Davises Gather

Timing is everything.  We coasted into Charlotte this year for the holidays just in time for the annual Davis family Christmas gathering.  Time to bring out the beverages, snacks, and get the family together.  Fortunately, my Bitler family upbringing had prepared me well on the snack front so I brought tins full of goodies to contribute to the feast.  I brought out the oyster crackers, mixed nuts, and homemade butter mints.  (The homemade Cheese-its were so delicious that they didn't even make it to the party.)  Jennifer created most of the delicious spread of ham, roasted red pepper dip, fruits, veggies, hummus, seven layer dip (which involved a lengthy discussion about whether we should eat it cold or warmed up, and a beautiful cookie plate.  The oreo truffles were my personal favorite, and I was definitely not the only one with that opinion.  

The night was great fun.  There was bubbly, and lots of great conversation.  With four generations of Davises there, you knew it wouldn't be dull.  Evan and Ben had a great time playing with their "cousins" Tanner, Walker, and Wesleigh.  (I'm not sure what relation they actually are, but I'm sure it's some level of cousins.)  Ian and I had never actually seen little Wesleigh awake, so it was nice to see her happy and all dressed up for the occasion.

The aunts were so sweet to bring lots of goodies for all of the kiddos.  The boys loved playing with their new dinosaurs, recorders, and transformers.  Evan and Aunt Steph sat for a long time discussing his new presents.  They always get into some good discussions when they get together.  Ian also got to hang out with his cousins Melissa and Allison.  It was great to see them and their husband/boyfriends.  

It was a night of family and fun, and it was a great beginning to another Davis family Christmas!

(the spread)

(a toast to a great night)

(dig in!)

(Evan and Ben discuss important matters with cousin Tanner.)

(Thanks to Gramps, Candice and I had lovely labeled prosecco glasses!)

(Ian and his cousins Allison and Melissa.)

(Aunt Steph and Evan discuss and make beautiful music together.)

(The boys try to start a conversation, but Uncle Don and Wesleigh are busy watching football.)

Barbecue Break

So, last weekend, we were headed down to spend Christmas in Charlotte (more on that later), but we wanted to make a stop on the drive down.  Recently, we've been heading out to our local NC barbeque haunts, and the NC BBQ really hasn't been that great.  It was the last straw when we headed to newly opened trendy BBQ restaurant, The Pit, in downtown Durham.  The barbecue and sides were both terrible, and we honestly didn't know where to go to find some good stuff.

However, we did know that Lexington, NC, located in between Durham and Charlotte, happened to be the BBQ capital of NC.  That sounded like a perfect place to stop to see if we could finally get some decent pulled pork.  So, we headed on out, and found out way to Lexington BBQ (the restaurant), a big white barn of a building with huge sign and large smokers smoking on the back of the building.  They also had a line out the door which is always a good sign.

We stood in line and it moved pretty quickly.  They sat us down right next to the door and gave us our menus.  It was your standard down home pulled pork menu...boys enjoyed hot dogs, hush puppies, and fries while we got the pulled pork, beans, cole slaw, etc.  Ian's favorite part was that you could get Cheerwine, a true NC staple.

In the end, the BBQ was good, it was a fun stop, but it was pure torture for the poodle.  He had to sit in the car with the windows cracked.  Even though it was good weather, the dog had to smell the delicious scents of pork in a smoker throughout the whole meal.  Fortunately, the afternoon was redeemed when we came out, bellies full, and with a hush puppy to share with the poodle.  

(Evan is poised for a straw wrapper attack.)

(Mmmm, NC Barbecue)

(the smokers, aka poodle torture devices)

(a view of the building)

(handsome boys)

Two Little Shepherds

This year, both of our boys had Christmas programs at their respective schools, so Ian and I went and proudly watched each of our boys.  While perhaps it wasn't Broadway quite yet, I love getting to see our boys on stage.

Ben's performance was at his preschool at Resurrection United Methodist Church.  Now, last year at the performance, Ben ran off stage as soon as they walked up and watched the rest of the performance from my lap, so I wasn't quite sure what would happen.  This year, when his class walked in as shepherds dressed in bathrobes, he proudly walked up to the front and stood with them.  Unfortunately, they put him on what should have been the taller row of kids, so it was hard to see him over the row in front of him sometimes, but we still managed to see most of the performance.

Ben did a great job!  The minister told the story of Baby Jesus while the kids sang songs to add to the tale.  While Ben didn't sing every word, he did sing some and did very well with the hand motions.  There were a couple of yawns added in to the mix as well, he was so cute to watch!  Afterward, he got a big hug, showed off the candy house he had made in class, and munched on some muffins and cider for snack.  There was a large contingent of big siblings there as well, so it was a big of a reunion for Evan's kindergarten class, and everyone had fun seeing each other.

A few weeks later it was time for Evan's performance at his school, Triangle Presbyterian.  I guess that shepherd were the theme this year, because he also got to be a shepherd.  His school also has a preschool attached, so the kindergarteners are the oldest kids there.  They got to dress up and actually act out the story of baby Jesus while more songs were interspersed.

