Thanksgiving

Well, as usual, I'm behind. So a little backtracking is required. Emily had a Thanksgiving party at her school before they let out for the Thanksgiving holiday. Since it was the last day of school before the big Alabama & Auburn showdown, the kids were to wear jerseys to show their spirit.

We got there early while the kids were practicing for their Christmas program. As a matter of fact, I need to find out the date so I don't miss it!!!! Things have been so crazy around here that I have gotten a few things confused. Well anyway, the kids were all so cute singing. I can't wait to see it "live".

You have to watch Gracie. She would walk around and get food off of other people's plates. That girl loves going to Emily's school parties.



Girls in Emily's class










Claire and Ali Kate.

Chris and I decided last year that we would flip-flop family Thanksgivings. That means one year at his parent's house and the next at mine. That way we aren't worn out from all the driving and we actually get to visit for awhile instead of eating and leaving! Last year we went to my in-laws, so this year we were at my parents.

My mother is the absolute best cook in the world! I couldn't wait for lunch! My sister-in-law Tessa and I brought side dishes, but mother had the main courses, turkey and dressing. Can I get a YUMM-O!!!! She also makes candied sweet potatoes that are out of this world! I would have loved to take a nap after all the eating, but on Thanksgiving mother lets the girls get out the ornament that she has bought them over the years and hang them on the tree.

Mother takes special time to shop and get ornaments that that reminds her of each of her grand girls. One year Tessa took Robin (my niece) and Emily's picture having a tea party, so their ornament was about a tea party. But my favorite ornament of all time is the one my mom got me when I was pregnant with Emily. It's a little pregnant snow woman. It is the cutest thing to me and I just grin when I see it. I need to take a picture of it so you can see how cute it is.

For Emily's 3rd birthday she had a Little Einsteins party. She loved them!! So that year mom got her a Rocket ornament.



Gracie wasn't impressed with the ornament hanging at all!! She just wanted Emily's juice.



Gran explaining that they need to be careful with the breakable ones.

Robin's new ornament this year is a girl riding a horse. This girl LOVES animals and especially horses.




Since Emily made her first trip to Disney this year, mom picked out Cinderella in her carriage for her.

It was so fun having everyone together! Now onto Christmas!!!

The Rockettes

Sunday night my friend Jennifer and I took our girls to see the Rockettes in Birmingham. We met Jennifer around 4:30 and headed over. We decided to stopped at the Cajun Steamer to eat. I have never eaten there before, but have heard a ton of great things about it, so we tried it. And man-oh-man, was it good!!!!

Carleigh, Emily, and Avery

We got to the BJCC about 15 minutes before the show started, so of course we had to take a few pictures.

Once the show started, Emily never took her eyes of the stage. Right about the time the Rockettes were to come on stage, there was a "technical difficulty". The curtain wouldn't go up! Oh well, what can you do. The girls waited patiently for the show to start, which didn't take too long.

You know when you go to these kind of things they always tell you you're not aloud to take pictures or video. So that was my plan....not to take any pictures. But everyone around me was, and to be honest, not really even trying to hide it! So as they say "When in Rome". I took a few pictures, but they weren't that great. All I could think about was that I have a $200 zoom lens at the house which would have helped tremendously. Stuff like that drives me crazy!!!







I don't know if you can see the next picture real well, but I was pleasantly surprised that they wrapped the story around to the TRUE meaning of Christmas. The Nativity scene was beautiful and they had a child read the Christmas story straight from the Bible!!!

The best part of the whole night was watching the look and Emily's face!!! I love being able to see Christmas through a child's eyes! This year we have really talked to Em the REAL meaning of Christmas. I'm not sure if she really gets it, but I do know she will hear it from us until she does.

A fun time was had by all.

Christmastimes A'Coming!!!!!

Our Tree is up! Our neighbor has had theirs up since October, so Emily has asked me a million times to put ours up. Chris came home from work last Friday and Em convinced him to get it out and put it up! She was so excited!

Gracie was not too sure at first, but once she realized that she could play with the ornaments, she was all about it!

I love this face!

Saturday, we put the ornaments on it, which is Em's favorite part!

Emily gets all of her favorite ornaments just where she wants them.



My tree is definitely nothing to write home about but we enjoy putting it up every year. You should see my neighbors!! It really is the most beautiful tree I have ever seen! I have a lot of ornaments that are special to me and I hang them as high as I can. I then hang all the ones that I don't mind the girls playing with along the bottom. The only problem is that Emily doesn't want Gracie playing with any of them. Oh well!

October Fun!!!

Okay, I'm not going to give anymore excuses on why I'm so behind on blogging. Bottom line is I'm behind!!!!

We have been doing lots of fun things lately, so be ready for picture overload!!! I'm going to start all the way at last Sunday!! My friend Stephanie's little boy, Brody, had his 5th birthday party at the Pumpkin Patch. I can't believe he is already 5!!! It seems just like yesterday he was crawling around my living room. He's so sweet and handsome, but not a fan of the pictures! I had to work real hard to get a good one of him!



The Pumpkin Patch is so much fun for the kids! They have so much to do! They can play in the corn, slide down the slide, go through a corn maze....I could go on an on! It really is the best place to have a birthday party!




Little Gracie just loved the walking part. My sister-in-law, Maggie took most of the pictures. Well, all the good ones at least, HaHa! I had a few good pictures though!

This is the fastest slide I have ever been on!!!! When you hit the bottom, you kind of just "thud". Or at least I did!!! I only rode it twice and that was enough for me! I think Em went down a million times!!!

Sophie Clare loved the pumpkins!!! Isn't she so cute!!!

Maggie took this of Chris and Gracie. I just love it! I think I'm going to have to get one framed.

Maggie, Jamie, and Sophie Clare

My little family!

Me and Sophie Clare before we took the "Ride of Death"! They have this cow train that is pulled by a 4-wheeler. It started off slow, but then at some point was going 65 and hitting every bump that God had created in that field. I had a death grip on her but because we were going so fast, she kept slipping down. Sophie Clare seemed to love it, but all I could think of was getting off!
Believe-you-me, I didn't look this happy when the ride was over!!!

On Friday we went back to the Pumpkin Patch with Emily's school. We had just as much fun as we did the first time!!!

This is my friend Tiffany and her son Connor. I went to high school with Tiffany and now her son and Emily will be going to school together.

Em picking the perfect pumpkin!

Now the gang painting their perfect pumpkins!!!

Em and Claire riding the cow train. It looked like they went much slower this time.

Okay, I'm going to give you a little history on me. Dating back to the beginning of my existence, I have HATED.....hated is such a harsh word....DISLIKED HEAVILY Halloween. When I was little , tricker treaters would ring the doorbell and I would stay in my room and cry. My mother tells the story of when my brother was little and she was taking him to a Halloween party. This was when Kiss was big, so all the little boys had there faces painted up like Gene Simmons or Ace Freely. She walked through the door with me and I just lost it!!! So apparently I have held onto this trauma (trauma sounds a little dramatic, I know) into my adult life. So the less we are involved in Halloween the better.

We do very low key things like go to church parties. This year our church had its Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday, so we decided to dress the girls up and go see Chris' grandmother who is at the Rehab Hospital. She fell and broke her leg, so she is having to stay there until she gets it strong enough to come home.

Em was a Fairy Princess. She looked so cute!

All the pictures we get of Gracie are of her on the move! She won't sit still much anymore!

A fun time was had by all!! But I have to admit, I'm glad Halloween is over!!!! Onto Thanksgiving! Now that's a holiday I can get behind!! Bring on the dressing!!