Christmas 2011

This Christmas was super hectic but so worth all the fuss. We went from finishing crafty presents, to 5 Christmas get-togethers, and finally ended with a surprise Welcome Home Party for Zach! In addition, Brooks was fighting a bad bad cough. We brought our own box of tissues to every Christmas party! Poor kid was a champ tho and made it through.
Homemade Christmas gifts in the making...
Zach said I turned in to a stage mom during "art time." I just needed him to get a little more into the painting of the paper rather than the painting of the diaper! Ha


Christmas Eve with cousins and Grandparents
We were hesitant to bring Brooks to Kentucky due to him being sick and there being another little one at the party. We just made sure to follow him around with tissues and antibacterial! He did pretty well, but had random spouts of fussiness. I couldn't blame him though, his cough sounded terrible!






Christmas Day at my parent's house...
We got a late start to our morning because Brooks had a hard time sleeping with his cough. But he pulled through and enjoyed playing with all of his new things!



awesome chair from Grandma



Christmas Day with Zach's cousins and grandparents


kid would not leave the mayonnaise alone!

Day after Christmas with Zach's Dad

when he plays with his dinosaurs, he says "rarrrr" No lie, its the cutest thing ever.

a sled to go with his awesome snow suit!

one of many homemade gifts from Ann, including a growth chart for baby, bacon vodka for Zachary (yes, bacon) and vanilla extract for myself!

Christmas with Zach's mom
We planned Christmas with Zach's mom for right before the surprise party. Then claimed we had coupons for BDubs. Well planned! We also were visited by Janice's neighbors RJ and Martina who thoughtfully brought Brooks a Christmas present...so spoiled!!!

her tree rotates!!!!
Surprise Welcome Home Party!
The surprise went off without a hitch! Thank you to everyone who helped me keep this a secret, therefore basically doing the majority of the work! And thank you to everyone who came to celebrate, it truly meant a lot to him!

Just a few things...

1. Zach is home!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. He jumped right in and gave Brooks a bath and read him endless stories!

3. Zach finally got his way and got Brooks a mohawk

Don't worry, without gel it looks super cute!
4. Zach has a mustache! EWWWW!

5. Now I get to be in some photos with baby! I suppose I should start showering...

6. Even with B's new hardcore 'do, kid still has love for his bear!

7. Brooks LOVES art

8. I love them!

Loving the new camera!

Little Drummer Boy


Like father like son, can't even do a simple task without using his tongue

The book may or may not be upside down

Look at those baby blues

B's new favorite thing: bananas

New Camera!

Thanks so my birthday falling so close to christmas, and Zach now included in gift giving, I was able to bundle my birthday present/Christmas present/Zach's Christmas present and get a Nikon d3100 camera from my mother!!!!!! I am so happy! My posts will do the talking, they will be more often and with better pictures now!

It will take me forever to learn how to use all the settings and buttons and whatever else it has, but I'm so eager to learn it all. There are classes that I can take for beginners once I save up a little money, and I am really thinking about getting some editing software too, we'll see.

For now, here are the first photos I took with my new camera today. Brooks and I were on our way to and from our playdate this morning so I took pictures of our walk. I so wanted to take pictures at my friend's house (she has a new tiny little baby) but didn't want to freak her out with my million clicks.









Brooks got that adorable hat in the mail yesterday from Zach's aunt Barbara. It was such a perfect surprise and luckily he kept it on!

We have so much to look forward to coming up and I am shaking with excitement that now I get to document it ALL with my new camera. Zachary will be home in exactly one week. FOR GOOD. As in never going back. Then I turn 25. Then we have a Christmas eve celebration. 2 Christmas day celebrations. And 2 celebrations the day after. I CANNOT WAIT!

Therefore, we'll be back!

Boo!

I know I brag about how cool Brooks is all the time, but it's the honest truth. Proof: Something was up with him yesterday and he was not in the mood to do anything, much less put on a silly costume and walk 10 miles. But even when homeboy is in bad/cranky moods, he is still so much fun! By the end of the night, not only was he walking up to houses on his own, he was picking out one (or two) pieces of candy from the jar, and putting it in his bag. Kid is a fast learner!


No one really goes trick-or-treating in the apartment complex where we live, so we hopped in the car and headed over to a super nice neighborhood right down the road behind Kroger. It seemed to be a trend because the Kroger side parking lot was packed!

Corinne was lucky enough to get the honor of taking him to his first house! Ellie met up with us later and joined in on the fun.


B struggled in the beginning to get outta his funk and to get used to the dragon head that was covering half of his face. The pixie-stick helped him as he used it as a walking stick! I'm going to have to remember that when Zach and I live somewhere were kids will come for candy because those pixie-sticks were the talk of the neighborhood, big hit!


So Corinne and I took turns carrying/pushing him in the stroller until he came up to a nice house where the owner saw Brooks struggling, and came down to the end of her driveway so B didn't have to walk up. All he needed was a little motivation from the kids that came up around him, and he was on his way! He literally turned, stuck out his pixie-stick and yelled, as if he were saying "Onward!"



The best part of the night was when we came home and got to divide out the candy! Adults=ALL Baby=NONE. Not totally haha, we let baby try a few different pieces. Loved anything with chocolate (DUH, who doesn't?) but wasn't a big fan of smarties or gooey fruit snacks.






Other exciting news in our lives:

1.WILLIAM ZACHARY CARMAN IS A STUDENT OF THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY!!!! I am so proud of him, he is doing everything he said he would and more. He is going to do big things, I know it!

2.Our not-so-fun neighbors moved out!!! YAY!!! No more meanies leaving unnecessary notes on cars, or unwanted poo in our yard, or unruly children running a muck outside! Zach and I are hoping a cute young couple, say 24-25 years old, with maybe a 1 or 2 year old move in! Wouldn't that just be perfect?

3.Brooks and I have a playdate tomorrow!

4.I've put some new videos on YouTube, most of them are for Zach, so they may not be super exciting to everyone else, but check it out if you wish. Our page is TheCarmanBaby.

That is all! Have a good week everyone!