The best Christmas present ever

For Christmas Babe & Pops gave Bo and me some $$$ and told us to pick the night and they’d keep the kids.  They told us to treat ourselves.  So, we did!  Bo took a half day today and we headed to Chateaux on the Lake.  We were there in September, so I told Bo this must be where we go on our quarterly retreats.  Man, is it good for the soul.

I’ve had Christmas down and been done with it – but the Landing and the hotel were still all decked out.  It was pretty spectacular.  I will say that the outlets were over winter – they already had Spring stuff stocked!

Guess I got too caught up relaxing – because I only took pics of the gingerbread houses.  I will say that after seeing these – I think I have a challenge for Amanda and me next year :)

The best thing is knowing that the kids are having as much fun as we are.  Of course, Babe & Pops let them pretty much rule the roost.  I received the pic below at 8:35 (yes my kids normally are tucked in by 7:30).  Pops made them homemade chocolate candy.  This is them eating the spoons.  I’ve did the same thing a million times in my childhood.  So blessed for them to get to experience the same thing.

So we’ll only be gone for 24 hours – but the time is priceless!  Thanks Babe & Pops!!!!!

Game Day

No – it’s not yet the Sugar Bowl!  Today we finally broke out the games that Santa brought the kids.  The best one ever is Hullabaloo.  You spread the game pieces out and then the machine tells you to jump, dance, spin to a color, a shape, an instrument, etc.  We played for over an hour!

  

Pops treated us to chicken and dumplings for dinner.  The kids all time favorite meal (one of mine too!).

You could tell Crawford had been out of his routine because he started begging for a project.  He specifically wanted something to do with space.  So – thanks to the new printer/fax/copier Sue-Sue got me for Christmas – we made an earth out of a Sprite box.  The pics don’t do it justice.  You shine the flashlight behind it – and it' really looks like space.

What a fun “normal” non-holiday night.  We sure are lucky that Babe & Pops are staying through the New Year.  We are getting so spoiled :)

I wanna be just like you

Apparently this is the mantra that both of my children have adopted – they want to be just like the other one.  It doesn’t matter what they are playing, reading, etc – if one has it the other one wants it.

Uncle Matt got Crawford the Spiderman truck for Christmas.  This morning – they came and told me they wanted to play Spiderman.  I was thinking how adorable it was – so I took the below pic.

Flash forward 5 minutes and it wasn’t so cute anymore.  We had every single Spiderman themed toy out (total of about 9) but that didn’t work.  They both wanted the truck and the “small” Spidey.  They literally were throwing punches.  So – to time out they went and Spidey had to go to the closet for a bit.

Yogi Bear

I’m so excited that my kids love going to the movies – it’s my favorite thing to do.  Thank goodness most “kid” movies these days do have adults in mind and they are pretty good.  Well, that’s not the case for Yogi Bear.  It was terrible.  But, the kids didn’t seem to notice – they loved it.  We finally got Con to sit in the booster – she was all set popcorn, juice, chocolate – check!

Merry, Merry Christmas!

My family got here at 6:45 and we all anxiously awaited the minute the kids would wake up.  They slept until 7:30!

Here’s the shot of them walking into the living room.  You can tell they just got up (Con’s jammies are up around her knees!).

She just kept saying, “Santa brought me baby house!”

Crawford was so excited – he didn’t know what to play with first.

Conlee also got the gear for her American Girl.  She disappeared and this is where we found her – she’d gone to get Baby!

Major rock star!

 

Crawford got the light up Sketchers he asked Santa for!  By far this was his favorite gift!

They opened the presents they gave each other.  Conlee got Jessie and Crawford got Woody.

And then, Conlee was done.  Literally refused to open another gift!  Sue-Sue had a mound of them for her and she didn’t open one.  Oh well – I got to feel like a kid again.  I loved opening them.

She did get excited when we showed her the pair of panties she got!

Next up – Christmas brunch.  We were blessed to have Jean Ann and our neighbors join us.  It actually felt like the big family Christmas that I love. 

I made cheddar and chive biscuits and cut them out with Christmas cookie cutters.  Crawford ate 3 “trees.”

We had a huge spread:  ham, sugared bacon, cheese grits, fruit, biscuits, orange bread, sausage and egg casserole.  It was so yummy.

Even yummier, Bellini’s!

The kids could hardly sit still before they were done and back playing.

 

Everyone hung around and visited – it was perfect.  Apparently the Bellini’s and the action wore me out.  Bo had to snap a pic.

We are a bit different – we do a low key Christmas night.  Literally ham sandwiches and chips.  This year we had some entertainment.  The kids put on a concert.  Conlee thinks she has to hold the mike so we could hear her sing Rudolf.

 

We let the kids stay up a bit late.  How cute is Conlee’s gown she got from Santa?  And the Iron Man robot – a huge hit, but Conlee is TERRIFIED of it.

 

What a blessed, merry Christmas with family and friends.  Everyone literally got exactly what they wanted!

Christmas Eve Celebration

We had the whole family off of work on Christmas Eve.  We had so much fun – cooking up a storm.  Babe will kill me for the shot with the glasses below – but how cute.

We have Christmas Eve dinner at Sue-Sue’s house.  As always, it was decorated beautifully.  I love the 2 pics below.  I’ll frame them to replace the same poses from 2 years ago when we’d brought Conlee home from the hospital.  We don’t have a pic from last year because Pops was in the hospital.  The past 2 years we’ve spent in hospitals.  So blessed not to have to do that this year!

 

Sue-Sue sat a gorgeous table.  She tore a poinsettia apart and put the leaves in water pics.  So pretty.

 

Before dinner the kids got to open 2 presents a piece from both sets of Grandparents.

Is this not a precious Christmas photo?  He loved his Bruder truck Babe & Pops got him.

Babe & Pops got Con her first American Girl!  I don’t know who was more excited – her or me.  Love the pic below.  I’ve dreamed of the day when I’d hold my little girl in a smocked dress with blonde curls and a baby doll.  I love, love, love it!

Jean Ann joined us for dinner.  She helped Con figure out the baby carrier.  Yes – it’s like a baby Bjorn!

My brother and I.  Love him.

 

Sue-Sue and J-J got the kids costumes.  Con:  Minnie Mouse  Crawford:  Buzz Lightyear.

We forced the kids out of costume to enjoy the amazing dinner.  Oh how I love the presentation of crown pork!

I made red velvet bread pudding with bourbon whipped cream.   Not a “pretty” factor – but man it nailed the yummo factor.

Then it was time to play some more.  The kids switched presents.

 

On the way home we called On Star to track Santa.  The kids were wide eyed listening to the report.  We were home in plenty of time to put out the Reindeer food and cookies for Santa.  Can you see the white flecks in the shots of the Reindeer food – that’s snow!

 

Crawford explaining to Con how the fire won’t hurt Santa because he’s magic.

In the blink of an eye – Santa had been here.  It seems that as the kids get older – the presents get smaller (and more expensive!).

   

Bo could have killed me when I said it didn’t look like Santa got them much – ha!

We forgot to say goodbye to the Elf – so we made up our own rules.  He came back with Santa so he could watch the kids on Christmas morning.