The K Train: Belk Bowl & Eaker Family Christmas

We found out Friday night that a close friend of ours had gotten two tickets to the Belk Bowl and immediately thought of Joshy since he was such a big Carolina fan. It was so thoughtful and Joshy was SOO excited!! Did I get to go? NO! Instead, he took his brother. Which makes sense because I do not even like Carolina. Blake Shelton was going to be playing at Fan Fest, so Syd, Mase and I decided to tag along to watch. Saturday morning we rode the train downtown. It was PACKED from Mase always loves the train! It was also super fun trying to get off a train stop with a stroller - not. Here are some pics from that:

A Chapel Hill sandwich. Poor Syd.

Although I do NOT agree with the attire, this is a great pic of the boys.

The boys had the BEST time and thought Carrie and her husband were hysterical! Thank you Mrs. Pat and Paul for thinking of them!

At this point, we had not done Christmas with my immediate family. Danny and Sarah do Christmas with us every other year. This year it was their turn to do Christmas with the Baums so they were coming in Saturday afternoon and we were going to do our family Christmas that night. Syd, Mase and I left the boys at Fan Fest because I had a couple more errands to run. We finished running around at 5:30 pm so we stopped back by my house to pack some clothes. Since Danny and Sarah were in, we wanted to spend time with them and due to M going to bed at 7:00 pm we decided to stay over at my parents. That way we could get a good nights sleep because Mason had a big day the next morning. He was going to get baptized!

Here are some pics we got while waiting on Joshy and Tracy to get home:

Lilly wearing her beautiful jewelry and tu tu she got for Christmas

Cuddles with Mi Mi

L also got a trampoline and Mase LOVED this thing! Especially when Uncle Danny would bounce him

Joshy and Tracy didn't get home until around 8:00 pm so we decided that we would do the adult presents that night.

The boys got some sweet fishing trousers (or whatever they're called). My sister was not amused! ha!

Josh, Danny, Daddy and Syd got signed Luke Keuchly jerseys. Danny felt Luke's power and was tackling Joshy every chance he got yelling, "LUUUUUKE"

This was the best present in my opinion. I got Danny three growlers from the NoDa brewery.

My new bag!! Thanks so much to Mommy!! It is the best!!

We woke up early the next morning to get ready for Mason's baptism. I forgot to charge my camera and it decided to die as soon as we turned it on in church. Luckily, my sister took pics from her camera so I will post on that later!

After church, we went to brunch with the entire family then relaxed at the house watching the Panthers game. Here are some pics of the rest of our day:

We ended up staying over there for the next several night so we could spend lots of time with Danny and Sarah. It worked out well because Syd was keeping Mase while Ms. Dawn was out of town. It was also very convenient since my work is only 1 mile away from my parents!

Tuesday morning, the Baums loaded up to head back to Raleigh while my parents went to spend the rest of the week and weekend at the cabin outside of Boone. Well, that was New Years Eve and I had off the next day. My youngest sister talked Tracy, Erica and I into going out downtown for New Years Eve. Joshy had to work so he was going to stay home with Mase. I reminded her that I was old but I would try to hang with the young peeps! What we later found out was that most places downtown required tickets that cost like $85 to get in. Once the tickets were purchased it was open bar but it was kind of pointless for Syd and her friends to purchase them since they weren't 21 yet. Instead, we went to dinner with them then they were nice enough to drop us off at a bar in South End. Here are some pics:

I have realized several things. 1) I am NOT 22 anymore. 2) My hangovers last more than 2 days now. 3) Dealing with a child the next day is not fun - especially when they're teething. 4) I will think extremely hard before ever doing something like that again!! But we did have a blast!!

Fast forward to tonight where we hit another milestone. Since M has been doing so great with his cereal, we are starting to work in some vegetables this. So tonight, we tried peas for the first time. Here's what he thought: