The Epic Christmas Blog

I named this blog "Epic" because it will encompass every detail of our entire Christmas vacation, which was a very full 13 days. I'm sorry if it seems more like a Christmas novel than a Christmas blog, but I want to have the entire trip on record.

It started Saturday, December 18 at 2:30 a.m. We decided to leave in the middle of the night in hopes that Landry would sleep halfway through our 10-hour drive. And so we would arrive in Louisiana in the middle of the day, rather than the evening. However, we told my parents we didn't leave until around 7 a.m. It was a nice surprise to them when we arrived at their house in time for lunch. Landry did excellent on the trip! We only stopped 2 times!!

When we got to LA, of course Landry was wired and ready to play, play, play! Daddy was ready for a long nap. After a few hours, Landry wound down and took a nap as well. She woke up just in time for Uncle Josh, Aunt Trista to arrive. She took a minute to warm up to them. But soon, Aunt Trista became her new playmate and she had a ball.

We exchanged presents that evening because Uncle Josh and Aunt Trista would be leaving for West Texas after the weekend. We all got such nice presents, especially Landry.

It was the year of Mexican Train Dominoes. Cory and I got 2 sets of this game as well!

Uncle Josh has vowed that every Christmas, Landry will get something camouflage to wear. It was a perfect outfit for her to wear running around the country. She even had the dirty face to go with it.

This is one of those priceless shots!

Landry was also around Uncle Josh and Aunt Trista long enough to come up with names for them. Uncle Josh is "Unca". Aunt Trista is "Aunt T".

Late, late that evening. We stayed up to make Landry her first of 3 birthday cakes. We did not have a free day when we could have a big birthday party for Landry, so we just brought cakes to our family Christmas gatherings. My aunt Connie, who is an experienced cake decorator, came over to help. Here is the adorable "Abby Cadaby" cake we made for her.

I think Aunt Connie is proud!

The next day, Sunday, we went to our old church and got to visit with lots of friends. Then we went to my Aunt Connie's house for the Guillory Christmas gathering. It was so nice getting to spend time with family and eat so much good food. 3 of my cousins have little girls who were born within 2 months of Landry being born, so it was lots of fun seeing how their personalities had developed and watching them interact with one another.

Here are all four of the little ladies playing with the dog

Landry getting ready to blow out her candle

This was our only chance to get a family picture before Josh and Trista headed to West Texas. We used my tripod and camera timer for this pic. Not half bad.

Monday, Landry and I went to Lake Charles and had a play-date with some of my old friends and their children. It was great catching up with them all, but we quickly realized that it is not such an easy task with little ones tagging along. After about an hour, all of the children starting getting irritable at once. We knew it was time to break up our little reunion. Hopefully we'll get to visit longer at our class reunion this summer.

Tuesday was a wonderful day. Cory had to take a certification exam in Beaumont, and he wanted me to go with him. I knew bringing Landry along was not a good idea because the test would take a while. So I left Landry with my mom and dad, and I went shopping while Cory took his test. It was so nice finishing my last minute Christmas shopping with nothing but time on my hands. While all the other shoppers were getting their tinsel in a tangle because of the traffic and long lines, I didn't have a care in the world. Did I mention it was wonderful? I can't remember the last time I had a day like this, but it was very much appreciated! After Cory's test, we met his Aunt and Uncle to go eat. We always enjoy visiting with them. We then headed home and arrived just in time to tuck Landry into bed. She was pretty pooped after a fun-filled day with GiGi and PawPaw. And by the way, CORY PASSED ALL HIS EXAMS! PRAISE GOD!

Wednesday, was just a nice and relaxing day. I needed to finish making some Christmas gifts, but we had no where to be. We just stayed around the house, played outside a little bit, did some baking, did some crafting. And that was that. We let Landry decorate and eat "Happy Birthday Jesus" brownies. However, while we were singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, Landry grinned ear to ear thinking it was for her.

Mom and I stayed up to make another birthday cake for Landry. We attempted to recreate the first one. How did we do?

We didn't have help this time and we used gumpaste for the polka dots rather then buttercream icing. When Landry woke up the next morning and saw the cake, she shouted "Abby" even though the "Abby" figurine was not on the cake yet. She recognized it from her first birthday party.