Evan definitely takes after his parents when it comes to performances.  He found a string on his shepherd costume when he walked up there and spent the entire performance picking at the string.  Ian and I definitely have memories of similar behaviors from us in various shows and sporting events in our past.  He did play the role of a shepherd quite nicely and walked up to see the baby Jesus in the manger, but singing really wasn't his thing this time.  He always is a little shy in big groups.  He was still so cute to watch-definitely our little boy!

After the performance, the boys got all manner of sweets and treats that had been brought in and were on tables around the room.  They definitely got their fill of sugar, and ironically, it was just before a dentist appointment for both of them, oh well.

Once we had munched on snacks, we hurried to get in line because the big guy, Santa, was actually at Evan's school.  We were the last ones in line, which was nice because Santa and the boys really got a chance to talk.  Evan was so proud when he gave Santa a little piece of gold tinsel that he had found on stage.  He had trouble thinking of something he wanted, but he eventually decided on an underwater shark robot.  Benny wasn't scared at all either and immediately hopped on Santa's lap.  I think it helped that brother had gone before him.  Again, he really couldn't think if anything he had to have, but he still had a nice discussion with Santa.  The first thing that Evan noticed when we got outside after the performance was that there were no reindeer.  We decided that a red car in the parking lot was actually his sleigh in disguise and he could take it to the reindeer and then transform it back into the sleigh...very complicated.

We had so much fun watching our little boys in their performances.  In our minds, they were the stars of the show!

Holiday Adventures

So, we weren't content to just have the tree, we had to go out and find more ways to enjoy the season.  This year we went to some old favorites and checked out some new holiday traditions.

Of course, we had to make some gingerbread cookies.  The boys helped me mix roll out the dough and cut out the shapes.  Then, we made some frosting, got together with our neighbors Izzy and Carolyn, and made some beautiful cookie art.  Well, actually, there was some cookie art that was done, but it ended up in their mouth so quickly we really didn't see much.  Evan especially enjoyed dumping as much frosting and as many sprinkles as he could on each cookie.

(happy cookie bakers)

(our crew of cookie decorators)

(yummy!)

(Cookies are delicious!)

We also had to check out Lights on the Neuse again this year.  Last year, we had headed on down and had a great time, but had waited in lines that were at least a mile long!  This year, we were determined to not have to wait, so we got there soon after they opened.  We waited in line for probably 10 minutes and still got to enjoy all of the hayride fun.  Evan really enjoyed the 3D barn that we went in after the hayride.  Last year, they wouldn't even wear the glasses, but this year they loved seeing the 3D shapes pop out of the walls (even though Ian was not very impressed).

(Waiting for the lights--We promise, Evan was really having fun!)

(Ben excitedly watches the lights.)

(Evan loved the fake snow falling!)

(lots of lights)

(our little family having fun)

There were also some new attractions we just had to check out.  Since the boys were older, I really wanted them to go see a show.  I always had fond memories of going to see The Christmas Carol and the symphony, so I wanted the boys to have the same experiences.  However, a lot of the shows said that the kids had to be at least 4 to attend or their dates were while we were busy.  So, I didn't quite know where to go.  However, there was a local dance studio that always puts on a version of The Nutcracker on Duke's campus, so that seemed like the level of show that we were up for.  While the boys got very twitchy by the end, they still enjoyed seeing all of the dancers.  Benny especially enjoyed the girls in the fluffy dresses while Evan favored the little mischievous boy.  I can't wait until they get a little older and are a little more able to sit through other shows.

That weekend we also had to go check out a holiday parade.  The neighborhood just next door to ours has the biggest holiday parade in Durham.  So, we met some friends and headed out to see the parade.  While it didn't start until an hour after it was supposed to because of a late bus driver, once it started we all had fun.  The kids, of course, liked the fact that most people in the parade were throwing candy.  I think they might have gotten almost as much candy as they did at Halloween!  There were fire trucks, police cars, every high school band in Durham, the Durham Bulls mascot, and even Santa Claus himself riding a fire truck at the end.  Ben and Evan were pretty amazed that he was actually there.

(parading boy scouts)

(You can't have a parade without a band-and Santa following behind.)

Our little family always has a great time around the holidays, and now we are ready to enjoy the actual event!

The Christmas Season Begins...

Some people put their Christmas tree up as soon as Thanksgiving is over, or even before.  Usually, I say that's too soon.  However, this year, Thanksgiving happened very late.  The day after we got home from our Thanksgiving adventures is was already December 1.  Once December hits, I'm ready to start celebrating, so we headed out to get out tree.

Last year, we headed out and wandered around a tree farm before finally picking out our tree.  However, this year, we were a little tired from our travels, so we opted for the Christmas tree lot a few miles away from our house.  Once we got there, the boys of course wanted the first one they saw, but we got them to look around a bit until we saw one that we all agreed on.

While they were wrapping up our tree, Evan wandered around and found a bunch of green strings that they used to tie the trees up.  After the workers were done with them, they just left them on the ground, so there were a bunch for Evan to pick up.  The cashier said he could take them home so he was thrilled.  We tied up the tree, took it home as well as our new strings.

