Christmas Heirlooms

I have so many Christmas pictures to go through and share....and Thanksgiving pictures too come to think of it!!!

But for now please enjoy these two of Randal Jean wearing a night gown and dress than my granny made for me when I was a toddler.  I think I actually wore the green dress when I was almost 3, but Randal is a pretty big almost 2 year old so I put it on her this year in case we don't get the chance when she is closer to 3.

Santa came!!!

For those who don't facebook I thought I would share this here too.  Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

I hope Santa was good to everyone.  Randal Jean is enjoying her chef set and easel :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone :)

It's early early Christmas morning here.  Matt and I are winding down from Christmas Eve and looking forward to tomorrow (well later today really) and seeing our little girl's face light up when she sees all her gifts under the tree.

In preparation for Christmas this year I thought it would be a good idea for Randal to help decorate cookies.  Ha!  By no means was it a disaster but I learned quickly that a 22m old does not have the patience to decorate anything once icing and sprinkles are put in front of her.  While decorating I looked over at her and she honest to goodness had tipped the bowl of sprinkles up to her mouth and was drinking them.  Nice!

On Christmas Eve we went to the 5pm service at Port City Community Church.  They don't offer child care during Christmas service so Randal Jean was with us.  We actually made is through 60-70% of the service before she got to antsy and we had to walk out.  I was pleased with that, but bummed that she chose the sermon/message as the time she wanted to leave.  I really enjoying hearing the Christmas story, but hopefully next year we will have more luck.  Also next year we will try an earlier service.  It was jam packed at the 5pm service (the 3rd and final of the day) and we were left standing against the back wall.

After we got home from church and ate dinner we watched "The Search for Santa Paws" on Disney.  Randal Jean sat and watched the entire movie!!!!  I know the odds of anyone of our friends/family who follow this blog actually knowing this movie is rare...but lets suffice it to say there is a mean foster home lady in the movie that is really mean and banishes the foster girls to the basement when they are "bad."  At one point in the movie the foster care lady sends the oldest foster child to the basement to sleep along with the dog (Santa Paws) she brought in.  When this scene in the move went down Randal Jean poked out her bottom lip and started crying.  Probably one of the cutest things to see her get upset over the little girl and puppy being banished to the basement.  Also, pretty neat to see that she is starting to understand storylines.

Here are some pics of recent Christmas happenings around the Bork household. 

Decorating cookies:

 

Setting out cookies and milk for Santa:

Sleeping baby waiting for Santa (oh and yes that is my child in a big girl bed...more on that later!):

Santa Success 2011!!!!

Saturday night I took Randal to Enchanted Airlie with some friends of ours and their 3 and almost 1 year old daughters.  I had plans to take lots of pictures but lets just say Randal wasn't feeling the stroller as much as I hoped so I didn't get many but I did get the $$$$ shot of Randal snuggling up to Santa!!!!!  When we got up to the front of the line Randal's friend Kaylie (who I should also mention was previously scared of Santa) went first.  We told Kaylie she needed to show Randal how it was done.  And boy did she :)  I guess Randal took the hint from Kaylie and let me hand her over to Santa.  She wouldn't smile even the slightest bit but it was so cute to see her holding on so tight to Santa.  It really looked like she was ready to just take a nap in his arms :)

Since I didn't get many pictures of the gardens lit up I'll just tell you they are beautiful and the cost of admission is well worth getting to sit on Santa's lap and take a picture with your own camera :)  And for the record this was hand's down the best Santa I have ever seen!  He looked like he was straight out of a movie.  And on top of his iconic look his interaction with the children was also the best I've seen.

Enjoy!

Randal looking at Santa's village and the train

 Miserable attempt to get one of Randal and her bff Kaylie

 Snuggling up to Santa, love it!!!!  Isn't that one "good looking" Santa?

....and the "sporting goods store"

We have entered a stage with Randal where she is starting to repeat everything we say or at least the last word of everything we say.  We try to monitor our language, however, sometimes even when your words aren't meant to be profane your child may pick up something you wish they hadn't.

