Christmas Day

Other than the snow, there were tons and tons of presents and stuff to do. I like to get Charlie Christmas pajamas to wear Christmas Eve. It's another one of those traditions I use as an excuse to by myself or Charlie new clothes and he sees right through it. However, we found this set of Christmas Lightning McQueen PJs with a matching robe . . . John caved in because he agreed that the robe was adorable. Charlie likes it too, but for other reasons . . .

Remember how I said in my last post that Evans' Christmases are chaos? Here's a taste:

Charlie got a huge haul as usual. We mostly got him small things like a little tool set, a Mr. Potato Head and some other toys that require some amount of imagination to use. His biggest present was technically from Uncle Nathan. They had one of those huge Thomas the Tank Engine trundle tables and wanted to get rid of it. I was very excited for Charlie (but not for me having to keep up with all those little trains and parts) and decided to give it to him for Christmas since it was such a big gift and would never live up to our small presents. He was SUPER excited about it and plays with it constantly. My parents got him tons of books, Batman stuff and a dog pillow pet.

John and I exchanged presents and we both wound up giving each other some weird presents. I guess when you've been together for almost a decade you start to run out of present ideas! I got John a 30 year old bottle of Coke. No, really. It was a Coke bottle from 1980, the year Georgia won the National Championship . . . Coke printed a commemorative bottle in celebration and I found one on Etsy. I put it in a display case and everything. And yes, it still had Coke in it.

John had warned me ahead of time that one of his presents was weird. I didn't worry since he is an amazing gift giver. He can pick stuff out for me better than I can for myself. However, this year he got me a tool kit. I seriously didn't know what to think at first. It was a pink and yellow kit so at least it was in my favorite colors. He said he thought it would be useful for making purses and actually, it has come in handy. They are really nice tools and I like that I don't have to steal stuff from my mom or John anymore. Of course, now they are starting to steal tools from me . . .

We got a bunch of other stuff so we are happy and blessed. It was a good Christmas.

White Christmas 2010

Christmas morning, we woke up to this:

Isn't it gorgeous? I've only had one other White Christmas as a kid and it was more like a Wintry Mix Christmas. It was more slush than snow but still exciting for Tennessee. My brother and my sister's families somehow made it over in the snow and everyone played in the snow. Unfortunately, I had come down with a flu/cold virus thing (that I'm STILL trying to get over!) the day before so I didn't feel up to playing outside. Though, it was nice to have an hour or two of peace inside the house . . . Christmas (just like everything else) is total chaos with my family. John was a good sport and took pictures (after everyone nagged him over and over).

Ethan's girlfriend Lauren lives the next street over so she came with her dog, Jammy. Charlie LOVES Jammy so he was excited to play with him. He would make little snowballs and toss them in the air for Jammy to catch and eat.

Our road was covered in snow so it was perfect to sled on.

My niece Eloise hugging the Chinese snowman. My family is not racist they just think it's funny to pretend to be . . . which kind of makes them sort of racist. I don't know . . . I had no part in the making of the snowman!

Christmas Eve 2010

John, Charlie and I spent most of Christmas Eve at John's parents' house. Before we left, I went ahead and gave my nieces their presents: I made them these candy wrapper headbands and bows. They came out kinda cute.

I have no idea what these kids are doing. My side of the family is so weird. I love how Charlie is doing a loser "L" with his hand, though.

At the Flynns, Grandpa helped some of the grandkids read the Christmas story from the scriptures. Then, it was present time.

Charlie and his cousin Ethan got these cool wooden trucks and cars. They were busy the rest of the night! Scott got John a super nice Georgia polo and I got a gift card to Ross from Jarom. Uh, yes, it's already gone! Hee!

Charlie's cousin Ryan (left), Charlie and Ethan in the background. I love how much Charlie and Ryan look alike. Though, Ryan is a much sweeter kid than Charlie, I must admit!

The weather had been calling for lots of snow on Christmas, even though it really wasn't that cold Christmas Eve. There wasn't any moisture in the air either. As we drove home we said that maybe we wouldn't have a white Christmas after all. Little did we know . . .

December, Part 1

December was a fun, busy month. I had lots and lots of work to do with my Etsy shop and of course, for Christmas. We got two decent snowfalls in December, which is really freakish for here. Charlie really enjoyed them.

Then we had our Branch Christmas party. I love our church activities. It's so fun to see everyone together, and obviously, to eat. I made these red velvet brownies with a cream cheese swirl for the party. I combined a Southern Living recipe with a BHG one and man . . . best brownies ever! I guess they're technically reddies . . . either way, they were gone fast!

Since Charlie goes into Primary in January, he got to go up front and sing with the "big kids." He didn't know any of the words but I think he liked being in front of everyone. He's a ham. :)

My brother Ethan and his girlfriend went to a Christmas party where everyone was supposed to wear ugly Christmas sweaters (I wanted to do that for the branch party but John wasn't feeling it). Ethan took it one step further and made his own ugly Christmas sweater featuring the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story." And yes, the lamp lights up. As if you had to ask.

Flynn Family Reunion 2010

The week of Thanksgiving, we had a Flynn family reunion. Almost everybody was able to attend, so it was crowded and fun. John's parents' beautiful new house was finished just in time for the reunion. It was a lot more comfortable with all the extra space!

