Christmas morning hair and cinnamon rolls

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Lauren and Olivia sprinkled special silver dust and oats for Santa and the reindeer. The silver glitter is meant to attract Santa so he knows where your house is and the oats are for the reindeer. Thanks to Aunt Debbie and Bill for the goodies. Or course the bag of stuff only made it about 6 inches from their feet.

December Goodness

We did so much during December. We went to our friends house for a bonfire which was fun, fun, fun!! The girls made peanut butter treats for the animals and glitter ornaments.





Lauren had a Christmas program at school. Afterwards she posed with some of her friends on the steps of the church.



Our church had a Christmas candlelight dinner. Yummy turkey and dressing!

A Christmas Award

A friend of mine and an awesome blogger tagged me with a Christmas Spirit Award. Thank you Jennifer! (http://www.delightfullycliche.com)


What do I love about Christmas? What is there not to like??

1. I love hearing Christmas music. I will even listen to it in the summer. Who can't get enough if Santa Baby, Carol of the Bells, Please Celebrate me Home and Bruce Springstein's Santa Claus is coming to town?

2. Christmas lights!! I do like the pretty and fancy light displays, but I do like a front yard filled to the gills with lights, blow up characters. It makes it even better when the kids see it and are thrilled to death with something flashing be it a star, snowman, or even a flashing baby Jesus!

3. I love picking out the perfect gift for someone. Actually I would rather make something but many times I just can't get around to doing that. So I settle for the perfect store bought gift.

4. Getting together with the family... Even though most of the family lives near by it is still special to get together in a warm house with the pretty Christmas tree and eat until we feel like exploding. Also there are great Christms memories from the past; Amtrack ride to NJ, Bing Crosby singing throughout the house, snow covering the car, Big Bird Shampoo (thats for Trevor) and showing Aaron the Rockefeller Christmas tree in NYC.

5. I love that the kids believe in Santa. The day after Thanksgiving Lauren made out her list for Santa and put it under the christms Tree. She wrote it all by herself. She wants springs to go to the moon so she can talk to the aliens, pink handled scissors, shoes size 10 and boots.

6. The famous red Salvation Army buckets. I can't go by one without putting something in the red bucket. I feel so guilty if I don't put even a nickle in the bucket. I love that some of the bell ringers will sing too. Mom and I were very fortunate to see actual Salvation Army people (not just the random volunteers) at a mall in Atlanta one year. They had their special SA clothing on and were playing instruments.

Christmas trees and trains

The day after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree. I love that it looks like a kids tree with the colored lights and lots of homemade ornaments from school. In the evening the movie The Polar Express came on tv. The girls got into thier pj's and snuggles under blankets to watch the movie.

I can't hold on much longer!!

After we had eaten our yummy Thanksgiving lunch the girls were saying goodbye to Uncle Trevor and then decided to "climb" the trees in the front yard. Lauren was a couple of feet off the ground and Olivia stood on a stump about a foot off of the ground. As I was getting ready to take a picture Lauren yelled "I can't hold on much longer!" Olivia joined the fun and yelled the same thing. When I turned to her and said say cheese, she threw up her hand in the air and smiled. What a pose!

Friendship Soup

The girls had their Friendship Soup day at school this week. Lauren made a pilgrim hat and Olivia made an Indian hat. All of the classes did their best teamwork to make the vegetable soup for all of the families.

The cowboy and the bunny

Hollis Hand Festival

Pink and orange fingernails

Halloween party

Miss social butterfly, Lauren, had a Halloween party to go to today after school. Seven girls painting pumpkins, decorating cookies, making spiders all while wearing their costumes. They had so much fun! Lauren chose to be a witch today for the party. Tomorrow we are going trick or treating on the square in town. Lauren has already told me she will be a firefighter or maybe a princess or maybe a cowgirl tomorrow. She will not make her final decision until we are ready to walk out the door. What are we in for when she is a teenager!?!

