Valle Crucis Bed & Breakfast

Last time away before there are two little boys in our house...

View from our front porch

Valle Crucis Bed & Breakfast

Hawk's Nest in Boone-I didn't go snow tubing this time...

We were fortunate enough to sneak away this past weekend to Valle Crucis. We stayed at the Valle Crucis Bed & Breakfast...the view was amazing. We enjoyed some great food, like the caramel french toast for breakfast! It felt very odd to have no schedule, no diapers to change, and no little one to rush home for a nap. But, we sure did miss our Eli!

Eli's First Christmas!

Eli's Uncle Evan bought him his very own Police t-shirt.

Watch out trouble-makers in Greensboro!

Eli had a very serious afternoon Christmas nap at Mom and Dad's. He was exhausted! He did look adorable in his new monkey pajama's from Aunt Sara Beth and Uncle Matthew.

Eli is smiling at his Daddy. This is his new favorite person...when J goes back to work from Christmas vacation I'll win him over again for sure.

His main concern Christmas Eve was gathering all the Puff's off the floor from Gramma and Paas' house. We were surprised he didn't care more about the presents and boxes.

Eli with Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Clayton. Eli was very happy they came to visit from Cary!

Baby Boy Simmons

We had a 4D ultrasound this week to check out the upcoming baby boy. This pregnancy has been the total opposite of Eli's. This little boy is very active, all the time. Eli rarely ever moved...I guess it's true that all babies have their own personalities. Here are a few pictures they were able to "catch" since he was squirming the entire time.

Almost Christmas...

I forgot how many "Baby's 1st Christmas" p.j.'s I bought Eli last year. I figured we may as well break them out and let him start wearing them...even though Jerrold shook his head at a couple outfits. He loves our sunroom and the Christmas tree. He will be so disappointed when the tree is gone...

Christmas time...

We set out tonight in the frigid temperatures to get a Christmas tree. These are just a few pics from the tree lot...I'm not sure how long our Christmas tree will remain standing once it is decorated. Eli is already very interested in how our sunroom grew a tree. He keeps crawling over and looking around the corner to be sure it is still there...

Who is this little boy?

He's working on getting out of his crib!
Cruising around the ottoman

He had the remote at my parent's house-one of his favorite toys. Jerrold and I keep wondering why they don't make all baby toys in silver or black...

I'm not sure why his pants leg is pulled up like a gangster...this is his pouty face after the remote was returned to it's rightful owner...

Eli is keeping us very busy. He discovered crawling about a week ago and hasn't slowed down since that night. We assumed this would keep him occupied for a little while, but his main focus each day is to see how many pieces of furniture he can manipulate to advance his efforts to walk. We have to put him in his crib to guarantee that he doesn't escape...

1st Thanksgiving

Destroying a pancake

Blakely's first Thanksgiving too!

All bundled up to help Papa

Admiring their hard work...

We had a very busy Thanksgiving! We started out with a family breakfast, followed by a big family lunch, and finally a big trip to G-Ma and Papa's house for the night. Eli enjoyed all the eating and snacking...but he was a bit out of sorts most of the day. He wrapped up his first turkey day by helping "Papa" decorate the front porch with huge snowflakes.

Coupons...

Every Monday morning my neighbor deposits all the sales fliers from the Sunday paper on my doorstep. I have really gotten into the coupon world in the last several months so I really look forward to checking out the week's deals. Today I left Eli alone for a few minutes in the living room and when I returned I discovered that he loves the sale fliers as much as I do! Either he loves coupons or he was making a hefty Christmas list...

Hawaii

Waikiki Beach in Honolulu

Four Seasons Resort in Maui-amazing!!!

In Maui at the Four Seasons

Pearl Harbor-a must see while visiting the Islands

Diamond Head-a dormant volcano. This is the view from Waikiki Beach.

Jerrold & I went to Hawaii for nine days in September. Everyone keeps asking me to post a few pictures from our trip. We spent 3 days in Honolulu and 6 days in Maui. What an amazing trip!

Happy Birthday Mac!

Eli with Riley, a friend from church.

Thanks for the view Daddy!

Eli attended his first birthday party today! His good buddy Mac turns one this week and we celebrated today with hotdogs, delicious cupcakes, and lots of babies running around. Eli is not crawling or walking yet so he just sat back and admired the mobility of all his friends. We are encouraging him to crawl, but he seems content with just standing up and sitting down...we'll see what happens.

Welcome Baby Blakely!

Eli has his very first cousin! Blakely Elizabeth was born on Wednesday morning at 5:09 and weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces. My sister Sara Beth only pushed for about 10 minutes-needless to say I was very envious of her delivery. Sara Beth, Matthew, and Blakely are doing great! She is such a sweet little girl. Eli is not too sure what to make of her crying, hopefully this will be good training for him before the new baby arrives.

Almost Bedtime...

Eli takes a bath every night before going to bed. He graduated to the "big" bathtub this past weekend at my Mom and Dad's. He splashes water EVERYWHERE! He is beginning to really protest the end of his bath, crossing his legs indian-style and refusing to stand up so we can get him dry. His Daddy normally wraps up his bedtime routine with a book...

Little Monkey

Jerrold has been calling Eli a Monkey-Man for the last several months, so he just had to be a little monkey for Halloween! His ears were huge and he had a curly tail to top off the outfit. He was such a good sport tonight. We made several stops and he seemed to enjoy being dressed out for Halloween.

Weekly Adventure...

We began frequenting the Natural Science Center earlier this year and finally decided to become members. Eli even talked his best buddy Mac into joining the club. We make a trip every week to check out the animals and spend time with Sara and Mac. Eli loves all the animals, but he is a big fan of the goats! He stands right at the fence and isn't afraid of them at all! We are so fortunate to have this little zoo so close to home.