Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve . . . I had cuter pictures but this one cracked me up. Addison eating her shoe, Luke's expression and of course Amelia, being perfect.

We are lucky enough to attend a fabulous party on Christmas Eve day at our friends the Driggers. And guess who made a surprise appearance? Amelia and Luke went to answer the door as Santa appeared and they started backing up towards me as fast as they could, with shocked little faces. Santa had a gift for each child marked with their name of the most favorite thing each child had been asking for this Christmas. Very special, so wonderful to watch. As you can see, Addison and Santa were having a moment during our family picture. Such a fun day with many wonderful friends. Santa also led the kids in singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing the candles out on Jesus' birthday cake, reminding the children that Christ's birth is the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

After Christmas Eve church, ready to be all nestled snug in their beds. So excited!!!

Santa tree...

Family tree... we broke down and got two trees this year. Pretty much for the sheer amount of ornaments I have. Our small tree in the family room is fake but our living room one is real and it was huge this year. This will be the last year I say, "No, Stephen, I think we need an even fatter one." We cut open the strings on this bad boy and it was like the Griswald family Christmas tree, it took up our whole living room! It also crashed once until Stephen reinforced it with cement blocks and tied it through the window to the outside!

Happy First Christmas Addison Kate!

Luke and Amelia picked out their own presents for Daddy this year with no input from mom. They did an awesome job! Luke picked out a big box of starter logs, "for Daddy for his new fire pit so he can make a big fire."

Amelia picked out a new chair for daddy to have around the fire pit and take out to Horn Island. No matter what the presents, it was a wonderful Christmas just having Stephen home with us. Everything just felt right.

Air Hockey was a big hit this year, as you can see from the jumping!

One of my favorite presents for Stephen, everyone knows how much he loves Star Wars but now, with a southern twist. I think his favorite might have been the beer of the month club, 12 microbrews delivered to our door every month, Homer Simpson would be proud.

Christmas Day, celebrating with the Neffs and the Zants. The kiddos, after many hours of running around outside and playing with all the new toys.

Big boys like to play with the new toys too.

Our group, the Boskovich's, the Neffs, Granny Z and Big Daddy, Meemaw and Peepaw, snuck out before we got their picture. It was a wonderful day with lots of delicious food.

The Boskovich and Neff families. Merry Christmas ya'll!

Tis the Season for busy busy busy

Addison sporting the new headband Grandma sent her. We are thinking maybe she's more of a bow girl than a headband girl . . . Although, it does a great job at mealtime of keeping her hair out of her face.

This week has been jam packed with Christmas activities. First it was the Christmas program and party at Luke's school. If 38 children singing Christmas carols, ranging in ages from three to six, can't get you into the Christmas spirit than nothing will. As you can see in the picture above, Luke really sang out his little lungs. We were so proud of the little man.

Then Santa paid a visit to the school and after reading the children A Night Before Christmas, it was time to tell Santa your Christmas list. As you can tell by Luke's expression, he was not too sure about visiting with Santa but he tried to put on a brave face since all of his friends were doing it. He would not speak or look at Santa though, AT ALL. When we finished pictures, he hopped off his lap and then ate his lunch. But during lunch he said, "Mom, I didn't tell Santa what I wanted!!" I explained we could go tell him but Luke insisted I did it. So up I trod to Santa with my four year old huddled behind me to tell him Luke wanted Mace Windu and Kit Fisto. Santa looked at me with quite the confused expression so I said, "Oh you know Luke Santa and how much he loves all those Star Wars guys!" The things we'll do for our children.

We figured why not take advantage of Santa and throw Addison in the mix too. Well, I should have shown you the progression of pictures. First Addison was crying, then she was just kind of fussing and complaining, then she refused to look at him. She had her head turned so far away from him I thought she was going to break her neck. But finally, she thought, well, Luke's here, it can't be that bad and she took a look at the Big Man. HO HO HO!

From Luke's party, onto Amelia's party. I love going to visit Amelia at school because she is still at an age where it is so cool to have your mom show up at school. She gets so excited and so do all the other little children. We had more yummy food and fun songs and games. Whew, I don't know what I'm going to do when Addison is having school parties too!

Amelia's fabulous, fun teachers, Mrs. Manning and Ms. Chapman.

The children and I baked, lots and lots and lots and lots of different kinds of cookies this year. It was great having them help as my little elves. I could have never gotten through the decorating of my roll outs if it wasn't for their help. Although, today Amelia's friends asked her over to help them bake cookies and she told their mom, "No way, I have baked enough cookies this year!" Whoops, I guess I slave labored them a little bit.

This weekend we went to see The Nutcracker Ballet. It was really fun and well done. Stephen and I were quite impressed with the costumes and the set, who says the coast doesn't have any arts? Amelia adored the whole ballet. She was gasping at the fight scene and clapping and ooohing and ahhing. She was also excited about seeing one of her little friends dancing on stage. Luke enjoyed the ballet also, he told me his favorite part was the Mouse King and the Nutcracker fighting, what a surprise. He lasted until half way through the second act but then he and his buddy, Anna, decided making spotting scopes out of their program was a little more fun.

