Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

The holidays have really crept up on the Scandlen family this year! Cannot believe the big day is only a week away. We have been having fun with Everett and getting him ready for his first Christmas. I finally have all the shopping done and presents wrapped and mailed the ones that require mailing and now it is finally time to just enjoy the holiday through the eyes of a very active 10 month old!

Since it has been a while since I have posted, I will start with a Thanksgiving recap:

Everett had a great first Thanksgiving down in Williamsburg and of course loved spending time with Grammy and Pap Pap and even got to see Aunt Abby who drove all the way down from NJ to see him. Poor guy was under the weather most of the week, throwing up almost everything he ate, so at times it was very messy (and sad!), but he did get to enjoy a little turkey and a lot of stuffing :)

Since Thanksgiving we have fully decorated the house, gone to visit Santa a few times (the picture below will show you how that has gone each time!) and put up the tree and listened to hours and hours of holiday music. We even got a very special tour of the West Wing of the White House by Jessica.

I cannot wait to see Everett open up gifts (or more likely eat lots of wrapping paper) on Christmas morning. We are headed to WV, Olegbay in particular, to spend a few days in a cabin with Grammy, Pap Pap, Aunt Jenni, Uncle Will and the girls and Aunt Emily and Uncle Matt. Since all of our extended family lives in the Wheeling area they will be coming by for the festitives as well. They all begin on Tuesday night at Pap Pap and Great Grandma's birthday celebration and send with Violet's 1st Birthday celebration at the Good Zoo.

We wish everyone who reads this blog (all three of you!) a very merry christmas and a happy new year. We will post some pictures of the fun trip upon our return!

Likes and Dislikes

As Everett nears his ten month birthday at the end of this week, I thought I would post his "likes" and "dislikes" at this stage of his life.

Likes:

1. Standing- his # 1 for sure, he refuses to sit anywhere, always wants to stand!
2. Balloons
3. Animals/toys that talk to him
4. Having books read to him
5. Mommy and Daddy
6. Climbing the stairs
7. Chewing on anything electronic (tv remotes, blackberries, digital cameras)
8. His "Everett" stool

Dislikes:

1. Having his nose wiped!
2. Being held by a person other than mommy and daddy when mommy and daddy are in sight
3. Getting buckled into his car seat
4. Santa

And he's off!!

Well it was a long time in coming, but Everett is finally mobile!! On Halloween night Everett crawled for the very first time. He has such good form, don't you think? Here is a video of our little crawler. Love him to pieces.

Six Year Anniversary

Ben took me to the Sanderling Resort in Duck, North Carolina for our six year anniversary! Ben always does such an amazing job planning our anniversary trips. On past trips we have visited to Maine, the Northern Neck of VA, Miami, Spain and Hawaii. Of course our trips must be shorter these days, so we just took one day to celebrate and left Everett with his Grammy and Pap Pap for the night. We had a great time on our trip, got to go on a walk on the beach (the weather was amazing!), visit the spa, had a romantic dinner, a delicious breakfast and hit some of the local shops. With life being as busy as it is, I do not tell him enough, but every single day I am thankful for the amazing husband I married. I am so proud of the man that he is and the life he has provided for Everett and I. He truly is my best friend and I am so looking forward to all the things we have in store together. He always has a kind word to say or a helping hand to lend. And what I honestly like best about him is how much he loves me. I hope he knows how much I love him too. I am truly blessed in my marriage...sigh :)

Halloween 2008

We are not sure if Everett truly enjoyed his first Halloween, due in large part to his costume. I could not resist the elephant costume when I was browsing through a magazine a few months ago. Also, with it being election year and all, I figured why not? Well it turns out Everett does not like to wear anything on his head, let alone a big hat with huge ears and tusks and a long trunk. That however did not stop me from dressing him up and parading him all around town to various Halloween festivities. On Thursday night before Halloween, we went to the annual Taylor Halloween party. Wow have these parties changed from a few short years ago :) Now it is full of kids and everyone leaves for bedtime around 8! Everett did have a great time with his buddy Gabriel (the bat). On Halloween itself, I took Everett back to Cox Farms with my mom's group. We had a ton of fun and got to ride on a great hayride. Everett LOVED it. We also went into my work to show off his costume and then finished the night by handing out candy to the neighborhood kids. All in all, a great 1st Halloween. Here are some pictures!

Big Guy!

Well yesterday we confirmed what we have always known is true, Everett is a big boy! He had his nine month appointment yesterday (wow how time flies) and weighed in at 25lbs (95%) and is 29 3/4 in. long (90%). He was not too happy about his shots or his finger prick, but quickly got over it (he is easily distracted!). At least now I can feel better that it is not becuase I am super old that my back kills me after spending the day with him! Poor Grammy had to see a massage therapist three times after watching him for the weekend. We cannot believe how quickly the past nine months have gone. Everett has changed our life so much for the better, he is our joy and inspiration. We love seeing his shiny happy chubby face when we get him up in the morning. We look forward to what each coming day brings and we are so happy he is our little (I mean big) boy.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

We took Everett to his first pumpkin patch this weekend at Cox Farms in Centreville, Va. It was quite a production! We could not believe all the people there and all the fun things they had to do for kids (hay rides, goat world, corn mazes and slides galore). Everett had a great time and even let us dress him in his adorable elephant costume for a few minutes (he does NOT like the elephant hat!). Here are some pictures of our special little man-- the love of our life!