2013: Y'all Call it a Moment, I Call it Life

Despite the miscarriage and losing two of Eric's uncles this year, 2013 proved to be very fruitful. We settled into the house and loved watching Evie transition from baby to toddler to terrible twos!  We're looking forward to many new memories next year, including welcoming our sweet girl in April!

We started the new year settling into our new house. Evie learned to walk.  Eric and Elizabeth made a commitment to explore the Primal Lifestyle and it changed our family's eating habits for good. We hosted a couple's wedding shower for Sam and Katie.  Eric and Elizabeth both started going to Spiritual Direction, another lifestyle change for the better.  Notre Dame lost to Alabama in the BCS Championship, but we still had fun at the party we hosted.  Eric finished the month by going on the Life Teen Winter Retreat.

February was quiet, as it usually is.  Elizabeth went to Savannah for Katie's Bachelorette party weekend.  Evie broke Elizabeth camera --- oops!  Eric and Elizabeth attended Mmmm-monster Jam.  We took a coffee class which changed our perspective even more so on the importance of coffee sourcing.

March brought lots of fun.  Evie had her first hair cut and we finished decorating her Hungry Caterpillar Room.  Eric and Elizabeth attended the parish St. Patrick's Day party at the church.  Eric went to Vegas for Sam's bachelor party.  As a family we went to visit David, Paige and Zachary in Savannah, and then to Beaufort with Eric's family to visit Aunt Jo and Uncle Jim.  We also got a new Pope!

The day before Elizabeth's sister's wedding, Elizabeth found out she was pregnant.  We enjoyed a full week of wedding festivities for Katie and Sam's wedding, and Evie was a flower girl for the first time.  Elizabeth's boss/pastor was ordained a bishop of Atlanta.  Elizabeth also went on her annual Women's Retreat at Covecrest.

Just after we told family about the baby, Elizabeth miscarried baby Albert.  We kept our plans to vacation in NYC for four days. It was a great distraction.  Elizabeth hosted a baby shower for Eric's sister, Leeann.  Elizabeth and Evie took their annual Zoo trip. We discovered a local "Food Truck Alley" and spent many Thursday nights discovering local fare.  Evie had her 18 month check up and continued to be "off the charts".

June picked up speed.  Evie started talking in 2-3 word sentences and had a full blown case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth for over a week!  Our friend, Dennis was ordained a priest.  Eric coordinated and hosted Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at our parish.  We said goodbye to Evie's nanny.  An F1 tornado hit a few blocks from our house.  We took a family trip to Nashville for a wedding.  Eric went to Beaufort with his family when his great-uncle Jim passed away.  David, Paige and Zachary came to Atlanta for a family weekend on a double decker boat.  Eric and Elizabeth went to Dante's Down the Hatch, an Atlanta culinary legend, with the Buerglers for the last time before it closed.

Eric's nephew, Luke, came into the world on July 1.  We celebrated the Fourth with the Eric running the Peachtree Road Race, Waffle House and a cookout with Eric's family. Elizabeth hosted a week of Confirmation "camp" and was the lead chaperone for the Steubenville Atlanta trip.  Elizabeth's parents bought a boat, the source of many fun weekend outings. We had Corsetti siblings weekend at the cabin.  Eric's other uncle Jim died.

The month started out with a trip for Eric and Evie to Minnesota for Uncle Jim's funeral and for family time. Elizabeth started doing several photo shoots for family and friends.  Confirmation season began.  Elizabeth replaced Eric on the Freshman retreat so he could visit with Joey, Crystal and baby Jack on their trip to Atlanta.  We found out we were pregnant again, due in April 2014!

In September, Evie started pre-school.  Eric went backpacking with cousin Steven over Labor Day.  We had our first ultrasound to see Baby Buergler #2.  We took a family trip to the Apple Orchards.

October was full of new, exciting things.  We took a family trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch.  We announced to family and friends our news of Baby Buergler #2.   Elizabeth & Evie took a Columbus Day trip to the cabin.  Evie had a Halloween party at school and went Trick or Treating with Eric, Leeann and Luke.  She dressed as "Monkey George" while Eric went as the Man in the Yellow Hat.  Elizabeth and Eric saw Michael Buble in concert.

November literally "kicked off" as a busy month. We hosted a BT vs St. Pius tailgate party followed by a night watching high school football.  Luke was Baptized.  Evie had her first trip to Babyland General Hospital. Evie turned TWO, and boy did she!  Her check up was fabulous!  Elizabeth and Eric ran the Confirmation retreat, and witnessed 212 teens be Confirmed.  We also went to the first ever Dayton/Georgia Tech basketball game.  Eric started tutoring Calculus and Physics. We took Evie with us to learn that Baby Buergler is a girl!

