Holiday Update

Yes, it's true...the holidays got the better of me this year!!!! For the first time in a long time, I felt like a kid again because I was able to watch Christmas unfold through my child's eyes! I know I sound cheesy but it's true...I'm already counting down the days until we can celebrate again!

What a fun, busy, exciting, and exhausting month...but we pulled it off!

Thanksgiving was spent with my family in Spartanburg. Due to my mom's back problems, I did about 90% of the cooking this year! I rocked the turkey and dressing (if I do say so myself), and am looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving in my own home next year (once we get a dining room table)! We had a lot of fun in the beautiful weather spending lots of time outdoors (Tyler loves the golf course behind my parent's house). We wrapped up the weekend with Tyler's Two Year photo shoot, a brunch for friends when we returned to Atlanta, and lots of Christmas decorating!

The next weekend my parents came into town for a weekend of fun! Friday night, my parents sat for Tyler while Ben and I had dinner with our old neighbors! Saturday morning we attended Breakfast with Santa at the Decatur Train Museum and ended the night by watching Jim Gaffigan perform stand up at the Cobb Energy Center...truly HILARIOUS!

Sunday night, our dear friend Kera was in town so we hosted the local college crew (and babies) over at our house! It was great catching up with everyone!

December 8th, Ben and I celebrated our 4th anniversary with dinner at Seasons 52! (Tyler stayed with our sitter).

I can't believe how fast these past 4 years have flown by, and how much more I love my husband everyday! (yes, barf...but it's true)

The following weekend got us into the Holiday Swing of things...we attended our neighbor's White Elephant Party followed by the Holiday Party of our dear friends Mike and Roberta! We had a blast and Tyler was very into the social scene!

But then the true craziness started...

The next weekend included Tyler's Birthday and Birthday Party, another Neighborhood White Elephant Gift Exchange Party, Neighborhood Caroling, and our next door neighbor's birthday party for their sweet daughter Emma!

But on a side note, Tyler's TWO Hot to Handle birthday party was a HUGE Hit...complete with a bounce house, visit from the fire department and Santa Claus himself! I know Tyler had a ball with all of his friends!

We even did a birthday party at his school on Monday that the kids loved too!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet baby boy Tyler! You are growing up too fast! I just hope he will look at this blog someday and know how loved he was!!!

After Tyler's birthday was behind us, we were in full Christmas mode. Friday we left for Spartanburg where we attended a family reunion, had lunch with my BFF's from high school and Church Christmas Eve Services.

Then Christmas morning we celebrated with my family (including Gifts, Santa and Brunch) before hopping on a plane to DC.

We made to DC with no issues, however Tyler passed out on the ride home from the airport. Our hope of spending Christmas with both sets of grandparents was quickly diminished when Tyler closed those little eyes.

But it all actually worked out well. While Tyler crashed (that's what a new trampoline from Nana and Papa, no nap, and two plane rides will do to you), we were able to catch up with Jan, Dwight, Kate and Matt and exchange our gifts!

The next morning Tyler had a ball playing on his new bike from Grandpa and catching up with Grandma. That afternoon we headed to Baltimore so that Kate and Matt could give their gifts to Tyler. We also got to meet their beautiful Black Lab named Cole and Tyler loved chasing him around at the local dog park!

That night the Sullivan grandparents were on Tyler duty, while Ben and I headed to Arlington to meet some of our bestest DC friends for a night out on the town! Great times were had by all and it was great catching up.

The next morning we ventured down to the US Botanical Gardens to meet up with Aunt Erin and her niece and view the Holiday Train Exhibit! Tyler absolutely loved it (again, passing out on the car ride home). We ended our trip with 0ne last night out in Baltimore as a family with Kate and Matt. We had Cuban, then visited 34th street to check out one of the most impressive Christmas Light Displays I've ever seen!

The next day consisted of planes, trains (well the one train in the Atlanta Airport) and automobiles. We flew back to Spartanburg (yes, we connected through ATL...ironic right?) and dropped off Tyler at my parents house.

Every Christmas they ask if they can watch him for a couple of days, and Ben and I are happy to oblige (as much as we miss our little munchkin man).

