It's over - and I am OK with that

So Christmas is over - are you ok with it? I am. Don't get me wrong - I love it when it is here, but I am itching to get everything back in order. But before I do, here is our Christmas in review...

Toby was Fantastic in his Christmas pageant at school and at church. He can't remember all the words to the songs but he can hold onto the last word in each song and belt it for everyone to hear.
I didn't get any pictures of Trey at his class party - but it was fun as well. I have to say - I love school holidays. We started out the break by staying in our PJs and lounging around. The Monday before Christmas we had friends over for dinner and Gingerbread houses. We do this every year and let me fill you all in on a little secret I have learned from doing this a few years in a row. Costco puts their Gingerbread houses on sale (usually the Monday before Christmas) and they go from being 10 something to 4 something. Sometimes it pays to purposefully procrastinate. The next night our neighborhood gathered for caroling and a bonfire. It was great and I even got Lars to join us. The drink cart and hot chocolate was a hit with the kids and they loved being with friends and being allowed to run through the street at night while singing Christmas songs. I hope to add pictures soon - they are on my father in law's camera.

Christmas Eve was nice. We had a big dinner and the kids opened their pjs and then a few pictures before we read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke. Here are a few of the kids:We told Trey to stop harassing JK or we would take away one of his gifts...


A couple things I want to remember. When we were talking about leaving a plate of goodies for Santa and his reindeer Toby asked us if we could leave a plate for the Indian. Hmmm, not so sure about that, but the next day when we saw that Santa ate his goodies Toby was broken hearted because we forgot to leave something out for the Indian. We still are confused but can't help but to laugh at that one. Also, I kept asking Trey if he thought Santa was going to come if he was naughty and he would tell me he didn't care because he would just open Grandma's gifts that were already under the tree. Nice.

Well, Santa did come and we all had a wonderful holiday.Oh the joy and fun of seeing a child's first Christmas.

By the way, Santa brought me (among other things) a chocolate bar with bacon in it - eat your hearts out! He knows me well.

Christmas day we went to Calaway Gardens for their light show - it was wonderful. Having dinner at their lodge was a bonus too! Thanks Jan - we loved having you here with us.

Trey announced that the day after Christmas was a holiday. He called it Gingerbread Smash Day. He was soooooo excited to destroy the gingerbread house (should I be worried). Here are some highlights.So now on to New Years! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. And from our house to yours - happy cleaning and taking down, and organizing...

It has to be said

She is the best baby in the world. A week ago I found out she had a double ear infection. I found this out at her well visit. She never even acted like she was in pain. Now this sweet little girl has RSV. On top of that her body has broken out with a terrible rash. The doctor says it is from the RSV. But she keeps on truckin' and laughin the whole time - the same way she did when she had Swine Flu, seriously this girl is a CHAMP!

Speaking of CHAMPS - have you checked in on my cousins little girl lately? She is the ULTIMATE! Check in on her at teganlyn.blogspot.com

It's that time of year

Toby is a little nervous about Santa coming. The other night he wanted to go over a couple things with us. He wanted to make sure that when Santa comes he will not come into his room while he sleeps. (He also wanted to make sure that Jesus won't be coming into his room when He comes again, but that is a whole other discussion....) So we made our annual trip to the BassPro Shop to see Santa - it really is the only place for a true Southerner to say "Hey" to Santa - Toby decided Santa was all right after all.
We did this for Family Home Evening and met up with some other friends from church. Dinner with 22 of us was quite a treat - especially for our waitress

In other thoughts, the house is decorated and I am checking holiday traditions off my list one by one. We have decided to stay here for Christmas this year, it will be the FIRST Christmas Lars and I have ever celebrated in our own home. We hope to have his dad here to celebrate with us. The only problem is now I have to talk Lars into doing our neighborhood caroling and bon fire - he has already told me no way - rude. Jan are you in? We can leave scrooge home by himself to be visited by his ghosts of caroling pasts - I know he has them!

Goodbye Fall

Christmas time is here and so that means goodbye to fall. Around here though, it seems as though we are just hitting the peak of leaves turning and falling. We had some fun saying so long to fall and now we are ready to celebrate Christmas! Thanks to the Longneckers for a wonderful Thanksgiving! Did anyone get pictures? That must mean we were too busy eating and laughing. And maybe we were a little too busy shopping....