Amelia and Luke with their friends Anna and Caroline at the ballet. Doesn't Caroline look like she should be up on stage as Clara?

O Holy Night

It's that time of year again, time for the wondrous joy of the Christmas Pageant. Nothing like trying to get 40 children to "act holy" and reenact the story of Jesus' birth. Amelia was chosen to be Mary this year, look how honored she was to be holding the baby Jesus. She was really annoyed at me that our baby Jesus had crayon on it's forehead. I was just glad I remembered to bring baby Jesus. I went to pick up Amelia's costume and it had a note pinned to it that I must bring baby Jesus and a blanket. My heart started racing and I started sweating, that is a lot of pressure! The whole pageant would be ruined if I forgot the baby Jesus. I figured we could always throw Addison in the manger if need be but still, STRESS! I should have never worried, Amelia remembered everything.

Oh and then there is our adorable little sheep. Luke was a sheep for the second year in a row, because really have you ever seen a cuter sheep? This picture was taken at our house, before we got to church, notice the ears, I put them on Luke, this is how they are supposed to be.

This is at church, look at Luke's ears again. This is how Luke insisted on wearing them for the pageant. He put them on himself and was very proud. As the show went on they slid down his forehead similar to an 80's sweatband. Too funny, all this while he was lying on his stomach kicking his feet in the air with his chin in his hands looking mighty bored. Although, he did sing his songs. I was a little worried because during rehearsal Lukey the sheep wandered too close to Mary and apparently Mary was not willing to share the spotlight because she started yelling at Luke the sheep to get back in his corner where the sheep belong. I just put my head in my hands and prayed they wouldn't get into a brawl the night of the pageant. It's never good if the pageant ends with Mary slugging a sheep in the face.

So cute, so cute. I love church Christmas pageants. Notice Luke in the front row, head down, wondering what we are going to be eating at church dinner.

Mary and Joseph. Amelia and Jake Simon are quite cute together and we often catch them sneaking smiles and waves during church. The pageant went well, it was such a joy to watch the children sharing the message of our Savior.

Weddings, Birthdays and Odds and Ends

We were lucky enough to attend the wedding of our friends Julie and Jay, such a great couple and such a fun wedding.

The boys having fun at the reception.

Some of the girls, me with a sleeping Gabriel in my arms. We were all so excited Marian traveled back to Mississippi to celebrate with all of us. Ocean Springs felt just as it should with Marian back in town, we all love you so much Marian!

Baby Gabriel and Baby Addison becoming acquainted. Addison was cracking up at everything Gabriel did.

Happy 33rd Birthday Daddy! The kids and I got Daddy a fire pit for the backyard and boy has it been a fun addition to our yard. Now we can have smores all the time.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you. You are the greatest daddy and husband and we all love you so much!

Hooray for birthday parties!

Happy St. Nick day.

Amelia had an assignment to make a Gingerbread girl just like her. She made a tennis girl and it turned out so cute.

Disneyworld (warning:longest post in the history of my blog)

Well, we survived the week long trip to Disney with three kids in tow . . . barely. Next time, I need to train as if I was training for a marathon. Disney is magical and fun but it can suck the energy right out of you. We shot nearly 300 pictures, don't worry, I only am making my readers browse through 30 or so. We started the first day at Disney Hollywood Studios. We still had lots of energy and smiles this day. The kids are about to go on Toy Story Mania in the above picture. That is an awesome ride, it is 3D and allows the rider to earn points by shooting at different 3D targets. So cool, we rode it as many times as we could.

Since we don't see snow in Mississippi, we thought we better snap this shot.

Addison Kate enjoying herself at lunchtime.

Luke and Grandpa Steve ready to fight Zurg on Toy Story Mania. Grandpa and Daddy went head to head and Grandpa Steve was the champion. Sorry honey, better luck next time.

Addison and Jo Jo, we have kind of an unspoken rule in our family that we only see characters if there is no line. The kids usually just walk by the characters and wave at them and are happy with that. Thank goodness, we don't have to spend too much time in those lines. Quite a few times there were no lines and we would ask Amelia and Luke, "Do you want to go see Tigger, Chip and Dale, Alice, etc. ?" We would always get the same answer, "No thanks, we already met them." I couldn't resist having Addison meet a few characters though. She gets so excited and laughs and laughs at all of them. It was so cute. She loved Jo Jo the Clown, ( the only clown in the world who doesn't give me the creeps).

