All I want for Christmas...

The Tooth Fairy has been busy at our house - she's been here twice in one week!!! Emma lost her bottom front teeth in Kindergarten. Then she didn't lose any more until last week - a bottom tooth next to the front ones came out at school last Monday. Then one of her top front teeth came out this past Monday! And another bottom one is loose. I guess the Tooth Fairy better stay prepared.

Rachel Dancing

Rachel has really taken to dancing. :-)

Rachel says No

We were eating out a week or so ago and there was a sign on the wall that said "no smoking." Emma read it and asked what that meant. So Jason was explaining it to her and Rachel really picked up on the "no" part and started shaking her head. So then Emma and Heidi kept saying "no smoking Rachel" to get her to shake her head no. And they thought it was hilarious! So Rachel kept shaking her head and they kept laughing. The laughing you hear is mostly Emma, but Heidi is in there some too. :-)

Visit with Santa

This past Tuesday we went to Lockheed's Annual Tree Lighting. It was rather cold! But we bundled everyone up and we enjoyed the music presented by a local elementary school choir. Then Santa arrived on a fire truck. Thankfully he goes inside for pictures. We ended up towards the end of the line, but after about an hour wait, the girls got to talk with Santa and have their picture made.Heidi's list (some of which she wrote herself as I spelled things for her - I wish we'd thought to take a picture of it before she was literally walking up to Santa).As I mentioned in a few posts back, Heidi has said she much prefers Mrs. Claus to Santa. And she had plans to give her list to Mrs. Claus and she could tell it to Santa. WELL.... Mrs. Claus wasn't exactly there this year. There was a lady handing out stockings to the kids after they sat with Santa and Heidi called her Mrs. Claus, but she wasn't really there to be included in pictures. But Heidi did VERY well with Santa. When it was her turn she walked up to him and handed him our pile of lists (she was in charge of all 3). He started reading hers and asking her about it and she answered his questions and everything!Then it was Emma's turn to talk about her list.Rachel wasn't too sure what to think. I held her until it was group picture time and she lasted about 30 seconds on his lap before she was ready to go.An overall successful visit with Santa!

Christmas Preparations

We ended the Thanksgiving weekend with going to pick out a Christmas tree. Our neighbor has a tree lot nearby that we enjoy going to. They are beautiful, freshly cut trees nicely displayed for easy viewing. Heidi was VERY in to picking out a tree. She would walk up to one, point, and say, "how about this one?" Then on to the next tree - same thing. :-)They all towered over Rachel!
Heidi had a tendency to pick out trees that were taller than we needed. So Jason told her we needed a smaller one. After a little bit, she called to us - "How about this one!!" I think she really wanted it - it was definitely smaller! Then we had to tell her we needed one bigger than that (how we confuse our children). I asked her if I could take her picture with it since we weren't going to buy it.They have a wood stove set up at the lot to keep them warm as they man the lot through cold evenings. And it was a cold evening when we were there! Here is Emma enjoying the warmth. As soon as we got home, Heidi wanted to know when we could decorate the tree. When could we put lights on the tree? Could she help? It took 5 days to get it all done, but the end result is beautiful! (Although I need to get a clearer picture.)Merry Christmas!!

Black Friday & Doughnuts

I'm one of those crazy ones that enjoys Black Friday shopping. It's fun to get good deals! And it's fun to observe. :-) So I went shopping on Friday morning - not crazy early though - I was at Kohl's at 7:45 AM. They had opened at 3 AM!!!! With me out shopping, Jason took advantage of the time with his girls and took them to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts! They had a great time and he took some fun pictures.

Notice the icing all over her pants. It's hard to eat Krispy Kreme doughnuts neatly - no matter how old you are.Chocolate iced with sprinkles. Yum!!!

Thanksgiving in Dahlonega

After sleeping in on Wednesday (we got in from Ohio at 12:30 AM), it was time to get ready for Thanksgiving. Go to Publix, make a pecan pie, re-pack an overnight bag for all of us and drive to Dahlonega to spend the night at my parent's house. After dinner there, we all piled in to our van and drove in to town. The U.S. Capital Christmas Tree made a stop in Dahlonega on it's way from Wyoming to D.C. The trucker who was hauling it is from Dahlonega, so they got to make a detour to his hometown. It was on a really long truck with just a small window to view it.The town was decorated for Christmas and had a celebration and various activities surrounding the time the tree was there. I'm guessing this is where Santa sits, but he wasn't there, so the girls piled in to the sleigh.One of those things was a live nativity. However we got there right as they were finishing it and it was more like a petting zoo for us. Which Emma loved.And Heidi and Rachel were a little more timid of the animals. I'm not sure Heidi's feet touched the ground while we were near the animals. Eventually I think they did both touch a sheep or goat.After seeing the animals, the tree, and taking in the Christmas lights on the square, we went to Dairy Queen for a treat. Couldn't resist posting this great picture of Grammy with her girls.We spent the night at Grammy and Papa's house and the rest of the family arrived on Thursday.

Emma with Uncle Curtis and Brooks.Heidi playing with Lindsay.Chinese Checkers - the game that unites the generations. :-)SistersFamily!It was a wonderful day to spend together. SO thankful for my family!!!