The Adventures of this Christmas Season

Hi friends! I know, it's been SO long! Two weeks maybe? I have been terrible at updating lately. I really don't have an excuse other than we've been super busy and by the time I've gotten home I am so sleepy I can't keep my eyes open let alone want to stay up writing. On a plus side, I got a job transfer and have been loving life working closer to home! I LOVE my new boss, and the drive to work is SO GREAT!! I look forward to starting this new adventure. Thanks for all the prayers, friends! Without any more stalling, here's what's been going on lately:

Joshy had to work the weekend (two weekends ago) so we went out shopping with Mi Mi. To start out our morning, we HAD to go to the Dive In to meet Mi Mi and Paw Paw for breakfast. M was such a charmer, all the ladies were loving on him. Here's a couple of pics from our first stop..

After a delish breakfast, we headed over to South Park mall. As we were walking in, I decided this was a great opportunity to change M's diaper before we got started. And yes, this is another poop story. Home boy had ANOTHER blow out in the Nordstrom's bathroom. Why does this always happen at the worst possible locations? Here we are in the extremely nice bathroom trying to get him clean. As one lady walks in (I see her sympathetic Mom look that says "I know how you feel") she sees me & my mother trying to get M's clothes off without getting crap all over him moreso than it already is. Ms. Lady walks into the stall to do her business. As she walks out of her stall, I am bathing/washing off my poop-stained child while my mother is in the next sink over washing out his clothes so they won't be permanently stained. The look on her face was of pure horror as she looked at the poop-cleaning station. Poop clothes were on the changing station, poop on the blanket I changed him on that was on top of the changing station, poop socks, poop on his shoes, and a pile of poop-stained wipes on top of a over-flowing poop diaper. This is all taking place in a Nordstrom bathroom. WHYYY??? It's bad enough that I have just given my child a redneck bath in an expensive store, but now we have no place to put all of his poop soaked gear. My mother, bless her, goes to retrieve a bag to wrap everything up. Meanwhile, M is chilling in his diaper. Again. I swear this kid never has any clothes on due to his blowouts. Thank goodness I packed him another outfit that was way too small for him. And to think we were going for the festive look that morning. As we began our shopping, Mi Mi was determined that M had to get into the festive mood again. Which means she is a total sucker because the next department store we came to M was transformed into another little Christmas elf minus the reindeer droppings:

I'm glad everyone is happy and poop free

On our way home from the mall, we got a phone call from Ms. Dawn asking us to come over to exchange gifts with Jenna. So off we go again:

Look at what M got from Ms. Jenna! He LOVES eating Charlie Brown while reading our stories!

Ms. Jenna and Ms. Dawn gave M some super cute Christmas books along with Snoopy and Charlie Brown. We LOVE reading them!! 

And we (Josh and I) got a super cute Santa and sleigh to add to our Christmas decorations.

Our names are even on Santa's list! 

Later on that night, we went to Nae Nae and Uncle Jeff's annual Christmas party. It was past M's bed time so I wasn't sure how he would do. In the beginning, he got a little overwhelmed so I laid him down on Nae Nae's bed to see if he would fall asleep. I went in there five minutes later and he was playing with his feet and squawking at the fan, ha! Since it was obvious he was not going to go to sleep, up we went to go visit. Here are a couple of pics with Jay and Becca:

We LOVE Jay and Becca and can't wait to see them again!

We're going to flash forward to the next weekend. This was the weekend that I have been waiting on since this past July. We had been planning to go to the Polar Express at Pullen Park in Raleigh. I was SOO excited for this. I knew that M would never remember it but this park is just the coolest and I couldn't wait to take pics! I keep telling people that we need something like this in Charlotte because it makes so.much.money. Anyway, I was beyond excited about it  until I looked at the weather report which said it was supposed to rain all.freaking.weekend. FAIL! We had tickets for Saturday night which was supposed to have the worst weather. Friday afternoon we received an email saying due to the weather, we could use our tickets to go to the Friday night or Sunday night park. DOUBLE FAIL since we couldn't leave until 6:00 pm Friday and we were leaving Sunday morning to come back home. So instead of packing up and rushing, we just decided to stay home and sulk. Since I was waiting for M to meet Santa at the Polar Express, we had not gone to see him yet. So that Saturday morning we went to the mall to stand in line for Santa pics. I will say that it is HIlarious to watch all the children get their photos taken with Santa especially those that scream. We weren't really sure how M would react to him and let's be honest, he probably doesn't care won't even remember it. After about 30 minutes, we finally got to Santa. At first, it was a little shaky and we were sure that he was going to scream but then he recovered:

