First Snow and Christmas Eve

We had our first big snow storm last weekend. The kids were excited! We got about 16 inches of the white stuff. Unfortunately, poor Colin was feeling under the weather. Both he and Daddy stayed warm and dry inside, while Tatum and I braved the outdoors.

We went sledding down the driveway and made a pretty funny snowman! After we were quite cold and wet, we headed in to the warmth of the house.

On Christmas Eve, Nana came over for our gift exchange. Both kids enjoyed opening their gifts and also liked passing out presents to Nana. I think that their favorite thing (besides Nana) was their new sock monkey jack-in-the-boxes!

Dennis and the guys put the luminaries out throughout the neighbor hood. They were beautiful again this year! It is such a beautiful sight to look out and see the neighborhood lit up all along the sides of the streets.

Everyone came over for Chinese food after and we had a great time! The kids played and ate and the adults got to catch up a little. When we were all stuffed, we journeyed outside to put out the reindeer food. Before bed, we put Santa's cookie plate together and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Check Them Out!

Last week the kids their shows at the local Y. They both take gymnastics and swimming and enjoy every minute of it! They have some great teachers and I just love watching them! They both got moved up in all their classes. I'm so proud of them!
They also took cooking class this session and made some yummy treats that they ate up quite quickly. (Mommy did sneak a few bites every now and then though!)

I was able to figure out how to use the video on my camera. Enjoy my little stars strutting their stuff!

Christmas Party

We headed over to the local Y where the kids have their classes for their Christmas Party. It was all decked out for the holidays. The gym had been transformed into a winter wonderland. They had many craft stations for the different aspects of the holidays. The kids colored a snowman and Elmo picture and made reindeer food. The enjoyed some pizza while listening to radio Disney. They also had indoor ice skating! Santa arrived and we waited in line to say hi. Before we left, we visited the candy cane village and the kids picked out a few presents for themselves. The even paid on their own. They each got 2 new pencils. Tatum chose a lollipop and Colin went for the smelly bubbles. It was a great time!

A Little Decorating

Over the weekend we decorated our house for Christmas. The kids helped me put up the stockings and the Nativity Scene. After the tree was up, we all work together to decorate it. Dennis and I did the lights and garland. The kids enjoyed putting all the ornaments on. We went to our favorite farm satnd and picked out a nice wreath for the front door. Dennis was able to put up the spotlight and the little trees outside. The lights for the lamp post gave him a hard time, but they look great! I love when the house is all decked out out!

Christmas Fundraiser

Every year, we like to do something extra around the holidays to help someone in need. This year, we have decided to help a little orphan boy in dire need of a family. Sullivan is an adorable little boy who just turned 4. He was born with a form of spina bifida and cannot walk...yet. If his family doesn't find him soon, he will be placed in an institution where he will remain bedridden. Let's give this little one the best Christmas present ever...HOPE!
I have set up a chipin that is linked to his fund at Reece's Rainbow. All donations are tax deductible and go directly to his adoption grant. With every $5.00 donation to Sullivan's fund, I will enter your name in a giveaway for a beautiful Psalm 23 bracelet made by a local jeweler.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a nice breakfast together and then Tatum helped me prepare apple crisp. She was so cute! We headed over to Bobby and Pattie's house and the kids napped while we sat in traffic!

We got to see Grampy, Erin and Chris. Grampy looked great and the kids enjoyed spending time with him.

Tatum didn't seem to love turkey or the fixings, but dessert was a big hit with her! Colin, of course, loved everything!

We had some fun playing ABC bingo and petting the huge family dog. After everyone ran out of steam, we headed for home with full bellies and happy hearts.

The next morning, my mom and I were ready to shop with gusto!

Halloween

This Halloween marked one year post-surgery for Tatum. We had so much fun! On Friday, we went to see the Wiggles. The kids just love them. It was a great show! We were the only ones up in our section, but Sam still came up to say hi to us. The kids eyes were so wide when they saw him. Both Colin and Tatum sang and danced to the songs. They loved the acro tricks and enjoyed seeing their favorite characters. Tatum's favorite part was seeing Wags the dog. Colin waited the whole time for his favorite song, Hot Potato. Just when I thought the concert was over, they sang it! He was so happy!

On Halloween, we met up with our friends from the neighborhood. Tatum was dressed as Elmo and was a little shy at first. Colin was the Count from Sesame Street. They both looked so cute! We met up with Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Taz and Scooby Doo. We made it to more houses this year and I fun was had by all!

Pumpkin Picking

I brought the kids down to our favorite farm for some pumpkin picking. We drove down and then discovered that it didn't open until later that day. We went home and had some lunch. We hopped back in the car and headed down again. This time, we waited and the tractor came for the hayride. There was only one other family waiting with us, so we had the pick of where to sit. Farmer Brenda was our driver again this year. She brought us on a very bumpy ride around the farm. We passed a large pumpkin scarecrow on the way to the patch. The kids were so excited to get there!
The whole ride over, Colin and Tatum were hugging and kissing each other and then laughing.
They ran into the patch and started counting the pumpkins. There were a lot of large orange ones that had already been picked. Both kids wanted to pick their own and went straight to the green pumpkins. They were so proud of themselves! They carried them all the way back across the field to the hay ride and kept them close on the way back. They loved helping to put them on the scale and then attach the paid sticker.