Christmas Eve 2011

We started off the day with our traditional
Christmas Eve baking at Nana's house.

Time to ice the cake...

The final product...

Of course, we had to bake a few

cookies for the big guy in the red suit...

Luke Man did a little baking of his own...

A short nap later we headed to Poppa Dale and MawMaw's to

celebrate Christmas...and eat good food and open lots of presents:)

 Luke got a new toy box:)

We got home in time for the kids to open

their annual Christmas Eve pajamas...

sprinkle reindeer food in the yard...

set out cookies and milk for Santa...

and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Christmas at the Falls

Tonight we went to Noccalula Falls to see the lights. The last few years we've gone to Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens...let me just say this was MUCH better. Not only was it a shorter drive, but it was only $5 per person in comparison to the $22 per person we've been paying (and kids 4 and under got in free)! They had a train you could ride, but there was a long wait so we decided to skip it and walk through the park. They had lots of stuff for the kids to do (decorate cookies, write a letter to Santa, meet Santa, petting zoo, etc.). I promise I'm not getting paid for all this free advertisement (although I should, ha!).

Anyway, on to the cute kid pics...

The kids rested up on the way there...

4 of the 5...

The kids weren't interested in getting their picture

made with the Chick-Fil-A cow, so daddy did:)

Inside the park...

Again...not the real Santa, but this helper came from

the North Pole for a quick visit before Christmas:)

I tried to snap a few pics of Daddy and the babies...

they're not perfect, but they are a perfect picture of real life:)

Emma and Papa

A cute little duck...

Does anybody notice anything wrong with this tractor?

Our little family:)

Christmas Party at Mrs. Elizabeth's {a PJ party too!}

Last weekend we made a huge mess reindeer food for Emma to share with her friends at their Christmas party. I have done it before, but this year Emma did the majority of the work with very little help from Nana and Mama.

We also made these cute little Pinterest-inspired guys...

The party itself was a hit...

Somebody showed up and had this little guy's attention...

No worries though...the girl loudly exclaimed, "that's not the real Santa, that's Mr. Leon!" You can't fool this girl:) *For those of you who haven't met the real Santa, you have to go see him at Mrs. Shauna's (although he does come to CC quite often throughout the year, because we do see him at the cow sale, the gas station, the funeral home, out shopping, etc. from time to time:).

Of course, lots of gifts were received from

Mrs. Elizabeth and all of their little friends...

Ensleigh came home with us after the party

and we went to a pajama party at church...

They look so sweet, don't they? Sometimes pictures don't depict reality, ha! These girls were so giddy and excited that they were up running back and forth from group to group the entire night...but they did have fun! :)

Luke's First Haircut

The boy has been sporting a shabby look for some time now. I've been putting it off, because there's just something about that first haircut that takes the "baby" out of them. Today I broke down and had it done...

He WAS NOT a happy camper, though. He wouldn't sit still for a second, so I ended up holding him. He laid his body flat and squirmed and shook his head, but the end result turned out pretty darn cute...

My Favorite Ornament

I like things to have a rhyme and reason, a pattern, some sort of order, you get the drift. My big tree in my living room is done in all snowmen, and I never hang anything on that tree that doesn't have a snowman theme...until today. My sweet girl made and hung my favorite ornament thus far...

Journey to Bethlehem

Tonight we visited MVBC's Journey to Bethlehem. It was SO good, and I'm so glad we went. At bedtime each night we've been reading a little board book about the true Christmas story. The scenes in the "walk through play" were almost identical, so Emma was really able to make a text to self connection (check out that snazzy teacher talk;).

The scene with King Herod was a little scary, even for this Mama. He asked us if we planned to follow "this baby Jesus", and when we answered yes he began screaming at us to get out. Every scene after that Emma asked, "is that mad man going to be here?"

A few of the scenes were outside, so Kristen came and got Luke and took him into her scene (the marketplace). This is how we found him when we were finished...