Christmas in NC

We were so blessed this Christmas season that there was no time for blogging; and the list of things that I wanted to blog about was so long that it stressed me out thinking about it! So I avoided it like the plague!

But, I do want to remember the feelings, expressions, and sentiments expressed this year because it was probably my favorite Christmas with the kids. Well, technically, it was the first Christmas with the kid(s) since it was Grey's first, but you get the point.

So, we started Christmas Eve eve at our house with my Mom, my brother and his family. We attempted to go to the Tanglewood Festival of Lights to see the several-mile-long light display and perhaps ride through on a hayride and take a pit-stop to get some hot chocolate and apple cider. However, upon arrival, at opening time, we discovered the line was already three-hours-long! Obviously the kiddos could not stand to wait in a stopped car for three hours, no matter how many songs we sang, so we turned tail and drove back home. Sad, since Skylar has been super excited about all of the Christmas lights she's seen around town this season.

However, she wasn't too disappointed since she got to open up her first presents (well, besides the three that she snuck up to her room a few weeks ago to open). You can see the excitement on her face! Its so hard not to spoil your children when you want them to be excited and make these types of faces!

Grey was also pretty excited about opening presents. Although he had not ripped any paper off of the presents before this, he made sure that no bows were still attached after each wrapping session. When we finally let him open presents he kept looking back at us like, really?, I can do this?

Christmas Eve, we went over to Granny's house to see my extended family, eat and open more presents. This year it was all about the cameras.

Grey was sporting his Elf hat and slippers and him and Skylar had on matching Christmas shirts. Sadly, I did not get any pictures of them wearing them! I guess I'll just have to put them back on them this week for a photo op! Grey has learned to pull up to standing position and pulls up on everything! Although he usually has no idea what to do once he is up.

And these chunky cheeks belong to Mr. Mason, my cousin's baby who was born one month after Grey. How cute is he?!

Stay tuned for the next installment: Christmas in Oak Ridge, TN!

Merry Christmas!

We have had tons of fun the last few weeks and especially the last few days with Christmas, but I don't have time to blog about everything or upload my pictures... so instead, I leave you with this: Made for me by my dear, sweet, perfect hubby. The best Christmas present. Ever.

Snow-oh

Last Saturday we got our first snow of the year! Grey stayed nice and cosy inside while Skylar couldn't wait to get outside. She really wanted to build a snowman, but sadly we just didn't have enough for that. That did not stop her in the least however from going outside.

And she's off!

We've discovered that if snow on the slide makes you so supa-fast!

Sammy really enjoyed standing on top of Skylar's picnic table. Who knows?

Skylar and her cousin Cheyanne making snowballs from the top of the playset.

You can see from the railing here that we got about two inches! Not too shabby. Of course it is still in the yard now since we don't get any sunlight on our yard in the winter months and it has barely got above freezing this week! We'll see what happens tomorrow as we might be getting some more! Come on two-hour-delay on Monday!

December? Already?

Anyone else feel like there is no way it could already be December? As I think back over my to-do list for the year, I sadly have crossed off far fewer things than I would have liked. For me, life is more of the routine day-to-day activities and less of the big ideas and major events. And for some reason it seems like "life" rushes by so much faster that way.

In other news: Grey has taken off like a rocket and is crawling everywhere now. His favorite things to crawl to are the Christmas tree (three of our ornaments have been broken already from him grabbing the lower branches and pulling down); the dog bowls (thankfully he has not gotten ahold of any dog food that I know of); the stairs (way to go us for putting the stair gate up super early!) and our key stand.

He is also cutting his top two teeth right now, so I really wanted to get some pictures up of this super cheesy little face as is:

He makes me laugh every.time.he.cheeses like this. Those two little bottom teeth melt my heart. And as you can see... this little guy really enjoys his food. He is all about the self-feeding and tends to get angry when he can't feed himself, or when you try to give him baby food instead of part of what you are eating. And instead of pinching his food up one bite at a time, he prefers the faster method of shoveling food in two fistfuls at a time. No kidding. I have several bibs, but don't even bother with most of them anymore. I only use my IKEA bibs that are full-body bibs and if it the food involves red sauce? Stripping works best.

How old are you Skylar? That's right! My three-year-old can sight read two words now: "happy" and "feet!"

She is also a second mommy and is always right on top of Grey to make sure that he doesn't get into anything he shouldn't. They adore each other and it is so fun to see them play together. One of their favorite things is to play music together and the other day they spent about 30 minutes entertaining each other with this little guitar that Skylar got for her birthday. Seriously, 30 minutes of them happily playing with the same toy- it was incredible!

Did I mention his obsession with food? Right, well here was Skylar's attempt to finish her breakfast. Always gotta be on the lookout girly!

And if no food is available? The travel chair will do!

And last but not least: Papaw and Dada attempting to hula-hoop. They look like hula-hoopers don't they?