Case in point....tonight I went to run errands after work so Matt took Randal with him to run a few also.  When we were all back at the house Matt commented on how good Randal was so they were able to cross Target and Dick's off their list.  Before we knew it Randal is saying the d-word three times in a row. Matt quickly re-phrased to "Target and the sporting goods store."  We tried super hard not to die laughing...and we were actually successful.  She didn't say it anymore after initially repeating Matt so fingers crossed that she hasn't added that to her vocabulary :)

Totally unrelated but here's two of Daddy and his errand running buddy :)

Enjoy!

Christmas Tree Hunt- Success!

I promised I'd move on to a "success" this week....so here we are :)  On Saturday morning we set out to find a Christmas tree.  The first lot we went too had nothing to offer but bad trees and high prices then we headed to the Kmart parking lot off College and found an awesome tree lot with great prices and really nice people running it.  On top of that they had rows upon rows of trees and not just little trees but lots of BIG trees too!!!!  Matt wanted a big tree this year and he got it....all 9ft :)  I will say I was doubtful about getting such a large tree but it looks great in our living room and anything smaller wouldn't have looked as good.

On to some pictures of our Christmas tree hunt!

Enjoy!

Rows and rows of trees....

 

Randal Jean running around the tree lot

 

Holding on to Daddy....or trying to at least!

 The trees were so close together Randal loved getting lost in the trees....and she literally got lost once.  The lady running the tree lot let out a pretty big chuckle when she heard me ask Matt, "where is our kid?!?!" No worries there was a fence around the entire lot and Randal Jean resurfaced soon.

 

I'm liking the "vintage" feel to this one

 

"This one Daddy!"

 Thanks to the lady at the tree lot for snapping a shot of the 3 of us

 And maybe not so much of a thanks for the multi colored candy cane that soon became a sticky mess all over my daughter's face :)

Christmas Card Attempt #1 = Fail!

On to another failure....I'll post about our SUCCESSFUL Christmas tree hunt later this week :)

This year I told myself we would NOT wait until the last minute to get our Christmas card photos so in October I had a friend volunteer to meet us early one morning to grab a family shot of all 3 of us.  (Side note: Aren't all you Uncles glad we recruited someone else this year?!?!)  Anyways, the group shot of us turned of great and that is usually what keeps me trying time after time to get Christmas card photos.  The problem this morning was Randal Jean was not having it when it came to getting her picture by herself or with her daddy.  Ugh!

I then decided I would just have to dress us up the same another time and get photos of just Randal and Randal with Matt but we couldn't do that as we somehow managed to lose one boot and the hair bow from the photos.  I KNOW they made it back in the suburban with us but they are currently no where to be found!  This was such a bummer because my friend got this great photo of the 3 of us and now we couldn't use it on the card, but I will share some it here.  I have also made it the blog header so her early morning efforts don't go to waste.

Since most of your who read this blog are family or close friends you know we did succeed in getting our Christmas cards out at a decent time this year....SUCCESS!!!!

Enjoy!

These are the good ones of the 3 of us and a couple other that turned out okay:

 And now on to the reason this group of photos did not end up on the Christmas card...

Santa Fail 2011

This year I was so excited about taking Randal Jean to  meet Santa that I made a big to do about it and booked us for the "Dinner with Santa" at Mike's Farm.  The trip is just over an hour (one way) but I figured a nice meal of country cooking, dinner with Saint Nick himself, and a hayride with light exhibit would be worth it...so I figured, ha!

First things first....they do a great job at Mike Farm.  Our less than stellar experience had everything to do with a toddler entering the terrible twos not the location.

So the evening of the big dinner I come home from work and Randal is still napping...not good!  The child HATES to get up from her nap early.  Even worse I woke her up and made her change clothes (life for a toddler is hard when changing clothes is considered tragic!).  So before we even pulled out of the driveway I had a sleepy and upset toddler who essentially went straight from the crib to her car seat.  Good news...we drove the suburban so we had Yo Gabba Gabba playing the whole trip and she seemed happy.  Now I'm thinking..."this might turn out alright."

