Santa and Christmas Day 2011

Well Sorry, I intended on updating this on Christmas Day but things got a little busy.  Santa did stop at our house, as if anyone had any doubt.Right.  Santa was actually able to come early and finish in about 30 minutes for a change this year and then Mommy and Daddy got to sit and look at all of Santa's work!  The girls slept until 7:30 Christmas morning and Hayden said that when she came through the kitchen, she didn't look under the tree because she wanted everybody to be there.  So I got little man up and we all went in together.  They were surprised, but I expected shrills, no shrills but they were very proud that the got EVERYTHING they asked for, especially the American Girl Dolls!!!!  Hayden didn't know what to play with first, Gracie picked her doll of course but when she found her off road tricycle, she was all about it!   It is so much fun watching them.  Then it was off to Grandmama's for breakfast with the family.  Mark is the cook, and he did a fine job if I must say, he always does.  Pop too, he prepares everything so that Mark can cook it!   Then it was time for what the girls have been waiting on for weeks, time to go to Mimi and Pop's house to open all the presents.  Let me just say that Hayden's present were wrapped in pink and Hello Kitty paper, Gracie's were wrapped in purple and Dora paper, and Colton's were wrapped in blue paper.  So , in other words they knew exactly how many presents they had!  They would open one present and then ask for another.  Kim and Artie were very good to all of us too, the girls got sleds and are waiting for a big snow storm to try them out.  As always, we all had a great Christmas from Mimi and Pop, they always do so much for all of us!  OK, I can't wait anymore they got Mark and I a new Golf Cart to go riding on, it is red and has one of those family stickers on the front of it.  It was perfect and a big surprise!!!!  Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful gift, We Love You All!



Best Present pretend cell phone



Off Road Tricycle

Pretty Girls

Chipper made it snow on his last night here

Mark's Present

My best present ever

Santa's key



Santa was good again this year



Hayden and Summer!

Christmas Eve 2011

Talk about excited, that is what Hayden is.  She has been counting down the days all month and she is also a little sad that tonight when Chipper leaves he will not return until next December!  However, he left one big surprise last night...he made it snow in our kitchen and made snow angels, talk about a mess!!!!   It is so funny to watch their reactions to everything.  Today we opened our gifts together before we went to my Mema and Pop's for Christmas.  The girls and little man loved their laptops and new pajamas, my girls love some comfy pajamas...they get it honest though.  Mark was pleased with his new toy, a huge race car track, that we have all enjoyed playing with today and I loved my new boots...black pair and a brown pair...Yay for me!!!  I also got a pair of skates to start practicing with, and Hayden has big hopes that she gets some from Santa.  They also got new Twinkle Toe Shoes, clothes, games, dolls and another small race car track from my Mama, Steve, Uncle Randy, Mema and Pop today.  They are so excited about everything but the best part is that they keep telling Mark and I that Christmas is not about presents but about Jesus' Birthday!  At least they understand what is truly about.  As I update this post it is 7pm, they are all 3 clean and ready for bed.  We have just put our Santa Key on the door, since we do have a fire in the fireplace...the cookies and milk are on the table ready for Santa.  They are watching Rudolph and waiting for bed.  Hopefully, since we didn't let them nap and kept them busy all day, they will go to bed early and sleep really, really good so that Santa can come work his magic!  I am so excited for them in the morning, I probably won't sleep a wink tonight!!! 

Oh and Hayden said that tomorrow she is getting lots more presents because she knows how many are hers under Mimi and Pop's tree!!  She told me that "Christmas isn't about presents but you can get how ever many someone wants to give you"  I love her so much!!!!  Gracie is excited but still kind of figuring out what is going on and Colton just loves the bows, paper and boxes!!!!

Until Tomorrow....

Spending the Night Party and Ice Skating

Yesterday, Mimi and I took the girls to the movies.  We went to see the Muppets, don't waste your time if you haven't been yet.  It was a little confusing for the girls because they don't really know too much about Kermit and Miss Piggy or any of the other ones for that matter.  I remembered a lot of it, but it was just kind of a silly movie!  Oh well it was still a fun treat and then they got to go home with Mimi and spend the night with her and Pop, which was really all that mattered to them anyways.   They always have so much fun with Mimi and Pop!  I am pretty sure that they ate at the Steak and Shake and I bet they got some sort of milkshake.  Hayden called this morning around 8am to inform me that Chipper, their Elf was at Mimi and Pop's house, she was so surprised.  That silly elf followed them to keep an eye on them!  She was also helping Mimi wrap presents while Gracie was still sleeping.  They spent the day with Mimi doing all kinds of coloring, playing and who knows what else.  I think Hayden even said that Grandmama and Linda came for a visit too!  Then Hayden decided that she wanted to go ice skating, yeah Mommy knows nothing about ice skating so we called Aunt Kim and she was glad to help us out.  Hayden had so much fun and Gracie even skated with Kim, in fact she cried when it was time to go.  Hayden got pretty good for a first timer but she was soaking wet from the falls.  I am pretty sure that Aunt Kim had the most fun though, she tried to convince me that it was like riding a bike, but I think I will buy me some roller skates to practice on first...heehee!  I used to love to skate but I also get embarrassed very easily so like I said I will practice at home first!!! 