Day at the Farm

Our church had its annual Day at the Farm and it was of course lots of fun. Lauren had her face painted like a cat and she rang the bell on the train as it passed people.





Olivia's favorite things to do was eat chocolate and sit with Nanny. Surprise, surprise.

Pumpkin Painting

Fall Break

This was what the girls chose to wear during Fall Break. Doesn't everyone wear short sleeves, shorts, gloves and a hat?

Sparrows or birds

This week while waiting to drop off Lauren at school we both looked out the window to see a large bush with small birds covering it. Lauren said, "Look mom there are lots of sparrows on that bush!" I asked how she knew that and she said that her wonderful teacher told her that. My questions is this. Should I be proud that she knew that the birds were sparrows or should I feel bad because I would have just said that they were birds?

Finally Updating

Ok I found the camera so I have no excuse to update the blog. I found 2 cute pictures from this summer and I took a picture of the girls in my latest yard sale find. Lauren loves Monsters Inc so I could not pass up a Sully costume for $1.00. She is hot and sweaty and she loves it! Olivia is our pirate for now.







Moving has been slow. Very slow. Luckily the JSL Attic sale is comng up so I can get rid of some big things there. Lauren has requested a pink bedroom. What can I say, she is 4 years old. This week when I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew she told me an astronaut and an ice cream lady. She also made it clear that she wants a brother instead of a sister. We think we are having another girl. I told her she would have another sister and she told me that when we go to the hospital she is going to tell the doctor to give her a boy instead of a girl.

Sort of been busy

Ok so I know that i have not posted anything lately, but I have a good excuse. We have moved and I am pregnant. Those should be good enough excuses. Our camera is in a box and yes I do know which box. We have been in the new house a little over 3 weeks now. Hectic!! At least the kids are back in school. YEA!!!

Tomatoes or Olives

Yesterday Olivia ran up to our green cherry tomatoes, picked one and said "Olives, yummy".

Amatuer Radio Field Day

This weekend we went to the LaGrange Amatuer Radio Field Day. We go every year. Lauren likes to talk on the radio with Poppy.





The really big hit of the day were the dogs. Olivia and Lauren just love animals. I think that Lauren tortured a large dog by trying to feed him sticks and at one point she tried to ride the dog.

Summer Vacation

We are finally back from our summer vacation. We went to Ft. Walton Beach/Destin for a week and we had a wonderful time.

Olivia loved swimming in the pool and she was very proud of her green goggles.



We went to the zoo and fed lots of goats and pigs. We got lucky on the admission. For Father's day all dads got in free.



Lauren and her famous "hip bone pose".



The beach was great although Olivia hated the it. She didn't like the sand or the water. We were only able to get her to walk on the beach a couple of times. Lauren on the other hand loved it. She could have stayed out in the water all day. We both enjoyed looking for shells.







We took the kids to the Gulfarium. The dolphin show was a big hit. Here the dolphin takes a fish out of the trainer's mouth.



Thursday night we saw fireworks on the harbor. Lauren was waiting very patiently for them to start.



The night before we left we took the girls to Fudpuckers for dinner. They have Gator Beach in the front of the restaurant. Along with the live alligators they had a fake one that Lauren sat on and stuck her head in its mouth.





One day we went to the Build a Bear store and Lauren got her first Build a bear. she named her Alvin and picked out her clothes. They did a cute ceremony with the bear's heart and Lauren got to put the heart into her bear. She even got a birth certificate. The bear had cute ribbons by the ears, but Lauren took them out. She said they made Alvin's ears itch. Of course Lauren hates to wear things in her hair also.



Also on the trip I celebrated my 30th birthday. Yea!! The trip to the beach was great, but we were glad to come home. We ate at some great restaurants and had loads of fun with the girls at the kids museum, The Track (a family fun center), the beach and lots of other places.

Two pretty princesses

Love birds

Lauren and Micah went to a birthday party last week. They played together the whole time and even had their snack and cupcakes together.

Memorial Day Fun

Sunday morning photos