Decorating our Home

Here are some pictures of a few of our "decorations" that we had this past Christmas. I of course did not take pictures of everything. One thing that I did not take a picture of was the kids' Little People Nativity Set. They had the stable with the manger, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherd, angel, cow, dog, donkey last year and then this year Mimi gave them the 3 wise men which each came with its own tent and camel. Each morning at breakfast Matt would read part of the Christmas story from Luke to them and it was neat to then see them acting out what he had read with the Little People.

We let them put window clings on the window in their room and I let them put them up by themselves only helping when they asked. They really enjoy this and we have done this for Valentine's Day and spring as well.
I made this chain at "MAP" (Mothers at Providence) and each day one of the kids would pull off a link and either Matt or I would read it to them and then on Christmas I read the whole thing and it was a poem of the Christmas story.
I also forgot to take a picture of the quilted wall hanging that my mom made for them of a Christmas tree with buttons and pockets. In each pocket there is a little ornament for them to hang on the "tree" and there are 24 buttons so it is an advent wall hanging. We took turns each day - one would open the link and the other would hang the ornament on the wall hanging. I guess I'll have to come up with one more thing for next year and work out a rotation!

While we were decorating the tree I made some hot chocolate for Maddie and me. The boys were not interested.

We let the kids hang a few decorations before they went to bed and then we finished up.

Finding the Perfect Tree

For the 4th year we went to Boone and went to a choose and cut farm to pick out our Christmas tree. It was freezing!!

Kallie's first trip to the tree farm - all bundled up

Looking for the perfect tree.

Shortly after we started down a hill to look at the trees Davis slipped on some mud and did somersaults and face planted into some mud. He cried for a minute but he was okay. Matt said he looked like Braveheart, so Matt wanted to get a closeup.

Matt and the kids in front of the tree we picked out. In years past we have looked for a long time at trees and found that they begin to all look the same. This year it was freezing and they were kind of short for the most part, so the first one that we all agreed on we took.

Our yearly picture of the kids with one of the baby trees.

Our tree being bundled up for the trip.

Another close up of Davis's muddy face before we wipe it off.

Davis wearing Daddy's tobogan. Heading down the mountain was an adventure. The main road - 321 was closed because of a rock slide, so we put in "Detour" in our GPS and it sent us a way that included driving down a dirt road for about 8 miles and not being near civilization for the majority of the time. We did not have a signal on our cell phone until we got into Lenoir (about 15 minutes from our destination). It was a little nerve wracking and we were very thankful for the DVD player that kept the kids occupied. What is normally about an hour to an hour and a half trip took about 3 hours. We were encouraged, though, when we talked to some of our friends in Granite and they said the GPS took us the way they would have taken us. Anybody else have an interesting story about how their GPS took them?

I'll show you the tree all decorated in our home in a later post.

Baby Kallie

Kallie has lovingly become "Baby Kallie" by her siblings and it has stuck with Mommy and Daddy as well. When Davis was a baby Maddie called him "Baby Day" and that was what Mommy and Daddy called him as well. Baby Kallie comes out more like Baby cahyee for Davis which is so cute. Here are some pictures of Baby Kallie doing tummy time in late November.

And then one of her relaxing with Daddy.

Thanksgiving

We started Thanksgiving morning by going over to Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Russ's house to see everyone. It worked better for us to come over and visit in the morning rather than the afternoon. We switch off each year with which family we eat the meal with and which family we do dessert with, but this year Tom and Audrey were in Charlotte having Thanksgiving with Tom's family and everyone was going to be leaving before we could get back over for dessert, so we just went to see everyone in the morning. The weather was great so the kids actually got to play outside and we took their bike and big wheel so that they could ride those since they had a driveway.

Maddie, Davis, and Faith Ashley hiding behind the chair for some reason. Faith Ashley had dressed up like an Indian in a headress and shirt that she had made at school.
Davis hanging out with Uncle Jon.

Aunt Lori helped Maddie and Faith Ashley make pilgrim hat cookies. Maddie had a lot of fun doing this with Faith and Aunt Lori and talked about it for weeks afterward.

They used fudge stripe cookies turned upside down, yellow icing and then put a Reese cup upside down in the yellow icing and added a tic tac for the buckle. They were yummy!

