Over the River and Through the Woods.......

Scavenger Hunt!

Found it!

We headed north on the 26th so we could have Christmas in Indiana!!  We stopped at Nana and Papa's for the first couple days.  The Henderson clan was there when we arrived and we got to spend some time with our cousins, aunts, Great Nana, and Don.  We don't get to see them very often and it was nice to spend some time together.  Great Nana loves a good scavenger hunt and sent the kids on one where they found a jeep waiting on them in the garage!  FUN!
We were SO excited when we woke up to it SNOWING outside the next morning!!!  YAY!!!!  Nana helped the kids make snow ice cream and then we got in a little outside playing time in the afternoon!  The snow drought that we're having this winter has us a bit frazzled and we were well overdue for a good one!  The snow didn't last long BUT we did get to play in it, make a snowman and snow angels, and have a snowball fight!
We were spoiled rotten and our car was already packed full BEFORE we even made it to Grandma's house!!
Next up was Grandma's for a couple days where the kids were, once again, bombarded with toys, toys, and MORE toys!!  The girls got their first IU cheerleading outfits and they are hysterical!!  Check out the two pictures of the kids in their IU outfits.  You may notice that Anna is only in one of them.  This might be because the girl doesn't stop moving for a second, and in all the other pictures we took, she was either absent or blurry because she moves at the speed of lightning!!
The next day we got to see the Townsend's new house (in one word......GORGEOUS!) where I'm quite sure the girls ran 27 miles in the few hours we were there!!  It warmed up and we even got in some playing time outside before the girls started to blow away.
We had a great time with family during those four days!!  The drive to and from Knoxville seems to get longer and LONGER, but getting to see all our family and spend time together makes it so worth it!!!

My new coffee cup was a BIG hit w/ AK!

The baby toys are always a hit!

LOVE her look here!

Reading the book Great Nana wrote!

Making snow ice cream!

Don't forget about me!!

Making snow angels

And a snow man.

Snowball fight!!

Take that, Papa!

And that!

AK waiting it out inside with Daddy.

Finished product!

Linus with her "me."

Opening stockings at Grandma's!

AK's favorite thing to do at Grandma's.

Say what??

YES!!!

And one for AK too!

WAHAHAHAHA!!!

Playing in Jack's new IU room!

Christmas Morning 2011

Santa came!!

We had a relaxed Christmas Day in Knoxville this year. We planned on traveling north on the 26th so we had all day to play, eat, play again, and eat some more!
Grace was all about Santa this year and we knew Christmas morning would be SOOO fun!!  Matt and I got up before the girls woke up so we could get all the lights on, music playing, and maybe get a jump start on the caffeine pump.  I was making coffee when I turned around and saw Grace make a beeline to her dancing baby!  She snuck downstairs without Matt or I even hearing her.  DANG.....she's good!  She went from toy to toy with a look of pure awe on her face!  We waited for what seemed like forever until finally Anna woke up.  All we heard from her was, "Whoa!" and "Ohhhh my!"  Out of all the loot in front of her, can you guess what she ran to first??  Pete's new dog bowls!!  WHAT!!  Good thing I stressed over what her "big" gift would be this year!  WAHAHA!!  She fed off of Grace's excitement and was so cute to watch!

She got her dancing baby!!

Waiting on AK to wake up!

Grace had all her presents (and part of mine and Anna's) opened within about ten minutes.  WAHAHA!!  There was no waiting around on her to finish that this year!  The girl was on a mission to get those suckers opened as quickly as possible.

We had our traditional breakfast casserole, played all day, had a nice lunch, got packed up and ready for our road trip the next day.  It's so much fun seeing the excitement in those little eyes as they experience all the magic that Christmas has to offer!  This is such a sweet time and I'm glad we got to soak up the day and enjoy all those little moments!!  

LOVES her new trike!

Christmas Lights at the Cove

Every year the Cove (or Concord Park) has a big Christmas lights display all throughout the park.  We talked and talked about it last year, and when we went, the lights were OFF!  So, we were excited to take the girls this year.
Santa was there!  They sold hot chocolate and kettle corn.  And it was nice to get out, get some fresh air, and see all the lights!  Anna didn't move a muscle in her stroller and seemed hypnotized by everything that was going on.  I'm pretty sure Grace drank 3 Mountain Dews before we left since she was bouncing from each display to the next!  HAHA!
If you've never been, you should try it out next year.  We had a lot of fun!!

