The Joys of Christmas

Oh what a Christmas it has been!! Such a wonderful day with the the whole family being together in the morning and getting together with friends in the afternoon!

The kids awoke just before 8am and Bobby was anxious to see what what Santa had left for him. We made him wait in his room for awhile so we could get the camera and make sure that Amaryllis was clean. He did mention that he could see some stuff from his bed, crazy sneaky child. Then we let him loose down the hallway. Santa had wrapped everything, except for Amaryllis' BIG present, which Amaryllis went right to ad LOVED! Santa got her a doorway playhouse. She enjoyed opening the door and windows, and ringing the doorbell was fun too!

While she played, we let Bobby dive into the pile of presents. He enjoyed figuring out who's present belonged to which person. He loved ALL his stuff and got his FP3 Player, and Santa even knew he liked Peter Pan music because it was on the player!

After all the presents were opened and the stocking gone through, we had bacon and french toast for breakfast. Bobby ate at least 3 pieces of french toast within a matter of minutes and Amaryllis ate almost 2 slices herself! Afterward, she went to take a nap.

10:00am we turned the TV onto ABC to watch Disney's Christmas parade and Bobby got out another toy that he had gotten from Beca and Pappy, a Disney Hero's Fort. Boy did he love this toy and played with it (with about a fifteen minute break to eat lunch) until we left for the Billman's house at 2:30pm!!!

We enjoyed our time at the Billman's. The kids got to open a few more presents and we ate a wonderful dinner with friends. After, the Wii's came out (yes, that's plural, so the adults could play on one and the kids on the other). It was a nice relaxing time with friends. We got home around 9:30pm and put the kids to bed and now I"m ready to wind down too.

I would be posting pictures now too, BUT the batteries to our digital camera's died!! Perfect timing, huh? So Bob was sweet enough to run to Walgreen's last night and pick up a disposable one. Hopefully I haven't lost the knack for taking pictures on regular film, and waiting to see what they look like is a bummer too. But with that and the video camera, I know that we will have the memories saved!

And with that, I hope that everyone who reads this has had a very Merry Christmas, full of love and peace and giving!

Letter to Santa

For the past 2 years, Bobby has written a letter to Santa. Last year, it was so hard for me to write everything down. This year I decided to video his letter so that I could get everything down and not have to stop his thought process. You can watch it here!

O Christmas Tree

Yesterday afternoon Bob picked Bobby up from school and got to stay home for about an hour so that we could decorate the tree as a family!!! We got the tree last Thursday, so it's been sitting in the house undecorated for days! So while Amaryllis was napping I got the decorations out of the attic and put the lights on before the boys got home, that way we could start when thy got here. Bobby was so funny when he walked in the door!! He just loves Christmas decorations and was so happy that the tree had lights and the tree skirt was on!!! Bobby dove right into the box, without asking, to start decorating!!! It was so funny to see him pull out ornaments, asking if that particular one was his and so on. And as usual, he picked ONE spot of the tree and hung a bunch of ornaments right there. After telling him to try and hang them other places, he did!

Amaryllis was too much too! She wanted all the ornaments herself, of course. We had to watch to make sure that she didn't try eating the hooks. She did get to hang one or two on with the help of Daddy, but she also wanted to take them off again!! The bottom of our tree looks bare, Daddy's attempt to try and keep Amaryllis away!! We'll see if it works. She's been over to see the tree a few times, but we'll have to keep our eyes on her for sure!

After all was done, our tree is wonderful! Just perfect for this family!

POTTY TIME!!

So, I know that I'm a crazy mother. One of the things that prove it is that I start to potty train my kids when they start walking. And since Amaryllis started walking 2 weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to start and see what she does!! Learning from Bobby, I know when the prime times to take her to sit on the potty are and so we sat 4 different times today! Three out of those four time she did something in the potty!! I couldn't believe it!! Trust me, I realize that it really means nothing and I was lucky to get her to go on the potty, but it's a start! She even went poopoo once!! She did try to touch it and we waved bye to it as we flushed, I don't think that she wanted to see it go! It was funny!! Well, it looks like we are gonna be sitting in the bathroom more often now! She really enjoyed just sitting there and playing with the bathroom toys, the toys only used in the tub! Maybe Santa will be able to find a few new ones for her so that she'll have some more toys to play with while she sits on the potty!!

