Twas the Night Before Christmas

The Grandmas came over early afternoon and joined us for a candle light service at church.

I think the kids' favorite part of the service is holding their candles up while singing Christmas carols.

We drove home and had a few moments to relax before making a lasagna for dinner.  So we got a few photos on the stairs while there was still some good light coming in from over the front door.

Loved that the kids were sweet and cooperative!

Until they had to irritate each other.  :)  Because that's always fun to hear your sibling squeal!

We had the typical stragglers at the dinner table.

Although, both kids were excited to be allowed to open one Christmas present after dinner.  

Even if it was one that Mommy picked out.

Can you tell by the look on his face he thought the one present he would be opening was expected to be more exciting than new pajamas?

The Beanarina was slightly more excited.

Although her pajamas were a bit long and wide.  Skinny kids have such problems fitting into normal clothes for their ages!

Once the kids were in their new pajamas, we took off for an hour drive looking at Christmas lights with the Grandmas.  When we got home, it was late and the kids didn't get into bed until close to 9pm.  Two parents stayed up late to wrap all the kids' presents before relaxing on the sofa for awhile.

Little Moozie stopped in to clean Little Horse's face.

And then he was left in peace and quiet to enjoy the Christmas spirit and flashing lights.

Then we had a trouble maker in the house (it wasn't Chloe, she was already fast asleep!) shaking the tree.  Can you see her?

Jezzie climbed up the inside of the tree almost to the top.  She was eye level with me when I snapped this photo.

And before we knew it, Norad said Santa had arrived in Atlanta a few minutes prior.  We didn't want to chance Santa not coming because we were still awake, so we closed our laptops and hurried upstairs.  It wasn't long before we were under the covers, closing our eyes and we heard prancing on the roof.

Christmas Doughnuts

The kids have been begging for a special treat from Dunkin Doughnuts.  This was the morning we made it happen and they were both thrilled to order Christmassy doughnuts for breakfast!

A bit of an attitude was lingering.  So someone only got to order one doughnut, instead of two.  And more discussions ensued about that Naughty List.  Sigh.

Afternoon with Friends - Day 4 of Winter Break

Day four started with continued crafts as the styrofoam balls STILL were not fully covered in sequins.

The crocheting of a scarf continued while little hands pinned sequins to evolving Christmas ornaments.

Rosebuds were held to cheeks.  And then the tides turned and this sweet little girl couldn't help herself from being naughty.  She was sent to her room and ended up missing out on an afternoon at Play and jumping into foam pits and ball pits.

Owen still got to go while Bean stayed home to nap.

And he brought his friend Marla.  The two kids had fun playing hard and were good and sweaty by the time we left.

Discussions of coal and Santa's Naughty or Nice list may have come up in conversation this evening.

Afternoon with Friends - Day 3 of Winter Break

Day three came and we invited Owen's friend Tayden and Chloe's friend Journey over to play.  Tayden is Journey's older brother, so they are the perfect friends.  It was a fabulous day of crafts, games, chase, eating and absolutely nooooo bickering.

The kids were so happy to be hanging out with their bestest friends.

After lunch, we broke out the styrofoam balls.

And pins and sequins.

Chloe and Owen were both meticulous about covering every millimeter of the ball with sequins.

They had so much fun and were ecstatic that Tayden and Journey were allowed to stay through dinner and all the way to bedtime.  Another fabulous day for winter break!

Made even better by no blackberry or customers intruding into time off with the kids.  A first ever!  At least for one of us.  :)

Afternoon with Friends - Day 2 of Winter Break

Day two and we headed East to meet Martin and Luke for a dollar movie, lunch and an afternoon of fun. We saw Olivia's Winter Cheer at the Studio Movie Grill where we ordered waters and apples with peanut butter.

Chloe tried to hide from me when she knew my camera was out, but I caught her once.

Hello Olivia.

We went to Dagwood's for lunch where the pizzas are absolutely delicious.  The kids begged to go next door to Publix afterwards to buy some ice cream (an event that is becoming a tradition any time we meet and eat at Dagwood's) before heading back to Martin's to hang out.  The kids had fun playing basketball and the X-box together.

Yay for day two hanging out with good friends!

Afternoon with Friends - Day 1 of Winter Break

This was the first day of winter break for the kids and we were all excited to have our friend Miss Tabitha and her two boys come spend the day with us.  We went to a cool playground at a local church and the kids had a blast being monkeys.

Once they got to the top, they slid down the pole inside the big spider web.

Tabitha's youngling wasn't feeling well and ended up falling asleep on her lap for a couple of hours while the older kids played chase.

Love this boy.  He's one of the loudest kids I know when awake, but always so sweet.  :)

Ben seemed to hold the constant position of It while hunting down Owen and Chloe to catch them until they all chilled and found the swings.

Hi silly girl.

Hi long-haired boy.

We came home late afternoon to make dinner and watch a movie together.  Which brought out a little crazy in two of our monkeys.

Awesome start to the first week out of school!

Decking the Halls (at the Grandmas)

We drove over to Grandma Suzanney's and Grandma Eloise's this afternoon to help bring all the Christmas decorations down out of the attic and put the tree together.  But bubbles were more fun.

Todd and I took off to finish up a little last minute Christmas shopping for the kids while they stayed at the Grandmas to decorate the tree and play in the backyard.  When we got back, all the ornaments were up.  I love that old Santa.

Look close and you can see me kneeling on the floor next to an owl.  :)

Ooooh, bangs and many, many years ago.

Hi Owen!

Chloe found a few more ornaments to hang up on the tree.

After a delicious spaghetti dinner, the kids played Twister while a grandma spun the spinner and called out the moves.

Someone got a little stretched out.

I love Grandma Suzanney's nativity scene!

New Belts!

Tonight we got two new belts in the family.  Chloe was called up first to receive her second green belt.  Her Decided belt.  The last one before moving to a new color.

Kenyay!

Next it was Owen's turn to run up for his Purple Recommended belt.

I love when all of the kids are lined up with their new belts and standing so proud before they bow to the parents and instructors.

Chloe wanted a picture with Mr. Poole before we left for the evening.