Merry Christmas!

I am sad to say that my poor children got nothing for Christmas! Kidding of course...it looks like FAO Schwartz dropped off a huge truckload in our playroom! At some point I need to go make some sense of it, but right now, it just gets pulled right back out again, so I'll worry about it later. We had a wonderful Christmas and were blessed to spend so much time with our wonderful families.

Annah and "Sally" (aka Patty Playpal), who totally freaks me out. Liam is loving his first pony that he can ride all by himself

Santa brought Annah a Dora scooter. She keeps riding it all over saying "scoot, scoot, scoot" as if that might make her go faster!

Liam and his loot from Santa

New Do and an Early Christmas

It has taken me a while to get this posted, but Belle ate the power cord to the computer, so...it took a while to get up and running again! The Monday before Christmas, Caroline was in town and Annah and Caroline both got new haircuts. Caroline had never had a haircut before (she is almost 6)! I must say Annah looks pretty darn cute with her new 'do! After that Laura and her girls came over to exchange Christmas gifts with Annah and Liam. Annah got a Fancy Nancy set (if you do not have young girls, fancy Nancy is a phenomenon about a little girl named Nancy, who is, you guessed it, fancy. It started as a book and has turned into dolls, dress up clothes, etc. At any rate, Annah loves Fancy Nancy) from Delainey that she loves and is still strewn all over the house. Jacqueline gave Liam some books that are all boy (about cars and trucks). After that, on the Gramme and Grandaddy's to exchange gifts with Chas and Caroline before they headed back to Charleston. A full day, but so much fun!

Lookin' Good!

Are these girls excited or what?

"Thanks for my present!"

Run, Run As Fast As You Can

Liam caught a gingerbread man!

Gross!

Even Belle thought she wanted to get in on the action

The Reason for the Season

Friday was Annah's school party. The whole school celebrates with "cookies and carols," each class sung a couple songs and then there was a party for the entire pre-school in the fellowship hall. The caroling was possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. Sadly, I forgot my camera, but mom brought hers, so as soon as I get the pictures from her I will add them. Annah did get on stage (which was impressive for her), but was far too busy picking her nose to sing. However, she sang all of the songs beautifully after we got home (all her dolls were the audience). We all sang happy birthday to Baby Jesus and it was nice to remind the kids why we celebrate Christmas. These are a couple pictures of Annah and Liam reading "The Night Before Christmas" later that day

The Elf on the Shelf...kind of

So, I am pretty sure this is not what the creators of the "Elf on the Shelf" had in mind! Annah decided it would make a great hula skirt.

Funny Annah (Good Will)

I forgot to add this in the last post, so here's one more...Mom came by the house today to pick up a massive amount of stuff to take to Goodwill. She had a load to take too, so was taking mine too (thanks, Mom!). So Mom is telling Annah bye, that she's go to go take some stuff to Goodwill (keep in mind that Annah is really into knowing everyone's "real" name, like I am Mommy, Daddy is Will, etc ) and Annah says, "But Mommy, Daddy is already good. Santa will bring him some presents." Cracks me up!

Liam is Mobile!

Liam is officailly mobile! I can't decide if I am excited or if I want to sit on hime and keep hime still! Yesterday he figured out how to crawl. It is still kind of a struggling seal move/commando crawl, but he can get where he wants to go. Every now and then he gets on all fours and actually "crawls" a few steps, but mostly scooting. THEN I put him in Annah's old walker and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something zip across the room...it was Liam! He doesn't walk in the walker (as the name might suggest), but runs! He is so proud of himself and it is so cute to see him accomplish something. Watch out world, Liam is on the move!

Liam also discovered the joy of chocolate ice cream

PS the jammies he has on in this pic were Annah's when she was 15 mos old...and they fit!

Crawling!

Running!

Holiday Quirks

Emily (One is Not So Lonely) tagged me to list my 5 Holiday Quirks, so here they are:

1. I LOVE shopping for presents for other people. This is not to say that I don't like shopping for myself, but there is something about finding the perfect present for someone that just makes my day. Ideally, I like to have the whole day and shop till I drop, however, now this requires a babysitter and then another one to get all the presents wrapped, so now it is usually done in bits and pieces.
2. I am sad to say that I caved and got a fake tree a few years ago and sadder to admit that I like it just as much. We got one after the last real one we had fell over and broke a dozen or so ornaments. I got so scared that one would fall on a kid that we went to Lowes the next year and got an artificial one. It never dries out and is ready to go the day after Thanksgiving. I do miss the smell of a real tree though...
3. I hate surprises. As a kid, I used to cut the tape on the presents under the tree. Unwrap them and them re-tape them back up. I also used to snoop for any unwrapped presents in the house. I don't even like to not know what other people are getting Annah and Liam. Don't know why (maybe it's about not being in control---incidentally, Emily I have the teeth dream all the time, but it is that one tooth gets turned sideways and then falls out. I have a serious phobia of loosing teeth and I dread the day that my kids start to loose their teeth). At any rate, I like to know what I am getting. Will has only surprised me one time the year Annah was born and he had to hide it at the dealership so I wouldn't find it!
4. I am a junkie for Christmas Vacation and The Christmas Story. I have seen them both a million times and I still love them. I might go watch one now!
5. My favorite thing is that it keeps getting better and better every year. Each year, Annah understands a little more and now Liam is ready to do the same. The joy on their faces is priceless. Christmas morning is the greatest hour of the whole year.
6. I know, it is supposed to be 5, but one more won't hurt...There are two traditions from my childhood, that we still have to do every year. We get to open one present Christmas Eve and it is always pajamas (makes for cute Christmas morning pictures) and we have to have my mom's sausage biscuits while opening presents in the morning. Mom even had to make them and bring them over last year and I hope she does it again this year. Since she is now a vegetarian, it may be pushing my luck, but here's hoping!

Gramme Time

On our way to the ballet with Caroline and Gramme

I had to figure out how to work the timer on my camera to take this one

Annah icing (aka eating the icing) the cookies

The finished product

Annah has been able to spend a lot of time with her Gramme lately (not that she normally does not spend a lot of time with Gramme). Chas and Caroline were in town this weekend so we had a girls night at the Nutcracker. Annah was amazed and sat through most of it with her mouth wide open in total awe. At one point, she said, "Mommy, all the ballerinas are on the stage! I want to go dance with them!" Maybe next year she'll be old enough to be a baby angel? We did have to leave a few minutes early when Annah started to have a meltdown, but it was 2 hours past her bedtime so all-in-all, I think she did really well.

Today Gramme came over to make Christmas cookies with Annah. We all had on our matching Christmas aprons and made a huge mess (and ate a lot of cookie batter), but had a lot of fun. The cookies have more sprinkles than any I have ever seen. They might send Will into a diabetic shock, but they sure look good!