Thursday, was Christmas eve. We were lucky that Landry was willing to take an early nap because we knew the day would be CRAZY!. We left around noon to go to my MawMaw Marlene's house (My Dad's Mom). We had a super visit with her and my Aunt Sharon. Then we headed to MawMaw's House (Mom's Mom) to visit, have a birthday party, and then have the Langley Christmas gathering. Christmas at the Langley family is something to behold. Most people do not get to experience this type of Christmas gathering, and some may not ever want to. But I wouldn't want to miss it for the world. My mom is one of eight brothers and sisters. Most of her brothers and sisters have married and have their own kids. And most of those kids have now married and have their own kids. Just to paint a more detailed picture, there are about 35 kids under the age of 17 at my grandma's house on Christmas Eve. Add the adults to that and you get an idea of the madness that exists. It's so GREAT! Of course, Landry was a little overwhelmed at first, but she soon took to some of the little girls and joined in all the fun. She was one tuckered little girl when it was all said and done. I wish I had more pictures from this day, but I used my mom's camera, and I am waiting on a CD from her. I'll post a few once I get them.

Here is a picture of Landry helping GiGi decorate cupcakes for her party.

The next day was Christmas Day. We woke up, enjoyed a breakfast of biscuits and homemade jelly with my family, and hit the road by 8:30a.m. to get to Natchitoches to spend time with Cory's family. We arrived about 10:45, just in time to open gifts. Everyone wanted to enjoy watching Landry open her gifts, so we decided to let her go first. However, Nana LOVES to buy Christmas gifts, and Landry was completely surrounded by unopened gifts. She got only about a tenth of the way through the gifts when she decided she needed a break. She finished opening them in the next couple hours with help from us. Needless to say, we won't be buying any new toys for a while, and we'll be packing away some old ones when we get home. We spent the rest of the day eating Christmas dinner and playing with Landry's new toys. It was a great day.

Here she is saying "see ya, I'm taking a break"

Eli even got gifts. This is his first football.

Landry especially enjoyed the playhouse Poppy put together for her.

Saturday, Cory's cousin and family were driving in from Shreveport and Houston. So we decided it was a good day to have a birthday party for Landry. We went to wal-mart to get a cake, but they had nothing and couldn't make one for us that day. So why not make one more cake? This time we got a Dora cake topper. It was Aunt LuLu's (Charlotte) birthday, so we added her name to the cake too! You can tell in these pictures, that Landry is really getting used to this whole birthday party thing. By this point, she pretty much thinks everything is about her. I'll have to spend weeks bringing her back down to reality.

Saturday night, we went down to the riverbank to see the Natchitoches Christmas lights and the fireworks. We were a little worried about how Landry would respond to the noise of the fireworks, but she was ENAMORED by them. She enjoyed them so much, she cried when we told her they were over.

Here we are, waiting for the show to begin

Here they are, in AWE!

Sunday was a pretty laid back day. We visited with Cory's cousin, his wife, and baby before they had to leave to go back to Houston and ate a big pot of vegetable soup while watching the Saints lose. Sad day :(

Monday, Cory, his dad, and his uncle went to the Independence Bowl. The ladies stayed home and enjoyed a day to relax and play. Until evening, when we took the opportunity for a ladies dinner out. It was nice!

Tuesday, Cory, Landry, and I met MawMaw Dell (Cory's Mom's Mom) for lunch. We enjoyed a Chinese buffet and then did a little shopping. I got a couple of cute outfits, on sale, for Eli. That night, we went over to Uncle Ricky and Aunt Charlotte's for some Seafood Court Bouillon. Mmm Mmm! Aunt Lindsay (Aunt Z) came over too. Landry had a ball playing pool, or actually just dropping the balls in the holes and watching them come back down.

We snuck in time for a family picture. Thank God for tripods.

Poppy and Landry had a good ole' time together

Later, back at Cory's parent's house, Landry and Aunt Z became good buddies and played until it was time for Landry to hit the sack. Landry even shared her fruit snacks and kisses with Aunt Z. Not a normal occurrence.

We planned on leaving at around 2:30 a.m. the next morning, but bad weather was expected to hit. We decided to stay one extra day and wait out the weather. However, by the 12th day of our trip, Landry is pretty tired from all the excitement. She decides, it's time to chill a little.

