Finishing Up 2010

Here are the last of the photos from the fall/winter of 2010. I am starting to feel a little more caught up in the blogging world, though I fear I've missed a lot of the details of daily life here in the Bates household. My goal is to stay caught up, especially for my blog readers that aren't on Facebook. :)

We went on a carriage ride at the arboretum in November.

Tennyson (3)

I was trying to get a good photo of Raleigh.....

.....and this is what I got.

Loving on each other

I think Raleigh looks suave in this photo.

Cold from being out in the snow.

One of the best purchases ever from the $1 Spot at Target - a construction hat.

The gingerbread house Tennyson and I put together one afternoon while Raleigh napped. Not too shabby.

Taken Christmas morning before opening gifts.

Tennyson sitting on his new Thomas the Tank Engine bike.

It's hard to believe 2010 is over (and I am just now getting caught up on it 3 months later). We had some highs, like my sister's wedding, and some lows, like Raleigh's scare with croup, but all in all it was a good year.

Christmas~ Part 2

Let's see if I can actually find the time to sit and get caught up on my blog. Since I am so far behind (Raleigh is 7 months old I haven't even done a 6 month post for him!) I'll just post a few photos from Christmas that I wanted to share.

An overhead view of most of my family while my Dad

read a devotion before Christmas dinner (12.26.09)

My siblings. Yeah, we're ridiculous!


We went to the Harrisonburg Children's Museum on the 26th with my brother, Kyrce, and his family. Here's a fuzzy, yet adorable, photo of Tennyson.

Racing Daddy

Riding the John Deere

Weighing vegetables

My nephew, Holden (3), and my niece, Bethany (3), eating bananas. I love the guilty look!

My sister-in-law, Maureen, and Raleigh (5 months).

Christmas ~ Part 1

In the craziness of moving 6 days beforehand, Christmas was almost forgotten. ;-) Okay not really. But we put unpacking on hold and spent 4 days wonderful, special days with my family. Lynley and Dan came in to town on Christmas Eve and Kyrce and his family got here late on Christmas day.

Tom and I opened presents first thing that morning with the boys before heading over to my parents'. Tennyson was much more excited this year and we were impressed with how he took the time to open each present and study it before moving on to the next one. He especially loved his Thomas the Tank Engine wall stickers, sheets, and trains. He also loved all his Disney stuffed animals from Nana Joan, Tom's mom. Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Winnie the Pooh, and Pluto sit on his bed every night.

My family loves to play games!

The best part of the photo is Cameron with a tie around his head.

I just wanted to post this adorable photo of Raleigh.

It looks like he's blowing a kiss!

The chaos of opening presents

Our Own Christmas Miracle

I am a firm believer that every life created by God is special, full of purpose, and nothing short of miraculous. Well, this Christmas Tom and I were blessed with our own miracle of life. I posted previously how Christmas has always been an extra special time of year for us and this year was no exception. Here's the story of how we came to find out another baby is on the way.....

We spent time in New Jersey with Tom's family from the 20th to the 26th and honestly I felt fine the whole week, indulging in daily naps. My clue that something was amiss was Christmas Day when I woke from one of those naps to the horrific smell of shrimp. Now shrimp was one thing I could not stand to be around when I was pregnant with Tennyson. I didn't immediately think, "Oh my gosh, I must be pregnant." Instead it was more like, "Hmm, that's strange." My next "clue" was the following morning when I awoke at 3:00AM with an urgent need to use the bathroom. The same thing happened again at 5:00AM and then a little while later, while snuggling with my sweet little boy, I began to feel nauseous. THAT was my first real thought that something was up. The last time I got nauseous (aside from the stomach flu last March) was when I was pregnant with Tennyson.

Anyway, we packed up our things and were headed back to Virginia by 10:00AM. We stopped in Harrisburg, PA at the Cracker Barrel for a long, leisurely lunch and about an hour into our trip I really, really started feeling sick. Tom asked if he needed to pull over, but I assured him I wasn't going to throw up in the car. A cracked window, allowing the cold air in, did the trick and I soon felt better. But I still felt a little off for the rest of the trip. Finally, we got back home around 6:00PM. It was SO nice! (I am such a homebody and don't usually enjoy traveling.) We got unpacked, got Tennyson to bed, and settled down to watch "Elf." Tom and I ate a little bit of food and I immediately felt sick again. I had to find out! I marched right upstairs and took a pregnancy test. Sure enough it was positive! Even though we've been trying I was still shocked! I went downstairs to tell Tom (who had no idea why I had left the living room so abruptly). Needless to say, we were ecstatic and sat there in disbelief. The only person we told that night was his mom, as kind of a belated Christmas present, because I wanted to tell my family the next day in person. (That's for whole 'nother post!)