We had two days of catching up on sleep, watching movies, playing Wii (til all hours of the night) with the neighbors, and vegging on the couch! It was great!

New Year's Eve, Tyler came home and I must have kissed that sweet face 1000 times!!

We hosted a NYE throw down at Chez Sullivan for 30 of our friends and had a blast! The kids even had a great time and went to bed easily (well before midnight). It couldn't have worked out better! We rang in the New Year with Wii, Jello Shots, Dick Clark, a little Prince, and a champagne toast and then headed outside for an awesome fireworks display courtesy of my parents! The next two days were spent in major recovery and family bonding/relaxing mode!

What a great way to ring in 2012!! Hope you all had a great one too!

May your days this year be MERRY and BRIGHT!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Yeah, Yeah...I said I would update my blog more regularly...well, bite me! :)

I know I'm behind the times a bit but work travel has been insane lately and kept me from my usually blogging duties! (not that I don't love my job though...cause I do!) Good news though...I just received word that I don't have to travel for work for the rest of the year! HOORAY!!!!!!

It's the greatest feeling knowing that I'll be spending the month of December where I belong...at home with family!!! (And DC and Spartanburg...but that still counts as family time)

Since my last post, we've had so much going on! I won't bore you with details but I'll highlight the happenings!

1. Tyler's Nursery School Fall Festival was the weekend of Oct 22nd. Tyler had a ball at Trunks of Treats, had his first hot dog for lunch (see pic above) and rode on the Choo Choo Train. Sunday, our friends Roberta and Mike came over for the Skins game and we had a great time hanging out with them.

2. The week of the 24th, I was in Nashville for a night for work but was still able to make it to one of my favorite honky tonk bars, Tootsies with my coworkers! It's a Nashville establishment and so much fun! The 27th, I hosted book club at my house. I made spicy dishes for our discussion of "Catching Fire" (the second book in the Hunger Game Series) Good times were had by all! (Can I take a moment to mention that I cannot WAIT until the first movie of this series comes out in March 2012!!!!)

That Saturday Steph, Pat, Ben and I took the boys to the Pumpkin Patch up in Elijay, GA and finished up with a playdate with our friends Emma and Mike and their little girl Bella...it was such a fun day!

3. Then it was HALLOWEEN! Our neighborhood is SO Much fun at Halloween! Tyler had the BEST Time! We started right at 5pm, with a potluck dinner at our neighbor's house. The whole street showed up! Then it was off to Trick or Treat! We pulled Tyler and his buddy Jack around in the wagon and Tyler was so excited to say Trick or Treat at least 100 times! We put an exhausted little man to bed around 9! The next day I headed to Florida for a couple of nights for work. The weekend of Nov 3rd, Ben went camping with our neighbors (a boys trip) so I took Tyler to Spartanburg to hang with my parents for the night. (which included a trip to the Fire Dept with Aunt Kelly to see where Uncle "Travvy" works...see pic above)

4. The weekend of Nov 12th, We had Tyler's second haircut, Maddie's 3rd Bday Party, a football party at our neighbors, and dinner party at another neighbor's...all on Saturday! It was exhausting but fun. Sunday I left for Dallas for 3 days and Ben took Tyler to see Santa in Alpharetta.

Before I left, I was able to get out Tyler's Second Birthday invites...which I'm SO excited about! I've attached the proof so you can see how adorable they are (note: I took out our address and stuff...so if there's a little more "white" on the invite that's why...never know what freaks are out there on the internet!) Can't wait for his "Two hot to handle" Party in December even though my heart aches that he's growing up SO fast!!!

5. Last week (Nov 14-16) I was in Dallas and came home to a little man with a bad cold...who in turn gave it to me. So we spent this weekend doing a lot of NOTHING and getting better! But it was So nice to just have some quality Family time!!!

I cannot believe how quickly Thanksgiving has gotten here! We are headed to Spartanburg for a weekend of Turkey eating, and family time! I can't wait!!! Sometimes things get so busy, but the older I've gotten, the easier it is for me to see what I'm TRULY grateful for! A healthy family who I love and friends and neighbors that I hold near and dear to my heart!!! We are blessed in so many ways!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fall is Here!

