Christmas in... February???

Yes, it's February. And yes, I am just now blogging about Christmas. The Faircloths, the Metcalfs, and Jeanne came for lunch on Christmas Eve. The kids opened gifts from them and then we played our annual game of "Dirty Santa". The five of us then went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at our church where Jackson sang in the chior. When we got home, we opened more presents and then went to bed to await the most anticipated arrival of Santa Claus.

The Legos were the biggest hit.

Jackson opening his "Pillow Pet". He got a penguin, Adam got a dog, and Sarah got a unicorn.

Sarah loves her talking dog. We have now programmed it to say her name. I'm not sure who was more excited about that- Adam or Sarah. Somehow Violet ends up in Adam's bed with him.

Sarah really liked those Legos, too!

Santa did come! Jackson got his roller blades (and a Kinex roller coaster and a Mouse Trap game).

Sarah got a baby doll, a tea set, and a vacuum cleaner. Santa also seemed to have brought her a horrible cold and an ear infection. She did not feel well over Christmas.

Adam was excited to get a race track, RC, the remote control car from Toy Story, and his very own Wii remote.

It's time to open those stockings!

After finding what Santa brought, we all piled into the van and headed to Aunt Emily and Uncle Joe's house in South Carolina. We enjoyed the time with the VanDusens, the Corrihers, the Piacentinos, and Nana. The snow that fell that night was beautiful, too and extended everyone's stay an extra night.

Sarah loves her Gramma and Granddad.

Adam finally found someone to play Wii with!

Jackson read the Christmas story this year.

Thanks Gramma and Granddad for the sea-saw.

Look I can ride all by myself!

Santa is Everywhere!

The kids had several opportunities to see Santa Claus this week. Adam and Kevin are participating in a basketball class called "Family Hoops" at the YMCA. This week Santa came for a visit. Notice that Adam gets close enough to tell him what he wants for Christmas but not close enough to actually touch him! He told him he wanted a train. This was news to us especially since he has about three sets of Thomas the Train in his room.

Every year the Burlington City Park has a night or two called Christmas in the Park. They open the train and the carousel for free rides along with free hot chocolate and cookies. They have a live nativity with real animals. Kevin took the boys last night. Sarah and I stayed home due to the festivities being outside on a chilly night. She has had a bad runny nose and some more gunk coming out of her ears this week. Poor kid- I don't think she will ever get 100% well.

Adam takes a visit with Santa. He actually sat on this one's lap!

Jackson visits Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Jackson and Adam on the train.

Jackson riding on the ostrich on the carousel.

Adam riding the giraffe on the carousel.

Today we decided to head to the Streets at Southpoint, the mall in Durham, to see Santa. I thought, we'll get there early, everyone else has seen Santa, we won't have to wait long at all. Boy was I wrong. We got to the mall at 10:30- 30 minutes later than I anticipated- and the parking lot was pretty much empty. We parked one space away from the door. I figured that everyone would be out and about early since the mall opened at 8am. We easily walked through the mall since no one was there- until we reached Santa. Everyone that was in the parking lot was in line waiting to see Santa. I have never seen the line so long. I guess word has gotten out how good this Santa is. We've been to see him almost every year since Jackson was little. I waited in line while Kevin took the kids to get shoes for Adam. They came back after about an hour adventure. They left me Sarah while the boys went to the playground area in the mall. For the first time ever Jackson was too tall to play. He didn't seem too disappointed. They came back to the line and waited about 30 more minutes before finally getting to see Santa. Yes, I stood in line for 2 and a half hours so that my kids could go tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Am I Super-Mom or what? Adam asked for a train again (???) and Jackson asked for Roller Blades. Sarah watched intently until it was time for her to sit on the big guy's lap at which time she began to scream. After it was all said and done, we got a decent picture, had some Chick-fil-a for lunch, did a little shopping, and ended up spending the whole day at the mall- not in my plans for today. Sorry, mom, those gingerbread cookies aren't getting made this year. We do have chocolate chip though!

Adam playing on the helicopter.

A cute smile from Sarah while waiting in line. Jackson couldn't leave the "snow" alone.

Adam waiting in line. I hope we don't get this face for our Santa picture.

Sarah's response to seeing Santa with some other kids.This might not turn out so good this year.

Here is the progression of the Santa visit. Kevin was taking pictures while I tried to get Sarah to sit without crying.

Sarah on Jackson's lap. Sarah still screaming. I step in to hold her next to Santa.


I lean over to try and get out of the picture. She finally stops crying...


and then the shoe comes off.

CDC Christmas Program

Adam and Sarah's daycare had a Christmas program one evening. Each class sang two to three songs. Some of them were quite comical. Sarah's group (the toddlers and the babies) performed "The 12 Days of Christmas" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". They all did fairly well despite the fact that the little guy who was the five golden rings ran off stage crying.

Sarah was "4 calling birds". She just stood there looking around which really surprised us.

Here they are doing some hand motions for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Sarah isn't having any part of those flashing hands, but this was actually pretty good because I later found out that she cried the whole time when they were practicing earlier this day.

Adam's class (the three and four year olds) sang "The ABC Song", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", and "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas."

His teacher helped each of them create a sweatshirt using their fingerprints or hand prints. Each sweatshirt had something that began with the first letter of their name. Adam made ants. They were all so cute!

Here they are in action! Enjoy!

Making Memories

Our perfect tree we got in Banner Elk sat in a bucket of water for about a week before it made its debut into our living room. We have another tree that isn't real that we put in the breakfast room. Here we are fluffing and decorating this tree. Sarah was taking them off of the tree as fast as we could get them on. The living room tree has too many breakable ornaments so I decorated that one after the little ones went to bed. Unfortunately I never took a picture of either one completely decorated.