Yes, every baby is miraculous, but there was something extra special God did for us......we got pregnant without the use of any fertility drugs!!! I had them in the cabinet, but was waiting for the appropriate time to take them. Knowing that everything happened naturally was such an unexpected blessing. It was a....relief in a way. God did above and beyond, exceedingly more than we had ever imagined! We believe there are no such things as coincidences. So of course Tom and I attributed it to God's sense of humor when I discovered the day I posted about trying to conceive, was most likely the very day we conceived this most precious gift.

The Best Christmas Present of All

Christmas: Part 2 - In Virginia

We got back from NJ on the 26th and celebrated Christmas with my family the following evening. Five of my six siblings met at Jalisco's for lunch on Saturday and then we went our separate ways for the afternoon and gathered at my sister, Dawn's, house for dinner and the gift exchange that evening. We had a lovely traditional dinner of ham, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. The post-meal present opening was fun, and of course, extremely chaotic. With 20 of my 22 family members there, and 7 of them being under the age of 10, it couldn't be anything but chaotic! My sister, Lynley, and her husband, Dan, spent Christmas in OR with his family for the first time 7 years. We really, really missed them!

Then Sunday evening we got together again at my parents' house for enchilada casserole. For some reason, this has been a sort of tradition for my parents to make around Christmas. It's a family favorite and we all ate til we had our fill! And my mother made another favorite, pecan pie! Thank you God that I was born in the south!!! I think they'll have pecan pie in Heaven for sure! Okay, enough about food......My brother and his family left Monday morning to go back to Atlanta, so we didn't get to spend much time with them, but what we did was good and full of laughter. I'm such a homebody and I love being surrounded by lots of family, especially during the holidays!

Cameron & Sara

Jordan opening the thermal wear we got for him.
Now he won't be cold working the gas station at Costco!
Tom with his awesome Civil War quilt that my mother made for him!

Kyrce & Maureen bought Tennyson these awesome Star Wars bath toys! I think my husband was more excited about them though!

I can't tell by Holden's face, but I think he likes the magnetic letters we gave him.

Tennyson unwrapping his train

Me and my boy playing on the piano

Tom and Tennyson on the deck after dinner

Stacking cups with his cousin, Nathan
Beckett is my brother's 7-month old....he weighs 2 lbs less than Tennyson! He's such a happy Chunky Monkey!

Kyrce eating Key Lime pie at my parents'

Christmas: Part 1 - In New Jersey

This year we spent Christmas with Tom's family in New Jersey, which we hadn't done since 2005 after his father passed away. So we packed up half our house and left on the 19th. We stayed overnight at my sister's in Hershey, PA because she was graduating from Penn State the following morning. What great timing!!! My whole family wasn't able to make it, but Dawn came with her 2 oldest, and Jordan, Hannah, and Courtney also made the trip. After grad we went to TJ Rockwell's for lunch. Yum-my! Here's a photo of their awesome cheese fries. (I think it's a little fuzzy because my sibs were making fun of me for taking the picture and I was laughing.)


After we said our farewells we headed the rest of the way to NJ. Tennyson was amazingly fantastic on the trip. Honestly, he was great!! There's really not a whole lot to report on the week we spent there other than it was good to catch up with friends and family. We spent a lot of time at home napping every day (a rare treat for me!) and we often ventured out to the mall, since we don't have a good mall near us. Hello, Garden State Plaza! It was nice to be out of town though and see some different scenery.

Tom and I were both amazed at how well Tennyson did in a new place and sleeping in a pack-n-play all night. He didn't wake up once in the middle of the night while we were at his brother's. And on the trip home, which normally takes 6 hours, took almost 8 with a long lunch break and traffic, Tennyson slept 2 1/2 hours of it and didn't get the slightest bit fussy until we were about 15 minutes from home! Praise God for a good little traveler! Here are a few photos from the trip. (I will be putting more on Facebook.) Hope you all had a blessed Christmas with your families!

Tennyson giving Maricel, Tom's sister-in-law, a kiss.

The neighbor's trees in the backyard

Getting ready to head out into the cold

Tennyson being a silly boy!

Tennyson and his Grandma (Tom's mom)

Helping Tennyson unwrap gifts. He actually knew what to do this year!

Blowing kisses to Mommy on the ride home

O Christmas Tree

I started this post last Sunday and realized I need to get it finished before we leave for Jersey tomorrow. We went to get a tree last Saturday (13th) and Tennyson had more fun running around and "helping" us choose the perfect tree. Here are a few photos to document this memory-making day.

I love the look on Tennyson's face

We caught one!

Mommy, this jingles if you shake it!

Tennyson "helping"
The finished tree - in red & silver ornaments