2011!!!!!

WOW! Christmas was a blast and we are very quickly flying through the month of January! The highlight of the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 has been SNOW!!!!! Pictures to come soon as well as highlight pics from Christmas!

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!

Halloween 2010!!

Here are some Halloween shots of my favorite pumpkins! Lucky for me this year both of them wanted to use costumes that were in their dress-up baskets! Emily chose to be Cinderella. She has been Princess Emily since the day she was born, so she wanted to put on the dress and sparkly shoes to prove it! And, Alex, of course could not resist being a Clone Trooper! I think he really wanted to wear the costume so that I would buy him the Clone Trooper gun to go with it! At first I told him he could carry his light saber, but then he informed me (in a tone that only says, duh, mom...how could you be so clueless) that Clone Troopers do not use light sabers. I am not sure how I have gone through life not knowing that one simple fact! : )That was my Halloween deal with them...once they both told me they wanted to use the costumes we already owned , I told them I would purchase the accessories.....soooooo the princess got her sparkly shoes and the Clone Trooper has the proper weapon. And they both had a blast trick-or-treating around our neighborhood!

Soccer Mom

Alex and one of his buddies from school ended up on the same team. They are reviewing their game strategy before one game! : )

This is what I mean when I say Alex isn't into the game when he plays goalie! He;s watching the games on all the other fields around us.

Going after the ball!

And yes, this is what Emily does at the games. She is usually dirty from preschool and then she takes down her hair and creates Emily styles. And usually she dances around and sings to entertain herself and anyone else who might listen to her!

More action shots!

Good Game!!!! Great Season!!!

Alex has been playing soccer for several years now. However, this fall soccer season is the first time his games have been even halfway competitive. And guess what I found out..... "I am one of THOSE moms"! Yeah, you know the one...cheering, yelling, intense. The other moms are asking me the score because they haven't been paying attention. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised...I have been going to football games my whole life and love watching the game and all the yelling, competition, etc. I, however do not yell at refs or yell at the kids if they make a bad play. (I do have standards, you know!) I have on several occasions "encouraged" Alex to pay attention....especially when the coach has him play goalie. He absolutely hates playing goalie. Take a look at the pic above that shows Alex leaning against the goal totally unengaged in the game as the goalie. Now put him in as a forward or playing defense and he is all into it! It has been a fun season. Tonight is his last game. He says he wants to play baseball again in the spring, so for now, I can put away the yelling soccer mom, until she returns as the yelling baseball mom!