We had a better picture from the lady but it still wasn't the best. I would like to say that I was extremely disappointed with the South Park lady taking pics. Their policy is that you can only take your own photos as long as you purchase their photos which I informed her that we were doing. I wanted to take some with my camera so it would be easier to upload on here. Well that biatch lady was so rude. When we sat him on Santa's lap, I started taking pics with my camera and Josh was taking with his phone and she very rudely said, "um, please let me get my pictures first". So we did. And there were several moment where M was laughing and she didn't get ANY OF THEM!! Listen bia lady, I have no problem with you taking photos but you were not only rude to us, but you didn't even get any good photos!! Then once she was done taking her photos, she rushed us with an attitude on her face while I took 1 photo. She used the noisemaker for her photo and then rushed us off without helping out with ours. 1 photo!! I was SO frustrated with her. I really wanted to rip off her stupid Christmas hat, throw it on the ground, step on it and then punch her in the throat while telling her that she should be fired as Santa's helper because she was not helpful at all and didn't deserve the "Santa's Helper" sticker that she wore on her shirt!! She was obviously an angry elf FROM THE South Pole tell her that she was really being unprofessional and needed a lesson in good customer service. Santa even felt the tension mounting. Santa knew she was being rude and he put her on the naughty list!! Take that you Scrooge!!

After we got pics with Santa, we came home to clean and get ready for the Nester Tacky Christmas Party. This is probably one of my favorite things each year. Josh and I LOVE getting dressed up for it. We didn't think we would be in town because we were supposed to be in Raleigh, so we thought it would be a nice surprise for Josh's bestie, Lee, to make an appearance at the party. Also, since we weren't planning on going, we didn't prepare for it. This is a shocker because we LOVE dressing up each year and pride ourselves on having great outfits. So this year, we decided to trade outfits from last year. The results were...

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?? 

Merry Christmas from the Kellers

A little background on Joshy's skirt "kilt" he is wearing. This was the heinous skirt that I found at Kmart last year. At first, Josh was all about wearing the "kilt" but as the afternoon/evening went on he was starting to chicken out. BUT it was SOO funny. In order for him to wear it, I told him that he could drink however much he wanted and I would stay sober and drive.... I should have let him wear the pants. I'm pretty sure that the babysitter thought we were nuts.  At least we're fun?? Or just creepy... The party was a success though! And Joshy's bestie was SO surprised that it was totally worth it!

Sunday we got a visit from Grandma Debbie & Pop Pops to see M and to also bring down our Christmas present. A few weeks ago, I sent Pop Pops a couple of ideas I had for our living room. If you don't know this, we live in an old mill house. These houses don't have any storage (there are no closets in this house) and  having zero storage is tough since we have so much stuff! Now that M is getting more aware of his surroundings and we will start getting more toys, we won't have any place to put them. We could always stuff him in his room, but his room is tiny and it would be more crammed than it already is. Also, why would we put his toys in his room? I am never sitting in his room while he rolls around on the ground plays. Instead we're always in the den. Like I said before, we don't have a lot of space in this house for much so I was looking for a way that we could kill two birds with one stone sorry birdies! by having a storage space but use it as a table/bench too. Where do you go to find all of your household ideas?? Pinterest of course!! So I got to looking around and found these really cool corner benches that double as storage. I sent some ideas to Pop Pops and he began designing. So when I found out it was coming, I was SO stoked!! It is absolutely GORGEOUS!! I knew it would be, but Pop Pops outdid himself again!

Special thanks to Grandma Debbie for making the cushions to go on top of the benches! 

And there's our storage! YAYY!!! 

Isn't it just beautiful?! Thanks again Pop Pops and Grandma Debbie for all that you do!! Y'all are AWESOME!! 

Okay, I think I have babbles enough tonight. Here are some other photos of what we have been up to:

Ms. Dawn spoils M so much! She got him this book that she recorded reading. I cried. We listen to it every night! It is hands down one of the favorite gifts I have ever gotten (and it wasn't even for me!).

"Yess surr, he's a teethin'"

I love this pic. These are the moments that I treasure! Naps with Granny are the best!

M was feeling extra clingy one night and I was attempting to be domestic by making dinner since Joshy was working late. So instead of laying him on the kitchen floor to let him watch me cook, I just strapped him on! He LOVED it. He did manage to almost pull one of the mixing bowls off the counter but we saved it. And the dinner was delish and edible!

M with his bestie Jayda!

He has been the biggest wiggle worm! I set him down in his bouncer and when I turned back around I found him like this, ha!

Passed out while burping

I always made fun of Mom's that dressed their kids up in Christmas sweaters. This will be one of the moments when M gets older and makes fun of me. 

Loves his Grandma Debbie!

Eating his Daddy's shorts and Mommy's shopping receipt.

I leave you with this Christmas tree that M (Ms. Dawn) made. 

I can't thank God enough for everything that he has done for us. I cannot wait to see what else he has in store for us! I hope everyone has a very great Christmas! Safe travels!