More photos and fun from December

David's company had a family Christmas party at the office with Santa so we got a second chance to get Noah and Santa photos. No big smiles, but once again...at least he didn't cry!






A FREEZING COLD day at the park









I know I'm gonna get grief from Noah some day for taking a picture of him wearing these pants...but it is hard to pass up a matching outfit when it involves a cute sweater vest! Hopefully he'll forgive me.



The "Kiddie Table". Noah sharing a meal with his 4 Hollis family cousins including Christian (age 4), Samantha (20 months) and twins Cameron and Lauren (11 months).



Noah and his first gingerbread house





















Noah and cousin Samantha

'Tis the Season

This past weekend was super busy and full for us. First we had David's office "holiday" party on Friday night which was actually a Hawaiian Luau...yes in December. It was interesting trying to find something to wear to that this time of year. It is usually formal holiday attire but they wanted to do something different this year...and that they did. Sadly we did not win the hula hoop competition or the free trip to Hawaii...sigh. And I have no pictures from any of that....sorry. Saturday was the SEC championship game held here in Atlanta where "my" Gators got to compete for a chance to go to the National title game...and they won! My darling husband was saavy enough to get us company seats AND kind enough NOT to sell our tickets since there were eager fans willing to pay up to $1000 a ticket...but I would not sell out... I wanted to go! It was an awesome game. But, I have no picture of that either. What I do have to share is a TON of awesome holiday pictures taken over the course of the weekend of mostly...none other than...Noah of course. We got him all dressed up to take some pictures in front of our tree and fireplace at home for potential holiday card photos. They turned out great if I must say so myself! The ironic thing is a fewe months ago you couldn't PAY me to attempt photos of Noah--he was impossible in front of the camera--crying, kicking, screaming and running away. Things have apparently changed because after I was done taking his pictures and had put his play clothes back on he ran over and got back into the rocking chair and kept saying "cheese more!, cheese more!" I finally realized he wanted me to take more pictures so he could keep saying "CHEESE!" What a turn-around.
The rest of the pictures are from Saturday morning when we headed to a friend's house for brunch with SANTA!! We had NO idea how Noah would react to Santa but surprisingly he did quite well and quite willingly sat on his lap. Enjoy the photos!







Yes he is simultaneously twisting the noses on the nutcrackers. No, I don't know why!



















Sadly I cut off the top of David's head in this picture, otherwise it would have been perfect. It was a spur of the moment picture and I didn't have time to back up any further or I would have missed the photo completely. David would like everyone to look at the previous picture so they will know that he really does have more hair than it looks like in this picture. Men and their hair...







"Hey Baby, You got plans Friday night???...Can I have your number??"







I just LOVE those blue eyes!

School pictures

Noah's preschool had a photographer come in October for school pictures. I almost didn't even take him that day because a photo shoot with him is usually a nightmare but surprisingly we got 2 good pictures. I was relieved. I just got the pictures a few days ago and of course want to show them off!

Um....Where did November go?

The last 2 weeks of November are all but a blur! To sum it up as briefly as possible...the highlights are that we took Noah to the ENT finally for his restricted airway problems (massive tonsils) and they all agreed that despite his young age he needed his tonsils and adenoids removed ASAP due to him not eating or sleeping well and having bad sleep apnea. He was losing a lot of weight due to not being able to swallow food easily. You know your kid is an "impressive" patient when the expert surgeon of 30+ years shows off his xray to other physicians and says he is a "13" on a severity scale of 1-10! We are so proud...ha ha. "yep, that's our boy!" So they scheduled his surgery for November 20th. On November 16th we started coming down with the dreaded stomach flu...all three of us simultaneously. Yeah, that was about as much fun as it sounds. Nothing like arguing with your spouse about which one of you is the least closest to death to prove that they need to be the one to get up and care for your child. So my sweet, caring, nurturing mom drove up from Florida to help take care of us while we were all sick and to be here for Noah's surgery and recovery but of course, right after she got here we all got better and they cancelled Noah's surgery because they didn't want to operate on him the same week he had the flu. My mom left on November 20th to drive back to FL so she could be ready to come back up for the real surgery date. She got about 3 hours down the road at 11pm and suddenly came down with a much more severe case of our stomach flu..compliments of her grandson. She was stranded at a flea bag motel on the side of the road as sick as could be until the next evening when the "Nelson Ambulance" could get there and bring her back to "The Nelson Infirmary". She finally recovered and we finally got Noah's surgery re-scheduled for November 25th, after much arguing with the doctors. Noah did awesome with the surgery and his recovery has gone smoothly, except for the fact that the prescriptoin pain medicine they put him on made him bounce off the walls and more hyper than that time I let him eat nothing but cake and ice cream for dinner. I now know first hand what the term "hanging from the chandelier" means. Other than that he is doing great and even eating more now (just a few days post-op) than he was before the tonsils came out. I am so happy to see our scrawny little boy eating finally! So life around our house is slowly getting back to normal but we all feel like we have cabin fever. I think David was probably happy to even go back to work today! I will be happy when Noah gets the "all clear" to go back to preschool so I can leave the house myself!

