Christmas pictures

Ok, ok, since everyone else has already put Christmas pictures up on their blog, here are some of mine:


James and Mr. C looking awfully good at the Christmas Eve service. We must have just gotten there. I know this did not last.


AM's and angel!


The cousins played on the porch after church. Well, really they ran around screaming. In a good way. I was worried it would keep Santa away...


...but HE CAME!!! Santa brought James a wagon and a dvd player. I think that DVD player is really for Mommy and Daddy.


James sitting at his James-sized table.


New slide. James can finally sit at the bottom of his own slide without bothering anyone!

What we have been up to...

I think the camera is coming back to life! Here is what we have been up to the past month:

James has been on "seek and destroy".


He has been taking everything OFF the Christmas tree.


We went to the Christmas parade in Clemson. James was so excited. "Its after 6:30 and we are still up, we're CRAZY!!"


He loves watching the parades. All that waving!


Maybe we can do New Year cards. Is that allowed?

Top 5 South Park episodes

WARNING: This blog entry is rated M for Mature Audiences only. (that means you, mom)(and grandma, too)

Those people who know me well, even those who know me very well such as those I am married or related to, are surprised that I like South Park. I usually don't like the "stupid funny" movies (ie, wedding crashers, old school). I mean, they are ok, but I wouldn't do see them in a theater. I guess a lot of people think South Park is this "stupid funny". I know I did when it first came out. Let's face it, it is pretty gross at times, but most of the time, it is really smart, satirical, and really funny. So, I would like to present the top five South Park episodes that I have learned the most from.

#1: All About Mormons? A Mormon kid moves to South Park, and it’s up to Stan to kick his ass. But when Stan and his dad meet their new Mormon neighbors, they become fascinated with how genuinely nice they are. While the other boys mock Stan relentlessly for wimping out, Randy forces the rest of his family to become Mormon.
Moral of the story - Sure, the Mormon religion is weird and Joseph Smith could have made it all up, but for the most part, Mormons are great people who love their family and are involved in the community.

#2: Christian Rock Hard - The boys kick Cartman out of their band. Cartman forms a Christian rock band with Butters and Token in the name of going platinum before his old band does. Meanwhile, the boys learn about the hardships of downloading music for free and go on strike in protest.

Moral of the story - Ok, maybe I didn't learn anything from this episode. I really see both sides of the music pirating thing, but I did think it was really funny that Cartmen had success adding the word "Jesus" to old songs and forming a Christian rock band.

#3: Vote or Die! PETA demonstrates against the use of a cow as South Park Elementary's mascot, so the student body is forced to choose a new one. As the election approaches, Kyle tries to convince everyone that his candidate, a giant douche, is better than Cartman's nominee, a turd sandwich. Stan refuses to vote because he thinks both mascots are stupid and is run out of town.

Moral of the story - "...all elections are between a giant douche and a turd sandwich..." Those are the only kinds of people that can make it that far in politics. You still have an obligation to vote.

#4: Make Love Not Warcraft - There's trouble in the online gaming world when a mad gamer won't play by the rules. The boys dedicate their lives to defeating the renegade and saving the World of Warcraft.

Moral of the story - There are many people who are really good at video games, but by playing them all the time, they end up with no life. And "how can you kill that which has no life?"

#5: Mr. Hankey the Christmas poo - I believe in Mr. Hankey! While South Park Elementary is attempting to stage a nondenominational holiday play that won't offend (or entertain) anyone, Kyle has checked himself into the South Park mental hospital. It's just Christmastime in South Park. In this landmark episode, an unlikely hero saves the day.

Moral of the story - People get all fussin' and fightin' over what can and can't be said that they forget to enjoy this time of the year. Plus, it has the rousing rendition of "Kyle's mom is a stupid bitch"

I have these 5 episodes on my DVR if anyone would like to stop by and see them!

Christmas Cards

I don't think we will be sending out Christmas cards this year. It is next to impossible to get James in a good picture, not to mention, a big fat pain to get him in his Christmas outfit. Add to that, we are having some software problems with our camera which makes it a 48 hour process to get pictures off the camera. All of that equals no Christmas cards. So here is some of my attempts as a bloggers Christmas card:

I almost used this one. Had it up for several days, but it is just a tiny bit fuzzy, and the picture is not really what I wanted.


