Christmas!

Trista REALLY enjoyed Christmas this year! She loved making cookies, looking at Christmas lights, picking out gifts for people, and wrapping presents. We went to Jerry and Suyapa's house on Christmas eve to celebrate Paul's birthday and do Christmas Part 1. Trista seemed to have a great time there with all the entertainment, and she particularly enjoyed running around the backyard and tickling people with pine needles! Yesterday she got to celebrate again with all of the Sink family members. She kept very busy playing with all of her new toys, clacking around the house in her dress-up high heels, and generally being excited to have people over at her house!

Santa was good to her too. She loved going downstairs on Christmas morning and seeing all of the toys! Trista got a Little People castle, a shopping cart, a big-wheel tricycle, and lots of other small stuff. Of course the biggest hit of the day was the 10-dollar plastic food set! She really liked picking out different foods for people to try and loading them up in her shopping cart.

This morning she has been painting on her new easel that Jeanne got her, which has been fun, and this afternoon we are going to see Eddie and Debbie. Tomorrow we are headed up to Westminster for the final phase of Christmas!

Charles Towne Landing

This week while Paul was off of work, we went to Charles Towne Landing for the first time since both of our proms! It was fun for Trista to look for animals in the animal forest, and she enjoyed running around in all the open space out there.

Trista Loves the Holidays!

We have had a really busy but good past week or so since Thanksgiving.  Trista has gotten really into all things related to Christmas!  She particularly loves driving around looking at the Christmas lights in our neighborhood, so we took her to the Festival of Lights at James Island County Park on Friday night.  She loved it!!!  Here is a video of her checking out some of the displays.

We also took her to the Daniel Island Holiday Festival yesterday, and we had a good time there as well.  She liked playing on the basketball-themed jump castle, decorating Christmas cookies, and dancing to the Christmas songs that a school chorus performed.  She did NOT, however, enjoy visiting with Santa, so that may have to wait another year. 

Last night Paul & I went to see Jason's new band, M-Tank, play at the Tin Roof in West Ashley.  It was lots of fun to see Jason act as both the drummer and lead singer!  We can't wait to see them play again soon.

This morning we took Trista to a birthday party for her friend Anna.  All the kids had fun eating cupcakes and playing outside in Anna's playhouse.  Here is a picture of Trista with her friend Jack.

Trista Turns 2!

Trista turned 2 today!  We had her birthday party at Palmetto Islands County Park over the weekend, and that was a lot of fun despite the ridiculously cold weather!  The kids all bundled up and didn't seem to mind too much.

Today Paul took off work early so that we could take her to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate.  Trista had been once before a few months ago and couldn't stop talking about it afterwards, so we were pretty sure she would enjoy herself again today.  It was definitely a hit this time around.  She had some pizza and really liked all the games.  

Here is also a clip of Trista singing "Happy Birthday" to herself today.  It seems to be the slow, lazy version since it was pretty close to nap time!

Kevin & Reagan's Wedding/Fun Times for Trista

We all had a good weekend! Paul and I went to Greensboro, NC for Kevin and Reagan's wedding, which was a lot of fun! Everything was really beautiful, and we had a great time hanging out with all of Paul's old Summerville pals. Trista got to stay home with Jeanne this time, so we know that she had a lot of fun too. Here are some pictures from the wedding as well as a few pictures I took of Trista last week.

There are a couple from the Park West playground, and one of her first chocolate batter spoon-licking experience. I made these brownies Trista likes that have spinach and carrots hidden in them (from Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook), but surprisingly Trista didn't seem to mind the veggies even in uncooked form! I guess chocolate has a way of canceling out the healthy stuff...

Trista Sings

Here is a video of Trista singing, which is pretty much her favorite activity these days!

The Fair

We had a good weekend after all the Halloween festivities too.  The weather was nice, so on Saturday we went to Palmetto Island County Park, where Trista had a good time running around, and we had a picnic. 

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the fair.  Trista was super excited to see the roller coasters and all the lights.  Things got off to a particularly good start because they were playing one of her current favorite songs ("Disturbia") really loudly at the swing ride as we were walking in.  Her favorite part was looking at all the animals in the petting zoo, but she did a couple of rides too.  Those had some mixed reactions.  She did NOT like the merry-go-round because the horses went up and down, but she sort of liked this little truck ride she went on later.  At first she kept telling me, "This is NOT good!"  Eventually through much encouragement, she decided it was fun after all.

Halloween!

Trista had a great time trick or treating  last weekend!  She didn't fully grasp the concept at first since every time we rang a doorbell and someone answered it, she just tried to walk right into their house.  After a while she got the hang of it though.  She also very much enjoyed her first taste of real candy!  We will have to remember that M&Ms will probably be useful bribing tools in the future.

T-Bone Ramblings - 11/6/08

Dear Diary,

I don't know how to type yet, so Dad agreed to help me here.  Things are going well for me right now.  I voted for Barack Obama and he became president.  My vote does count.  Daddy didn't vote though b/c he was in Key West.  That doesn't seem like a good excuse to me.  He may be gay.  Maybe that's why Jeh-neh calls him Paulie.  

I can't seem to stop singing.  I am obsessed with singing - Happy Birthday, Row Row Row Your Boat, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Rihanna, Britney Spears - you name it.  Lexie is on a hot streak of not pooping on the floor.  She has almost gone a full week now.  I'm so impressed.  

You know who's great?  Grandparents.  They entertain, they generally do what I ask/tell them to do, they buy me gifts on a very frequent basis - the list goes on and on.  It's getting to the point where they are buying me gifts at such a rapid pace that I think they're starting to buy me repeat gifts.  I think they are about to break the record Daddy set for the number of times he bought Uncle Jason that lame rock trivia game.  

Shot out to Anaya for organizing the sweet Obama victory party...  

Peace in the Middle East...

I'm out!

T-Bone

Marine Corps Marathon Weekend

Paul and I traveled to Washington, DC so that I could run the Marine Corps Marathon. The race actually went much better than I was expecting since I had had a lot of running injuries in the months before the race. Paul was an excellent support person during the marathon. He met up with me several times during the race to cheer me on, and he was even able to run along with me for miles 16-18 and miles 24 through the end. 

We also got a chance to go see Robyn and John and to meet their new baby, Carson. It was great to see them!