had even more cousins present and we spent the day carving pumpkins, eating yummy food, and playing in over an acre of land (it was an absolutely gorgeous day).  My mom does a really good job of planning and organizing enough fun activities for the kids and makes sure to have really good food for the kids and the adults.  When I grow up, I want to throw parties like my mom.  (Hopefully I'll get those pictures that I took off her camera soon.)

This was the first year that Emmanuel actually decorated his pumpkin and it was carved (usually he paints a design).  Reesie even got in on the action and drew on a pumpkin, too.  What we have learned about Emmanuel is that he is really not into drawing, but he loves to use scissors and glue and build things.   This makes me think that he will really enjoy pumpkin carving when he gets older.

And, fall wouldn't be complete without a homemade pumpkin pie.  It was Mia's idea to make a pie from scratch...and Mia and Emmanuel in the kitchen is an amazing combination.  Those two really do think that they are Bobby Flay and Paula Deen.

Our Fall was peaceful and glorious.  We enjoyed every bit of the cool Fall weather, the beauty of the changing leaves...and of course, the smell of pumpkins!