merry christmas 2012

Christmas is over and the kids are sad.  We have had house guests since last Thursday and today is the first afternoon it has just been me and the kids.  They are bored with me and sad their grandparents and cousins aren't here to entertain them.

We had a great Christmas this year.  I know I will probably say it every single year, but this year was definitely the best.  The kids really got it and were so excited to wake up and see if Santa arrived.  And boy did he arrive!  I loved seeing the kids run down the hall into the family room and seeing all their gifts.  The look on their faces was absolutely priceless...they are just so innocent.  They seriously could have opened empty boxes and they would have been thrilled.  Every gift The Mayor opened, he said "oh look what I got!!" followed by an "Oh My!".  Love Bug took her sweet time opening every gift.  Savoring the moments...and she is such a girl.  She got just as excited about the clothes as she did the toys.  She had 4 wardrobe changes during the gift opening.  She started in her footed PJs, then had to change into her new pink boots (she refused to put them on with her footed PJs - so it was a diaper with boots), then she had to put on her new coat and then she had to put on her new red top.  She loves new clothes!

The kids loved having MeMe and Big Daddy here Christmas morning.  Big Daddy and MeMe helped put toys together so it was just that much faster the kids could play with their new stuff.  We had a great breakfast together and then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon playing and resting.  After Love Bug woke up from her nap, we headed to PopPop and Mamie's house for Christmas part 2.

The 4 of us celebrated with Mamie, PopPop, J, Meega, Bennett and Walker (Uncle Sloan and Virginia arrived later).  The kids had so much fun opening their presents and helping each other play.  Bennett wanted to play with The Mayor's toys, The Mayor wanted to play with Bennett's toys and Love Bug wanted to try on her new clothes.  Walker just enjoyed being cuddled by everyone until it was time for him to nap.

Mamie and PopPop prepared a delicious meal and the kids had a great time sitting at the kids table again.  Seriously so genius putting them at a table covered in craft paper, letting them color, play with stickers and eat.  It is nice actually sitting at a grownup table and enjoying a meal.

We came home and went straight to bed...the kids were exhausted.  Plus, they needed energy so they would be ready to play with Luke and Trey when they arrived the next morning.  We celebrated Christmas part 3 with Uncle Tom, Aunt Nat, Trey and Luke shortly after lunch and the kids spent the rest of the day playing.  They were only here for 24 hours so there was a lot of playing to cram into a short window of time.

Today we met D downtown and ate lunch together and then all went our separate ways.  I had such great plans of cleaning the house once we got home, but since we didn't get home until 3:00 and the kids were unusually needy...and I was so tired...I decided the mess can stay one more day.  Now D is coming down with a stomach bug so he will be home tomorrow so who knows what will get done.  Praying it is a quick 24 hour thing that avoids the rest of us!  I don't want to spend the rest of our Christmas break with sick ones.

so excited and waiting so patiently at the top of the stairs

thanks Santa!

oh my!

fashionista

checking out the princess doll set MeMe and Big Daddy got her...there are 7 princess dolls in there!

Barbie cars and pirate ships

one of her many new outfits

at Mamie and PopPop's

me and my Walker Bear

me and Meega

me and D

The Mayor LOVES Baby Walker

the three amigos

being silly while eating their weight in popcorn

love this boy

I love this picture...she looks so not enthused...but trust me...Bennett was cracking her up

modeling the princess accessory set she got from Aunt Amy

Trey

excited about his gift from Aunt Nat and Uncle Tom

Luke loves his Georgia bedding...Go Dawgs!

'twas the night before

Oh wow!  The kids are excited!!  It was so much fun explaining to the kids that today was Christmas Eve, that Santa arrives tonight, that Buddy our elf will go back to the The North Pole for good tonight and that tomorrow is Christmas.  They.  Can't.  Wait.  And to be honest, neither can I.  Christmas is so much fun again seeing it through the eyes of your babes.

MeMe and I spent 6 hours in the kitchen today baking.  Literally 6 hours.  I am actually sore.  The kids helped cut out sugar cookies and decorate them for Santa.  I think this year they actually decorated more than they ate...so I will call that a success.

It's been so much fun having MeMe and Big Daddy here this week.  The kids have had an absolute blast with them here.  We have done lots of shopping and playing and the kids are going to be horribly sad when our house is empty Thursday night.  MeMe and Big Daddy are leaving Wednesday afternoon (Big Daddy has to work Thursday) and Aunt Nat and the gang arrive Wednesday morning and leave Thursday evening.  Next week my kids are going to be so lonely with just me.

Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast together and enjoy hours of opening gifts and playing with all the new toys.  After naps, we will head to PopPop and Mamie's house for Christmas part 2.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

taking a bite of dough while putting one on the cookie sheet

icing her cookie

concentrating on his masterpiece

Buddy the Elf...on his last day here before returning to The North Pole for the year

a horsey-ride before dinner

waiting "patiently" to open their one Christmas Eve gift

opening their PJs and Popcorn...our new Christmas Eve tradition

his new PJs

her new PJs

putting out reindeer food

hope the reindeers don't mind the clumps of food

picking out the cookies for Santa

putting them on the plate

love bug's christmas party

Yesterday was the last day of preschool for the year for both kids and Love Bug's class Christmas party.  I volunteered to bring sandwiches and a dessert.  I brought PB&J and turkey & cheese sandwiches cut out in Christmas shapes and a Christmas tree rice krispie treat that I decorated with homemade green cream cheese icing.

At drop-off, I told Love Bug I would be back to her school in a couple of hours for her party and she was so excited I was going to be at her school.  Me and the other mom volunteers for the party arrived while the kids were at the library, so when they came back to class, we were all standing there.  Love Bug was looking for me to make sure I held up my promise and when she saw me, she took off running for me.  I love getting those types of greetings!

We had a great afternoon of playing bean bag toss, decorating cookies and eating a yummy lunch and then it was time to get The Mayor and head home.  Pulling out of the preschool parking lot hit me that Christmas is a week away!!!  I have so much to do!

Today we spent at The Mayor's speech therapy session, running a few errands and then were home for a couple of hours before Meghan arrived to babysit.  I had a haircut appointment and then D and I had his company Christmas party.  Now we are home and I have to wrap gifts to clear out the guest room because tomorrow MeMe and Big Daddy arrive!  The kids are beyond excited their grandparents will be here for Christmas.  It is going to be a great week!!

the spread

playing bean bag toss

cheering on her friend

decorating her cookie

the girl loves her grapes

singing and dancing "reindeer hokey pokey"

the polar express

Yesterday, we took The Mayor to Blue Ridge to catch a train...The Polar Express train!  A couple of months ago my friend Vicki asked if we wanted to join them on The Polar Express train ride and we knew one little 5 year old who would be ecstatic to go.  Our favorite sitter Meghan came over to watch Love Bug (it was too long of a day to bring Miss Priss...next year she will join us) and we picked up Trent, Vicki and Aidan and headed up to Blue Ridge.  Aidan and The Mayor were so excited...they talked about the train on the way up to Blue Ridge and watched "The Polar Express" movie as well.  It took an hour and a half to get to Blue Ridge and boarding started at 3:30.  We picked our seats and settled in.  The boys were beyond excited.  The train pulled out at 4:00 for the one hour train ride to McCaysville.

The train ride ran parallel to the Ocoee/Taccoa River and the boys had a great time looking at the water, grass, houses, cars...it didn't really matter what they saw, it all excited them.  We arrived in McCaysville at 5:00 and had 2 hours to explore, walk around and eat.  We first went to see Santa and then went and ate Mexican.  After dinner we went to The Sweet Shoppe, a cupcake bakery in town that won "Cupcake Wars" on The Food Network earlier this year.  That was pretty cool!  We grabbed some cupcakes and headed back to the train to eat and enjoy the hour train ride back.  The boys were all get-up-and-go for the first 10 minutes and The Mayor started to hit a wall.  He curled up in D's lap (with his legs draped over my lap) and spent the next 50 minutes resting.  He told me he couldn't wait to get to the car and go home to sleep because he was "so berry tired".

We got into the car a little after 8:00 and about 10 minutes later, The Mayor was asleep.  His headphones were still on his head from watching the movie but he was out.  He slept the entire ride home and didn't wake up when D picked him up from the car and put him into his PJs.  That was one tired little boy.  But it was so worth it.  We had an amazing day with great friends and doing something our little boy is so passionate about.  That boy loves his trains.

This morning we got up and went to church and then out to lunch with friends.  The weather in Atlanta was cold and rainy so we stayed inside and played with toys and the Wii all day.  We did venture out this evening to do some grocery shopping but other than that, it was a low-key day.  The Mayor has both of his therapies tomorrow and then we will be getting the house ready for MeMe and Big Daddy...they arrive Thursday!  We can't wait!!

waiting to board the train

our ride

on the train...so excited!

each kid received a jingle bell...the boys loved them!

McCaysville is at the state line...one foot in Georgia the other in Tennessee

The three of us...we did miss our girl Love Bug

Santa and The Mayor

the ride home