Once we get to Mike's Farm we go straight to the banquet hall for dinner and put Randal in the highchair.  Just to recap the sequence here (crib to car seat to highchair....little play/walking in between).  The changes from one restraint system to another were not making Randal happy.  She squirmed and squirmed in her highchair.  Matt and I did everything we could to make her happy but it wasn't happening.  Then they brought out cups of juice with straws.  "Oh, a saving grace" I thought.  (Randal loves getting to drink from a straw and drinking Sprite from a big girl cup is typically just the distraction I need to get through a trip to Target).  With a big girl cup of juice in her hand I thought we were home free.  Nope!  She drank the juice in 15 seconds (no lie!).  I got her more but she was no longer fascinated by her big girl cup.  Matt and I try to distract her some more.  All the while Matt (who I should mention is not hearing well (or really at all) out of one ear due to surgery) is complaining about all the noise and the fact that our toddler is on the verge of a major meltdown.  Um, not my idea of fun either but were parents to an almost 2-year old...this happens!

Then Santa enters.  YAY!...I just knew this would help turn things around.  Wrong.  After Randal's initial amazement with Santa she started to squirm even more to the point where we had to get her out of her highchair.  Then she wants to run up to Santa.  I wont let her because its not time to meet Santa yet and there is currently someone at the front of the banquet hall explaining how the evening will work.  A full on toddler tantrum ensues.  As in my child is lying on the floor crying because I wont let her run around (while all of the other children are sitting nicely) and go meet Santa.  Matt looks at me like I should know what to do here and gives me the "shut her up this is embarrassing look."  Agreed, it was embarrassing but reasoning with a toddler is not possible.  They do not understand.  Anyways,  I pick her off the floor and try to just hold her.  The tables are finally dismissed to go to the buffet so it is no longer all eyes on the one tantruming child (I do not like being THAT parent!). 

Randal continues to whine and tantrum.  We get dinner and stuff it in our faces because remember we have a very unhappy toddler on our hands.  Then we go stand in line to see Santa.  Could this be it...finally something that will make my child happy.  Nope!!!  For being so anxious to see Santa Randal latched on to me and would not let go or even look at Santa.

After the failed attempt to sit on Santa's lap I took Randal back to the car to get blankets for the hayride.  Being outside actually did seem to make her happy despite the chilly temperatures and wind.  I don't even think I allowed myself to think the hayride would go well at this point.  But SURPRISE she loved the hayride and lights!!!!  At least the night ended on an up beat note!

Even though the night was 80% total disaster we will actually probably make the trip again next year just not do the special "Dinner With Santa" event.  We will most likely go at a time that is more convenient for the babes (plural by then!!!!) and eat and go on the hayride.

Below are some pictures from our evening at Mike's Farm.  They are horrible as we were in very dark settings and I didn't have a flash but I felt the need to document the evening anyways.


Enjoy!


With her big girl cup

A few seconds of quiet amazement as Santa walks in...sorry no pictures of the tantrum, ha!

 Attempt to get her on to Santa's lap....failed

Mommy on Santa's lap with a very large baby belly poking out, ha!

 Lollipop from Mrs. Claus...it pacified her for 5 mins :)

On the hayride :)

 

Some of the lights

You asked for it...

Sorry for the long absence.  Everything is well at the Bork household just extremely busy!!!!

Matt has been harassing me for at least 2 weeks now to update the blog, but believe me it has been on the to do list for much longer than that.  However, for all of you that have been telling Matt to harass me about updating the blog please feel free to remind him he knows the password and how to perform basic edits on photos :)  Needed to throw that out there because him nagging me about updating the blog was getting old since he could do it.

So as a little bit of pay back for him harassing me and not just taking care of the blog himself I must post the below pictures of Randal Jean dressed up to cheer on Clemson.  GO TIGERS!!!!

