Happy 2011!!!

Mimi arrived on Thursday before New Years. We did some shopping...Tripp enjoyed his first trip to Ikea...and made it home just in time to watch the VOLS take on the UNC Tarheels in the Music City Bowl. We won't talk about the outcome....this blog is supposed to be fun.

We went to a wonderful supper at Stoney River. We had just gone the week before with Gigi and Pop, but I was CRAVING their new pork chop again. OMG, it's one of the best things I've ever tasted!!! We had the prettiest, festive drinks....Proseco with jumping cranberries. The bubbles actually made the tiny cranberries jump up and down in the glass. I may have taken a picture of it on my phone, so I'll post it if I can find it. Dale is now trying to perfect the brine and glaze to remake the pork chops for me at home. His first round was pretty good!

After supper we got ready for the ball to drop, and to watch NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK perform with BACKSTREET BOYS!!!! This was clearly the highlight of my evening. I enjoyed dancing along to each song with them (I believe the picture below is a fantastic rendition of Hangin' Tough). Nicole and I were texting about the upcoming concert in June for which we are already planning our outfits.

After a late night, the little man finally went down to sleep. I had every intention of making confetti to throw on him, and take a picture of him next to the tv as the ball was dropping, but he was just down for the count well before midnight. And, we forgot to wear our cute hats Mama bought. Dale wasn't too upset. So, I snuck up to his room and took this picture of him sleeping instead. Thank goodness the flash didn't wake him up.

I can safely say we are off to an AMAZING start in 2011!!! Happy New Year!!!

Baby's 1st Christmas

Tripp had an amazing first Christmas! We started the season with a visit from Gigi and Pop (permanent name still pending) the week before Christmas. They brought MANY, MANY wonderful toys! We went out to some great suppers, and got to spend a ton of time together. I think Gigi and Pop like him a little.
Gigi went with us to visit Santa at Lenox! Amy, Lindsay M., and I are excited to start a tradition with our boys. It will be so fun to look back on these pictures each year. We thought it was funny that James Sery was crying because that's pretty rare. I can only picture when they are 5 years old and Santa is trying to hold all three of them down. That will be interesting!!! We were hoping to do the Pink Pig, too, but the line was a good 2 1/2 hours long. Not so much. We'll try again next year.

The Tuesday morning before Christmas I headed up to Chattanooga with a car FULL of baby, puppies, luggage, and half my closet. Lesley had arrived from L.A. the night before. She and Mimi and Ma were ready for some serious Tripp Time! Tripp practiced walking, read a lot of Christmas books, and got passed around all night. We dragged him to an all-girls lunch at Public House. Dale finally arrived on Thursday and I think Tripp was very glad to have some Daddy time.

On Christmas Eve, we took Tripp to his first Candlelight Service. He was the best behaved baby in the whole congregation, even after having a pen dropped on his head from someone in the balcony. He didn't even flinch. This was also his first official communion. Mimi and I both got a little teary-eyed. Very special moment. He looked so handsome in his gorgeous Christmas outfit, courtesy of his Aunt Lelly. That night, Mimi started another tradition with him of reading The Cajun Night Before Christmas. This was one of mine and Lez's absolute favorites growing up. Her accent was still top-notch! I'm pretty sure she had it memorized again after just one or two readings with Tripper. He loved it! OH, ANNNNND he had his first viewing of Christmas Vacation!!!!

Christmas morning we awoke to a beautiful blanket of snow! Believe it or not, this was Dale's first white Christmas, too. Tripp got more presents (times two) than anyone else. Books, jammies, an LSU Tiger fleece hat, and this cool wagon. The list goes on and on....... After opening presents we headed out into the snow. We made tiny snow balls for him to eat. He loved licking them! Mama, Lez, and I tried sledding on tailgating seats (the squishy padded kind) across the street in the neighbor's drive way. They were in Florida. It was interesting to say the least. You had to get a good running start and land on your belly just right. I don't think Tripp was entirely impressed.

After another few days at home, and lots of playing and holding and playing and holding, Tripp finally got a good nap on Mimi's bed all by himself. I think he was in hog heaven! We definitely weren't ready to leave, but we were excited Mimi was coming down to Atlanta for New Years just 3 days later!