Once we got home, Ian set up the tree in the house, and Evan got to work decorating.  He took all of those strings and tied them up all over the stairs.  It was so cute to watch him because he took so much care with each string that he tied.  He even took some little tree twigs and tied them up in his string for a little extra flair.  Needless to say, when I put up the other Christmas decorations on the stairs, they paled in comparison to the string decor that was already there.

When the tree was up, we were ready to add the ornaments.  The kids were excited, but when we went to get up in the attic to get our decorations down we realized that one of the attic latches was completely bent and broken so we couldn't get up into the attic without risking the whole door falling.  What were we to do??  Well, after some creative thinking, we managed to get up there with the help of a ladder and some luck and get all of the decorations down.

Finally, with some help from some little Christmas elves we got all of the ornaments on the tree, and started off the season on a high note.  Our little family is looking forward to lots more holiday fun!

(My boys and I head in to pick out the perfect tree.)

(treasures found along the way)

(all packed up)

(Evan carefully decorates the stairs with his treasures.)

(Ornaments!)

(Little helpers decorate the tree.)

(Love these little elves!)

Staying Safe in Kansas

After our Thanksgiving started off so well in Dallas, we continued our adventures by hopping in our rental car and driving up to Kansas.  Now, the boys were a little worried about heading to Kansas.  They had been reading and watching quite a bit of The Wizard of Oz, and Evan, especially, was convinced that we would all be carried off by a tornado.  Fortunately, we stayed completely safe the whole time, and ironically, there was a tornado in North Carolina while we were gone!

The drive up was a long day, about 9 hours, but the boys did well.  We managed to follow Grandpa's strict driving schedule and only stop twice (once for lunch and once for gas in the afternoon).  That was much better than the last time we did the drive from Dallas to Manhattan where I think we stopped about 10 times for potty breaks and diaper changes between both boys.

We arrived and took a tour around Great-Grandma's new lovely house and met up with the family.  Ben had been fussing for the last half hour of our drive, so he was in no mood to be friendly.  However, a few minutes with Courtney and Whitney perked him right up.  A few minutes after we arrived, I headed to the bathroom with him.  He turned to me and said, "You didn't tell me *they* would be here mom!  I love girls!"  Glad we could make him happy!

(Benny and his girls-Courtney and Aunt Karen)

(Evan gets a hug from cousin Whitney)

(my two beautiful cousins)

The week was filled with all sorts of fabulous Kansas adventures.  We visited all of Great-Grandma's friends at the mall and enjoyed some delicious cinnamon rolls.  (The boys especially liked running around a completely empty mall.)  Whitney managed to work Ian and I out twice, and I could barely walk when I left to get on the airplane!

We went to the Flint Hills Discovery Museum and learned all about the Flint Hills (which is where Manhattan is located).  They had a movie to introduce the museum where they even had real snow and smoke.  There was an area where they boys (and their adults) could play, a train to watch, a saddle for practicing your lasso skills, a branding station, and more.  Everyone had a great time!

(Evan practices his lassoing.)

(I make friends with a cow.)

There were all kinds of adventures at Great-Aunt Karen and Wyatt's house.  They were kind enough to put our little family up while also hosting Whitney and Blaise and Courtney and Blaise and all of their respective canines.  They had a fire place in which Evan loved burning things (and which accidentally filled the basement with smoke at one point).  The television was always filled with sports of one variety or another (except when I snuck on the Thanksgiving day parade).  Karen and Wyatt were great hosts and we all slept great-especially the boys tucked in their sleeping bags in a closet!

We all definitely ate well.  The cousins were in charge of making all of the pies, and believe it or not, we did a pretty good job.  There were pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, a chocolate pecan pie, chocolate cake, pumpkin spice cake (with a pretty racy name), and plenty of cookies!  For Thanksgiving day, Great-Great Uncle Neil stopped by with Joyce and Scott's family.  He also brought a delicious pig for the festivities.  Everyone was a little worried about how the boys would react to seeing a whole pig dissected for dinner, but I wasn't too concerned.  When it came time for Neil to cut up the pig, the boys were outside the whole time shining their flashlights at various pig parts and asking if he could take out the brain!  We feasted on turkey, pig, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, stuffing, and corn casserole, and I even got Evan to try a little turkey!

(the Thanksgiving scene)

(The boys were loving the pig science.)

(Evan photobombs Whitney and Blaise.)

(Benny sneaks in on another family photo.)

(our own little family)

(with Grandma and Grandpa)

(Great-Grandma and her grandkids-I especially love this picture because my boys look like we're torturing them-we can't believe they're making us pose for another picture!)

The trip was finished off with a little black Friday shopping, a fantastic dinner out at Great- Grandma's new place, and a little gingerbread train making.  The boys also got to watch Wizard of Oz that afternoon-how fitting!  It was such a joy to get to spend the holidays with family.  Every moment that we can spend together means so much!  Even though we left a little cold as a parting gift, I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as we did and will have us back again soon!

(It takes a lot of Bitlers to make a gingerbread house!)