In our house we (or really I and therefore Randal too) cheer for two teams.  Wake and Clemson.  Problem is they are both in the ACC, but I was raised to pull for the Tigers so I just can't jump ship and stop pulling for them now that I am married to a Deacon fan so alas I have two teams I cheer for.  It works out most of the time until they play each and then I typically don't care who wins but may pull a bit more for the team who I think it would mean more for in that particular season.

The cheerleader outfit below was actually mine when I was little.  It is a size 2, however, was WAY short...as in much closer to a shirt than a dress.  I must have worn it when I was younger than Randal or I was just that much smaller than her.  Oh well, I got pictures of her from the waist up so all is well :)

PS- Dear Husband of mine if you would like your daughter to rock some black and gold....buy her some Wake gear or Randal might only learn to cheer for the purple and orange!!!!

3rd Trimester!!!!

Today marks the first day of my final trimester.  Let the countdown begin!!!!

Milestone!!!!!

Guess what happened tonight!!!!

Randal Jean peed in the potty!!!!!!  YAY!!!!  For the past couple of weeks I have been putting her on the toilet just before bath time to see if she would take any interest and most nights she barely even sits there, but tonight as I was thinking I was going to skip the whole sitting on the potty deal because it was already well past her bed time but she walked right on over to the potty put up her toddler potty seat and asked (as in pointed) to be put on the toilet.  And much to my surprise as soon as I sat her up there she went!!!!!!

I don't know if I am quite ready for potty training.  I will wait for more indicators from her to see if she is really ready or if that was more of a coincidence.  Knowing my luck we will be in the heat of potty training when Tilley gets here.  Oh well, we will make it work!

Post Halloween Hair

This is what Pebbles looked like after we took her hair down on Halloween :)

And to add to the mess that she already was it was spaghetti night!!!!

Enjoy!!!

Happy Halloween 2011!!!

Pebbles would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween :)

Enjoy!

 

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Go check out the photography blog for a look at Randal Jean's trip to the Yo Gabba Gabba concert last weekend.

Enjoy!

Saturday Night Randomness

Tonight Randal Jean had a grand time playing hide-and-seek in "her" cabinet, wearing her fire helmet, and playing with her Daddy's shoes.

Enjoy!

"Where is Randal?"  Literally I went in the laundry room and came out and couldn't find her (note, we have gates that enclose the kitchen so I knew she had to be close).  This is where I found her....and then I grabbed the camera.

 Dressing up Cobi (aka Bubba)

 In her fire hat :)

 

Playing with Daddy

 

Playing with Daddy's shoes

 

Happenings, Random Thoughts, and Catch Up Photos

I'm still here!!!! I do plan to keep up with this blog, but the photo biz has been busy :)  I am so so thankful for that.  Now on to catching up:

Randal Jean
*20 months as of yesterday....HOLY COW!!!!
*At 18m check up (which was really close to 19m) she was at the top of the charts for height and weighed in at 25lbs (70th percentile)
*Talks ALL THE TIME but for the majority of the time she is the only one who knows what she is saying
*Has taken an interest in baby dolls
*Has no clue  a baby will be here in January
*Loves preschool which she goes to Tues and Thurs mornings
*At preschool she prefers to chase the 3 year old boys around the play ground than play with the children her age.  I hope this isn't foreshadowing the future...
*LOVES The Fresh Beats....still enjoys Yo Gabba Gabba particularly if you can watch YouTube clips on Nana's Ipad
*Speaking of Ipad she knows how to work it and I am convinced her knowledge of computers will surpass mine by the time she is 5
*Good eater....particularly enjoys raisins and carrots
*Does not like to drink milk.  Its not that she makes bad faces or refuses the cup.  She just doesn't drink it when provided to her.  Lovely.
*Likes to "read" books to herself....the books are almost always upside down
*Is in dire need of moving to a big girl bed which we hope to do very soon.  I have seen her trying to get out of the crib a few times on the video monitor and raced up stairs to get her.
*Likes to watch people
*Has gone back to refusing to sit in the booster seat
*Gives the best hugs ever...my favorite are right after bath time when she is cold she instantly latches on to me and squeezes as hard as she can.  Its a great feeling so I don't mind being used as a towel.
*Says "awwww" when she gives hugs...its precious!
*Likes to brush her teeth and she is actually pretty good at it, but I think she just likes the way the toddler toothpaste tastes
*Ball of energy but still naps like a CHAMP!!! Thank you Lord!...now that I have typed this nap time will be miserable tomorrow

