Julius - The 10th (and cutest) Reindeer

Savannah thought it would be funny to put her reindeer ears on her brother the other night... this was after she put them on her own head and ran around. You can see that once I got the camera out, Julius was the only one to model the ears... Savannah refused to put them on her head again.
Isn't he adorable... such a heartbreaker!

Thanksgiving Day feast...

I wanted to post a few pictures from our dinner today. We had a yummy feast before we sent Pat to work and I wish you had all been here to enjoy it with us.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Pat and I are so thankful for our many blessings.

Thanksgiving Day...

Our little family will be home on Thursday for Thanksgiving as Pat has to go to work that night. This will be a rough week as he will work six days straight and on a holiday week as well.
Life in the newspaper business has always meant giving up some of your holidays to put out the newspaper. When I was a working reporter, I spent many of those 12 years writing on how others enjoyed their Turkey Day (at least 10 out of the 12).
I think it's an easier pill to swallow when you're single or live far away from home. Although I was disappointed when I had to miss a Thanksgiving meal with my traditional family, it was part of the job and I accepted it. It is sad to think that Pat and I have never spent an entire Thanksgiving Day together as he's worked every one of them.
We're hoping the next career fields we enter will be ones that have holidays off.
As Pat looks at his newspapering days coming to an end, we are looking forward to having next Thanksgiving Day together as a family.
In the meantime, I'll share our Thanksgiving Day dinner plans (which I'll be serving around noon and sending Pat to work with a dinner plate.)
Menu for the day is as follows:
Roasted Turkey Breast (no one eats dark meat in this house so we're giving up the whole bird for the best part)
Cornbread dressing (not just stuffing as no decent Deep south Southerner would serve that at their dinner table)
Stove Top stuffing for Pat (because he asked me to)
Green Bean Casserole
Loaded Mashed Potatoes
Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Cherry Pie

Yummy indeed!

Wiped out...

Pat took this picture of two generations of Fitzgerald men relaxing on Tuesday afternoon as we got ready to come home from Virginia Beach.
I know Savannah is special to Dad Fitzgerald, but I also know how long he's waited for a Fitzgerald grandson. I think there was an instant bond that has only increased as the months passed and Julius has gotten his own little personality.
This is such a sweet photo and I had to share it with you...

Photo with Santa...

We took the children to the Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach on Monday to have their picture taken with Santa.
This has become a yearly tradition for the past three years although we were a week early this year because of Pat's wacky work schedule.
I'm so excited we were able to get both children to smile in this picture... the last two times Savannah was less than enthused to see Santa, but she was very happy to see him this year (much to my amazement)!
Santa told me he tickled Julius' foot to get him to smile... thank goodness we stopped to see Santa before we got Julius his new shoes! He's already wearing 5.5 W... one size less than Savannah and what she was wearing earlier in the summer!

Speaking of Godparents...

Our children now have official Godparents... and the drumroll (in your head) please.

We've asked Kathy, my sister-in-law, and my brother Gene to be Savannah's Godparents. We were long overdue to have two great people to hold those positions and I think we found them in two of our own family members.
Pat's longtime friends, Karin and Elliot, have taken on the task of being Julius' Godparents. If he's half as spirited later in life as he is now they will have their hands full in helping guide him the right way.
He's a sweet boy, but like his father he does nothing softly!
We're very thankful they've taken us up on our request to be Godparents and we appreciate them for taking on a special role in our children's lives.
We hope to have a Christening next year and hope all can come to celebrate with us!

Karin's visit to Virginia...

Karin, Pat's longtime friend and Julius' Godmother, came to visit us last weekend. I've been bad about taking pictures lately (and blogging) because Pat's schedule has been crazy and I've been working on freelance stories.
I took a few pictures and Karin did, but we hope to take lots more when she comes back early next year. She only spent a few days with us and it was over too soon.
We did take a drive up on Skyline Drive and that was fun... look forward to having her here again soon.

Where is Julius on Santa's list...

Santa sure is haphazard with his coffee... glad it spared his book again!

http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/86030-secrawfo/

On Santa's good list...

I found this Web site that would allow me to check in on the kids and see if they've made Santa's nice or naughty list... think he's being charitable and forgetting all of Savannah's temper tantrums of late!
Check it out for yourself...

http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/86016-secrawfo/

Disney on Ice...

Savannah and I had a Mommy and Me day on Sunday as we joined our friends, Melissa and Jayden, for Disney on Ice's Finding Nemo. I won four tickets from Albemarle Family Magazine and we cashed them in for the final performance on Sunday.
Pat and Julius stayed home and watched football and cleaned while we were away... Pat said Julius just toddled around behind him without Savannah there to be a distraction.
It was a great show with lots of colors and dancing around... and the bonus was Savannah got to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy (all her favorite characters from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).
My little girl is growing up so fast and I'm so glad we were able to have this time together.

Halloween party...

I took the kiddies to a Halloween party on Friday... one of the few Mommies Club events I've been to in the past month. I've been fortunate enough to take on a lot of extra freelance stories, but it's kept me from getting out with the children as much as I would like.
Here are a few pictures from our fun afternoon with the other Moms and kids... Savannah had a blast and Julius seemed to enjoy himself watching the other kids running and crawling around.

Trick-o-treat at the Mall...

Pat and I took the kiddies to the Mall on Saturday for the little candy grabbing. It was cold and rainy here and Pat was working so we were only able to stay out about an hour.
I think Savannah had a good time and Julius slept through most of it... here are a few pictures of her candy adventure.