Meet Hermie

I'd like to introduce you to our elf, Hermie.  This was the first year that Hermie has joined us.  I have heard story after story about these elves and decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a shot.  We love all things Christmasy so this was bound to be fun, right??
I sat down and read the book the night before he "appeared" and, much to my surprise, discovered there are rules that go along with these things.  The #1 rule was that you can't touch the elf or he will lose his "magic" and won't be able to fly back to the North Pole to report your child's behavior to the Big Man.  Great!!
Grace came down the first morning, saw him sitting on the mantle, and we read the book together.  As soon as I finished reading, guess what she said.  "Ok Mommy.  Can I hold him now?"  This could be a LOOOOOONG 4 weeks!  She seemed fine with this whole thing and warmed up to the idea after we talked about it for a bit.  Anna even noticed him right off and gave me a big, "Ohhhhh wow!"
One of the first steps is to name your elf.  Grace's first suggestion was Jolly.  I thought this was great (given the time of year and all) but that quickly changed to Jack and then "Hormey" not to be confused with another word that rhymes with Hormey.....uh hum!  He stayed Hormey up until the last few days leading up to Christmas when he officially become Hermie.
Grace's excitement over Hermie never changed and it was the first thing she asked about EVERY morning.  "Mommy, where do you think that elf is today!"  He was the first AND last thing we talked about every day.
Annnnnd then there were the days when I got into bed, got all cozy, and realized.....CRAP!!!  I didn't move Hermie!!  I'd run downstairs, find a new spot, and hop back into bed with frozen feet.  Oh, and let's not talk about the day that I FORGOT to move him!  Thankfully, it was while Matt was on vacation.  He saw the look on my face after Grace asked about Hermie and ran downstairs "to get her Cheerios" before noticed!!  SHEW!!
Our elf turned out to be pretty low-key, but there are so many people who had their elves doing all kinds of crazy things and making huge messes.  To each their own, but I don't get that AT ALL!  I saw pictures of toilet paper all over a living room, flour and sugar all over the kitchen are just a couple examples.  Isn't the whole point of these dang things to keep them on their best behavior?  So, why in the world would you make the elves act all a fool?  Not to mention the mess I would have to clean up afterwards.  No thank you!  The picture you see of Hermie sitting in a bowl of marshmallows (taking a bubble bath) is the worst it got around here.
We didn't use the "be nice because the elf is watching technique."  It came out of my mouth once and I laughed out loud at how ridiculous it sounded.  But it was fun for Grace to find him every morning and then guess where he would be the next day so we went with it.  On Christmas Eve, the girls even got to "break the rules" and give Hermie a hug since he wouldn't be back until next year.  They were both thrilled that they got to touch him and we had to pry him away from them.
And that is our elf story!  If you want my advice, I would say to get a cheap, little elf from a craft store, give your kids "the pitch", and make your own rules.  If you want to move him from shelf to shelf, then go for it.  If you want him to make mess after mess, then so be it.  But remember that you're the one who gets to clean it up!  :)  It can definitely be fun though and I'm sure we'll see Hermie arrive next December!  

Cookies for Santa

We had a blast making cookies for Santa this year and, surprisingly, I didn't even mind the mess! We had sprinkles and flour ALL over the kitchen. Grace helped me make our sugar cookie dough while Anna napped, and then both girls helped with the cookie cutting and decorating. You'll notice in the video that Anna is conveniently sitting in her highchair. This worked out for the best for everyone involved! WAHAHAHA!! Matt made a video of it and captured the girls personalities to a T!! Grace followed every instruction, cut the cookie dough, and put on the sprinkles very neatly (well for the most part). Anna ate almost every piece of dough placed on her tray, had sprinkles all over the place, and hid out in the cabinets when she needed a break from the madness. WAHAHAHA!!!! These girls are polar opposites and I love everything about them!! Enjoy!!

A Message From Santa!

I heard about a through Facebook and everyone was going and on about how much their kids loved it. I checked it out and I'm so glad I did. It's a website where you can personalize a message from Santa including pictures throughout the year, a favorite gift, their age, state where he/she lives, etc. It took about 5 minutes to put together and is AWESOME....if I do say so myself! Even the adults we showed were impressed! We watched Grace's video at least a half of a million times and I got a video of her watching it for the first time. She's in total awe! Check it out!