Fun Pictures

I thought I'd share a few of the Christmas card pictures that didn't make the cut . . .

This one was my favorite! If Savannah's eyes had been open it would have been the chosen picture!

Can you tell they love each other??

And then there's today. A low-key Saturday with Daddy at work. All of the Christmas decorations are finally packed away and we've been playing with our new ipad and doing mosaics. Savannah is enjoying a new craft set and Preston is enjoying driving mommy crazy!! We're all in our PJs and I'm trying to savor this day of laziness before the craziness of next week begins! I have 9 mystery shops, 2 cheerleading practices, MOPS, 3 meals to bake and deliver, and the list goes on and on . . . yes, I think I'll enjoy today!

"Easy" Bake Oven

Today I finally gave in and let Savannah break out the easy bake oven. Let's just say it isn't as easy as I remember . . . and the directions are terrible! The first time we tried red velvet cupcakes and I was using the wrong end of the spatula to insert the cupcakes into the oven. When I thought they were done I tried pushing them through the other end and made a huge mess! I guess we have lots of red velvet cupcake inside our oven already. So anyway, when I finally pushed them out, this is what we saw!

Savannah's first response was "OH NO! I can't sell them like that!"

HA! I'm not sure what was funnier, the thought that she was actually going to sell them or the fact that there was really nothing there to sell! So, onto our second batch of cupcakes, which came out much nicer. We even mixed the frosting and delivered them to our neighbors.

Merry Merry Christmas 2011

The Stockings Were Hung . . . and then the chaos began!

Savannah and Preston checking out his new bike

Savannah loved her new lalaloopsy doll

Preston spinning in his bilibo seat/hat

Annual Christmas Tree photo

We had such a nice Christmas morning. We actually had to wait for Savannah to wake up and even had to speed up the process by letting Preston be super loud. Once she was finally up, we started baking the delicious cinnamon rolls my friend Donna made for us and found the mess our naughty elf, Cookie, made. Apparently he wanted to leave us with a parting gift and took flour from the fridge and made a flour angel on our counter! Silly elf. Next, we opened all of our gifts and then we were off to Burlington to celebrate Christmas with my family! The gifts there were quite overwhelming, but the family time was super fun. The cousins loved playing with each other and running through grandma's house while the adults overindulged on grandma's famous golf ball treats!

Family picture

After all was said and done, one of Preston's favorite items was a jar full of old pennies!

Fun Friday Christmas Field Trip

Being that all of our shopping and wrapping was done and the house was all clean, we decided to venture out today to enjoy some of the Christmas festivities. I thought the kids would enjoy riding the light rail uptown and other than being super crowded, it was indeed a lot of fun!

Riding uptown on the "choo choo train"

Our first stop was to see the singing bear performance at Founders Hall.

Savannah enjoyed watching most of the bears' show, but Preston just kept saying something about cocoa bear and high five. Anyway, we didn't quite make it through the entire performance, but enjoyed quite a few songs by these bears that sing and play instruments!

Our next stop was the Ritz Carlton, where they have this huge all organic gingerbread house.

We had a fun morning out, but it was definitely time for lunch and naps by the time we made it back to our car. I'm hoping that we can visit one more place this afternoon after nap time . . .

Our final stop today was the Ballantyne Resort's Gingerbread house display. It was awesome, probably my favorite part of the day. They had 2 halls full of entries into the gingerbread house contest and some of them were just amazing! Both kids had a fun day (which was apparent by screaming with excitement as soon as daddy showed up to tell him the details), but the funny part is that their response to "what was your favorite partof the day?" was "riding the choo choo train."

A Visit from Singapore

Savannah showing off her new headband and parasol (already in dress up clothes)

The boys playing with cars


Bracelet making fun!

For weeks now Savannah has awaited the day that the Marion family would arrive in Charlotte. Yesterday was the big day when they came to visit, and I'm still not sure which one of them was more excited. The girls expressions were priceless when the first saw each other! They quickly picked up right where they left off, playing beach party and dress up. We enjoyed dinner here last night and then a morning filled with playing. The boys raced around the house on cars, played with Preston's new car map, and tried to break into the room with "No boys come in" posted on the door. The girls played dress up and made necklaces along with lots of other fun things. It was such a fun visit! Even though our time together was short, we made the most of every minute. Now we'll look forward to summer when they can come visit again . . . until then we'll settle for Skype. :)

Christmas with The Bachmanns

This weekend we enjoyed having Dave's family here to celebrate Christmas. Grammy and Papa arrived on Friday afternoon (after we got back from taking Preston to the doctor for his second round of antibiotics) and the fun began. We stayed up late playing solitaire together and were excited about seeing Susan and the girls on Saturday.