You say "Georgia-Florida"...I say "Florida-Georgia"....but whatever...it's "THE GAME!!!"

Anyone and everyone who knows us knows that David and I are HUGE SEC football fans and for about 51 weeks a year we live a very peaceful co-existence but there's that one week....happens every year around Halloween...when all bets are off and we are each out for blood when it comes to the other's team. David of course being a loyal Georgia Bulldog and I, the obsessed FL Gator. Noah even has a bib that is half orange/blue and half red/black and it is embroidered "Mommy's Gator" on one side and "Daddy's bulldog" on the other side. He is going to be so confused. He doesn't know whether to bark or do the gator chomp. However, while I hate to bring this up on a post that probably should be bi-partisan...I would like to mention that God gave Noah orange hair and blue eyes which should technically mean that he is 100% Gator...and I don't think David actually reads my blog so that was probably safe to say.

Whenever we make it down to Jacksonville for "THE GAME" and we walk around together each dressed in our clashing team attire, we get several strange looks and questions like "How does that work?" so we just laugh and say "It's easy, we both HATE Tennessee!" and that usually quiets them down. This particular year David was still feeling pride from Georgia's (rare) win over FL and I was on the lookout for revenge. We spent the weekend in Jacksonville Beach with some friends who were gracious enough to include us in on their awesome tailgating set-up. We got to the stadium BRIGHT AND EARLY Saturday morning (tailgating at this game is serious business!) and got to work setting up the 2 tents, tons of chairs, generator, satellite flat screen TV, full size grill, tons of coolers and a ton of food. We were ready for a perfect day. Unfortunately with the two of us, we always know that one of us is going to end the day heartbroken and no matter how strong the rivalry, it is always tough to be happy about something at your spouse's expense....but this year it was me that got to be happy so all is well!! hee hee. :) The much anticipated game--between 2 top ranked schools--ended up being a blow-out with Fl winning 49-10. Sorry David, there's always next year...but don't get your hopes up!





















This must be when Georgia was winning....oh wait...they were never winning! David must just be deliriously in shock at the outcome of the game, right?

Fun times at UF Homecoming and Family reunion

Each fall we head down to my mom and dad's for a small family reunion tradition that is always held the weekend of UF Homecoming. This year it was the weekend of October 25th. The tradition has been going on for well over 40 years back when my parents and aunts and uncles were newly married, fresh out of college (most at UF)and no kids. The weekends used to be nothing but UF gator activities but now the focus is mainly a (quite competitive!) family golf tournament, large family dinners, lots of shopping for the ladies and some Gator fun as well. There are now 2 more generations attending. It is a BIG deal in my family. You are excused if you can't make it home for Thanksgiving, Mother's Day or Christmas....but don't think about missing Homecoming. There is no excuse! The Homecoming weekend always seems to fall either right before or right after the FL-GA game so poor David has to deal with all the good-hearted Georgia Bulldog bashing from my Gator-biased (obsessed) family but he is such a good sport about it. And...every 4 years it always seems to fall just before or after the presidential election so there are always some good-hearted political debates at the dinner table. It is a very fun and important weekend that I hope the 2nd and 3rd generations in our family can manage to carry on for many years to come. Here are a few snapshots of the weekend. I wasn't very good at getting any group family pictures this year as I normally do :(


During the drive down to Gainesville, we had my 2 nieces with us and we stopped in Valdosta to visit one of David's job sites. It was a "working" vacation for David. It is an enormous Home Depot distribution center. The kids got a kick out of playing with the hard-hats and exploring the construction site.



Will Noah follow in his Dad's footsteps???



Fun with the hard hats



More fun



The obligatory bathtub picture




Noah was so worn out after playing with his cousins he actually fell sound asleep on the floor while playing!



Noah and one of his cousins "Mia". They look "dressed for success" in my mind



Well I had to buy him a football jersey--we were there for homecoming!



Noah and Nicholas played well together...except when one of them wanted some attention from a grandparent and then the jealousy set it! They had to both be on the lap simultaneously!



Some good old fashioned kid wrestling