And now it gets interesting...

A High Country Christmas Carol

Friday evening was world premiere of A High Country Christmas Carole by Robert Inman.

From the website: "Blowing Rock Stage Company veteran playwright, Robert Inman, brings the Dickens classic to the modern stage. Set in the Depression-era North Carolina mountains, A High Country Christmas Carol is the story of a curmudgeonly country store owner Silas McTavish, who rediscovers the magic of Christmas with the help of an unexpected Christmas Eve visitor."

As Amaryllis stayed in te lobby with Daddy, Bobby and I went in to watch. Of course Bobby knows most of the cast, as we are friends with them. It was a great show!! Bobby was a little worried over the scene in the graveyard. Trying to explain to him that it's the characters that die and not the people, he was so worried about Uncle Gary (not Silas) and the baby (played by a doll)!! Uncle gary and Auntie Melvin were his 2 favorite charcters. And although Amaryllis didn't watch the show, she heard the applause from the lobby and had to come in to clap her hoorays for the cast!

Mima Bird

Amaryllis is at that fun fun stage of starting to copy what people are doing!!! Just yesterday she started signing "Please" and is so cute when she does it!! Now I need to refresh some of my signs and start using them more and more for her!! Bobby really gets into it to, so that should be fun for him too!! Oh, how I wish that I was fluent, what a dream! And today, she was in her room and went to one of Bobby's games, Wack-a-mole Tower, picked up the hammer and started "playing" the game!! It was so cute! Of course, she can't hit the thing hard enough to make the game work, and the hammer is quite heavy, I was afraid that she'd knock herself out instead!! HA!! But it was cute anyway! I love this stage, it means she's getting more independent!! I am NOT waiting for the day that she talks back to me though!

Thanksgiving, Black Friday and yet another snow day!

Well, it's nice to be on the internet again today since I haven't been able to get on since Saturday!! It went down and is still down, but our neighbor is letting me get on hers!! YEAH!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving though and I hope that everyone else did too!! We enjoyed the day over at Lisa and Gary's place. The day started with watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Bob wouldn't have it any other way!! We headed off to Lisa and Gary's house on a commercial break and watched the rest over there. I made pumpkin pancakes for all of us and they were very yummy!! The rest of our friends came over around 2pm and we ate around 3:30!! It was so yummy! everyone brought a dish and we all ended up munching all day. It was a pretty nice day outside, so Bobby and Brooklyn got to play outside a lot, always nice! Amaryllis was wonderful and got passed around, as long as she's getting attention!! Both kids ate very well and Amaryllis snacked on turkey and ham later too!! Lisa made drinks for everyone with Parma, a pomogranite liqueur! They were very yummy!!! Later in the day, we played a game called celbrity salad bowl, Bob and I were on the same team and did pretty well! Eca and Drew brought over the Wii, which Bobby and Brooklyn had a blast playing together! Later in the evening, the other adults played poker and I sat on the computer looking at ads and planning my Friday morning shopping!!! Then they switched and played dominoes, so I joined in the fun. We ended up not leaving there until almost 2am!!!!!! And both kids were awake!! So I dropped Bob and the kids off at home and went SHOPPING!!!