As usual, December was spent in work-recovery-mode for Elizabeth. Eric worked super late hours for a big project at work, on top of extra tutoring hours for the kids' finals.  We started Evie's big girl room make over. It's not Christmas season without the Annual Gingerbread Person Party!  Eric and Elizabeth went to a Falcon's game for Alex's birthday.  Advent and Christmas were a huge hit with Evie, and was celebrated with lots of family time!

Thank you for being such a big part of our lives this year!

Previous Years: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012

Christmas with the Corsettis: Two Days of Fun!

When I tell people that Corsetti Family Christmas season comes with a color coded agenda, I'm not kidding!  It's a lot to swallow when you first look at the two page email from my mom, but once you get going it's a lot of fun.  And really, what else is the season about?  Baby Jesus, family, sharing, and celebrating.  And eating lot of sugary treats (amiright?)

After we had Christmas morning at our house, Eric, Evie and I went to my parents for Christmas morning Brunch....and more presents!!

Nana and Grandpa finished out goodies for Evie's new room - they bought her a fancy pillow, matching jammies and a dolly that all coordinate with her room.  Even Eric is excited to see her room all finished with all these great details!

Eric got some much wanted books for Gardening in Georgia...look out world! And I got some new jewelry.  My parents gave us a deep freezer this year as our REALLY big gift!!

My Mom gave my Dad Lightroom 5.  Can't wait to see what he does with it. He's an incredible landscape photography hobbyist.

 And then Dad gave my Mom a new iPad...but he wrapped it about 12 times.  Too funny!

Eric and I surprised my parents with tickets to opening night of Lion King in Atlanta.  I hope they're as excited to go as we were to give it to them!

The morning went pretty quick since we saved sibling gifts, cousin gifts and our group gifts to my parents for the next time we celebrated Christmas.

On the 27th my brother David and his wife Paige arrived from Savannah.  We went to my parent's house for another full blown Christmas dinner (I am thankful for maternity pants, for sure) and more gifts.

But before the fun could begin, my grandfather, affectionally known this time of year as Sander-Claus, made an appearance.  The two year olds were terrified, but soon warmed up.

 And five year old cousin Connor was tickled-attacked by Santa!

 We had a yummy dinner and the kids played a little before the gifts began!

 The little kids were great at passing out gifts and loved wearing the Santa hats.

 The cousins went first.  Evie got her cousins soccer balls. And Evie got Duplos and a Sofia the First play tree house from her cousins.

Then the siblings exchanged.  The best gift of all was Katie's to David -- a Georgia Southern victory over University of Florida tshirt. 

 We gave our Godson some new books, including a prayer book, and a goofy pirate shirt I couldn't pass up.

 We also opened our gifts from our grandparents.  I am so excited with our new mandolin (the veggie slicer, not the instrument) and carpet cleaner. Whoohoo 31 is awesome, baby!

But best gift of all was still to come.....our sibling gift to our parents:

 My brother photoshopped some "Awkward family photos- Christmas edition" and pasted our childhood faces on them.  I printed them out, framed them, and wrapped them up for my parents.  While they thought they were hysterical, they were a bit confused.  At the bottom of the gift box, my sister wrote a note explaining that we'd pre-arranged a family photo shoot the next day.  They were SO excited!!!

We finished the night wishing my brother, Alex, a happy birthday!  My Dad made fried dough for his "cake" (remember we don't eat traditional birthday cake in our family).  My mom also made a cookie cake, you know, in case we needed some more sugar.  This prego made it into an ice cream sandwich...

And that, my friends, concludes Christmas 2013 with the Corsetti-Buergler families.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!!!

Once again -- I write about our gifts simply to preserve the memory, not to brag, be humble, or anything else.  I love remembering gifts, which is odd because I'm terrible at giving them. I also think it's fun to see what other families think of as gifts for one another, so I share because I'd love to see what your family does!  Please forgive me if you think I am rude in sharing!

Christmas Morning 2013

I wish I had the courage to post one giant Christmas post, but I love remembering the details and recalling the precious photos of family!  The historian in me neeeeeds a half dozen Christmas posts!


Christmas morning Evie slept in.  We were SO thankful.  I had ventured downstairs to start breakfast in hopes that I could get it all made before she came downstairs.  I really wanted to eat and do prayer time before she saw the gifts.  But, with two year olds, there is always a plan B and C, and let's be honest, D.

I was about halfway through the cinnamon rolls when Little Bit woke up.  Eric and I went in to get her and she was SO EXCITED for presents.  We decide there was no way she was going to wait another 30 minutes for breakfast, so we jumped ahead to gifts.

We took our time opening the gifts, and made her wait a turn while Eric and I opened ours.  She was really in to it.

She still doesn't get the whole Santa "thing" but she sure loves opening gifts and playing with her new toys.

When I asked Evie if she wanted Santa to bring her some presents she said, "No. No Santa!"  I think she thought the Mall Santa was actually going to come to our house.  Haha. I'd be terrified too!

