Happy Happy 1st Birthday Everett! We love you!

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Christmas Photos

Everett's 1st Christmas!

Well we survived our first holiday season with Everett! We spent five days in Olegbay in Wheeling, WV in a cabin with Grammy and Pap Pap, Aunt Emily, Uncle Matt, Aunt Jenni, Uncle Will and cousins Lucette and Violet- it was full cabin :) Everett did such an amazing job on the ride to and from WV- he did not fuss once in the five hour drive. He just slept and looked out the window and got excited when we stopped to stretch our legs. We started off the week with a birthday celebration for my dad and grandma. It was such fun to have a big party at the cabin and all our local extended family from both sides were able to attend- it was quite a gathering. On Christmas Eve we took Everett to the Toy and Train museum and to swim in the indoor pool, he loved it! He awoke on Christmas morning to find that Santa had brought him many, actually too many, gifts. He was such a good boy this year, each one was well-deserved! We capped off the week with a 1st birthday celebration for Miss Lucette at the Good Zoo. We got to pet lots of animals and see a holiday laser light show. Good times were had by all. By the end of the trip, mommy and daddy needed a vacation and we spent the next week recovering. I think I was asleep by 9 p.m. on NYE, which was fine by me. Well now January has arrived and the cold weather too.... counting the days until Spring! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and all our best in 2009!

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 :)