I love this picture. SO CUTE!! But is it really appropriate for a card? I think the reason he has that expression on his face is because he has an acorn in his mouth.


Apparently during our photo shoot, James learned to sit down. I really thought I had gotten some good ones of him sitting, but they all turns out to be him in the processed of sitting down or getting up. This is a good one, but it is not centered and looked funny on the card. I could probably fix it with my photo software that doesn't work. Note the way his legs are crossed just so. He did that himself!


So, barring a photogenic miracle...Merry Christmas from Mark, Kerri, and James!

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...PART II

I know I have been a blog slacker, but apparently I should change the name of this blog to "totally dropped the morning nap, and afternoon nap is variable" naptime blog. Its been a tough week. My camera keeps getting some sort of an error, so as a filler, I now present from a couple of weeks a ago - a trip to the zoo. We again went with James's friend E (who still takes her morning nap).

Here is James with a bear. He loves bears!


E had a great time looking at toucans.


James liked picking up leaves:


What animals? James would rather push E's stroller. Well, it is a BOB.


James did like the goats, except he kept trying to eat the goat food.


Sorry about the big pictures. Hopefully they will update soon. Man, you forget one little thing...

Really?? Kansas??

For those of you who don't know because you don't follow college football or live in Berlin, Kansas is the number 2 ranked team in the country. Its because they are undefeated. That's right, Kansas. Everyone's homecoming team if Baylor is played away, Kansas is undefeated and ranked number 2. For you ACC folks, this is equivalent to when Wake Forest won the ACC championship. I now get it.

To make matters worse, or better, they are playing Missouri for the Big 12 North title this weekend. Missouri is ranked #4 with one loss. This is a little easier to handle becaues Missouri was good last year. They are just a scrappy team that you can never count out. The winner of this game gets to play Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game (who just so happened to lose to Texas Tech this past week. You knew I had to say something). There is a lot of hype for this game, but apparently, Missouri v Kansas is always a big rivarly. Really? It is? They have to play in a neutral size because it is so big. Um, ok. But College Game day is going to be there? With a national championship on the line?

Really?? Kansas?

One year ago...

It was very early the Monday before Thanksgiving and I was laying in my bed in our house in Dallas for the last time, waiting for James to wake up to eat so we could get on the road. James was 10 weeks old and we were moving to SC. Our house was still on the market and we were going to live with my parents. This was probably the most spontaneous thing that Mark and I had done, even though weeks of planning had gone into it. James finally woke up about 5am and we drove out of Dallas about 6:30am.

The drive normally takes 14 hours, but this time it took about 17 with diaper changes, breast feeding stops, and highly organized bathroom breaks. We rolled into Seneca about 12:30am and I'll never forget my crazy mom, who was the only one who had to work the next day, waving us in from the middle of the street.

Has it really been a year? I guess I will have to stop saying, "we just moved here from Dallas."

SUPER FUN!!

James and I met his friend E and her mommy at Kangaroo Kids in Anderson yesterday (don't worry Kyra, Lidia, SB, Lainey, AM, other Emma, Gretchen, Sofia - James was thinking of you the whole time!). This is a big room with several of those bounce houses/moon walk thingies. Oh my gosh, James was in HEAVEN. See he likes to bounce: bounce on the bed, bounce on the couch. Sometimes after his nap he doesn't want to get out of his crib. He just wants to hold on to the side and jump. He liked it so much, that James did the ultimate sign that he was having so much fun. That's right. He threw up.

Here is E and her mommy going down the big slide:

It was really tough climbing up there holding a 27 pound baby. You dreaed the "more" sign after sliding down.

One more picture. Most of them came out blurry. Too much bouncing I guess.


They are only open on tuesdays from 11-7 and it cost 3.15 for James and I to get in. Yay! We have something to do when it is cold and rainy now.

The rest of the story...

Yay, James is taking a morning nap! I hope this doesn't mess up our afternoon schedule though.

Anyways, have I been distant? I feel like I have. I have been posting without saying a lot. We have had a lot going on that I just wasn't ready to share. I'll start from when I got pregnant with James.

