December - the abbreviated version

One of my favorite pics of the season!

So, in effort to catch up on my blogging, I'm going to work backward...I'm going to give an overview of our month of December...and in my next postings, hope to catch up on Halloween...and maybe even Makayla's birthday from AUGUST! :)

December has been a blur...wasn't it just Thanksgiving?!

Our month included Seth traveling to the ACC championship game, Christmas card photo shoot, Christmas parades,  a cookie party, candy cane hunts, Christmas tree farm and decorating, Makayla's last day of dance this semester, cookie baking, a school read-in, a Christmas program at church, and lots and lots of time spent with family and friends.  A few glimpses of the past month...

A few pics not used for the Christmas card, but cute nonetheless!

cheering on the Hokies

This one makes me giggle!

waiting for the parade to start

the perfect tree

before...

showing off the decorated tree

one of my 5th graders before her readers theater performance

Walter the Baker and homemade pretzels

making a train craft at Lowe's

Mak in her Santa apron...ready to bake!

snowman cookies

Foster waiting for some crumbs to drop

Liam being a cookie monster

Yum!

Who is that nut?! :)

Merry Christmas!

Two posts in two days...is it supposed to snow or something?!

To say that today was a merry Christmas would be an understatement.  I loved each and every minute of our day, and can't believe it is only 9:35 PM.  What a day full of worship, family, gifts, food, and love!

We went to bed at 10:45 last night completely expecting to be woken up at 6:00 AM by eager kiddos...I tossed and turned with anticipation waiting until the kids finally got up at...8:00 AM.  That doesn't happen around here.  I was so excited when they finally got up!  They were both excited to see if Santa really did pay a visit.  He did, and left Liam with a workbench, and Makayla with a teddy bear and an Easybake oven.  After they took some time to play with Liam's workbench, they opened the remainder of their gifts.  They were just so cute how they got so excited over each and every gift. Liam was priceless with his Sesame Street drumset, and Makayla was too cute with her Disney princess doll.  Most priceless of all was Liam's reaction to his race car cake, and yes, I did let him eat it for breakfast.  Matter of fact...we ALL ate it for breakfast! :)

After gifts, we headed to church (they kids were slightly wired...could it have been all that sugar from the cake?!), followed by a fun filled day at my mom and dad's.  I love that no matter what, the whole family makes it a priority to be there at the same time.  I love to have all of my family together, and I love to watch all of the kids play together.  We ate lunch, and then watched the kiddos open their gifts...what a whirlwind that can be.  :) Once they were finished opening gifts, they played the rest of the afternoon while the adults then opened gifts.  We topped off the afternoon with more cake and eggnog ice cream...can you see another diet in my future?! :)

Once home again, we opened our stockings and played with new toys.  We read new books, and tucked the kiddos into bed.  We look forward to Christmas round 3 tomorrow with Seth's parents and brother...only after I make coffee in my new coffee maker and donuts in my donut maker! :)

candy canes from Santa

finding gifts from Santa

new teddy bear

discovering the cake

Does it get any cuter than this?!?

She gives her brother a run for his money in the cute department!

Nobody is hurt...that is pure excitement! :)

sporting his new slippers

Seth with his favorite gift...not really.  I made dry erase bedside notes...I thought they were a cute idea (again from Pinterest).  It's going to take some convincing for him! :)

me with my loot

kids before cake

Makayla after cake...actually, I'm not sure what is going on in this picture! :)

For those of you that keep up with this blog, you know that my brother loves to creatively wrap my gift each year.  This year's treasure was wrapped in an unrinsed cat food bag...complete with cat hair on the bow and in the bag...yep, he loves me! :)

sweet Makayla and her stocking

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!!

Where to begin...

...because I have not written in so long, it is always hard for me to find a place to start.  There is no time like the present, so I will start with today...
...Makayla has a new favorite thing to do...she loves to lay in bed with us each morning.  There are mornings that I get up to exercise that she will wait outside my door waiting for me complete my workout just so she can cuddle with me afterward.  Today was no different.  She came and cuddled, and because there were no alarms set (much like my entire week!), I enjoyed our time together all the more.      
     Once we got up, we had a day full of cookie eating, game playing, cake decorating (yep, you heard me right), fingernail painting, light seeing, and gift opening.
     A few snapshots of our day...

      The only real thing Liam has requested for Christmas is a race car cake...and a few race cars, so I wanted to grant this wish.  I am so thankful that my sister-in-law loaned me her Lightning McQueen cake pan.  I cannot wait to see Liam's reaction tomorrow morning...especially when he realizes I'll actually let him eat some for BREAKFAST! ;)

     In preparation for the man in red, Makayla hung the magic key on our outside tree (we have no chimney, remember?!), and put out cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer.

      On Christmas Eve, I love to allow the children to open one gift (usually new books and new pjs).  This year, I let them open a few.  There were a few handmade gifts that I wanted them to have time to appreciate without having to compete with the other gifts they would receive tomorrow.

      I made each child a sign for their bedroom door (an idea I got from Pinterest).  The sign says, "I love you because."  Each day I can use a dry erase marker to write a reason that I love them.  They seemed to like the signs more than I expected, and proceeded to decorate them with the marker to their own liking.

      The next gift they opened were scrapbooks I had made them from Disney.  I have been working on these for weeks, and was so eager to watch them flip through the pages and relive memories of our magical summer trip.  Liam seemed more impressed than Makayla, and looked through his book several times...each time giving a play by play of the significance of each picture.  A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E!

      Makayla and I started a new tradition last Christmas...Christmas Eve manicures.  Seems so vain, but it is special girl time with my sweet little lady.  I love that she picked green sparkle polish! :)

      The final gift that the kids opened were their new pjs...Makayla in her "Staying up for Santa" pjs...

 ...and Liam in his new Mickey Mouse pjs.

     After such a busy day, the children were in bed shortly after 8:00, but only after reading some Christmas poems and Luke 2.  May visions of sugar plums dance in their heads.  Once they were off to sleep, Foster helped fill stockings and set out the final few gifts.  I cannot wait for Christmas morning!!!!!
     This is my favorite time of the year!  I never want to lose sight of the significance of this holiday, and I hope to never take for granted the special blessings that I have been given.
     May God bless you this Christmas season!