The Polar Express

Yesterday it was finally time for our big surprise for the girls and little man!  We took them to Bryson City, NC to ride the Polar Express!  Hayden had figured it out before we left being that she was wearing her pajamas but we kept telling her that wasn't her surprise, so when we got there she was still surprised but made sure to tell me that she was RIGHT!  Silly girl is getting harder to surprise lately.  They all enjoyed the train ride, especially Colton he played with Pop the whole time.  He was such a sweet baby boy, I swear he has got to be the best baby in the world and I am not biased at all just ask Mimi!  He never cried one time yesterday except when it was time for him to eat.  Hayden and Gracie enjoyed everything about the train ride from getting hot chocolate and cookies, to singing christmas carols and the best part when Santa got on the train at the North Pole and gave them their bells!!!!  Hayden and Colton sat with Santa after the train ride but Gracie did not!  She says that she just didn't want to!!!  Oh well maybe next year.  It was such a fun expierence for all of us and I am so glad that we were able to go!!!  The girls also got to expierence driving around in the mountains, Mommy and Mimi were a little car sick and I am pretty sure Gracie was about to really be sick, I already had a bag in my hand ready.  Hayden didn't mind at all she was even laying down through most of it!  Lets just say the twist and turns ended at just the right time!  We went a different way home with less twists and turns and we also stopped at the Dillard House to eat dinner.  It was very good, Hayden enjoyed her meal, you know picky little Gracie ate some corn and bread oh and don't forget dessert(her favorite).  Thanks Mimi and Pop for everything!  We love you!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party for Gracie

Today was Gracie's Christmas Party at Preschool, so Colton and I attended and had lots of fun!  She wore a gorgeous green Christmas dress today and boy was she proud of it.  You see Gracie is a fashionista, she likes to wear dresses and be beautiful everyday.  She really did look beautiful today not that she doesn't every other day but this green dress was perfect with her green and brown eyes and strawberry blonde hair!  Gracie, Hayden and I made cupcakes last night for her party, I was smart and made the mini cupcakes and they were a huge hit!  She had a book swap today with her classmates and she got the book The Chnristmas Story, I was excited...I can't read wait to read it to them tonight. She made me lots of pictures and two ornaments for the tree, I know this sounds silly but they are always the best gifts!  She colored a picture of baby Jesus and I swear it looks like a 5 year old helped her, it is because Hayden loves to color...Gracie learns tons of things from her big sister.  When the teachers handed out the pictures, all of the other parents even commented on how good it was! 
 
I forgot to write about the girls and I making candy cane cookies on Sunday.  This started out being an easy project, but it didn't work exactly like the recipe said...so I called my Aunt Beth for some advice and we got the cookies made.  They turned out huge and funny looking but all that mattered was that the girls got to play in flour and food coloring and make a HUGE mess and I even let them make their HUGE mess without saying a word.  They were having so much fun and while we were making the cookies we were listening to Christmas songs as loud as we could stand it and they were singing as loud as they could.  Then I let them take a long bath and fixed them hot chocolate and popcorn for their Christmas movies.  They get so excited every night when we find Christmas movies or shows on TV.  The ABC family channel does the 25 days of Christmas!  Hayden told me Sunday night that "she had the best day ever"  I love that they think spending a silly day with Mommy is the best thing ever!!!  I love making all these memories with them!

Chipper has still been mischievous,  he has fixed himself peanut butter sandwiches, ate candy cane cookies, landed on the ceiling fan,  played with barbie dolls and played dress up with Colton's cowboy boots and hat!  You never know where you will find him and what he will be doing.  It is so funny when they find him, it is still the first thing Hayden does every morning.  The other morning when he was playing with barbie dolls, she thought that he had taken her show and tell out of her book bag and she was mad!  I told her that he didn't, but she kept saying that he did, so I opened her book bag to prove to her that the barbie doll she packed up was still in there!  She was okay after that! 

Well I had all the pictures to go with this but for some reason it will not upload them!  I will try again later!