We conceived James via IVF due to severe endometriosis. IVF costs approximately $8,000. This is actually pretty cheap, and that number is really everything we paid for infertility that year...IVF, 2 IUIs, accupuncture. Yes, we really tried everything. Two embryos were transferred, but only one took. I guess from that momment when we saw the ONE heartbeat, I started thinking about #2 and the $8,000 we would need to pay for it.

Our plan was to start the process again on James's first birthday, but we just couldn't do it. I just didn't want to go through all that, and not to mention, since I don't have a job, and we moved, the $8,000 was going to be tough.

So I got a job. Yes, I sure did. It was pretty much my dream job and although I had some mommy guilt about putting James in daycare, I was pretty excited about it. I was suppose to start Oct 22, but I found out I was pregnant on Oct 2nd. It didn't just happen. We knew that there was a possibility that the endo could have cleared up enough after the pregnancy to get pregnant again so we were "trying", but just didn't think it would happen. (btw, I did try the whole "get a new job" treatment for infertility the first time around, but it didn't work) With time off for dr appointments and maternity leave, I just didn't think it was in anyone's best interest for me to start work. I ended up turning it down.

I am currently 10 weeks pregnant, due in June (really? JUNE?) and that is how I saved $8,000.

How to save $8,000

Yay! Now James can go to college. Not sure about this new one though...

It's a bird, it's a plane...

It's SUPERMAN!!!




Wait! What's this? A Halloween disaster? Not for Superman!





Up, up, and away!





Able to push a table across the deck.

The Punkin Patch

Ahhhh, capitalism!

Does anyone remember having these pumpkin patches around when we were growing up? It is like someone just decided they weren't profiting enough from fall holidays and came up with the pumpkin patch to fill that void between summer travels and Christmas.

I mean, don't get me wrong, as soon as I found one nearby, I knew we would take James. He had a great time, but the $16 it took to get me and Mark it does seem a little steep. I am not sure it will be worth it when we have to pay an additional $8 for James next year.

We went to the "Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch" at the Denver Downs Farm. Denver Downs has a SC certified produce stand and I have been trying to buy most of my produce from here. I guess that is why part of me doesn't mind the admissions fee because it goes directly to a local farm.

Notice the similarities between the pumpkin and the shape of James's head. Sometimes I call James "my little punkin head".


Look Mommy! Goats!


James and Mommy on the cow train. Note the serious expression that James has. That is when you know he is having the time of his life.


James and Daddy on the cow train.


The biggest hit was the corn box. It is like a sandbox, but with corn.


James liked it so much that it took him a good 20 minutes before he started shoving corn in his mouth. Well, it was just a matter of time.


A family photo op.

Game Day

We don't take James to the games because most of them are during his nap time. But we take him tailgating and to experience the game day atmosphere. He always has a great time. James wears number 1, just like the other James!

James didn't really like looking at the homecoming floats, but he liked to tear them apart.


His favorite thing was the grate in the middle of Bowman field. It was like he was walking on air, and he isn't even Willy Korn (AKA the second coming).


Where is Daddy's nose? James does get a little violent when he plays this game.


A BUS!!! Who doesn't like to see a bus drive through the middle of campus?

Vacation!

The family went to St. Simons this weekend for Fall Break. We had a great time! St. Simons must be the perfect beach town...not too built up with great restaurants. We got to see a lot of family while we were there. But first, of course, the dreaded car ride. James was NOT happy.


We stop at rest stops a lot these days. Be forewarned if you see us, you might be waved to death. Or, even worse, a glimpse of a plumbers crack.


James just looked like such a big boy in his booster seat eating his pumpkin muffins I had to take a picture.


The dueling don's and their beloved technology.


The view from our "villa". If you wait until the last second and put my dad in charge of finding a place, you get a really nice condo for a lot of money!


James and Daddy on the beach. The only problem with St. Simons is that you have to wait until low tide to go out.


Cousin Anne and little K. It did get a little confusing with all the K's.


T (rhymes with James) and Grandma, who was liked better than her Ra-Ra.


Aunt K and James. See, another K.


Mommy and James. Yay! I am finally in a picture!