Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we go to Jesse's parents to open gifts and have dinner. The kids love going over there. 

 Sawyer was especially excited to open some presents.

 Danner loved it too.

 Jesse and Poppi supervising the gift opening.

 Porter didn't exactly care about the presents as much as opening them....apparently it is really fun opening everyones presents.

 Danner is such a priss with her purse and stroller.

 Danner got a special surprise that had to be opened outside to protect walls, floors, and decor.

 Yay....a shopping cart.....heavy duty....for all her groceries. She loves this thing when we go to the toy store and was super excited about it.

So we all had a blast.....we had to get home to get kids to bed....presents organized....and make sure the new kitten hadn't destroyed our house.

Did I mention what a crappy job I did at photos this year. I barely took any....and the ones I did take were awful. Oh well...there is always next year.

Christmas Party

Okay....now to tackle the Christmas Posts.......Christmas gives me anxiety.....just the actual Christmas clean-up and well the prep too. So I am just now getting settled down and back to reality.
Sorry it took so long.


The kids had their Christmas party at school last week....I love seeing them in action in school. It makes me realize I made the right decision putting them in. The are so cute interacting with their teachers and friends. I love the little programs and activities they do.

Anyway....when I walked in they were finishing up their Christmas Story activity. Each child was given a character (Mary, Joseph, etc.) and she told the story and they had to come add their person to the wall. Super cute.

 Then they made ice cream cone trees with icing and candy.

 Sawyer tasted his but it was messy so he had to wrap it in a napkin. My kids don't like to get dirty.

I took a video of the kids singing their Christmas songs to the parents. But basically I suck at figuring out how to download the video. It is a work in progress...I need Jesse's help, but he got a new video game for Christmas so it will be a while before I Get it.......MEN!!

Meet Dexter

Santa surprised us with a kitten for Christmas. It is a long story that I will save for another day but for now a few pics of Dexter the cat enjoying his new roommates.

Bits and Pieces

 Porter enjoying the Christmas show.....

 Granny and Sawyer's head.

 Papaw and Danner's

 Ashley and Hampton....who refused to wear his hat.

 The two boys with one of their favorite guys.

 Nana with Hampton and Porter

Granny and Ashley baking cookies.

Danner's Christmas Recital

Danner had her Christmas Dance Recital Saturday. She did so good and looked so cute. She was super excited to get on stage and was sad when she was done. Here are some cute pictures of her all dolled up for the show. I hope to download the video soon.

 Here is her friend Sophie who is in her dance class......BFF's

 Santa even made a surprise visit to the recital.

 She wasn't scared and talked to him for a while.

 She told Santa she wanted a baby doll.

Sawyer sat through the recital and cheered and clapped for Danner. It was so cute.

Santa

I took all three kids to see Santa last week. We dressed up in our Christmas best and headed to the mall. Porter had sat on his lap several times and just loved him but I wasn't sure how the twins would like him. But they all really loved him. They posed for a picture (which cost me an arm and a leg) and I snapped this one off from the side-lines. This was a big change from last year when they were scared of him.....haha

Homemade Ornaments.

I had the kids help make homemade ornaments last week. Basically it is similar to making cookies....only it doesn't taste as good. We mixed the dough, we rolled the dough, we cut the dough, then we cooked the dough. Finally we painted the ornaments. They turned out super cute. Sawyer and Porter got bored after one, but Danner painted all the rest. She is quite the artist.

The recipe if anyone is interested in trying.....

One cup salt, two cups flour, five teaspoons of cinnamon, and 3/4 cup water (with maybe a bit more). Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the water slowly. Mix it together until it forms a ball. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes, then use a straw to make a small hole on the top of the ornament shape. Then, bake until dry at 325 F – this usually takes about an hour. Let them cool, then paint.

Decorating Cookies

Thursday I invited all of the twins preschool class over for some cookie decorating. I gave everyone a bag of cookies and let them go with the icing and sprinkles. It was a big mess but well worth the fun. 

 Danner really went overboard with the icing an m&m's. She would ice the cookie, then layer with m&m's, then eat off all the m&m's, then layer some more on there.

Yes this would be a plate of sprinkles....and a ham roll. Haha.
So much fun....

5K #4

So for my 4th 5K I was pretty disappointed with myself. I knew I would be if my time was any more than it was the week before....I have a tendency to be hard on myself.

So I ran a 24:43. Just shy of a minute slower than last week. Blah. So.....now what do I do? I have 2 weeks to train for my next race on New Year's Eve. Hopefully I will be a tad faster. I need to figure out a more intensive training program to help improve my time.

I will let you know if it works.

Proof

Proof of my medal from Saturday's race.....

Holiday Happenings.

We have been busy enjoying all the Christmas festivities that have been going on around here. Friday night Jesse was out of town and I decided to take the kids to the annual Christmas show at Kure Beach. It is basically singing and dancing and performances by Christmas characters....like Frosty, Santa, Rudolph, etc.

They had the best time. Especially Porter. He loved it and danced and waved and was quite the ham the whole time. It was slightly cold, but we had fun.

 Sawyer and I enjoying our front row seats.

Danner and Sawyer were dancing and having fun.