Christmas Highlights

Christmas at our house this year was a full house and we loved it. The girls loved having so much family around and it was good to just spend sometime with everyone. Uncle Kevin, Aunt Brandy and Matthew were here for a few days before Christmas. They couldn't stay to Christmas day so we decided to have our Christmas dinner on Thursday since we (including mom and dad) would be here. After dinner we exchanged a few gifts.

Bree got her Leap Pad from Nana and Papaw and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Brandy got her some games. She loves the pad. She plays with it all the time and I have to say out of all the leapster stuff we have had over the years. This is by far the best. She has games, music, books and movies on it.

Brandy and Kevin opening up their gifts. They got a GC to Lowe's to help with all their renovations on the home they just purchased. And some goodies from Mom and Dad.

Matthew flipped out over his gift from Nana and Papaw...a new IPod. He was cracking me up on how excited he was. :)

Nana and Papaw with all the grandkids....and granddog. :) Papaw wasn't feeling well that night and he ended up having to go to Urgent Care on Christmas Eve and ended up with strep. He felt pretty bad the rest of their visit.

Samson's lady....Miss Olivia. She was probably just glad Samson was leaving her alone. He was kind of mesmerized by her for about the first day.

Katie showing off all of her gifts: Games from K and B and new video\camera from Nana and Papaw. Katie loves to take videos. If you have ever see the show Good Luck Charlie on Disney...that is her, always filming what is going on. So she has been having fun with her new toy.

Matthew and Katie playing some connect four.

I love how the big boys are at the little table...a little father\son competition.

All the excitement of opening present wore him out

Family photo before they had to leave.

Over the Christmas break the girls got to enjoy lots of down time and no schedules. Playing with Nana and Papaw. Outings with Kevin, Brandy and Matthew, and cuddle time on the couch with Samson watching movies.

Christmas Eve finally arrived and we headed off to Christmas Eve service, minus dad, as he wasn't feeling well. Came home and put cookies and milk out for Santa. Bree told Samson not to bark at Santa when he came to the house. He was a good boy and didn't make a peep.

Santa came and went leaving lot of toys and goodies for two sweet girls

At 5:00am we heard feet running by our door and down the steps. They didn't even stop at our room they just went straight down stairs and then you hear squeals of delight. Bree shouting "Katie, I was good, I was good". LOL It just cracks me up, both of them were asking so many questions the week of Christmas about how many days do you have to be good in a year so you get stuff from Santa. So funny what goes through their little minds. We reassured them that bad moments don't out rule the good hearts they both have.

Bree was super excited to have her Lalaloopsy doll and her treehouse.

Samson was even a good boy and got some treats from Santa.

Daddy and Katie already playing a game of Scrabble Soup at 6am in the morning.

The after photo of two little tornado's ripping through stockings and toys.

When it came time to open presents, I have to say I was a little unprepared for how chaotic it would be with two girls. The both were ripping through presents...I was trying to get photos. After it was all over I was worn out. And Christmas day seemed like the LONGEST day ever...especially since we were up at 5am. :)
I did manager to get a photo of Katie and Bree exchanging gifts. They both got each other sleep masks. They were so excited to each have one.

Ahhh...sisterly love.

Katie got her Xia Xia's...don't ask me what they are suppose to do, all I know is they are a big deal for kids her age.

Both Katie and Bree got art stuff for Christmas. Bree working at her "office", this is what she calls it. I guess she hears me say "I'll be working in my office" to many times...so now when she goes to draw or paint she says "I'll be in my office". :) Katie got an art easle. She was very specific about the kind she wanted. It can't be a kids art easel...not that plastic stuff. So she got a "grown up" easel to draw and paint.

And Momma got spoiled this year. My wonderful, sweet husband LIED to me and surprised me with an IPad2. I was like a kid at a toy store. I was beyond thrilled and loved the surprise. Thank you Chris for getting me something that I would have never bought for myself. :)

After all the craziness was over which was about 8am...we all got ready and went to church for Christmas service. I was really proud of the girls, I thought it might be a battle to get them to leave their toys and go, but they didn't even say anything about it. :) After church we came home, played, ate, napped and played some more. It was a wonderful Christmas and probably the best so far. The girls are just so much fun. 

Christmas Programs

I know I am way behind on my post, but December was just a crazy, crazy month for me. Mainly because of work. Some brilliant project manager (insert sarcasm here) decided it would fun to go live with a huge company wide project (this project affected every system our team works with, which is about 5) the week of Christmas. Fun Fun!  Pretty much since 1st of November I have been working about 50 to 60 hours a week, so with work and everything I was kind of bummed because I feel like November and December flew by and I didn't get to blog about everything I wanted. So I am going to hit the highlights over  few posts.

Katie and Bree both had school Christmas programs this year. Super cute and so fun to watch them both proudly perform in them.

Katie was really excited this year because she has a speaking part. Her and her friend Aubry got to tell Christmas jokes in the first song they sang. She loves to entertain, so telling jokes was right up her alley. I asked her how she got picked for the part and she said her music teacher said she was good at being silly. :) Katie was really nervous the morning of the program and afraid she wouldn't remember what to say. I was so proud of her, she did so good and didn't seem nervous at all. The entire program was really good. It was all the 1st grade classes together. I tried to upload the video but it keeps giving me an error message...so I will try again later.  