6 Month Check Up

To start the day I had to be the Computer Mom at GWA with Hayden's class.  She was so excited but I was a little worried being that I also had Colton and Gracie.  Gracie can't go to school until 9:15 and Hayden's computer class was from 8:30-9:30.  They were very good even though Gracie was extremely shy!  It all worked out and it made Hayden one happy little girl.   When I left at 9:30, Mimi was going to Hayden's class to read them a Christmas book or two.  Needless to say Hayden was once again a very happy little girl.  She is so lucky to have Mimi available to do fun things with her.

Yesterday was Colton's 6 month check up.  He weighed 19lbs 12oz and was 27 1/2 inches long, which means that he was 90th percentile for height and weight!  Dr. Beeber says that he is as wide as he is tall!!!  He was such a sweet boy.  He is truly the best baby, he is just so laid back and easy!  Dr. Beeber complemented Mark and I by saying that all 3 of our children are so good and well behaved.  Colton did have to get three shots and even though they hurt really bad he only cried for a minute.  Gracie went with me and I have never seen her sit so still and quiet as she was while Dr. Beeber was in the room.  She didn't make a peep, I think she was scared she might have to get checked too!  She was relieved when Colton was the only one getting shots.heehee! 

Mark got home early yesterday which was good because Mommy is only one person and I wasn't sure that I would be back in Monroe in time to pick Hayden up from school. Not to worry Mimi and Aunt Vicki are always helping me out, I don't know what I would do without them!  Mark went to get her in his RED TRUCK!  That is a very big deal for those of you that don't know.  He said that she had the biggest smile he has ever seen when he pulled up to get her.  He also said the first thing she asked him was "Do you have Ms. Sue and Belle(the bird dogs)".   Unfortunately he didn't but she was still happy anyway.  She also told him that Mommy and Mimi came to her class today and she was so excited.  Made my day to make her so happy!   When she got home she came in and said "Mommy, Daddy took me to this really nasty store, you couldn't eat off the floor in this place, even the cash register was dusty"  then with a very serious look she says "Seriously Mommy".  I got tickled and couldn't imagine where in the world he had taken her so of course being the concerned Mommy I went straight to Daddy to find out what he did.  He said I took her to NAPA, he had to get a part for work!  We both got tickled but he did say that she told him while they were in the NAPA that it was really nasty!  She is getting so big and grown up, you never know what she is going to say!

Chipper

Chipper our elf, has been a little silly lately.  He landed in our Christmas tree one morning and then this morning he was caught trying to fix himself a bowl of cereal.  Hayden cleaned up his bowl for him but unfortunately he has to stay in the box all day because we can't touch him.  You should have heard Hayden laughing this morning when she found him!  She couldn't wait to tell everybody at school where Chipper was this morning.  Gracie thought it was pretty silly too!  They are so excited that Christmas is coming, we are counting down the days on a Santa that Hayden made from school, it is numbered to 25 and every night we add a cotton ball to his beard to count down!  Gracie was a little jealous that she didn't have a Santa, so we made her one too!     

Mark had to work last Saturday, so we went to Wal-Mart and the girls found the perfect hats and purses!  Silly girls!!! 

 Baby boy driving already..just kidding he was playing in the car while waiting for Preschool to open.  He is a happy boy and you can kind of see his two bottom teeth in this one!

Message from Santa

Last night Hayden and Gracie got an email from Santa.  Is it just me or is it crazy how much things have changed since I was little.  Santa now emails and has for the past 3 years but this year the girls really understood what is was. 

We did Hayden's first and you should have seen her face when she realized he had a folder with pictures of her and new all about her new baby brother and that she played Soccer, oh and what she wanted for Christmas.  Santa did have one request for her to work on...he told her that she had to stop sucking her thumb!!!  You should have seen her eyes!  Then at the end Santa's machine gave her the green light which means she is on the NICE list.  She started screaming and clapping.  I can't begin to describe how it makes me feel watching her believe so much and that I am doing everything in my power to keep that way.

Gracie's video was next and she was surprised too.  Santa had one request of Gracie too....she has to stop throwing silly tantrums.  She just smiled and nodded her head yes while listening to him.  At the end she also got a green light and I don't know if Hayden or her were more excited.  They had to watch them about 3 times a piece!  I love it, then they called Mimi and Pop  to tell them all about it. 

Christmas Pictures

Well Chipper(our Elf) is enjoying his stay at our house.  Hayden gets up first thing every morning and finds him.  She gets so excited.  So far he has landed in her stocking, the kitchen, in their room and today he is on top of the TV.   Chipper has to land high enough for Gracie not to touch, being that I don't think she totally understands and I would hate for him to loose his magic because of it.  It is so funny how this works! 