The outlets near our house opened at midnight for Black Friday!! I talked Eca into going with me... hahaha!! She had never been shopping on black friday!! So we hit the outlet mall at 2am with coffee in hand!! And since we got started late, we headed to Hickory (where all of the stores are) after we left the outlets!! We made it down there at about 4:30am, and Toys R US was due to open at 5am. They had on the little kids sofa's that I had wanted to get Amaryllis for her birthday and hadn't gotten her yet! Oops! Well, she got it!! and we were out of there by 5:15am and on our way to Best Buy!! In line to check out of Best Buy at about 5:30am!! HA!! It was quite a line, but it moved pretty well and by the time we were out of that store, Target (which is next to it) was just opening!! So into Target we went!! Got stuff there and that line was so CrAZY!!! It basically wrapped around the whole store! It was fine though and moved well, so we were out of their at around 7am! Got some breakfast at McD's and off to WalMart! Got some stuff there and had NO LINES!!!!!!!! Then we went to Big Lots (got nothing there) and another WalMart and back up the mtn by 11am!!! I dropped Eca off and hit the WalMart and Kmart up here before picking the kids up!! Brought the kids home, fed them some lunch and all 3 of us took naps until 5pm!!!! What a fun day!

Saturday was the parade in town. The kids and I went while Bob helped man the coffee shop, and boy were they busy!! YEAH! I forgot to bring the camera, but both kids enjoyed watching the parade, and Bobby enjoyed getting the candy! It was cold and rainy, but we walked down to see the tree and then rushed home to get the car and go to the grocery store to get more stuff for the coffee shop!!!

Yesterday we went to church and that's about it, and today is another snow day for the kids! It started out as a 2 hour delay!! It's been snowing on and off all morning! Our new neighbor, Bernie, is over. His mom had called to see if I could take him to school cause of the delay and since it got cancelled, we have Bernie. The boys are being AWESOME right now playing with trains in the bedroom, and the baby is sleeping in the pack and play in my room!!! AAHHHH!! A little peace and quiet for me since the boys were CRAZY this morning!!

Walking (revised)!

So this time I actually get to announce that Amaryllis is walking!! Not fully across the room, but she is getting so much braver to try to do it by herself. Yesterday she walked about 5 feet by herself and they were good steady steps!!! It's is just so thrilling watching a child take their first steps!! Bobby is gonna be in for it in just a few weeks! HA!! He is not going to know what to do with himself when she really starts chasing him!! That should be something to watch. Bob and I have also had a little concern with how she's going to react with the Christmas Tree this year!! EEK!! I have a feeling that she's gonna want to pull up on it, like she does everything else!!



Amaryllis is also very into pictures lately!! She wants you to pick her up and then she points to all the photos on the walls and wants you to take her around to them!! She gets so excited when she see's Bobby in the picture. I have a little baby photo book. I really need to get some pics printed and put them in it for her. Gosh, will she just LoVe that!

BIG SNOW

Friday was the first legit (in my opinion) snow day we've had this year!!! We got around 4 inches!! It snowed on and off all day long!! It was quite pretty outside. Both kids got to spend some time out in the snow and that was tons of fun, plus it's great to get out of the house on days like that, even if it is just the front yard. The snow was nice and fluffy, that means no snowman this time. I did make a tiny one, that really didn't look like much, it was more for Bobby anyhow! It was good enough to make some snowballs though. Bobby enjoyed throwing them at the side of the little barn next door! He also threw one at me, I told him I wasn't wearing snow pants so not to throw anymore at me. We went out later in the day with Amaryllis and Bobby asked if I was wearing my snow pants then, hoping to hit mom with a snowball, but I don't have snow pants! He did put a nice big pile of snow on his sisters head! What a great BIG brother he is!! This was Amaryllis' first "real" time in the snow. She had gone out last winter when she was tiny, but this time she got to "enjoy" it a little more. She discovered that she can eat the snow, which was so FUNNY!! She didn't move around much, I think that she was a little stiff in her snowsuit and boots!! We had fun though and I tool lots of pictures. Bob was out of town, so unfortunately he didn't get to have any fun with us in it this time around. Maybe next time we get a good snow, I can take Bobby somewhere to go sledding. Apparently there is a hill close by that is great for it. Bobby went last year (?) with friends, but I've never been. We'll have to see!! The joys of winter! And the only way I really do like snow... playing in it with my kids!

Another snow day ALREADY!