Kallie in her cute little Turkey bib.

Kallie with cousin Hannah

Davis riding his bike

Maddie on her bike with her helmet.

Faith Ashley on the sit 'n scoot

Davis in his helmet. It is a little big, but when he sees Maddie wearing hers he wants his on, too.

Baby Kallie with Grandpa Russ. Nice cheeks, Kallie!

After we left the Davis house we went over to my Aunt Tiger and Uncle Bob's house in Holly Springs for Thanksgiving dinner. Davis fell asleep on the way over there. So,

he slept through the meal on Tiger and Bob's bed. We just fed him after he woke up. Maddie ate with us and then she and Jessi went up and took a nap.

Poppa with baby Kallie

We are usually pretty bad about taking pictures of the kids with Mimi and Poppa, so I made a point to get a picture this time.

Cousin Jessi, Uncle Bob, Aunt Tiger, and Cousin Robbie.

They are so good with the kids and we love going over to visit them and their dog Sammy.

And of course we had to get a picture of our family.

Indian / Pilgrim night at AWANA

About every other week at AWANA there is a different theme. In November the week before Thanksgiving there was an Indian / Pilgrim headress night. I found a cute foam pilgrim hat at Target in the dollar section and grabbed it up. Here is Maddie in the little headress and fall colors.

Matt actually made his Indian headress last year. He did pretty well and kept it for this year. I think it says Snarling wolf. I snapped a picture real quick before we headed out the door.

Maddie with some of her friends in her AWANA class - Claire and Sophia

SNOW!!

We got about 5 inches of snow last night and then some sleet today. We had picked up a sled earlier this week because all of the meterologists were saying we were going to have significant accumulation, so we were all excited about trying out the new sled! We bundled the kids up and headed to the school across the street from our apartment complex and just started sledding on the first hill we came to. It came down into the street, but obviously there were not that many people out, so we were safe. Here are some pictures from our fun in the snow. Davis did much better this year than last year.

This is on the way to go sledding. Yes, Kallie is on the back, but Matt is just pulling them through our apartment complex parking lot.

Kallie all bundled up (tights, long sleeve t-shirt, another long sleeve shirt, pants, socks, and her "bear" one piece winter cover-up) and under her warm blanket car seat cover. She slept through the whole thing! She fell asleep before we left the apartment and she did not wake up until we got inside and were taking off our wet clothes!

Maddie and Davis going down the hill first. Matt got them started and I was at the bottom taking pictures.

Here they come! Probably should have caught them, but I was too busy taking pictures. They actually jumped the curb, and fell off. They both cried, but there was no blood and they were really okay. Just a little scared. Maybe one of us should have gone down with them first?!?

Matt got Maddie and Davis to go down with him again. I didn't have the camera when Davis came down again. Davis liked it. Maddie.....

not so much! She had more fun trying to throw snowballs at Davis and Mommy and making ....

snow angels. We tried to throw snowballs, but the snow would just fall apart - perfect for sledding, but not for making snowballs or a snowman.

One of our neighbors and his daughter were out tubing, so we asked him to take our picture before they went back in. Kallie is behind us in her carrier. It is kind of far away, but you get the idea :)

Maddie warming up with hot chocolate in her Caribou "mug" after we came in. They are napping now, but we are planning on making snow cream when they wake up. I guess we'll have dessert before dinner tonight! I'll post some videos of Matt and I sledding a little later.

Birthdays

Gaga and Apple came for the Fall Festival at church and while they were here we went to lunch at Golden Corral to celebrate mine and Tom's birthdays. Audrey (Gaga) had brought cupcakes for the kids to decorate and for us to eat for desert after lunch.

Getting ready to decorate.
Notice Maddie and Davis BOTH are helping. So cute!

Some of the finished products. Yum yum.

Grandma Ruth with Baby Kallie at lunch. Grandma Ruth, Grandpa Russ, Uncle Jon, Kyle, and Faith Ashley joined us for lunch.

Faith Ashley holding Baby Kallie.

Davis, Kyle, Faith Ashley, and Maddie. Maddie and Faith Ashley are only about 18 months apart, so they have a lot of fun together.

Being a little silly.

Tom and I enjoying our birthday lunch. His birthday is November 4th and mine is the 11th.