Grandkids

We're on our FOURTH day of Christmas in a row today.  My kids are so spoiled!

I had to wait until after Christmas to share these pics since they were a top secret project to use as Christmas gifts.  We wanted to get pictures of the 4 grandkids for Heath's side of the family.  We went out to his sister's house which was the perfect backdrop right on the water.  And she had the perfect bench for them to sit on.

This is the one we gave most everyone.  I just love it!

Merry Christmas!

Today is our whirlwind day of Christmas at home, breakfast with the in-laws, 2 hour drive to my family for presents and dinner with them.  We're so thankful to be close enough to be able to spend a little bit of Christmas with everyone.  Enjoy your families today!

2011 Decorations

I try to make a couple things to add to my decor each Christmas.  This year I had been planning to make a door 'wreath'. I found the frame at a garage sale back in October for $2.  It was perfect for my idea (stolen from Pinterest).  Then on Thanksgiving I got the ribbon and ornaments during Micheal's black Friday sale.  I'm so happy with how it turned out!

I don't have too many surfaces to decorate in my house so this is the majority of it.  Peyton's stocking still hasn't been embroidered.  I did get a quote this year and they wanted $17 to put her name on it.  No thanks.

I glittered these trees this year.  First time glittering anything.  Kinda messy and takes way more glitter than I expected.  Love them though.

I found this free printable and make an 8x10 then took an old black frame and spray painted it.  Then distressed it with some sand paper.


I love this tiny nativity set.  They are so cute!

I had some fun with my tree, homemade filters, and some textures.  I see a lot of people do the hearts, but I thought the Mickey Mouse would be so cute if I could get it to work.  So fun!

Teacher Gifts and a Gingerbread House

This year we all took part in the gifts we gave Hunter's two wonderful teachers.  Hunter made some yummy treats.  I made a petal pusher pin. And Heath made a frame.  He painted the insert with chalkboard paint so it can be versatile.

I was thankful that Hunter would be building a gingerbread house at school this year.  It was not my favorite activity last year....because I am not good at it!  The parents were invited to come help so I sent Heath :)

Christmas Card 2011

The front...

aaaaaaand the back....

Peyton decided to have a meltdown.  She could not get it together.  I offered everything I could think of. I was not giving up.  I was determined to get the perfect picture.  And as you can see Hunter was completely annoyed with her.  He was ready to smile and be done and he knew he couldn't get up until she cooperated.  By the grace of God Peyton pulled it together and I got what I needed.  But this picture was just too funny to not include on the card.

Santa Visit

We took the kids to see Santa.  Hunter was fully prepared to ask for a Razor Scooter and a Duck Launcher.  The duck launcher took some research.  It's something he's seen on TV, I guess.  Santa will be bringing them both so he should be a happy boy Christmas morning.

Peyton was not about to go near Santa.  She freaked out when Daddy tried to put her on his lap.  So, Mommy gets to be in this year's picture.

SPOT: Our Elf on the Shelf

We joined the Elf on the Shelf craze this year.  We had Santa deliver our Elf with Christmas pajamas one day soon after Thanksgiving.  If you don't know about the Elf on the Shelf the short story is that the elf watches over boys and girls for Santa in the days before Christmas.  He flies back to report to Santa every night.  Each morning kids will find the elf doing something different or hiding somewhere different.  There is one rule: do not touch him or he will lose his power to fly.

The book tells you to name your elf.  Hunter named our elf Spot.  Yes, Spot.  That is clear evidence that we've never owned a pet.  He loves trying to find him every morning or waking up to see what he's up to.  Peyton even sometimes finds him before Hunter can.

Spot got into the blocks and spelled out two names on the NICE list ;)

Hunter came running to me one morning with tears in his eyes and reported that Peyton TOUCHED THE ELF.  He was terrified the elf would lose his power to fly back to the North Pole.  I assured him that it would be okay and we would wait until the next morning to see if he was able to fly.  Heath came up with the idea that Spot was now sick.  We put a letter in the mailbox with some magic powder.  Hunter sprinkled it on Spot and the next morning Spot was up to his normal tricks.  Crisis averted.  Whew.

Christmas Program 2011

This is Hunter's third year participating in the preschool Christmas program.  I've known that once he got to VPK that he would have to recite a line in the program.  It was hard to believe back then that he'd be old enough to be able to handle the pressure of memorizing the line and reciting it on a stage in front of a bunch of people.  He learned his line in no time and perfected it by saying it slow and loud.

"C is for crowds growing larger each day.  With more and more people filling the way."

They did awesome!

Then they sang a few songs for us.

fun with Christmas lights

love my babies!

FSU Weekend - Part 3 of 3

Part 2 ended with us touring the campus.  After that we got in the car and planned to go rest at the hotel until it was time to go tailgate.  We stopped at Publix and Heath ran in for a few things.  During that time Hunter started hysterically crying that his left ear was hurting.  Since he'd had some sort of virus in the previous 48 hours I knew this was a legitimate problem.  The nearest urgent care was around the corner.  It was wall to wall people and Hunter was freaking out.  We found another one 5 minutes away with no one waiting so went there.  After some drama because Hunter's ears were full of wax (he gets that from his father :) we got an antibiotic script and some numbing drops.  We got the meds and made it to the hotel at the exact time we needed to leave.  Hunter was a trooper.  He never complained again and hung tough all night until about 10:30 as the game was dragging on.  He was ready to sleep.

Hunter and Allison at the tailgate.

The boys

The girls plus Hunter :)

Love this...

Yelling while we were on defense.

You would think that this series of pictures involved an FSU touchdown, but it did not.  There was cartoon race up on the big screen.  There were three guys and you had to guess which one would win.  We each picked a guy and of course, Hunter's guy won.  This is Hunter's reaction to winning.  The kid likes to win :)

We went down to the tunnel at halftime.  When the players run back onto the field after halftime they'll high five the spectators.  We got a good spot and Hunter hung his arm over the fence.  He got a high five from our punter, Shaun Powell and our quarterback, EJ Manual.  That was pretty cool!