PJ's with Santa

One of the events associated with JLC's Holiday Market is PJ's with Santa. Its a great family event complete with a Little Gym crawl area, cookies and milk, Christmas movies playing, a reading corner, and lots of arts and crafts for the kids. But the big draw was the awesome Santa (special hair do and all). Last year we decided not to get Gus's picture taken with Santa because he was only a few weeks old, so I was nothing but curious to see his reaction this year. We stood in line for nearly 30 minutes with our friends Amy and Benjamin and watched many toddlers freak out in front of us. My biggest fear was that Gus would pull Santa's beard - well he didn't cry or pull Santa's beard. He gave Santa a few weary glances, but then true to form Gus's smiles came out and it was a great photo op. It was a great way to really get in the Christmas spirit!

Not sure about this whole Santa thing...

Seconds later - loving it!

First Haircut (and the curls remain :)

Being the fairly traditional folks that we are, we wanted to wait until Gus turned one to get his hair cut for the first time. So the day after Thanksgiving we took advantage of being in Greenville and headed to Jellybeans Salon for kids where the first haircut is only a $0.01. Its cheap and a great first haircut experience, complete with a certificate and a balloon. Gus did great and was so happy the whole time - we were so proud of him.

I'm driving this car

This a classic Gus expression - love it!

Don't I look handsome?


This haircut is mommy approved

Gus's 1st Balloon

Thanksgiving and everything in between...

My blogging time was trumped for the past 2 weeks by Junior League of Columbia's Holiday Market. Last year I joined JLC and this year I chaired the Special Entertainment Committee for Holiday Market, which is the League's largest fundraiser and funds our annual community projects. It was a lot of work, but it was a great experience and I met a lot of awesome people in the process - I'm really going to miss being on the Holiday Market next year when we are in Greenville, but hopefully I'll find an equally great placement with JLG.

We spent Thanksgiving in Greenville with BJ's family and kicked off the day with an 8k Turkey Trot benefiting Trees for Greenville. It was a great race course and I finised in 48:35 - a personal best and a big accomplishment for me. I've really gotten into running over the past few months and am determined to complete a 1/2 marathon before I turn 30 (another one for the bucket list!)

Here are a few pictures from the race - don't I look thrilled :)

We've officially entered the toddler years with Gus and the struggle (and sometimes battle) over food is usually won by the little man. Its very difficult for me to accept cheese and crackers as dinner for him because I'm so nutrition conscious, but I'm working on it and I will not cave on feeding him junk - so I like to think that we are in a period of suspended compromise right now, which may include a few peas and carrots, but also a lot of cheese and crackers. Thanksgiving was no exception to this. We thought for sure he would chow down on turkey, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings, but he wanted nothing - so I blended yogurt and cranberry sauce and gave him a dinner roll and he was happy and I was less stressed. He looks like he's happily eating all the food on his tray, but in true Gus form he tried and spit out most of it :(

He was happy because of all of his cousins, not due to the turkey his mommy cooked for 5 hours

Gus's 1st Birthday

We can't believe Gus will be 1 year old tomorrow, it has gone by so fast, but its amazing to watch him grow up and develop his own personality. He is a funny, social, and incredibly sweet and laid back little man and we feel so blessed to call him our son.

Since Gus's birthday is the day before Thanksgiving this year (and on Thanksgiving Day next year) we celebrated a little early with a sock monkey themed party for our little monkey on Saturday. We had a house full of family and friends who all came to celebrate Gus's 1st year. Here are just a few snapshots of the day.

Ready to Roll in his new car from Grammy & Papou

We would have been better off creating a mound of Goldfish crackers shaped like a monkey, but we found out the hard (and labor intensive way) that cake and icing are not on the list of Gus approved textures for pick up

In the midst of all his gifts the $3.00 Kmart ball still wins out

He loved reading his cards and playing with the tags on his toys more then the tissue paper or the wrapping paper - too funny

Its Party Time!

Classic Gus face and his adorable outfit from Aunt Carmen :)

Happy Birthday Gus - We love you so much!

Papa O'Dell

This weekend we also said a sad goodbye to BJ's grandfather, Papa O'Dell, he was 89 years old. He passed away on Thursday, October 28th and the funeral was held on Sunday. He was a sweet man who loved his family and always called it like he saw it. BJ has fond memories and stories about his Papa, and he shared many of them at the funeral.

Its hard to believe that when BJ and I got married 5 years ago that we had 7 of our 8 grandparents still with us, and now we are still blessed to have all 4 of our grandmothers, but sadly our Papa B, Papa O'Dell, and Grandaddy have since passed away. An interesting fact, is that our grandfather's birthdays were three days in a row, my Grandaddy's birthday was December 29th (he passed on his 96th birthday and would be 98 this year), Papa B's birthday was December 30th (he passed at age 88 and would be 90 this year) and Papa O'Dell's birthday was December 31st (he would have been 90 this year). I know this year they will be celebrating in heaven this year, maybe they will all get together and share a piece of cake :)

We will miss Papa O'Dell, but we are so grateful for the time we were able to spend with him and all of the fond memories we have of him. Here are the last two pictures we have of him, he was able to share most of Gus's first year with us, which is so special.