And once she is rested, play-time with Mommy and Daddy is always a treat. This is Landry's pop-up tunnel. She thought it was funny for us to hide inside.

Once Nana arrived home from work, we ate pizza for supper, played a little with Nana and Poppy, got bathed up, then went to bed to get ready for our trek back home

Our alarm rang at 1:45 Thursday morning, and we were on the road by 2:15. Another VERY smooth trip. Landry woke up just as we were exiting for breakfast. She saw McDonalds and immediately started signing "play". We thought it would be a good idea to let her move around a little and the play area was perfect. We only took 2 necessary stops on the way back. Once we got 30 minutes away, we chose to stop at Academy. Cory would say it was necessary. We made it home in time to eat a late lunch. Although Landry didn't care to. She was too busy reacquainting herself with her room and toys. She was relieved to be home.

This concludes my epic Christmas blog. If you are tired just reading it, imagine experiencing it. The Veuleman household was not up last night to ring in the new year. Instead, we were sleeping soundly in our own beds. Life is good!

Baby Babble - Week 27

I am officially in my 3rd Trimester! Yahoo! It is really hard to believe how fast it is going. But I am thankful. Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment where I had to do my glucose screening. I was quite anxious about this test, because when I was pregnant for Landry I failed the first time. I know now, it was because I had eaten right before the test, and it was carb-filled mexican food. What was I thinking? I had to go back and take the 3-hour test, in which they stuck me 4 times. It was a nightmare. So this time, I was determined to have no carbs before taking the test. I basically ate a homemade egg mcmuffin minus the muffin. It was quite good. However, I do have to admit, I cheated a little and drank one cup of coffee with 1 tbsp. of creamer. But it only had 5 grams of carbs, so I figured I was good. I took the test at 10:45 and within minutes, they told me I passed my test with flying colors!! Yipee! I was so relieved, I treated myself to Starbucks. I made sure that I made up for the carbs I had missed that morning.

Now to other baby news.....the Dr. said I was measuring just right. The heartbeat is just right. My weight and blood pressure are just right. So far, so good. Baby Eli is moving around lots. Sometimes just little kicks and sometimes giant movements, where I think he may be flipping or something. Last night, he started getting into my ribs a little. Yikes! I pray that doesn't get worse.

My babycenter update tells me that he is about 2 pounds now and 14 1/2 inches long. He's also starting to sleep and wake at regular intervals and open and shut his eyes. If you'd like to read more, click here. Here is what the baby looks like right now.

Just in case you hadn't heard, Michelle Duggar (from 18 kids and counting), had her baby prematurely. Her due date was the same as mine, which means she had the baby at 26 weeks. The baby weighed 1 lb. 6 oz. and is stable, but be in prayer for little Josie and her family.

12th Day of Christmas

Thursday – On the twelfth day of Christmas, we’ve got a full day’s worth of things to do. A puppet show and a Christmas lunch just to name a few. We’ll come back home and let Landry nap in the afternoon. Then we’ll head out again, down to town, to shop the whole evening through.

Alas, it is our last day of the 12 Days of Christmas Celebration. And it was a wonderful experience! I am so glad that we took the time everyday to do something special. It proves that, even if you are busy beyond comprehension, if your family is a priority, you will make time for them!

So today, we did make it to the very mediocre puppet show, and we did make it to lunch, but the shopping was sort of a fail. See, when we got home from our morning events and laid Landry down for a nap. Cory and I decided a nap sounded pretty darn good. So we laid down to take a power nap. But before you know it, we had been out for an hour and a half. I let Cory sleep a little longer, while I ran to the store to pick up a few staples. And when I got back, Cory left to finish Christmas shopping for my present. When he got back, we decided that the rest of our shopping could wait till tomorrow. And we decided to open more gifts instead. Here are pictures from our day.

Landry, waiting for the puppet show to begin. She thought the chairs were fun.

The purse Cory got me. Very Nice! He also got me a diffuser for my pop-up flash. Yay!

Landry helping Daddy open his gift

Daddy got new dress shirts. I told you I went practical.

Here is Landry really getting after a gift. If you are wondering what in the world she is wearing, it is a swimsuit over a pair of crop lounge pants. She found the swimsuit and was determined to wear it, somehow.

