More Christmas

We celebrated more Christmas with my aunt, uncle, and cousins from Columbus and Alabama today. It is such great fun to see the kids interact with their extended family! We had a great day eating, eating, eating, opening more gifts and watching tv while the kids played.

The kids enjoying their meal (Molly was MIA).

Uncle Mike, Molly, and Caroline enjoying a great read after dinner.Caroline getting a little help from Kelly (my cousin).

Drew enjoying even more presents this Christmas season!

Sugar and...

Well, more sugar. I really should know this, when they are quiet, there is trouble. Caroline has always been able to entertain herself, so I don't really worry when she is quiet in another room. I have learned my lesson. Drew came running into the family room tonight telling me, "Caroline is a mess Mommy". Yes, just last week I mentioned that Caroline has learned to climb up on our kitchen chairs. I then remembered, "Drew's carmel dip!" But Drew has been so good about putting his dishes in the sink...not tonight. I laughed so hard when I came into the kitchen. And it was even better when I pulled the camera out, and covered in carmel, with a mouth full of apple, Caroline lets out a "Cheeeese".

Choo-Choo...All Aboard!

This is all I hear Drew yelling from my parents' basement. My dad has started a Thomas the Train collection down there. He says it is for Drew, but I think he enjoys it just as much. We decided to take Papa to "The Train Place" today. I knew my dad would love it. Drew had so much fun showing Pa everything. It was so neat to see my son with my dad.

Caroline the Climber

You would think that with all of the new toys, Caroline would be entertaining herself with her new babies or dollhouse or cash register or Elmo...but no, climbing couch cushions is much more fun. I think she just needed to get away from Drew and his jackhammer and chainsaw in the other room.

Christmas 2009

After all the toys had been opened and batteries put in...after the monkey bread was eaten (and many cups of coffee drank)...and, most importantly, after naps were taken, we headed to my parents' house for Christmas dinner and more presents.
My mom NEVER goes overboard with gifts!
Caroline LOVES Christmas!
Jessica and I were drowning in the kids' presents!
We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It all comes to an end so quickly...but we have plenty of toys to keep us busy in 2010!

Christmas Morning 2009

Being a parent at Christmas is so amazing. I now understand why my mom always went all out for us kids. The joy that they brought me this holiday can not be described-the excitement, anticipation, questions, and innocence. It was so wonderful to hear Drew tell me one day that "Baby Jesus was born on Christmas Mommy." When I took him to bed tonight, we sang "Happy Birthday" together. It brought tears to my eyes.
Santa woke Drew up this year to give him his gifts. Drew was so excited (and a little out of it). After Santa got back in his sleigh, we woke Caroline up to join in the fun.
She wasn't quite sure what was going on...
but quickly got in on the action!


And the jackhammer that all little boys dream of! This is all that Drew has talked about since we saw it at Target back in the fall.

Christmas Eve 2009

We headed to the M Family's Christmas Eve. It is always so much fun to get together with Craig's family and see all of his cousins that have moved away. The kids had a great time and wore each other out. I have never seen so much energy-Christmas will do that to a kid!


These folding chairs kept them both very busy-up and down-up and down!

It was exciting for me to see that Drew is old enough to be one of the elves that pass out the gifts! This is always the responsibility of the young cousins.

This was one of the funniest things. C had a chocolate covered pretzel. Caroline, being the munch wagon that she is, kept staring at him eating it-like right in his face. She kept opening her mouth every time he took a bite and leaning in for one herself. Finally, he held it out for her. Right after this, while C had it in his mouth, Caroline squatted down and started eating it from the bottom. She makes her momma proud!

Reindeer Food

At Drew's preschool party, they made reindeer food to be sprinkled in the yard on Christmas Eve (glitter and oatmeal). We had to be sure to do this before we headed to church! He was covered in glitter!

Decorating Cookies

So I have wanted to try decorating cookies with royal icing for a while. Mom and I baked all day Tuesday and I brought home the sugar cookies. I planned to decorate them this afternoon. Craig decided to head out to shop for my new minivan (eek!) while I was icing. So between fielding his phone calls, faxing info to him at the dealership and trying to keep two kids away from all the cookies, I had some success and some...well, take a look for yourself. :)



I now know that Caroline can climb up on our kitchen chairs.

Gingerbread Train

Daddy and Drew made a gingerbread train this year! It was quite an adventure to say the least :) Caroline pretty much watched tv while I supervised Craig and Drew.

Another Drew-ism...

Just too cute not to post...Drew and I just finished a game of "Slides and Ladders". Really, how many kids use the word chute. Unless you are at Grandma and Grandpa's house--they have a laundry chute :)

Pajama Party!

Drew's class had a pajama holiday party. I volunteered to help out. I helped the "room mom" with the craft. All of my teacher friends can appreciate the fact that this wonderful mom was not a teacher--she planned a craft with a lot of glue and glitter! :) She told me I was in charge of the next holiday craft. They played a game, did the craft, ate a snack and listened to a story. It was quite interesting to see Drew in this environment. The highlight though was when his teacher's assistant asked me if Drew made a lot of different sounds at home. All I could do was smile and say, "Since birth". Great...he does them at school too!

Gingerbread House

God bless those preschool teachers! They had each child make their own gingerbread (graham cracker) house! Here is Drew with his creation before he dug in to eat some of it!

Drew's Preschool Performance

Drew's preschool did a wonderful Christmas performance this year. They had each class sing a song and then the Pre-Ks did a play. It was so exciting to see Drew participate in the motions! :) He had told me all day that he didn't want to sing. So I did what every mom would do--bribed him with UDF. He was just about the only one that did all of the motions in his class. It was a relief-you always worry if your child will be "that" child. :)


Headed for a costume change.

What a group of angels!




Caroline enjoyed the show too!

Maddie's 4th Birthday!

We happily celebrated Maddie's fourth birthday at the Young Chef's Academy. The kids got to make pizza and breadsticks and enjoy Maddie's yummy cupcakes. We are so happy to be friends with such a great young lady! Thanks for the fun!



Zeke, our neighbor, was there to celebrate too!

Happy 4th Birthday Maddie!