Sarah sat in her high chair not being entertained with the Fisher-Price Nativity pieces. It wasn't long before they all hit the floor.

The boys fluffing out the branches.

The next morning we headed to Winston-Salem to The Candle Tea. You stand in line for a long time (Thanks Mom and Daddy for saving us a spot!) before going into the Single Brothers house where you sing, watch them make candles, have a bite of Sugar Cake and coffee, see the Putz, and their nativity. I have been going almost every year since I was a young girl (maybe 4???) and now my children are going. Sarah did not go this year. Aunt Jamie and Natalie played with her at their house. I think Sarah enjoyed all of Natalie's dolls. It was probably nice to be around all girl toys instead of the boy toys she's used to seeing.

The Moravian Star that hangs in the foyer of the Single Brothers House.

The ladies showing us how they make candles for the Moravian Love Feast on Christmas Eve.

The Putz- a depiction made to scale of Old Salem.

The big Nativity Scene. An older lady always reads the Christmas story as she lights each part of the Nativity.

Jackson remembered the water pump. He had to go make the water flow despite all the snow and freezing temps.

Surprise! It started snowing while we were standing in line. This was a snow that was quite unexpected. They weren't calling for anything until that night so we were not prepared. By the time we walked out of the Single Brothers House, the ground was covered. This is us walking back to our car.

Days later Sarah is still trying to redecorate the tree. She has now left them both alone. She will look at the tree, point to it and say, "Mo, Mo, Mo". That's her version of No, No, No"

Our Little Star

Adam takes a dance class from the infamous "Miss Kim" every Wednesday at his new day care. He can't wait for the Miss Kim day each week. This afternoon, all of the children (probably over 40 kids aged 2-4) who take dance from her performed their version of The Nutcracker. The boys were soldiers and the girls were Sugar Plum Fairies. Here are a few pictures from the performance and the video follows. He dances with Maggie. We are just glad that they weren't near the edge of the stage. I think Adam would have thrown her off!

Adam's friend, Matthew was a soldier too!

Happy Turkey Weekend!

We went to Emily and Joe's condo at the top of Sugar Mountain for Thanksgiving. Since we couldn't all (Mom, Daddy, Jamie, Roger, Natalie, Philip, and Nana) fit in their condo, Jamie rented another one just a little ways down the mountain. We spent a lot of time going back and forth. Fortunately Emily and Joe's condo was nice and toasty warm. The low of Friday night was 12 degrees. The wind was howling horribly outside. I'm sure the wind chill was probably below zero.
On Friday, Mom, Emily, Natalie, and I ventured out to Blowing Rock about the time the cold front was moving in. We hit the main shops we wanted to and then headed back to a nice warm fire and a yummy birthday dinner and celebration for Jamie. The warmth didn't stay around long though. The rental condo's sliding glass door started leaking all the cold air in. Emily, Joe, Kevin, the kids, and I headed to their condo for that cold night. The rest of the family showed up to thaw out on Saturday morning. The heat in the rental condo was having to work overtime that night and chose not to work too well. Luckily the maintenance people came and fixed it that day. The temp on Saturday rose to a toasty 25 degrees. I chose to stay in while Kevin and the boys headed out to "climb the mountain". We had our Thanksgiving meal and then the boys, Kevin, and Uncle Joe went to Valle Crucis to the Mast General Store. I believe Adam and Jackson were amazed at the amount of candy they had.

Mountain climbing (according to Adam) on Saturday.

I'm not sure who took this picture. Remember I was inside where it was warm. Did Joe go mountain climbing too?

About a quarter of the way down the mountain on the way to Valle Crucis, the boys jumped out of the van to take a picture with the bear. Jackson and Adam came in and immediately told everyone they went to see a bear.

Sunday was so much warmer. We all ventured out to do some mountain climbing- even me! We walked up to the ski slopes. Sugar Mountain actually started making snow on Saturday. They start down at the bottom and work their way to the top. We snuck out to the top of the slope where there were no people and no snow. That will be the closest I will ever come to being on the black diamond slope. In fact, these crazy knees will never even hit the bunny slope. The boys enjoyed running around, watching the ski lifts operate, and watching the people skiing down below.

Look, we started shedding our hats and gloves.

We can never leave the mountains without a Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend. Here is our "perfect tree" for this year.

Separation Anxiety

Someone in our family has been experiencing a little separation anxiety... and it's not Sarah. I've been gone for the past three weekends doing "girl stuff" and Kevin has been left at home to hold down the fort. Of course, he has taken every opportunity to try and make me feel guilty. He has been known to say, "Thanks for stopping in" as I run back out the door to bible study or other commitments. Unfortunately the comments did not keep me at home. We had to celebrate Nana's birthday at the Barn Dinner Theater with just the girls. Then the next weekend I had to help shower Emily and baby Ivey with gifts. This past weekend I attended the Women of Faith Conference. See, no room for boys.
Now, don't assume Kevin was sitting at home counting the hours until my return. He packed all three of our kids up and drove across North Carolina two weeks ago. They went to the Fossil Museum in Aurora, dug for fossils at a park, and then rode the ferry across the Pamlico River to get home. Here is a little evidence of their fun weekends.

Jackson getting eaten by a shark at the Fossil Museum.

Digging for shark's teeth.

"Look, I found one, too!"

"Daddy lets me drive when Mommy's gone..."

"...And he gives me M&M's. The blue ones are best."

I missed Jackson's last two soccer games last Saturday. This is the best picture Kevin could get of him getting his medal.

"Aren't you coming with me, Daddy?" (I love these steps Granddad. I climb up them every chance I get.)

I'll help you rake!

You can't rake leaves without playing in a pile or two!