Landry got some new appliances for her kitchen center and a Mister Potato Head Set. Here is our little Potato Head Family.

11th Day of Christmas

Wednesday – On the eleventh day of Christmas, you’re back. You were deeply missed! So let’s enjoy tonight, when we open a few Christmas gifts.

I've actually already received my big Christmas gift, a new vehicle. With the changes that are about to take place in our life, (a new baby, a move, etc.) we are all about practicality and budget. Cory and I are planning on getting a little something for each other, but we decided to hold off on those for a few more days. Tonight, we let Landry open a couple of her gifts instead. That's more fun anyway.

We let her open her doctor's kit

She is taking her baby's temperature, but the angle makes it look like she is taking mine.

And we let her open her giant box of crayons. You know the big box that you always wanted, but your mom always said, you didn't need. Well, honestly, I would not normally give a 2-year-old such a huge box of crayons. But I got them for free when I was a crazy person at Toys-R-Us at midnight. Landry LOVED them. She spent lots of time taking her crayons out and putting them back in, naming the colors, and coloring color sheets

And I am so excited to share a new discovery with you. I am so impressed with this! On the back of the crayon box, it said to go to this site. Inside the box of crayons, there is a code. You enter the code and upload a photo, and you can make color sheets like this.

Is that not the greatest? Landry thought it was so cool coloring herself and mommy and daddy. So run out and buy your 64-count crayon box today. You've got to get a code!

The Very Merry Veuleman Elves

Ok, so my friend, Kate, posted one of these on her blog. I couldn't help myself. I had to try it myself! My favorite part, the Cory shimmy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

10th Day of Christmas

Tuesday – On the tenth day of Christmas, we knew that you’d be gone. So we wanted to leave you a little something, so you’d know we wish you were home.

I put this note in an envelope labeled "10th day of Christmas" and placed the envelope in Cory's bag. The envelope also included a DVD. Here is what was on the DVD....

As you can tell, Landry was really impressed that she could see herself on screen. She just wanted to cut-up. But I know Cory will be so excited just to see his little girl's face and hear her voice while he is away!

9th Day of Christmas

Monday – On the tenth day of Christmas, we knew you had to go. But we hope this will make your trip just a little more enjoyable.

So today and the next couple of days are a little tricky because Cory had to go out of town for a work trip. But he was home this morning and got his note, along with this card Landry had made for him and a small gift.

For some reason, she was really focused in on the snowman's nose. She didn't want to color any other part of him. Oh, and she decided the scarf would look better as a belt.

8th Day of Christmas

Sunday – On the eighth day of Christmas, we’ll enjoy the traditions of Christmas music and fellowship with friends. We’ll worship through song at our Church Musical then fellowship with others at the class party tonight.

Why plan anything special, when it's already been planned for you? Our Christmas musical was that morning, in which I participated. Afterwards, we took the college students out for lunch. Then that night, our small group, from church, had a Christmas party for the whole family. Santa came to the party. So it was the second time this year Landry got to see him. Here are pictures from the day.

We were color-coordinated so we had to take a family picture

Here is Landry playing with one of her big-girl friends, Tennyson (whom that night, Landry called "Trees" because she had a Christmas Tree on her dress)

Landry was a little hesitant to take the gift from Santa

But she didn't mind opening the gift and playing with it.

7th Day of Christmas

Saturday – On the seventh day of Christmas, the weather outside is frightful. So let’s head to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, where the fire is so delightful! And that’s not all on this special day. Let’s head downtown for a Christmas Parade!

The weather was, in fact, very frightful. A little too frightful for us to get out. In the 30's and raining were not ideal conditions for us to leave our warm, cozy home, to eat breakfast then to stand outside for an hour or more. Instead, I cooked a "Cracker Barrel" style breakfast, and we enjoyed a much-needed relaxing day together. We played in the bed, finished making Christmas goodies, cooked in the kitchen center, read books,

built block towers together......

A Landry original

Landry and Daddy played their favorite game, bucking bronco......

And Mommy and Landry played Beauty Shop before going to bed

On the seventh day of Christmas, our plans may have changed. But it worked out for the better. I thank God for this amazing day!!!