Bree had her program the following week. Now keep in mind on my last blog post about parents night at her dance school how she wouldn't show us anything she had learned because she didn't like all the parents looking at her. So when Chris and I went to her program we weren't quite sure if she would even stay up there. To our surprise....she performed the entire time and even had a speaking part as well. We were so proud of her.

Click here to watch Bree's program

After the program they had a gift exchange....the kids were all so excited to pick out a gift. I was really surprised how they all waited their turn.

It is so much fun to go and see them perform and be so proud of what they are doing. I love to see them get more and more confidence each time.

Parents Night

Last week was parents observation night at Step Ahead Gymnastics were the girls have their dance and gymnastics class. They let the parents, grandparents and whoever else you want to bring, come in the last 30 mins of the class and the kids get to show what they have learned so far this school year.

Bree's class was first, they were showing us how they do their circle time to stretch. Bree was being very shy, but participating.

Showing how they stretch their legs. Check out the little girl beside the girl in the pink sweatshirt. She was basically doing a split by the end of this song.

So after the circle time they stood up and showed us several of their dance moves, but Bree got super shy here and decided not to participate anymore. She really doesn't like lots of people watching her so she retreated. But her teacher assures me she is usually the life of the class when we are not there. :)

Even thought she has a little stage fright she was still a cutie showing us what she had learned. I just hope she gets over the stage fright by May, because I already paid for her costume for their May Recital. :)

Next we went over to Katie's gymnastic class. Here she is showing us all her moves on the bars.

Just a swingin'

Then they showed us some of their floor moves. Forward rolls, backward rolls, handstands and even one handed cartwheels. She was too fast to get a picture of her cartwheel but she does it really well.

Then finally it was the beams. She did so good walking on the beams and stopping to pick up her bean bags and keeping her balance. She even did a forward roll on the back beam. After the new they move to beams that are up off the floor. Yikes!

Katie was so proud to show off all of her new found skills. She LOVES her gymnastics class.

New Friends!

Meet my three new best friends, Muscle Relaxer, Codeine and Icey Hot Patches. Yes, they have been my three new favorite things this week. :) Last week I started having some mild pain in my lower back. Nothing major but just enough to be annoying, well on Monday morning it went from mild to extreme. I couldn't even bend forward and if I tried to lift my legs it was so painful. Seeing that I was walking like a grandma, I decided to go on to the doctor, after many questions she decided that I should get some xrays. She gave me some muscle relaxers and codeine to help with the pain until I could get my xrays and get results. I have to say that my new friends do make me feel good and help me sleep. Warning, they can interfere with your texting abilities. My friend Cara texted me Monday night to check on me and I responded to her text. The next morning she had replied and I saw my text that I sent her and just laughed. I have know idea how she decoded what I was saying but she did.

Tuesday I went in for my xrays, they pretty much xrayed me from every angel and position from my neck to my legs. Last night the doctor finally called me back and said that the xrays show arthritis in my lower back. Now, I realize I am not a spring chicken anymore, but kind of feel that I am too young to already have issues with arthritis. The dr, felt she needed to refer me to an orthopedic doctor to get a full exam and review of my xrays. So now I am waiting for the referral info and the appointment for the ortho doctor. I am praying this not arthritis because it means for now on I will have to deal with this in some way. I will keep you updated once I have my appointment.

Until then it is lots of resting, and trying not to make in major sudden movements. During the day, since I have to be able to function for my girls and work, I rely on Ibuprofen and keeping an Icey Hot patch on my back pretty much all day. This at least helps with the pain some so I can move around. When Chris gets home from work it is time for the stronger stuff and say hello to my bed. I am so thankful for Chris helping out so much this week and for my sweet big girl Katie. She has been so helpful in the afternoon and evenings. She even offered to make dinner one night. I told her that I would love for her to be able to do that but she just wasn't quite old enough to be around a hot stove or oven. She said, " Mom, I can make cereal", so I told her that sounded like a great dinner. So she fixed her and Bree a bowl of cereal for dinner. (she was so proud of herself "making" dinner). She asked if I wanted any and I told her no, didn't feel like eating. A few minutes later she brings me a bag of popped popcorn and says "here you go Mommy, popcorn always makes me feel better". Can I just say how much I love this little girl and her heart.

Thanksgiving Weekend!

We traveled over to Tennessee for Thanksgiving to see the family. We haven't travel for Thanksgiving for several years now because we have always lived so far away. Since we are now a one day driving distance we took advantage of it this year. We really forgot what holiday travel can be like...way to much traffic.

Happy travel companions. Also, I think Katie was excited to be able to have the DVD player all to herself since Breanna was already in Tennessee.

One evening we went over to Kevin and Brandy's new house they just bought. They were literally moving their stuff in two days before Thanksgiving. Matthew and the girls were hanging out at the house being silly.

