Almost er

We thought he had bitten through his lip. By the time we got to the er parking lot, he was giving us this face. So we turned around and went home. 

Almost done

Almost done with the semester and looking forward to a summer of dissertating and hanging out with these guys.

TWO

 My little buddy turned 2 years old yesterday! We celebrated by having lasagna dinner for around 22 (my mom's side of the family, Hal's parents, and Luke's godfather's family). He got lots of presents (including a sandbox) and really enjoyed his cake, which he has been asking for for days.

Nathan is so sweet. He's talking more and more and he loves to run, climb, and jump. He and his big brother have such fun together (most of the time). Nathan is a finicky eater -- we never know if he's going to eat everything or nothing on his plate. He especially likes anything sweet, bread, hot dogs, cheese, raisins, and pizza (what terrible nutrition). We work on veggies and fruits, but he has always been very stubborn about food. If he doesn't want it, he's not going to eat it (and the reverse is true -- there is no quicker way to get a crying/tantrum than to take away something he wants to eat).

He loves lions and making animal noises. He enjoys Sesame Street, Thomas the Tank Engine, and he gets excited when he sees airplanes. He gives hugs and kisses a lot and really enjoys seeing Gammy (my mom) and "The Pa" (my dad). He likes his book Moon Mater the best, but he loves to read and sing, especially before bed. He enjoys the bathtub and loves to say "potty," particularly when his big brother leaves a table at a restaurant to go to the potty. He likes to draw and dance and is just a joy.

My body rebels against the 5K

So I announced right around Christmas that my goal in the new year was to run a 5K.

And my body immediately went ballistic.

Since the new year, I have had: 1. a fall on the ice that cause bruised ribs. 2. a hernia (in my stomach, doesn't hurt, so just something to keep an eye on) 3. the flu 4. pleurisy (by far the worst thing on this list) 5. sinus infection.

Added to my normal hurting knees and heals and tight sides of calves, I am a MESS.

Do I abandon the 5k? Do I just walk a 5k? My body was furious that I even came up with the idea.

The wedding

We are pleased to announce that Eff married Clarabell in a lavish yet spur of the moment ceremony. 

Puerto Rico!

We went to Puerto Rico from Dec 19-23 to take part in my brother's wedding. We were so pleased to be able to go (and I was asked to do a reading -- in English, thank goodness, as I have no Spanish). In a complete surprise, my mom's entire family was able to come (there are about 23 of us), and we also had family friends, an aunt and uncle from my dad's side of the family, and several of my brother's friends make the trip.

As you can imagine, we took some pictures. :)



This was the boys' first flight. They were actually wonderful on the flight. Nathan had a hard time before takeoff on the flight from Atlanta to PR, but once he fell asleep and had about an hour-long nap, he did great. Otherwise, we had them watch movies the whole time. Thank goodness for technology. Luke also got to sit in the cockpit! I'll have to find that picture -- Hal took it on his phone.



The first night in PR, we surprised Sylvia with an impromptu shower. This is a picture of Sylvia (in the middle, between my sister and I), and all the girl cousins except for Laura, who was randomly missing at this moment. (She did this so much that it became a running joke to yell "Where's Laura?!" randomly and she got a shirt on Christmas that said "Where's Laura?")



Nathan's first time on the beach! He loved it!!! :) Luke also had a great time. The waves were ROUGH so we didn't do too much oceaning, but we did get to do a bit.



Sylvia's beautiful church during the rehearsal!



In Puerto Rico, it is customary to do a rehearsal, but not a rehearsal dinner. My parents threw a big dinner anyway, and worked with a friend of Sylvia's to make a custom Rupp Arena cake! We also had a flash mob for Sylvia at the rehearsal -- she had posted something on Facebook a couple of months ago about a flashmob and said something about people being welcome to do something like that at the wedding. So my mom wrote a song to the tune of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" called "We wish you a happy wedding." And my aunts, cousins, and I all got different verses. (Hal and I sang "Your family and friends came from near and from far/to see you get married and drink at the bar" -- and all the guys chimed in to yell "DRINK AT THE BAR!" with us.) It was a hoot. Also, Donnie wore his dress blues to the rehearsal, which was really special.



At the rehearsal dinner on the balcony looking over the ocean!



Me and my buddy at the rehearsal dinner.



Luke was all about talking to uncle Donnie before we got in the bus to go to the wedding.



We cleaned up!



Post wedding happy couple!



My parents with Nathan post wedding. The priest gave Nathan and Luke big blow pop suckers before church. Which Nathan LOVED. And drooled all over.



My mom (called Gammy by the boys) and Nathan dancing in the bus before going to the reception.



Bus Selfie!



Nathan and Hal bonded a lot the last two weeks.



Luke and his new aunt!



He was a MANIAC dancing. A maniac. He even tried to go get the microphone to sing at one point. He was breakdancing and everything. Out. of. control.



Sylvia and my cousin Kaysie. Notice anything different? This is Sylvia's SECOND WEDDING DRESS!



Cake



My cousin Kayla brought Santa hats.



Me and Donnie.



Sisters!

 The venue/Sylvia brought out funny hats and maracas! Because a band with dancers and this thing came in to party with us the last hour.

The next day, we went to Old San Juan (Luke though we were going to Old Sand Lot and wanted to know where the new sandlot was) and explored the town and the fort. Puerto Rico is gorgeous.









Climbing on cannonballs.

New Year's Day.

Me and this guy went to church on New Year's Day morning (for us it's a holy day of obligation). After, we met Hal and Nathan for breakfast. 

That night, we had my parents, sister and her fiancé, and my grandparents over for an excellent dinner that Hal had worked very hard on. 

Happy new year to all!