Christmas Lights Disney Style, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! These lights danced to the music and spun around and flapped wings, it was awesome. To top it off, snow fell down on us too so it was pretty cool. As you can see by the picture, Addison was too mesmerized by the lights to bother looking at the camera. See Luke's fierce Star Wars pose, he was really brave there in mommy's arms but not earlier in the day. Luke adored the Star Wars ride, he insists it's his favorite ride in all of the parks (though it's kind of lamo and makes me nauseous so I only ride it if my eyes are firmly shut). However, the park also has a live Star Wars stage show where children can fight Darth Vader, we let him watch videos online of it, it's all he talked about leading up to the trip. Mommy and Daddy stood in line an hour and Luke was picked to be a Padawan! He took one look at Darth Vader and was like "No Way!" He watched the show safely from Daddy's arms instead. So cute that little Luke is. As soon as the show was over, he was swinging his light saber and destroying everything in his path again.

Magic Kingdom Park, always a favorite in our house. It was the first time we went to Disney in the Christmas season and it really was decorated so pretty. Our little Mickey and Minnie were so excited.

The Dumbo ride is the first Disneyworld ride each of the children have ever been on. Couldn't change tradition with Addison either, she loved it and clapped her hands during the ride.

The Carousel is another favorite for our kids and Addison enjoyed it too. She was laughing and trying to make her horse bounce higher by kicking her little legs and flapping her arms.

This was the first year Amelia and Luke were big enough for the big rides. Daddy took this picture while in line for Splash Mountain. I asked Stephen if he told Luke to pose his hands like that but he said nope, that was all Luke.

After mommy took them on Thunder Mountain. Smiles now but Amelia was screeching, "IS IT DONE YET???????????????????????" Even the people behind her and in front of her were soothing her. So... we only rode that ride once.

I love this one.

Addison's piggy face.

Addison on It's A Small World ride. She was so enamored with the characters and the song, the ride has just so much to look at, I loved bringing her on it.

Whew, Day three was Epcot! Do you see us starting to look weary.

Love this, Addison and Daddy. Addison would only sleep about 20 or 30 minutes each day in the parks so she was pooped. But, she slept great at night, usually sleeping 13 hours or so. Loved that, that was worth traipsing around Disney all day long.

Amelia and Luke loving each other in front of an Epcot fountain. They also loved the fountains where the water hops out, from fountain to fountain. It was great watching them play because I vividly remember playing in those fountains as a child.

Amelia and Luke ready to ride Test Track with mommy. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Amelia was okay throughout most of the ride although nervous wails kind of kept creeping out, but I thought she was going to be okay. Well, at the end of the car ride the car goes outside and goes fast, I mean like super fast around a race track, like 70mph. It was tummy tickling fast and I was holding both their hands, shouting "Boy, isn't this fun, wow, how fun!" You know, the mom trick of trying to not let them get scared but Amelia was right next to me screaming at the top of her lungs repeatedly, like a chant, "THIS IS NOT FUN, GET ME OFF THIS THING!" Luke of course loved it and went on again with daddy. Amelia still says Dumbo is her favorite ride but oh well, not everyone is a thrill seeker right?

Going through the worlds at Epcot. The children loved the Chinese acrobats in China. Daddy loved the beer in Germany. I loved the Bao Bing tea in Japan. I swear, I was up for the next 36 hours and feeling great. I don't know what was in it but I wish I could have it every morning.

Have to get the sombrero picture, come on, that's just cute no matter what.

I know, what's the big deal with this picture right? Look at the sign behind the children. Lost and Found. This is at the Magic Kingdom, day four. Day three was Epcot, half way through the Epcot morning, I realized I lost the full video tape of our whole trip so far of Disney, all of Addison's firsts, etc. So Epcot was tainted by my crying, anyone that knows me, knows that pictures and videos of my children are almost as important to me as my children themselves ( okay, maybe not quite; but close). I was on a wild goose chase retracing my steps begging for cast members to help me who kept pointing me in different directions. As a side note, my dear husband, immediately thought, "Thank the dear Lord that Jenni lost it and not me." Fair enough, he may have been seriously harmed if it had been him. So, at the end of the day, it hadn't shown up but some cast members swear they had seen it. I was so sad but had to leave, they said, if anything is found it goes to the Magic Kingdom lost and found. I'm thinking, um great, it's a three inch unmarked video tape. What are my chances of it showing up? So, the next day was Magic Kingdom day and we went to Lost and Found our first stop. Well, what do you know, I told the guy (blubbering again of course) how I lost my tape in Epcot and he pulled it right out and said, here it is! Seriously, oh my gosh, I hugged him and cried some more. Disney Magic at it's finest.

Yes, we are those annoying people that take the picture with the Mickey ears and then don't buy them.

Okay, one of my favorite moments was Addison meeting Mickey and Minnie. She laughed and squealed and kicked her arms and legs and reached for them and grabbed their noses. It was so cute. Loved it, loved it.

Animal Kingdom, our last day, wow we made it. Notice the weather change, brrrr! It was rainy too so we only stayed a few hours. That was plenty for us though. We were wiped out.

Grandma and Grandpa at Animal Kingdom with the kids. We really liked the safari through Africa, it was pretty cool.

Our whole group! Lots of fun, it was a great trip but I think I need a few years to recover.