Shortly after arriving, Savannah had Alyssa and Ashley opening their special surprises she made at school.


Then we opened our stockings!

We thought it was quiet and found the two youngest playing a game together.

Sweet Cousins

It was a super fun weekend and we really enjoyed spending time with our family! Thanks Grammy and Papa for all of our awesome gifts!!

Holiday Luncheon

Today Preston and I had the privilege of joining Savannah for lunch at school! It was the school wide holiday luncheon where parents were invited for a special Christmas meal. I picked up Preston early from school and he was SO excited to go to sissy's "big school". One more day to winter break . . .

3 Things that made me smile . . .

When I was volunteering yesterday in Savannah's class, her teacher told me something funny Savannah did in school last week. She said that two boys made some comment to her as she was passing by during free choice time. Mrs. Hindman said that after hearing them, Savannah stopped in her tracks, turned around to them, and with her little head cocked back said "I'm watching you boys" then turned right around and kept on going. Later I asked Savannah about the incident and she said that they were saying something about how they hated Clemson ~ she was sporting her "new" pink Clemson sweatshirt at the time. Mrs. Hindman's comment to me was "Watch out boys. She's the perfect combination of sharp and beautiful too."

Preston loves his play therapist. She only comes every other week, alternating with our speech therapist, but as soon as she leaves he's already asking for her to come back. It's adorable to hear him say "I pay wif Audey, mommy". I'm not sure who I like more, the play therapist that HE loves or the speech therapist that has worked wonders in just two sessions. Either way, I'm smiling at his progress!!

With the Christmas season comes lots of chances to sort of bribe our kids into behaving well. I know it's awful to do, but we are holding Santa gifts over their head like no other. I figure as long as we aren't flat out lying to them, they're going to know in only a few quick years that the magic of Santa isn't real so we're enjoying it for now. :) To help us monitor behavior we have Cookie, our elf, always watching. We also have a small stuffed figurine of Santa on our hearth. Preston has decided that every day he needs to pay Santa a visit just to make sure he remembers that special gift on Preston's list. So, at least once a day I'll find Preston on his knees in front of Santa saying "San Cause, I wan bike to ride ouside. I wan red bike, San Cause." I have it on video, but have to remeber to grab my camera today!

Two Parties and a Tea

This weekend has already been jam-packed and it's only half over! On Friday we were invited to a birthday party for John Robert at the Ezells. It was the perfect party, very laid back and intimate. The kids LOVED having chick fil a, playing in the backyard (since the weather was awesome), having cake and playing upstairs too. I have to say I enjoyed sitting with the other mommies and just chatting. :)

Today we woke up bright and early and headed to Greenville for our niece Ashley's second birthday party. It was at the Greer fire department and the kids loved it! They got to walk around inside the fire truck, go on a tour of the fire department, see the fireman slide down the pole, watch a fireman put on his gear, and then of course we enjoyed more yummy chick fil a and cupcakes!

Preston couldn't wait to try sliding down the pole!

This picture cracks me up. Preston kept rubbing Ashley's knee trying to feel the fuzzy tutu that she was wearing. It was hilarious watching them!

Happy Birthday Ashley!!

As you can see Preston REALLY enjoyed his cupcake.

After the party the family kiddos headed to the local park where Savannah and Preston were able to run and play for a bit before getting back in the car.

Then, we packed up there and headed to the Billy Graham Library for the annual teddy bear tea. My friend Donna was a huge part of the planning this year and everything was just adorable. Lucky for us, Donna also reserved a table up front for us so that Savannah, Jack and Caroline could have great seats! It was a sweet program and Savannah loved sipping hot chocolate from a real tea cup. While Savannah and I were at the tea, Dave took Preston for a tour of the BG Library.

Making her craft place mat while waiting for her "tea".


Savannah, Caroline, and Jack

Savannah is Reading!!

On Monday Savannah came home with a new little ziploc in her backpack. It contained a reading log, a ring of high frequency words to practice, a pointer stick with an owl on it, and yes a book! I have to admit I was dreading the reading everyday, but I am shocked at how wonderfully she is doing!! I should have taken a picture on Monday of her first book she read all on her own, Little Chimp, but I forgot. Here is a picture of her reading her second book to her brother. It is so neat to share this time with her every afternoon where she can show off her reading skills!