On Wednesday morning, all the womenfolk went to go get pedicures. This was so nice since we're used to the "boys" going to football games, etc. while the "girls" are stuck with the kids. We went to California Nails in Hamilton Place Mall. The people working there were pretty rude so I cannot recommend that nail place! We had fun anyway. I got bright green glitter nails in celebration of Christmas . . . see below!

That night, we all went to Rock City's Enchanted Garden of Lights. Every year, Rock City puts up millions of lights on their trail. It's very neat and fun. Unfortunately, it was super foggy that night and our pictures aren't that clear! Charlie loved seeing the lights and found a new favorite food: kettle corn. He pretty much ate his weight in that stuff. I've never seen him eat anything like that!

Thursday was Thanksgiving, of course. Before we ate, we took a moment to remember Doug. John's dad planted a tree in the front yard honor of Doug and had all the children put a spade of mulch around the tree. It was a very touching, spiritual moment for all of us. When John's dad talked about families being forever, I felt the reality of it.


Hannah, Joseph (two of Doug's kids) with Charlie and John.

The weather was so amazing Thanksgiving day. It got up into the 70s! We (well, some of us--we were all spread out) got to eat on the screened it porch. It felt more like Easter than Thanksgiving.


That night, we all played "Minute to Win It" which is basically where you perform really crazy tasks in one minute. John was annoyingly good at everything . . . he was able to catch a marshmallow in a mug on the first try. Ugh. My task had something to do with sucking up M & M's with a straw but I didn't know we could use hands and so I lost mine . . . I still call for a do-over!

On a final note, here is what I learned/felt during this family reunion:

John's parents are total cheaters.

I was super impressed with the teenagers there! Kelsey, Hannah and Bailey were so fun and sweet to all the kids. They had such a good attitude not to mention they are all stunningly beautiful!

I felt relieved that Charlie got some man time. He's surrounded by girls 24/7. He got to play with his boy cousins . . . and they actually played together. We're blessed that he has so many boy cousins his age!

Laura loves paintings of fat people.

Always wear flip flops when you go to get a pedicure . . . that way it won't get smeared. Now I know, Katie!

Chocolate Coconut Pecan Pie is to die for. And I almost died after eating it!

I love my family!

Charlie: Lover and Artist

Sorry I've been so horrible about posting! Let's rewind to about a month ago . . .

One of Charlie's former Nursery teachers got married last month to Keith Cooley. Charlie ADORES Elizabeth she loves him right back. John brought Charlie into the reception a little late (I came earlier because I was serving cake) and Elizabeth immediately ran over to him! I loved that even though there was so much going on she took the time to see Charlie. When she came over, Charlie said, "I like your dress." Awww! These two are so sweet. I got some pictures, but Charlie wasn't really cooperating:



Elizabeth and Keith's wedding was also exciting because I helped make their cakes! My mom got really sick the week of of the wedding so I got to make the Superman groom's cake and help with the wedding cake. The both turned out amazing! For more pics and info on how we made them, check out my craft blog.




Also around this time, I got to see Charlie paint his first painting! As most of you know, art means so much to me and John so we have been really disappointed that he hasn't jumped on the bandwagon. He's never had much interest in coloring or drawing. One day on a whim, I got him a set of watercolors. I showed him what to do and he went to town! It was amazing! I've never seen him concentrate so much on anything that didn't have wheels. He seriously spent 10 minutes on that painting . . . for him to spend 10 minutes doing anything is amazing! It made me so happy to see him work so hard to create something. Who knows if it'll last but I'm a proud mama right now!





And the finished masterpiece:

"Ed-a-ween"

That is Charlie-speak for "Halloween." This year, Charlie had 3 fun parties to go to. He was so excited to wear his Batman costume. Once he had it on he was in character, husky voice and all. He's so Method. We dressed up as a family for the first time and it was pretty fun. Charlie wanted me to be Robin and John to be Killer Croc (a Batman villain from the cartoon). We thought Killer Croc would be a little too complicated to pull off so we decided on the penguin. Check out my crafty blog to see how I made both our costumes!

Charlie's first party was Trunk or Treat at the church. Everyone decorates their cars in the parking lot and the kids go from car to car to get candy.

Charlie with his adorable bud Maren.

The lame pumpkin I threw together for our "Bat Cave" (our car). Our trunks always wind up to be so lame since we spend so much time on our costumes! I was so mad because I downloaded Batman songs and even bat noises on i-Tunes, only for my speakers to not work!

A few of the kids dressed up as nerds . . . they were so into it that I think Charlie was a little scared.

The next party was at the Aquarium. My sister took him to that one while I stayed home (a nice treat for me!) and John was in Florida for the GA game. He had tons of fun at the aquarium party. My sister has yet to send me the pics, so use your imagination . . . .

The last party was at my sister's house on Saturday. It was just a little barbecue for all the cousins.

My brother and his girlfriend dressed like Zack and Kelly from "Saved By the Bell." My sister went nuts with the fog machine so that's why the picture is so blurry!

Charlie trying to jam a marshmallow on a huge stick (a log, basically) so he could roast it . . . LOL!

Charlie and his cousin Eloise on the trampoline. Eloise was a "scary dragon."

Cousin Annie was a bat, too!