Samson and his girlfriend Olivia. Olivia is Brandy and Kevins boxer. They ran all through their house and played in the backyard until they were pooped. Sorry for the glow eyes but my camera would not take the photo without my flash so they have ghost eyes. :)

On Friday night Mom and Dad and the four of us went to a place in VA that has a natural cave and you can take a chair lift down to the bottom. They have it decorated with lights. Trying to get a photo before we headed down on the chair lift. I can never get a serious photo anymore....as you will see in photos below.

Down at the bottom. Can I just say the chair lift ride down was a little terrifying for me. Katie rode down with Chris and I on the lift. I was trying my best to stay calm because Katie was a little nervous and I didn't want to make it worse for her, but this was a steep drop down and I am so not a fan of heights. The chair lift actually stopped at one point. I mumbled low..."Oh Lord, please get this thing moving" Katie must of heard me because when it started moving again she said "Thank you Jesus". Ha! It was beautiful once you were at the bottom.

Back up at the top Santa decided to stop by. The girls were excited and went straight up to him. Bree spouted off a couple things she wanted.

 Katie on the other hand drew a blank on what she was asking for. I think she was a little shy.

I have to add in a short conversation Chris and I had with Katie about what she wanted for Christmas. It was classic.

Us: Katie: what do you want from Santa

Katie: that glow ball thing you can move around

Us: Huh????

Katie: you know...it glows and you move it around

Us: (still really confused) Can you show us what it is?

Katie: Sure, once Santa brings it I'll let you see it

Us: (Chris and I look at each other, not sure what to say)

Chris: Katie, why don't you show us before Santa brings it so we can see if it is a toy you should have.

Whew!!! Glad Chris came up with that response. I wasn't sure what to say on that one. :)

Got the girls some cozy jammies when Chris and I went out on Black Friday.

Since Bree had a week and half of one on one time with Nana and Papaw, on Saturday she had a one on one day with Mommy and Daddy while Katie and some alone time with her Nana. I guess we wore her out cause on our way back to Mom's she was out.

One of the other great things about being close is that we finally got to be around for my Dad's bday. Well, his bday is actually this Friday but we partied a little early. Dad with all the grandkids. Again with the silly faces. :)

Aunt Brandy, Uncle Kevin and the kiddos

Me and my bro :)



Operation Christmas Child

One of our favorite things that we love to do for the holiday season is make shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. If you haven't heard of this before, or haven't every particpated in this project...please, please, please go to this link and check it out: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/. I promise if you particiapte in this you will be so blessed by giving to these sweet children.

The organization takes these shoesboxes and delivers them all around the world to children who really have nothing. It helps bring them stuff they need and also share with them the love of Christ. Chris and I hold a very special place in our hearts for children who are less fortunate and especailly those in under developed countries. So we always make this a family project and one we look foward to.

In the years past, all of us always go and shop for the stuff to put in the shoeboxes but this year the way things worked out Chris and I ended up doing the shoppping on a date night we had the other week.

All the stuff laid out and ready to pack. When I looked at everything I thought I bought way to much stuff and we won't be able to get all of it in the boxes.

Since Bree is gone Katie was my big helper and she put everything in the boxes.  We had to call Daddy in for his packing expertise. He has an amazing ablilty to pack a lot in a small box. :)

Still working on getting everything in there. We didn't want to have to leave anything out.

Yay for my two awesome packers!!!! Chris and Katie got all of in the 4 boxes we had. We sent 2 to girls and 2 to boys.

This Sunday was the dedication service for the boxes before they were shipped off. Between now and Christmas we as a family will be praying for the 2 girls and 2 boys that will recieve these boxes. Pray that God will be seen in a big way and that Jesus will be shared with all of them. I smile just thinking of the sweet little faces and smiles they will have when they open their box of goodies. 

Big Moment!

According to Katie, last Sunday was the biggest moment of her life...at least up until age 6. As Nana and Papaw left on Sunday with Bree, Mom gave Katie some money to spend. Katie asked if we could go to the mall to her favorite store, Claire's. We headed up to the mall and when we went into Claire. Katie looked at me and said can I get my ears pierced. I was in surprised because Katie hates anything that would cause pain, but awhile back she asked how old she needed to be to get them pierced. I told her that once she turned 6 she could do it, but only if she was ready. I told her I didn't want her to do it unless she was ready. She asked me then if it hurt and I said yes it will hurt for a little bit but then it is over. She never mentioned anything more about it...until last Sunday.

She kind of caught me off guard and I asked her if she was sure and she said yes. I told her we needed to ask Daddy...well daddy wasn't as sure about it as she was but it didn't take much convincing for daddy to say okay. 

Here is she is all ready to go...she has a big smile but man she was nervous.



Daddy holding her hand as they were getting everything ready. I think Chris was more nervous than her.

The lady here was so good about keeping her calm. She could tell Katie was really nervous, so she kept asking her all sorts of questions to keep her mind off the pain that was about to happen.

 

They did them both at the same time....that was the only way I would let her do it. She did great though...a few tears shed and a little panic over the fact that she thought there was going to be lots of blood. :) After I assured her that there was no blood she calmed down and was checking out her new bling

One happy girl....now that it is over