Yesterday I decided to dress the kids up in their fancy Christmas outfits and take a few more pictures, call me crazy.Right?  However, it went extremely well.  Colton was really into it and the girls did good.  They were excited to be all dressed up.  I got some really good pictures, which is good because now I don't have to keep second guessing myself about having professional pictures done.  I would rather wait until Colton is sitting up completely all by himself before having some more professional pictures done!  The other thing is that I never know how Gracie will do.  I did get her school pictures yesterday and they are wonderful.  She looks like a little doll!  I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to finally replace the one year old picture of her on my TV stand, yes that is the last really good professional picture she took!!! 

Hayden also got a 1st place ribbon on her book from school yesterday, which means that she read the whole book in class without missing a word.  She is doing fabulous with her reading and she loves to read books to me over and over again. 

This was Mark's GA Bulldog Jacket when he was little.  He looks just like his Daddy!!!

Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving at Grandmama's house as always.  The food is always so yummy and it is good to visit with people that we only see a few times a year.  We went on Wednesday to get our Christmas Tree, it has kind of become a tradition mainly because the tree farm isn't crowded and we always get a perfect tree.  Mark picks out our tree every year and he really does have great taste, in fact he may have out done his self this year!  We were only going to get the tree, and we were going to decorate it after we got done with Thanksgiving dinner, or so I thought anyway. Hayden wasn't going to have it any other way but to decorate it Wednesday night and she was very into it this year.  She was a really big help this year and she was so excited to see some of their old ornaments especially the ones she has made at school.  It was fun! Gracie put all of hers in the same spot, pretty much what all 3 year olds do.  Colton just watched and enjoyed all the pretty lights.  Friday, we decorated the rest of the house with all of our Christmas things and put Hayden and Gracie's tree up in their room.  They were so excited that Mimi had bought us some snow, the kind in the bottle and we used it on their tree too!  We also decorated outside, Mimi was so nice to give us some ornament solar lights and garland for the porch and mailbox, it is really pretty at night.  Hayden has truly enjoyed herself this year!  Gracie and Colton still don't really get into it.  Our house is just simply beautiful this time of year!!!

Today Hayden, Gracie and Colton's Elf arrived.  I cannot even begin to describe how excited Hayden was.  He was in her stocking.  I came into the house and realized he had arrived(heehee) and I went to get them.  Hayden was so excited or shocked that she couldn't hardly breathe or talk!  I don't think I have ever seen her like that, yes I teared up a little bit!!!  Gracie was excited too, but she is still learning.  The Elf on the Shelf is very important.  He is magical and he reports to Santa every night and comes back in the morning and is always in a different spot.  You can't touch him or he will loose his magic.  They named him Chipper!  Chipper is very cute and is making a big difference around here.  Hayden has asked a million questions and I have tried to answer all of them.  I love the way they believe in magic!  They also got the Elf on the Shelf movie, which they have watched a total of 4 times this afternoon.  This has really made their day!!!  I also have prove that they believe really hard because someone dumped all the little bitty crayons all over the floor right where Colton plays.  I had already told them earlier not to do that now that he is moving around and putting everything in his mouth.  Hayden said that she didn't do it, so I got on to Gracie and she immediately got defensive and started getting upset.  Obviously she didn't do it!  I just stood there and said that Chipper knew who did it and would probably tell Santa.  Hayden immediately said "Okay I did it and I am Sorry!"  I had to walk away to laugh!

 

One Little Two Little Monkeys

Yesterday Mimi took us to the movies and we saw Happy Feet 2, it was pretty cute but it was a little bit long so needless to say by the end of the movie the girls were ready to go.  They also had tons of popcorn loaded with butter and cokes.  That is their favorite, well Hayden has to have Cherry Coke.  It is funny that she doesn't forget anything, the first movie that I ever took her to we got cherry coke and now every time we go that is what she wants.  Colton stayed with Nana and Steve while we went to the movies and as always he was a good little boy.   He was sound asleep when we got back yesterday so the girls took advantage of the nice weather and played outside in the trees.  Hayden can climb and flip on anything these days, makes me a little nervous but as I recall I was the same way when I was little.  My grandma used to fuss at me all the time about flipping on the swing set!!!  Funny how then I thought she was crazy and I would never get hurt but now that I have my own little angels, I feel a little differently. 

One little monkey, you should see her she went all the way down this limb and then climbed back up it!  Silly girl!

Two little monkeys, no she didn't climb the tree, she still isn't too sure about heights, climbing or being upside down, I'm sure everyone remembers when Hayden was scared of all those things too...must be some sort of phase!!!  She looks like a little doll up in this tree!

Colton sleeping like an angel!