Christmas morning

Christmas morning was earlier than I thought. No one slept very well since it was the beginning of the sickness, but that didn't seem to slow down the fun and excitement of Christmas.  I got very few pictures, since I wanted to get more video this year. I am pleased with the clips I got too, although I forgot to tell Paul to focus it when he was holding it, so it's a lot is blurrier than I like.  All in all it was a nice morning. Paul made cinnamon rolls and I made fresh orange juice. The kids tore into each present and loved every one of them.

There was not one single picture taken of me that morning, not that I mind too much, in the rush to the front room where the tree and presents were, I was just lucky to have grabbed some clothes and my camera before half of the presents were already opened... :) Paul and I are so fortunate to have such wonderful families who are so thoughtful and generous, not just at holiday time, but all the time.  Thank you to everyone who contributed to our celebration.  It was a perfect day. Merry Christmas!

last advent activities

Our last three advent activities were all during the same day, and were three of my favorites.  The first was calling my dad to read "Twas The Night Before Christmas", a holiday tradition from when I was a child. We Skyped with him and the boys loved hearing the story and the LOUD whistle from Grandpa Chuck. Thank you dad, for continuing on the tradition. The second thing we did that night was to read from Luke in the Bible and talk about the importance of the real meaning of Christmas. It was so sweet and the boys really do understand. I am so proud of them.  Then after the boys went to bed, we had the missionaries over to eat.  There was a ton of food and pie and ice cream for dessert. YUM! The missionaries helped us with our last advent activity.  Without going into detail, because I want it to remain anonymous and special, we surprised a family who would have otherwise had no toys for their 8 children with Christmas presents a la ding dong ditch.  It was late and the dark night was a perfect cover. Their gasps and thank you's shouted into the night made it feel magical.  Thank you to the Hutchins family and the Rogers family for also donating toys and books for this family.  This is the true Christmas spirit, giving, without any hesitations or expectations.  This will for sure be a new family tradition.

dress

The Sunday before Christmas, Lullaby wore her friend Allie Rogers' dress and Isabel Abbajay's coat. The coat is only on loan and we are taking very good care of it! :) Lullaby is pretty much the cutest thing ever.  We have inherited so many adorable dresses, she has worn a different one each week to church for over a month.  Lucky girl. She wasn't very excited about a photo shoot or the matching hat, but she went along with it long enough for a couple pictures. Do you like the bruise on her forehead? Ahh, the joys of learning to run...

At church she spent the whole day in her daddy's arms, as usual. She loves her daddy time and doesn't get nearly enough of it during the week.

Today, however, Lullaby, Hawken and I are home sick from church. Paul took Matix and is teaching the class I was supposed to sub for.  The kids have fevers and coughs and Lullaby had a rash.  It's apparently a virus, and should be gone in the next couple of days, thank goodness for having a doctor in the house! 

advent activities

The last few days of our advent are a little jumbled up. I know one of the days we went for a walk to look at all the pretty Christmas lights. Another day we watched The Grinch. Another day we ate gingerbread men and drank (cold) hot chocolate. There are no pictures of these days. Each activity was good though, and doing this activity advent has made me so appreciative of the little nothings. Like looking at lights, talking about which house was our favorite and why. It makes the season magical.  One of the last days of advent activities that I did get pictures of was our reindeer races. We got a package in the mail a few days earlier from my grandma with antlers in it. Originally when I had planned on doing these reindeer races we were going to make our own antlers, but the ones from my grandma came right on time and were perfect.

We took the kids after dinner to Piedmont park with the reindeer antlers, trikes, and lanterns. They raced up and down the hills a million times. It was so fun.  We played until it was FREEZING cold. ("Freezing" in Georgia = anything less than 50 degrees, and I'm sure it was, or at least close to that)

classy

After a tasty spaghetti dinner, Lullaby likes to relax in the tub wearing only her mess and a necklace. You know you wish you were as classy as this little lady.

date night with the Williams

We went out with the Williams on a double date. Charla's mom is here visiting and watched their kids, and Peter got Prya to come over to watch our kids. We went out for dinner and dessert.  They are such fun company.

Dinner was at a restaurant (I don't remember the name) that served only hotdogs and bratwursts... Sounds gross, but they were all fancy and SUPER tasty.

Dessert was at an old style candy and chocolate shop. There were ridiculous amounts of treats there. We got a ton and had fun sampling them all. Thank you Peter and Charla for the best time. We love you guys!

advent day 19

Our attempt to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop this year was a bust. We went last year in Miami and got the CUTEST pictures, but the Georgia Santa is apparently busier, and we didn't get there in time to get a ticket to see him.  The kids still enjoyed the carousel, fish tank and all the other fun stuff they have there.

After our advent activity failed, we went to Five Guys "boogers and fries" according to our kids. They especially loved the peanuts. They were allowed to scoop their own, which made it even cooler.

genius

I think making food look interesting enough for children to eat is a challenging job. Tomatoes and blackberries somehow made it to the bottom of the list of foods the boys were willing to try (Lullaby will eat anything). So I tried this for one snack time... adding them to bagels with cream cheese.

Turns out, they love tomatoes and blackberries, especially if added to bagels. Hooray! I am a genius.

advent day 18

My grandma Evie sent us a package full of something jingle-y.  We had changed our plans that day for the advent, so opening my grandma's package became our activity instead. Hooray for perfect timing!

Inside the box were three pairs of reindeer antlers and three new jingle bell ornaments. The kids love them! Thank you grandma for the sweet and thoughtful gift!