Christmas 2015

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope everyone else did, too!  We spent Christmas Eve around the house and then got dressed and ready for the candle light service at church.  The kids loved it and it thankfully no one caught themselves on fire!  Hudson was making me a little nervous with his candle, but he did great.  

 We came home and got ready for Gigi and Papa to come over.  We had dinner with them and then let the kids each open one gift.  Hudson loved his knight costume!  Then it was time to spread the reindeer food, put out cookies and treats for Santa and get the kids to bed.

They woke up several times during the night and were just so excited.  Harper came in our room around 1:30 telling me she saw a red nose outside her window.   :-)  Then finally it was morning and time to go see if Santa and been here.  And he had!  

The big thing the kids were asking for was a Wii and they were excited to get it along with some games and accessories.  Handley also got a Taylor Swift calendar and several CD's she was asking for. 

Harper received a few American Girl things and a school set because she loves to play teacher.

Hudson got Mario Cart of the Wii, Dino Charge weapons and a skateboard!

The living room was full of gifts and the kids were all so excited when they came running downstairs. 

Even Walker knew something was going on and felt the excitement.  He was the first one to come running into the room. 

Hudson was really excited about the gift he picked out for Robby.  He was shopping with me one day and saw a remote control helicopter and he was just SO determined to get it for him.  It was the cutest thing and he wouldn't let it go, so we bought it and he couldn't wait for him to open it on Christmas morning.

I was so excited to surprise everyone with the gifts I had picked out.  Smart watches for everyone!  The kids are LOVING theirs.  They can play games, time themselves, take pictures and videos, count their steps and more.  Robby was so surprised with his Apple watch and loves it, too!  

Christmas Fun with Gigi and Papa

Last weekend Robby and I had a Christmas party to attend and Gigi and Papa were kind enough to keep the kids for the night.  They planned a lot of fun for the kids and they had quite an adventure.



On Saturday night they went to Stone Mountain and had the best time.  The kids were so excited to tell me about everything they did.  There were lights everywhere, a parade, a train ride where they sang carols, Mrs. Claus' story time and more!

The next day they continued the tradition of decorating gingerbread houses with Gigi.  She always goes all out with the candy and decorations and they have so much fun creating their masterpieces.

They brought their houses home and have slowly been eating candy off of them all week!

Pink Pig and Santa!

Earlier this week we completed one of our very favorite holiday traditions...riding Macy's Pink Pig.

This is our 8th year riding the Pink Pig and visiting Santa and we have always gone with the same friends.  Once the kids all started school we started planning an afternoon during the week to go and this year we just could not all coordinate our schedules so we figured we would go the first day of our break.  That was a mistake...a BIG mistake.  You see, we thought getting there right when they open would help us to beat the crowds, but everyone in Atlanta must have had the same idea as us.  The line just to buy tickets to get on the ride was longer than I had ever seen it.  We waited almost an hour just for tickets and then we had to get in another line to get on the ride.

The kids were all really good sports and because they don't see each other that often they had a lot of catching up to do, whch helped fight the boredom of waiting in line so long.

Then we finally made it up to the front of the line and it was our turn to ride!!!

After the ride we checked out all of the merchandise that was all 50% off!!! We have an ornament that we hang on our tree each year, but I usually say no to buying other stuff because we don't need more stuffed animals, etc.  But, these sweatshirts were so cute and such a great deal that we all ended up getting them for our kids. (And these three wanted to put them on as soon as we got home!)

Because we had waited so long we decided to grab lunch before seeing Santa and guess what...more lines!  Of course all of the kids wanted Chick-fil-a and that was where the longest lines were.

Next we were ready to see the big man in red.  They made lists for Santa the night before and had been talking all about what they were going to tell them they wanted for Christmas. When we got there the line wasn't too bad, but I had heard Santa needed to eat lunch at some point and just as I had suspected, as we were waiting in line he had to go take a break.  Understandably so, but still it meant more waiting.  I wasn't about to get out of line at this point and we were positioned right in front of the TV they had playing movie previews and other things that kept the kids entertained so we just waited.  And I'm glad we did, because when he came back we were one of the first ones in line so it didn't take too long.

The kids were so excited to show Santa their lists, tell them how good they have been, and smile for a quick picture.

It was a really fun day with friends and we are so happy that we got to keep up with our annual tradition, but lesson learned.  Next year we will go back to our plan of going during the week to avoid the crazy long lines and wait times!

Christmas Happenings at School

This past week was a busy one!  Each of the kids had some really fun things planned in their classes and they all made lots of sweet memories this week.

The preschool had Santa come visit and each class got to visit with him!  Hudson was really excited for this day and told me he told Santa he would like a skateboard for Christmas.

Then on Wednesday morning at drop-off I found out that a few members of the Zac Brown Band were putting on a mini Christmas concert for the preschool kids!  Parents got to sneak in also and I was beyond excited about this.  They sang everything from Silent Night to You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, which the kids all loved!  It was such a treat to hear them sing and play instruments.

Wednesday night we met some friends for dinner at Chick-fil-a and then made our way to the church to see the live nativity.  The college aged kids acted out the story of Christmas and it was such a sweet experience for the kids!  There were even live animals they got to pet and feed after.

Harper's class party was on Thursday and I planned a snow themed party for her class. They made snowman cookies, made snowflakes out of coffee filters, played games and had lots of fun!

And because of all the fun we have been having Harper now has declared that December was made for parties.  It's on!

Handley's class party was on Friday and she also had a snow themed party. I will say that the 3rd graders were much more clam and controlled than the first grade kids, but they still had a really fun day!

Brookes' Wedding Weekend

This past weekend we made the trek to NC for a few different reasons.  The main one was to attend my cousin's wedding.  Brookes was getting married and because it was so close to Christmas we decided to go ahead and celebrate Christmas with my family, too.  

We left mid-morning on Friday in hopes that we would get there in time for the rehearsal dinner.  Not 10 minutes down the road the girls were already arguing and Hudson had already asked if we were almost there.  No lie.  Walker, on the other hand, was a great passenger!  

When we woke up and found our elf in the car we hoped that would help with the kids behavior, but it really didn't.  

After a long ride, we finally arrived in just enough time to change and get to the rehearsal dinner.

The kids had a blast running around and playing in the sand at Capt'n Bills.  They also love the hot chocolate bar and donuts for dessert!  Robby and I loved catching up with my family that we don't see that often.

The next morning we had Christmas!  We all passed out gifts and it was SO much fun watching the kids, but especially Hudson open his gifts.  He got some fun stuff and he was SO excited and happy with it all.  I just know Christmas morning is going to be really fun with him.  One game Handley got was Twister.  She'd been hoping to receive it this Christmas so she was really excited to give it a whirl and Uncle Trey and Sophia had fun playing with her, too!

Late afternoon we got ready for the wedding and made our way to the historic plantation where it was being held.  It was so beautiful.  They lucked out with great weather and it was the perfect day for an outdoor wedding!

We took advantage of the gorgeous grounds with old barns, twinkling lights in the trees, and beautiful backdrops to take a few family pictures after the ceremony.  

Then the kids were super excited to have their picture made with the beautiful bride and her sister who was the matron of honor.

Then they hit the S'mores station and didn't leave. I really lost count of how many they ate, but they were having a ball and loved being able to run around and play during the reception.

We also spent some time under the mistletoe and had fun with the photo props!

 It was really hard to leave the next morning and made me super sad to leave these gorgeous views and say goodbye to my family. I just don't see them near as often as I would like, but I am still very thankful for the fun weekend we had together!