Today we wok up to about an inch of snow on the ground, and of course, school was cancelled again! Grandmom and Grandpop were leaving to go back home today, so we got up earlier than normal so that we could meet them for breakfast before they left. Then Amaryllis had her one year old doctor's appt. Thank goodness for that or else we never would have left the house today! It was kinda scary going down our road to leave, but not to bad and the main roads were clear. Everything went well at the appt and she got FIVE shots!! Poor sweet thing! Bobby had to get a second shot of something too, but that was done and over and he got some stickers and was fine!! Amaryllis is still my tiny little girl, she's weighs 17lbs. 6.5ozs (5th percentile), is 28.5 in. tall (30th percentile) and has a head circ of 46cm (75th percentile)!! That means that she still has to face the back of the car for a bit longer. The doc said that probably in about 3 mths she should be fine to turn her around, which I know that she will love to be able to see!! She's wonderful and healthy and the doctor had no concerns and neither do we!

After the appt, Bobby, Amaryllis and I all got to go to the library together!! We got there early for storytime, so the kids got to play and get books before! It was fun to watch the two of them. We spent about an hour and a half there and had to head home for lunch and naps, someone was getting rather cranky!!! By the time we left, all the road that I saw were really clear and our street was too!!! Thanks goodness because I HATE to try getting up our road when there is snow on it!! It scares the dickens out of me!

Now, both kids are taking naps. The snow is still coming down, but it's not sticking to the roads. I just hope that the wet roads don't turn to ice overnight!! That would definately stink! At least I have no where to go tomorrow, just in case it does!

Happy Birthday One Year Old!!!!!

I can hardly believe that a year has gone by since I gave birth to my beautiful little girl!! It almost makes me cry to think that she is no longer a baby, although she will always be my baby!! Wow, how they grow so fast and how big she has gotten!! It's amazing what happens int he first year of life, from not being able to defend for themselves, to getting into EVERYTHING!! She is such a joy to be around, even if she can drive me a little nuts every now and then! She eats like a pig and loves her brother. She loves her Mommy and Daddy too, but I think that she and Bobby will always have a special bond, or at least I can hope right now!

Yesterday, on her birthday, we went out to dinner. Beca came to town on Wednesday night and Grandmom and Grandpop got here yesterday afternoon. She was the little princess we all know her to be! She got to open one present from us yesterday, we figured she's have plenty to open at the party! She screamed for french fries, and chowed some quesadilla! When we got home we sang her Happy Birthday and she got a cupcake with a candle in it!! She really did try very hard to blow the candle out, but Bobby was there to help out and did it for her!! She at the entire cupcake and enjoyed every second doing so!!



Her party was today and it was great to have everyone come and celebrate!! We had a Minnie Mouse theme going one and she had a cute outfit to wear for it! All the kids made shakers with empty bottles, which they enjoyed playing with!! The kids also played "Put the Bow on Minnie", which Kayla won and got an extra prize in her goody bag. Then we ate, pizza, veggies, and chips!! We opened her gifts next. She got lots of really cute clothes and shoes! She also recieved a few new books, and a couple toys!!! Cake time was next and she enjoyed her little bow cake! I had all the older kids blow out the candles on the BIG cake and Bobby helped Amaryllis blow the candle out on her cake! Everyone enjoyed the cake and then it was time to clean up and head home!!! Amaryllis was so exhausted when we got home that she took almost a 3 hour nap!!! She was such a good girl the entire day!! I think that she had fun at her first birthday party!! Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate with us!!!

Fun at school with Bobby

Since my Mom was in town for Amaryllis' birthday, I took advantage and left her with her and spent half the day at school with see Bobby. It was great to be able to see him in that environment!! I have come to school early sometimes and have seen him play, but it was fun to spend the day and see what they do at different times of the day! It was also fun to see him go off and play with his friends, and not just stick to me!! Friday is also library day, so I got to go to the library with him! OH, how he loves the library! Last week he picked out the book "Weapons of World War II" and this week the book was called "Demolition"!! I'm gonna wait until next week and see what he brings home before I really get worried about him!! HA!! I got to eat breakfast with him, sit on the carpet with him during group time, and play in a few area with him!! I love how independent he is and how he plays with the others! I hope that I get to go in again because I had so much fun!!!