Evie's two big gifts were crate full of Christmas books that she got at the beginning of Advent and the bed sheets for her big girl room.

We also gave her a few small things so she had stuff to open.  She got a dolly stroller, Little People Play Ground, Big Girl Panties!!!, and a few new Spring outfits I snagged on clearance and wrapped up separately so she'd have more to open.

Little Sister got a stocking with a brand new newborn diaper and a few onsies I got for $3 each at Carters.

Eric and I keep a small budget for each other, he got a new tie and gym shorts and he got me a professional camera strap and tickets to the symphony.

After presents I quickly made breakfast and we sat down for family prayer time before we went to my parents' house for Christmas brunch.

I write about our gifts simply to preserve the memory, not to brag, be humble, or anything else.  I love remembering gifts, which is odd because I'm terrible at giving them, and I think it's fun to see what other families think of as gifts for one another.  Please forgive me if you think I am rude in sharing!

Christmas Eve

In year's past my parents hosted an open house Christmas appetizer dinner party.  All the extended family, and in-laws and their families were invited some years reaching 40+ people.  It was an all hands on deck affair. Everyone contributing to making appetizers, keeping the food warm, and the wine flowing.

The problem, was that we were all exhausted, grumpy and a little tipsy by Christmas Eve Mass time.

This year my parents kept it quiet.  It was just our immediate family and Eric's parents.  We had a delicious grits and mushroom stuff turkey, and other yummy fixings.

 Evie and Connor were precious all dressed up at the kids table. Connor insisted that they say their prayers before eating, so he led them in the sign of the cross and blessing.  How sweet is that?

And for our night cap we enjoyed flourless chocolate cake and coffee.

It was off to Mass, entirely sober (at least, I can speak for myself! haha), and then home to play Santa.

My inlaws were gracious to take Evie home from dinner to our house. They helped her put out her cookies and milk for Santa before tucking her in bed.

We went to 9:00 pm Christmas Eve Mass at my parents / sister's parish right near our house.  The homily was so short that in the amount of time it took me to take my pregnant self to the bathroom the homily AND creed were over. Yikes!

After Mass Eric and I relieved the in-laws of baby duty and set out Christmas gifts and stuffed the stockings.

Playing Santa is SO fun!!! (Please pretend I remembered to take a picture of the tree and all the goodies before we went to bed!)

Sander Family Christmas - When Evie Wore my Christmas Dress!

My maternal grandparents, and two of my mom's three siblings live in Atlanta.  We celebrate Christmas with them on the Saturday before Christmas, whenever that happens to fall.  It was nice this year that it was few days before Christmas Eve and Christmas. Gave us all a little breather between festivities :)

There are so many aspects of this night that are special traditions. But I wanted to add a little element of surprise.

A few weeks ago my mom was cleaning out the storage area of their house and stumbled upon my Christmas dress from when I was two years old.  I was a late September baby and Evie an early November, and built the same.  There was a good chance the dress would fit Evie... and it DID!

My parents and me - please note my mom is also 5 months pregnant in this photo!

 Eric, Evie and me 

 Side-by-side with my Mini-Me - we both have the same nervous hands!

My mom and grandmother loved the surprise of having Evie dressed in my old Christmas dress for our big family Christmas dinner.

Whenever we get the opportunity we love to take 4 generation photos.  My grandmother, mother, myself and Evie are all the first born child in our family too!  Somehow the blond gene skipped me!  (Yes, my grandmother and mother are still natural blonds!) 

One of the nice things my grandparents do for this night is hire a caterer for dinner.  They make, serve and clean up dinner.  It's absolutely fabulous to start the Christmas season so spoiled!  We can all really relax and enjoy each others company.

After dinner the "adults" exchange their sibling Christmas gifts, my grandparents give all the grandkids their stockings, and the cousins exchange their cousin gifts.

This year I drew Hilary's name.  Hilary is a senior in high school and is active in the youth group at our parish.  We're blessed to spend a lot of time with her.  I made her this bracelet with a tiny Miraculous Medal that was recently blessed by Pope Francis.  Hilary's Confirmation Saint is Mary, and who doesn't love Pope Francis?  It was the perfect gift.  I hope she loves it too :)

Hilary's older brother, Steven, had my name for Christmas.  He bought me this stainless wine glass that nests in itself for easy travel.

Eric got a tiny flash light for biking / camping / etc.  He loves it!  And he gave a Barnes and Noble card to my tweenage cousin who LOVES to read.

My grandparents are always generous with fun treats in the stockings.  This year we got some "goodies" picture above and a gift card to the new movie theatre in town. So excited! We always get an apple and an orange, too!

And before the night is over, we celebrate the real meaning of Christmas -- Jesus' birthday!  My grandparents buy a fabulous cake and put baby Jesus in the center.  The whole family sings Happy Birthday to Jesus, and the littlest kids get to blow out the candles!