Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas!!We have had a fun and joyous Christmas season! Here are just some of the memories we made over the last week or so...

Saturday, December 18 we gathered at my parent's house to celebrate Christmas with my family. One of the attractions was Grammy & Papa's new ping pong table. Everyone tried playing a little...

Rachel & Mommy playing Papa.Rachel trying out a paddle for herself.I believe this was 3 on 1 - Heidi, Jason & Rachel against Brooks.Cousins (minus Rachel - she was napping)Opening presentsThe best presents are the ones you can climb on!Or maybe the best is a stroller for my baby doll."Grammy, you are not getting this out quick enough! Let me help."
Stockings!Candy!Emma checking out her Curious George kaleidoscope.Emma and the reindeer. Each of the kids got a reindeer in their stocking and Emma had a GREAT time role playing with several of them - it was fun to watch!"Thank you Great Gram!"*********************************
Sunday, December 19 was the Lessons & Carols service at church. It was a wonderful service of worship. These pictures are from that day.Santa girls back at home.*******************************
Thursday, December 23 we had a college friend over for dinner and then she joined us to go see the Lights of Life. Before you see too many lights, you have the opportunity to park and walk around an area where they have pony rides, a kiddie train, a petting zoo, and of course pictures with Santa. Emma and Heidi decided the only thing they wanted to do was the petting zoo - so we did. Emma LOVED it. They gave us a few handfuls of animal feed when we went in. Emma enjoyed having the animals eat out of her hand.Rachel was ok with the smaller animals (rabbits, ducks, chickens, pig), but got very nervous when larger animals came up to her (goats, sheep). She was willing to pet this little goat.

And Miss Ruth Ann kept Heidi off the ground so none of the animals would "get her." ;-)
After the petting zoo, we got back in the car to thaw out/warm up and enjoy the rest of the lights. They really do a great job and have lots of fun and beautiful displays. It was particularly neat when we rounded a corner and Heidi saw the next display, she exclaimed, "look, it's a manger scene!" She asked to stop so we could really look at it. We were able to pull out of the line of traffic and fully take in the manger scene. It was a fun evening!
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Friday, December 24 we attended the "family friendly" Christmas Eve service at 5PM. It truly was amazing the number of kids that came forward for the message. And even more amazing that with so many small children, we still light candles and it all turns out ok. :-) We tried to get a family photo, but it didn't turn out. But here are a couple other pics.**************************************
Saturday, December 25 - Christmas Day!!!

We started off the morning with Krispy Kreme doughnuts!!Then it was on to see what Santa brought.Rachel enjoyed her ride-on car and new baby dolls.The look of determination. Her feet just barely touch the floor - makes it a little difficult.Heidi & Rachel enjoying the cash register Santa brought for Heidi.Emma reading one of the several books she received. I believe this is one her school teacher gave her!
It has been a wonderful time! We are so thankful for all the many blessings we have received. Most of all we are thankful for the gift of Jesus - who came in to this world as a baby on Christmas - lived a perfect life, and chose to die on the cross to save us from our sins and give us eternal life with God.

Merry CHRISTmas!!

A White Christmas

We didn't wake up to a white Christmas - but we're going to bed with one! It started snowing here around noon and kept on for quite awhile ('til after dark). I don't know how much we ended up with - maybe an inch or so. But according to the paper, it's the first Christmas Day snow accumulation in Atlanta since 1882!!! I'll do another post about Christmas - stay tuned.

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!!!