merry white christmas

I have over 300 pictures to go through and am exhausted from the all day Christmas celebration, so this will be short. I promise to blog more detail tomorrow and include more pictures...

Love Bug's first Christmas was more than we could have hoped for. MeMe and Big Daddy were here which made it extra special and then it snowed! The snow is still falling and it is starting to accumulate. It is breathtakingly gorgeous! A white Christmas in Georgia...super rare and the fact Love Bug's first Christmas is a white one, means the bar has been set high!

The Mayor still doesn't quite get the whole Christmas and Santa thing yet, but he had no problem opening his own gifts this year. And it took hours, literally, to get through Christmas, which made it even more perfect. After each gift, The Mayor wanted to play with it instead of open a new one and Love Bug was more interested in crawling around the pile of gifts then she was in sitting still to open them. We had to open gifts in stages and that was fine by me. All of the planning and anticipation of the day, I was happy that it was prolonged.

Round two was this afternoon at Mamie and PopPop's house and it was just as magical. Spending Love Bug's first Christmas with Bennett was so much fun. They are just little best friends. I can't wait to watch the two of them grow up together.

We have a house full of toys and nowhere to put them. The project for this week: create a new playroom.

I promise...pictures will be posted tomorrow.

preparation

We were busy, busy, busy today. So busy we never got out of our PJs...except me and that was around noon when I had to run to the grocery store.

This morning we baked gluten-free sugar cookies (which are actually quite good...you wouldn't know you were eating a gluten-free cookie unless I told you) and then The Mayor decorated them. This year he only ate 2 while decorating...much bigger improvement on the 5 we lost last year while decorating. Each of us took our turn helping The Mayor...he just couldn't get enough. He was so sweet sprinkling the sugar, sprinkles and icing on the cookies while every now and then stopping to take a bite from one already decorated cookie. Love Bug looked on...and then went down for a 4 1/2 hour nap. That girl can sleep!

After cookies, we snuggled on the couch to watch "The Polar Express". The Mayor sat in D's lap for almost the entire movie...totally made D's day. After the movie, MeMe and I baked. She made pies and I made holiday braid (our Christmas morning breakfast).

While the kiddos were being bathed, MeMe and I got started on our huge Christmas Eve dinner (which we will be sitting down to enjoy in approximately 18 minutes) and then we went outside to sprinkle the reindeer food in the yard and place Santa's cookies on the table. A few pictures of Love Bug and The Mayor in their matching PJs and they were off to bed. Both sound asleep before 7:00. Now, we just wait for the big guy to arrive with all of the Christmas goodies. I can't wait to see The Mayor's face in the morning and to watch Love Bug feed off of his excitement. It is going to be such a magical day.

sprinkling the reindeer food in the front yard

merry christmas eve eve

After a trip to the gym, where I ran 2 miles without stopping thank you very much, Mamie treated Meega and me to a pedicure. Gotta love a woman who makes pampering a priority. After my pedicure I went home to a house full of fun. Love Bug was worn out from the morning errands she ran with D, MeMe, Big Daddy and The Mayor that she was already napping and The Mayor was playing with what else, his trains.

After I fed Love Bug lunch, the kids and I went to visit some of our dearest friends in our neighborhood. Sue is one of my most favorite people, and her daughters are the best kids...they are what I hope my children grow up to be like. Stephanie and Meghan are both home for Christmas so we stopped by to help decorate some cookies and meet Sue's family. The Mayor was his normal self until he met Sue's sister, then he did his "I am shy so I am going to squeeze my eyes so you can't see me" face. Love Bug was abnormally whiny. I had to wake her up to feed her lunch and I think she was punishing me for that. D said as I was leaving the house, "you never wake a sleeping baby". Yes, I know.

Sue and The Mayor decorating his gluten free cookies

Stephanie and Love Bug

Meghan and Love Bug

After The Mayor decorated his cookies and ate them all, we came home for Love Bug to go down for a much needed nap. She woke up just in time for dinner and then we had a giggle fest and photo session in our family room. At 7:19, both kids are sound asleep and the adults are relaxing. Tomorrow is a big day of decorating cookies, baking, going to church, eating a large Christmas Eve dinner and getting ready for the big guy in red to make his appearance.

trying to stand up

MeMe, Big Daddy and Love Bug

they are here

MeMe and Big Daddy rolled into town just after noon yesterday afternoon...and the fun hasn't stopped. The Mayor and Love Bug just love having their grandparents here...who wouldn't love having two new playmates and people to shower you with constant love and attention? They are going to be quite sad on the 26th when it is just me and D...but they won't have to be sad too long because Aunt Nat, Uncle Tom, Trey and Luke will be coming next week! I just love this time of year...family, family, family! Makes me so happy!

MeMe and D giving the kids a bath

Love Bug's mohawk

merry christmas to me

Today I did something I have never done before. I booked a babysitter to come watch both kids for a few hours and had some much needed one-on-one time with myself. It. was. awesome.

I went and had lunch by myself. And if you know me, this is something I would have NEVER done in my former life. Ever. But with having two sweet babies needing constant attention, it was therapeutic sitting down by myself and eating lunch with no one needing anything from me. I went to one of my favorite sandwich shops (since we can't eat their anymore because of The Mayor's diet, I wanted to treat myself). Then I walked around and did a little shopping (finished up Christmas shopping for D) and did some window shopping. Pretty much enjoyed not having to load and unload two children into a double stroller and the simplicity of just parking, opening my car door and walking straight into the store.

It was a great day, and it totally recharged my batteries. After three hours, I was eager to get home and see my babes.

Tomorrow MeMe and Big Daddy arrives and then the real fun begins!

who wouldn't miss these sweets?

my happy morning

Look at that sweet face. This is what I see every morning when I walk into Love Bug's room. Even though she can sit up on her own, she insists on staying on all 4s and peeking at me through the slats of her crib. She will just coo and smile at me. I love her and love having this face staring at me and brightening up my day.

The other face that I love to see to start my day is The Mayor. And as I mentioned in an earlier blog we put him on an all gluten-free diet about a month ago. When we made this change, we reintroduced milk into his diet. Well we just weren't seeing the changes we needed to once we put milk back into his diet, so 3 days ago we took him back off of milk and I think we have finally nailed it. No gluten and no milk and he is finally pooping like a normal 3 year old. I know, just what you wanted to read, sorry. It has been a long 2 year road to get here and I am just praying that we found what works. Just need to make sure the fevers stay away otherwise we will end up back with the specialists...and well, let's just pray that this diet will work.

One day down and 2 to go before D is off from work for the rest of the year. And in 2 days MeMe and Big Daddy finally arrive. We have a lot to look forward to!

so proud

Love Bug is beginning to master pulling up to her feet. In fact, she is really trying to be a big girl and keeps trying to pull up to her feet without holding on to something. That always gets a laugh because her little hiney just sticks up in the air while her feet and hands are all on the ground because she can't lift her torso up. Anyway, today she kept pulling herself up on this music table and could not get the grin off her face. She was so proud of herself. She is becoming such a big girl.

We have enjoyed spending the weekend together and getting the house ready for MeMe and Big Daddy to arrive tomorrow night. We could not be more excited to have them here Christmas morning...Love Bug's first Christmas. It is going to be an awesome week of family time and celebrating the true reason for the season.

the mayor was proud of his sister too