High school friends

We got to catch up with several friends from high school (actually elementary school) today that we don't get to see often. This afternoon, Craig and Ashley brought over their son Benjamin to meet Will. Benjamin and Will were born 2 weeks apart this past July!

When they came over, Will was still asleep in his car seat. Matt really wanted to wake him up to play with Benjamin.

You can tell from the expressions of both daddy and baby how well that went.

He calmed down though and couldn't take his eyes off Benjamin!

What a cutie!

And tonight we went to dinner at Jenny and Adam's. We had fun reminiscing about their first date - the homecoming dance when the four of us spent the night at Jenny's and stayed up all night watching movies. Who would have thought at the time that we were with our future spouses!

Adam made ribs on his new Green Egg grill. They were AMAZING! And Jenny made a delicious salad, corn casserole, and baked beans to go with it!

Morgan and Baylie loved the ribs too!

The night was not without a hitch though. Will was being a little fussy as we sat down to eat so Matt took off Will's pants (usually Will gets happy when we take off his pants) and sat him in his lap while we ate. A few minutes later we hear a sound and look down and poop is easing out of Will's diaper and all onto Matt's jeans. We had to rush them both upstairs while we held a naked baby under the faucet in the bathtub. It was lovely.

Jenny made Paula Deen's banana pudding for dessert. Oh my word. DELICIOUS!

Sweet Baylie Grace and Morgan

Christmas gifts

Tomorrow is our last day in St. Simons. I'm really sad about it and wish we could stay longer. It has been a GREAT past 5 weeks of enjoying family, warm weather (comparatively!), good southern food, and the slow island lifestyle.

We've seen 2 movies over the last couple of days: Blindside and Avatar. Here is what I think of each:

1. Blindside - A true story that is an inspiring, feel-good kind of movie. Definitely go see it!
2. Avatar - The computer graphics and scenery were amazing and make this movie worth seeing, but be prepared for the over the top worship-mother-earth concepts, which were almost as bad as the blatant anti-military propaganda (an OBVIOUS critique on the War on Iraq). It was so bad that a few times Matt and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

And, I thought I'd share a few of our Christmas gifts this year:

This shows basically what I've looked like over the past 4 days! It's a Nikon D90 and I am in love! And MB gave me Photoshop, which I can't wait to learn how to use!

If you remember, our other casserole pot had a nice death when we attempted Boeuf Bourguignon a few months ago. This one will be able to stand up to Matt's cooking, and I love it in this cobalt blue color!

My mom brought Will (before he was even born!) back these suede mittens from Italy! I LOVE them! She also brought back a scarf and leather purse for me and olive oil for Matt.

Matt's dad and Shelia gave us this BIG box of spices from Penzy's! Matt was in absolute heaven! And I can't wait to taste what he makes with these:)

Jessica gave me these BE-EWWTIFUL Kate Spade earrings and bracelet. Love it.

Anyone who knows Matt at all knows how much he loves to read (side story: one of his neighbors called his mom all worried when he was little because she saw him riding his bike down the street while he was reading and she was concerned for his safety!). He also loves reading to Will, and these Dr. Seuss books from the 2 grandmama's are his favorites!

It goes without saying that we got many generous things from our family and are thankful and grateful for ALL of them!

Christmas

We had such a good Christmas, and have enjoyed visiting family the past couple of days. I got a new camera for Christmas and have been busy taking pictures...

The cute outfit that Casey got for the cousins!

Aunt Lulu (Jessica)

Christmas morning with Matt's mom. I made each of the grandparents a photo album with the first five months of Will's life. I think they liked it!

I wish I'd taken pictures of the food at Mrs. Dart's...we had roast beef and her famous yorkshire pudding (I'd never had this before dating Matt, but it is delicious), green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. And Jessica made an AWESOME peppermint ice cream pie with an oreo crust that I want to get the recipe for!

Christmas afternoon we went to my parent's house. Will enjoyed his stocking!

Aunt "B"

My extended family came into town yesterday. This is Sarah, Aunt Faye, and Mike. They brought a yummy dip made with cream cheese, dried beef, and green onions that was soo good! And I made apple dip again, which I know I promised the recipe for: a block of softened cream cheese, a bag of brickle chips (Heath brand, but without the chocolate - VERY difficult to find), 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Will really liked this bell ornament (unfortunately it's a UGA ornament!)

Sarah made this really good drink with cranberry juice, limeade, champagne, and maybe a few other things. YUMM...

We had so much good food: Karen's pineapple casserole, Faye's potato casserole, MB's strawberry pretzel salad...

And Matt made green beans and acorn squash...

I made Andes mint cookies (the recipe is on the back of the bag of Andes mints and they are soo good!)

My cousin Erin, who just got into UGA. She's wearing the lava and coral necklace my mom got her in Pompei!

Just moments before the tv screen flashed that Urban Meyer was quitting. There wasn't any smiling after that (I'M KIDDING!) Fortunately for my cousins he changed his mind today.

Cousins and Christmas Eve

Yesterday Casey and Eric got into town with 2 week old Otto, so Will has enjoyed getting to know his cousin! He didn't know another baby could be so tiny and cute! Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days...

They have one proud Grandpa!!

We celebrated Christmas with Matt's dad tonight...

Will says Merry Christmas y'all!!!