We love you Papa.

Happy Halloween

We were very excited to celebrate Gus's first Halloween, he was a monkey, which is his nickname (he almost responds more to monkey then Gus, scary!) We packed the car and headed to Greenville to trick or treat in the Botany Woods neighborhood with all of Gus's cousins. Gus loves his cousins so much, he lights up when they are around and it makes my heart melt everytime.

We had a chili dinner and then headed out into the neighborhood. Brent pulled us all in a flat bed trailer attached to his truck, and we would make periodic stops on good streets, and then load back into the trailer and head up to another street. With Gus's recent weigh in of 27.4 lbs, lugging him in and out of the stroller and trailer got to be a lot of work for us, so we finally just loaded him into the trailer all snug in his costume and strapped into the stroller - he laughed the whole time. He had a high brow first Halloween if I do say so myself. Here are the pics - enjoy!

You know your child is laid back when he is completely unphased by wearing a giant fleece monkey suit

Pre Trick-or-Treating photo op with a fairy, a cat, a sailor girl, teen wolf and the monkey

First stop of the night - the Varners house of Halloween fright - BJ is offering Gus to the clown :)


We love our little monkey so much - and he had so much fun trick-or-treating - we practiced waving hi and bye at every house, and by the end he would just wave as soon as we got there and just before we were about to leave - it was so cute to watch him practice his waving.

The Perfect Saturday

Last Saturday was the first one we've been home in several weeks. It was great to spend time together as a family watching football and going to the SC State Fair. With BJ's commute, he doesn't get to spend as much time with Gus as he would like, so on Saturday while I hit the gym (in preparation for the fair food to come) he kept the little monkey and when I got home (just in time for kickoff) this is how I found them :) Clemson went on to break our losing streak and beat Maryland on the road - I like to think our little linebacker had something to do with it.

Just as I think about how fast he is growing up, I'm reminded that he is still just a little baby and we need to cherish every minute with him.

Now as many of you know I'm not the fried food or fair type, but one of the (few) perks of living in Columbia comes around every October when the SC State Fair comes to town and so you must indulge as a local resident. This year, I was admittedly excited to take Gus to the fair, I just knew that he would love all the lights, the people, and the animals. He loved every minute of the fair and was snoring with in minutes of getting in the car to head home!

Nothing beats stall after stall of pigs, cows, and roosters when you are trying to learn your farm animal noises!

Still holding strong at 26 lbs - its SC Agriculture Scale approved!

The night ended with the return of the chicken curse and USC's loss to Kentucky - it was cherry on top of the Perfect Saturday!

Washington Wedding Weekend

This past weekend BJ and I traveled to Alexandria, VA for my cousin Jill's wedding. I was in the wedding, so we thought it best to leave Gus in Greenville with Grandma and Papa, because despite my best efforts I didn't thing I could swing full-time mommy and full-time bridesmaid. It was only the second time we've left Gus overnight since he was born, and definitely the longest we'd been away from him, but a good time was had by all. Gus was spoiled rotten by his Grandma and Papa and BJ and I stayed out late and ate and drank way too much - which definitely got the best of me by Sunday!

Three Hot Mamas - my cousins Brooke and Holly - we have 6 kids between us and one on the way (not me - no worries)!

Mom & Me


Mom, Aunt Cynthia (MOB), and Aunt Carmen

Cousin Adam & Me - there was a lot of height at this wedding - the bride has 3 brothers 6'6" and up - as you can see even I look tiny in comparison - and I'm no slouch on the height meter

Jill & Andrew and their parents

Methvin Family

While Ele's Away, Gus will Play

Now that Gus is mobile he is into anything and everything, but his favorite place to try to get into is Ele's house/crate. Yesterday, I was a woman on a mission, cleaning the house from top to bottom, which included a bath for Ele and a full wash and scrub down of all things dog. Luckily I had just scrubbed Ele's crate with Lysol, when Gus decided to stop by for a visit.
He thought he was hilarious!

Couldn't resist a closed door shot
(notice the mischievous grin even behind bars)

An Apple a Day...

This past Saturday we went to Skytop Orchard in Flat Rock, NC. We love going up to the mountains (in fact its one of the reasons we are most excited about moving to Greenville, because we will only be 45 minutes away instead of 2+ hours away). The weather was great and we enjoyed spending time together as a family.

So happy (as Mommy lugs the bushel of apples and
Daddy pushes 26 lb Gus up the hills and through the orchard :)

We also visited the goats and the sheep while we were there

doesn't Gus look thrilled....

His face is his standard look of frustration and one of "Let me down now Mommy" - now that he's mobile there is no stopping him.

After the orchard we headed to Green River BBQ in Saluda for some lunch - Gus enjoyed fried okra and macaroni and cheese in addition to his baby food - he truly is his daddy's boy! Then we headed back down the mountain and stopped off to see Papa and Nonnie - Gus was the hit of the nursing home.