1: Decorating the Tree

Darth Vader Claus and Princess Olivia got straight to work decorating the bottom third of the tree. They got pretty creative, I must say. It was a great night and we played with a left over strand of lights, taking fun pictures. We ended the night reading our Christmas books before bed.

December Advent

I love my advent calendar and I love trying to infuse each day in December with Christmas. :) This year I am trying to take pictures everyday and post them. Christmas with kids is so fun. It’s kind of like being a kid again in a way and I like thinking of something fun to do each day.

Decorating for Christmas

It really is the most wonderful time of the year. I love decorating the house for Christmas and here is how it turned out so far this year...

13.1

He did it again. This time completely of his own choice and after some good training. :) Nate ran it in 1:39 this time, shaving about 40 minutes off of his last time. My hero.
It was really fun to head downtown with the kids and watch him cross the finish line. He was on the 1:30 pace team and cute little Nate that he is, had his times written on his arm so he could keep his pace. Oh the things I love about Nate...

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Holiday was pretty fantastic this year. It was low key...well as low key as possible with 3 kids. :) We started out early, heading downtown to congratulate daddy as he finished his race. I’ll give Nate his own post for that one. After Nate had a few minutes to relax and clean up we packed up our family and food in the car and headed up to the Puzey’s house.

The kids quickly go to work making their turkeys. This year in lieu of shooting at people dressed like turkeys, we had the kids each make a turkey and then they shot at the turkeys. This was very much to the liking of tired Nate who is a great sport and would have been a turkey if asked, but grateful to not be running through the woods being shot at. The kids are getting really good at aiming too. :) The kids were thrilled by the Turkey shoot!
Cheryl and I made all of our favorite foods.

Our menu consisted of:
Turkey (of course)
Cheryl’s amazing stuffing
Sweet Potatoe Casserole...this recipe is heaven. I double the topping...
Mashed potatoes...red potatoes...skins on
Buttery Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I always wonder why we don’t have Thanksgiving again in March or something like that. It’s a great meal! :)

Afterwards we all relaxed and enjoyed the company. We stayed the night at Puzeys and made a weekend of it all rolled up with Black Friday, the Biscut Barn, Inception, Thanksgiving leftovers, Cakestands (more details to come...), and just a whole lot of fun. Thanks again Puzeys for a great Thanksgiving.

Falling Tree

We went to Owen’s pre-K Thanksgiving program today. I forgot the camera, so all I have are these from my phone. His class made their little native American costumes and chose their own names. Owen chose Falling Tree. It was pretty cute!

Family Photos

It is time for some updated family photos. The ones I have up in the family room are from when Owen was just over a year. These ones. So with the help of a very talented and sweet new friend, we were able to get some new ones. And just in time for Christmas cards too.These were taken in Piedmont Park.

UnBirthday Photo Shoot

Recently we invited several friends to Uncle Maddios for a birthday party photoshoot. The restaurant wants to promote having your party there andhaving chef Cou Cou do some crafts with the kids. They turned out really cute and we had a great party.