Baby Girl #2
*Her name is Tilley :)
*We have a very very very close (as in 99.9% sure) on a middle name so I will share that later
*Is at 26 weeks gestation and growing as she should, however, I feel twice the size as I was when I was this far along with Randal Jean. 
*Has given me an easy pregnancy

Happenings and Random Thoughts
*Lots of friends have been/are getting married so hopefully that means our kids will have playmates one day....come on people!!! What are you waiting for?!?!
*Photography business is doing great!!!! I am so happy that people have taken interest in my business.  It has been so nice to shoot for people that I have never met before that came via referrals from past clients.  Such a huge compliment for someone to refer you to a friend :)
*It's fall so it's Matt's traveling time of year with work
*We are still in a lot of boxes from our move.  Its embarrassing but true...
*Ordered Tilley's bedding yesterday, whooooo hoooooo!!! I am not making bedding this time around as it was almost enough to make me give up on sewing all together when I made Randal's so I am shipping fabric to a nice lady I found on Etsy and she is making it for me.  Do you etsy?  You should, but I warn you it is addictive.
*My favorite show (as in the only show I have time to keep up with), Parenthood, it fabulous.  You should watch it.  Totally unlike Friday Night Lights but that kind of human/family connection is present that made Friday Night Lights such a great show.  Great show, however, it you do watch it it bothers me that Christina gave birth to a 3m old!!!  I mean come on....could you be a bit more realistic.
*Parenting can be gross, smelly, scary and make you praise God that your child is okay all at once.  For instance...tonight at the dinner table Randal climbed out of her chair (because remember she will not sit in a booster) and went under the table to take care of some business if you know what I mean.  After smelling up the kitchen she climbs back in to her chair to finish dinner.  Despite the smell I let it go since its bath time immediately after dinner anyways.  Randal Jean then proceeds to choke!!! I clear her throat but she still can't breathe.  I beat her on the back and she still can't breathe.  I put my finger really far down her throat to try and clear her throat again followed by more beating on the back and finally the child and breathe.  I hug her as tight as I possibly can and thank God she is fine then 2 seconds later she vomits all over me and herself.  While gagging Matt is tasked with cleaning the kitchen floor because I am holding a screaming baby who is literally dripping vomit and so am I.  I go upstairs to strip her down for a bath only to be reminded of the huge stinky mess that had come out the other end only moments prior.
*Anybody think those friends we want to have babies still think its a good idea after readying the above?
*I sewed Randal's Halloween costume last night....it was nice to finally have the sewing machine back out.  It had been almost a year since I sewed anything.  Hopefully she does well on Halloween

Okay, can you tell I miss the personal blog?  I really needed to journal.  Do you feel caught up now?

Now on what you care about....pictures!!!!

Enjoy!

I don't think bubbles ever get old....just like swinging :)

 

First day of school....why is my baby old enough to be in preschool!!!!

 

 

Recent trip to Corolla for a friend's wedding....For late September it was still nice on the beach :)

 

A chocolatey snack on the beach

 

 

 

 

It'd be nice if Randal and Matt had a pic of them looking at the camera but I love these two :)

 

Some attempts at a family shot....not too bad.  Thanks Dad!

 

Rehearsal dinner in Corolla...23 week belly!!!!

 

Eating birthday cheesecake for Nana's bday

 

Oh I love you Randal Jean :)