The Days Before Christmas

I truly believe that no one enjoys days off from work more than school teachers! I don't know why....but there is immense joy in knowing that I have time at home with MY kids for several days! Other parents are usually grumbling because their kids are going to be home and they have to figure out what to do with them for 2 weeks, but for me and my kiddos, those days are golden! I get to spend plenty of time with other people's kids and I love the time I have with just MINE!!! As my kids have gotten older the days and time at home with them is even better! We have so much fun just being together. Yeah...we do have some errands to run and things (like laundry and grocery shopping) that have to be done, but my children LOVE getting to spend half the day in their PJs. Alex thinks getting to eat breakfast in his pajamas is the best thing ever! And I must admit, waking up in the 7:00 hour to go to the gym is MUCH better than the alarm going off at 4:30 AM!!!

So, in our "days before Christmas" we have visited with Santa (see previous post), gone out to lunch, made and decorated Christmas Cookies, visited Gaffney to hear Gan and Mrs. Allison play their Organ/Piano duet of Christmas Music, and we have gone to see a movie! Here are some pics of our "Days Before Christmas"! I hope you and your family have a chance to enjoy your days before the big day!

A Visit with Santa

Alex and Emily had a chance to whisper their Christmas wishes in Santa's ear yesterday at Carolina Place Mall! This is the first year that Emily did not show any signs of hesitation! No tears, no grabbing my leg, arm, hands, etc! A true Christmas Miracle! : )

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

I LOVE Christmas! Ask Ryan, he will tell you! When we buy houses, I always envision what it will look like at Christmastime. If I that it will look good at Christmastime then it might be the one for us! I bring out the Christmas music as soon as Thanksgiving is over, and there is nothing better than lots of sparkly red and gold and silver decorations! And then we had kids..... and that makes Christmas even BETTER! We got our house decorated the weekend following Thanksgiving...partly because I wanted to get out all the Christmas stuff and partly because I knew if I didn't get it done before I went back to school, it might not happen at all!

So here is the Christmas decor 2010.... I don't have TONS of decorations but I do have visions of grandeur....but for now, I am more than happy with sparkly decor that I do have!

Emily is 4!!!!!!

Can you believe that my baby is 4? Neither can I!!! But the week before Thanksgiving we celebrated Emily's 4th birthday... We have called her Princess Emily since the day we found out she was a little girl and she has completely lived up to those expectations (for better or worse)! So, it was not a shock when she told us she wanted her birthday party to be a Cinderella party. We celebrated with our family and had a blast! Emily is light and laughter to our days! She is silly and loving and drama queen all wrapped into one 4 year old blonde-headed, blue-eyed little body and we cannot imagine our life without her!

Emily and her Rapunzel dress!

Blowing out the candles on her Cinderella Doll Cake!

Her new big girl princess bike!

The look on her face when Ryan brought her Princess Bike into the family room!

Princess Emily....hands on the hips....eyes cut to the side!