5 minutes...

Now that the boys are back in school, and I have the house somewhat back to normal, I finally have five minutes to sit down and give a little update as to what the Gittings Clan has been up to these past weeks over the holidays. Please excuse the fact that this post is as long as a novel and probably slightly less exciting ;)

Just before Christmas break for the school, we got snow. It was enough snow that schools were closed off and on, and things got all messed up here in WNC. Rory's ballet recital was pushed back a few days, and unfortunately, Carl had to leave town and missed it, but we have it preserved in photos! Rory was quite the gentleman and took his part VERY seriously. It was adorable. (About this time, my laptop blew, and I am currently without my own computer or a way to edit and play with photos... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone will find one for me soon.)

Straight from Rory's recital, in an attempt to avoid the next round of snow coming in and up the coast, we left and traveled to Maryland for a few days of time with my parents. Carl flew to DC from Texas and was able to spend the time with us. Most of the time we were there, my mom was feeling pretty good despite her treatments. She took the boys to see Santa, and at Rory's request, she took us all to Washington DC, and to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and then to the National Christmas Tree.

It was quite a full day. As evening set in, it was pretty cold, but we did get to see the tree at night, and enjoy the burning yule log. The boys' favorite part was the trains that are set up along the base of the tree. Although it really wore my mom out, she was thrilled that the boys got to enjoy it. Every year growing up, or nearly each year, my mom took us girls to see the tree. I remember the excitement and beauty of it, and love that my boys get the chance to share that with her too. My dad normally got to go with us, which always made the holiday feel complete.

My dad was a trooper and took the boys and I to cut down a Christmas tree at a local tree farm, and the boys had such a wonderful time picking a tree and playing in the snow. Rory even took home extra branches to make a wreath from. 

While we were there, we got to see my older sister and her crew, I can't believe how big they all had gotten! Together the kids and my mom decorated the tree, and got the basement ready for Santa to come to MaMa Ann's house. Both of my sisters and their kids spend the holiday at her house, and it is quite the spectacle!

We got back to WNC a few days before Christmas and spent the time enjoying being together and the boys being off of school. The went fishing with dad one day, and spent a lot of their time gazing longingly at the growing mountain of presents under and around the tree... It seemed like every day the UPS man showed up with more and more brightly colored boxes to taunt them.

Somewhere this week Rory pulled out his own tooth! His front tooth had been wriggling for a while and was bothering him. Dad and I tried to get it, so did a few friends, but Rory had the honor of being the one who pulled it! He is still getting used to taking without anything to block his tongue, and still looks weird to me, but I am getting used to it too.

Christmas came, as did Santa, the boys got everything they could have, and did want. Rory got a real grownup camera, Arden got 2 StarWars costumes, and Canyon, well he got "Lucky". Lucky is a horse on a set of springs that he gets to bounce on and ride. He loved it... but now that he has fallen off of her a few times, he is less keen on riding. I figure he will get over that pretty soon.

Carl and I were equally blessed this year. My darling husband finally replaced my camera that was broken, with what we will call a much anticipated upgrade! Carl got the fishing gear that he has been wanting, and more exciting then that, we were given a new television and a Wii!! Both of those items are things we would never have spent the money to have, but absolutely are excited about and love to death!

Christmas morning also came with another gift from Mother Nature... snow. At 6:30 when we got up, the snow had lightly began to fall, dusting things with a beautiful white gloss... an hour later, the dusting was becoming more pronounced, and by that evening we had over 10 inches. When it was all said and done, we had 14 inches of snow on the ground, and much more in the drifts. According to the news, this was our first "white Christmas" in WNC since 1981.

The snow, while beautiful, had me a bit on edge remembering the snow from last year, so we made sure to fill tubs and water bottles, and prepare as the electric started to flicker. Luckily, the electric stayed on and we had a warm house to enjoy with our new gifts.

Rory's birthday and New Years followed Christmas, and was a wonderful day. He turned 7, I just can't believe we are 7 already... He had a great day filled with friends, food, and fun.

The pregnancy is going great, overall other then the HG (and subsequent kidney stones) things have been easy. I think my main and only real complaint is fatigue, although I think that would be an issue not pregnant with all of these boys in the house.

We found out a while back that we are having a girl, which makes this birth even a little more anticipated. Rory is thrilled. He wants nothing more then a baby sister to love. He is even asking and volunteering to change diapers for Canyon, so that he can learn it for the baby. We were given a really cute baby onesie with a tutu on it, and he got so excited! He is already planning a photo shoot with him in his ballet clothes and holding the baby. It doesn't get much cuter then that.

I hope that the Holiday Season found all of you friends and loved ones in good health and happy. I hope that you were able to celebrate the New Year with friends, and those you love, and that 2011 will be wonderful for us all.

Here are a few photos of our time in the past few months (from photog friends and straight out of the camera since I don't have an editor):