Well, just like that...Autumn is upon us!

I love Fall! It's my favorite season of the year! Changing leaves, cooler temps, football, and the holidays! So much has been going on over the past month that I've been delinquent in my blogging (this is unfortunately starting to become a habit).

But let me update you on all the happenings!

The week of 9/17 was a crazy one! Ben totally surprised me for an early bday present by having Johanna (by BFF and Tyler's Godmother) fly down and spend the weekend with us! I was so excited! I picked her up from the airport on Friday and we ordered pizza and hung out. Saturday I had to work all day (the joys of being a trainer sometimes) so Johanna played Godmother all day with Ben! They took Tyler to Gymboree where he did his normal "run around holding the ball and not listening to the teacher" routine! Late afternoon, they met me and my coworker at Taco Mac for a happy hour! Tyler loved the french fries! Sunday we had Brunch with Amanda, Steph and Pat & the kids, got mani's and pedi's and watched the Emmy's! Monday I dropped Johanna off early at the airport and then got on a plane myself late morning for a trip to Phoenix. I was out there to help our West Zone roll out a training. It was great hanging with coworkers and seeing my friend Melissa, but I missed my boys so much that I took the red eye home!

Turns out Tyler missed me too because his teachers said he did a lot of crying for Mommy while I was gone (talk about breaking my heart). So it was especially nice that Ben had a Boy's Weekend/Bachelor Party planned in Minneapolis so that I could take Tyler to Spartanburg for the weekend. We went up to Spencer, NC for a "Day out with Thomas" with Nana and Papa and Tyler had a BLAST!!! Ben ended up having a lot of fun with his grad school buddies too! Lots of beer, football and poker!

The next week, my dad was in town all week for a training for work...so we had a lot of dinners out with him. Thursday the 29th was especially nice at Sip in Downtown Alpharetta! Dinner on the patio was fantastic and Tyler loved to watch the cars go by!

Friday, my dad took Tyler back to Spartanburg for the weekend so that Ben and I could go to Columbia for my 10 year college reunion! We had a blast catching up with the crew and tailgating all day Saturday! It's amazing how 10 years can pass and when we get together, it's like senior year all over again!!! I love all of my college friends dearly. Those 4 years were so much fun!!!

Sunday, after goodbyes, my parents met us in Columbia and we all went to the zoo with Tyler before heading home.

The next week was also a big one as it was my BDAY week! I can tell I'm getting old when my birthday just isn't a big deal to me anymore, but I still had a great day! I met up with Ben for a quick Date lunch and Thursday night we met our old next door neighbors Jared, Melanie and Maddie at Your Pie in Roswell. It's sort of a "make your own pizza place". We had pizza and gelato and the kids had a ball!!!

That Friday, we dropped Tyler off in Sparkle City once again to head to the Hilton Head for Sonny's wedding. Sonny is a friend of ours from Ben's grad school days! We had such a great time hanging with everyone!!! The entire weekend was jammed packed with Beach Wedding Parties! It was a gorgeous ceremony (our first beach wedding) and the reception location was amazing! Overall, such a fun weekend!!!! Sunday we headed back to Spartanburg and picked up Tyler.

Last week, I was in Dallas all week for work. It was so hard being away but at least I got to go to the Texas State Fair with all my coworkers on Thursday night. We had an ball...and the fried Cookie Dough was freaking AMAZING! Meanwhile, Ben's mom came into town Wed - Sunday to help out Ben. Anytime I'm gone longer than two days, I try to get back up. Being a single parent ain't easy although Ben is a rock star dad! I got home Friday and we all went for frozen yogurt.

Saturday we went to the mall so Tyler could ride the choo choo with Grandma and Saturday afternoon we all went to the Alpharetta Fall Fest where Tyler tried (or should I say devoured) his first funnel cake.

Saturday evening, Jan got Tyler ready for bed and Ben and I went to Bistro VG with all of our new neighbors. The after dinner fun lasted into the wee hours of the morning. (Did I mention how much I love our new neighborhood)

Sunday, was spent having some serious Family Quality Time!!!!!!!!

So yes, it's been a busy and fun October! I'm looking forward to Halloween and pumpkin patches with my little one!!!