Christmas #1

We loved having our first Christmas at our new home this year!

We got the largest (read: widest) tree ever, but luckily the bay window had room for it. We barely got it through the door though! The kids and I had fun decorating it, and of course they love seeing all the presents and guessing what's inside. Nate especially loved to make "piles" of all his presents.....he loved reading his name on lots of tags!

Greg's parents arrived on Friday the 21st, and showed up in these snazzy outfits, with a shirt for Greg as well. Ho Ho Ho!

They brought a few Christmas decorations from Greg's childhood, and this singing Rudolph that hung on a doorknob was Abby's fave. She tried to sneak it into bed with her a few times but I had to nix that idea.

Saturday was quite a day... I took the kids to rehearsal at the church for the Christmas program. Abby had an awful nap that afternoon and kept crying that her ears hurt, so I rushed her to the clinic before it closed. I must have been in a bigger rush than I thought, b/c I hit a small brick wall on our carport as I was backing out and REALLY messed up our front bumper. Awesome. And then at the doctor's, they had to irrigate Abby's ears in order to check for an ear infection and that was bloody murder screaming for 15 minutes. I literally had to hold her down with my elbows, so she & I were both crying by the end of it. The good news was that she only had a mild ear infection, so we got her started on antibiotics right away. 

Then, that night, Greg's sister Gena, flew into Birmingham. While Mum Mum & Granddaddy drove to pick her up at the airport, the 4 of us got in some much-needed snuggle time on the couch & watched Polar Express before bed. Probably my favorite moment of the Christmas week!

Since the kids looked so cute for church on Sunday, I asked Abby to pose and this is what I got:

Nate & Granddaddy were twins!!

After church, the kids convinced Aunt Gena that playing Play-doh was super fun :) They made dozens of cookies and pancakes with sprinkles. Thank you for being such a good sport, Aunt Gena!

On Christmas Eve, the kids and I made our annual sugar cookies for Santa. They loved rolling out the dough, putting flour everywhere, fighting over the cookie cutters :) and of course decorating with lots of sprinkles. Love this tradition!! 

We went to the Children's Mass on 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve and it was a great service! The kids participated in the program; see my previous post to read about that & see pictures. 

We came home to have our usual chili dinner, and more hanging out and anticipating Santa's arrival :)

Uncle Kevin & Rocio sent us a delicious basket of goodies! We missed you guys!!

Reading the Christmas story before bed....

Trying to take a bite of Rudolph's carrot...

Christmas morning - Santa came!!! We made the kids wait upstairs till 8 am and surprisingly, they did it without much complaining. In fact, Aunt Gena checked on the kids late on Christmas Eve night, and they were sleeping in Nate's TWIN bed together! (We had set up camp for Abby in Nate's room, with just a mattress on the floor. But sweet Nate let her cuddle with him all night in his bed. Love them.)

Greg & I cooked a big breakfast after opening stockings, and Greg's french toast on our new griddle-top was delicious! Abby loved the mittens in her stocking that she insisted on wearing them to the table:

Skinny Minnie! Oh how I adore those knobby knees :)

Then, FINALLY, the present-opening began.....and what a whirlwind it was....

The much sought-after "Barracuda Blade"......it was #1 on his Santa list, but luckily Santa called Aunt Gena and asked her to get it instead.

Another favorite present of Nate's was his mini-wrestling figures; Abby was a fan as well. It's sad how much my kids love wrestling. I owe Greg for exposing them to WWF at such a young (& inappropriate!) age.

Christmas night, these two hopped into bed together and insisted on sleeping in the same bed again. Of course when I found them in the morning, Miss Priss was hogging both pillows and poor Nate was pushed down towards the middle of the bed and against the wall.

What a wonderful Christmas, and lots of thanks to the Givens (especially Aunt Gena!) for playing hide-n-seek, tag, slinky, dominoes, bingo, flashcards, and hours & hours of wrestling cave matches :) Our kids are so blessed!

Christmas Eve Children's Mass

I was so happy to be in town for Christmas this year, for SO many reasons! And one of those reasons was so that we could attend & participate in the Christmas Eve Children's Mass. Nate got asked to be a "shepherd," and at the last minute, Abby was donned the "star." I knew Nate would be fine because some of his school buddies were shepherds as well.... and these were non-speaking parts, so really, it was just about being well-behaved. And that is Nate to a tee.

But then there's Abby Reece.

All the "star" had to do was walk up, stand behind Mary & Joseph, and protect Baby Jesus. She was good at this, but I was waiting for her to grab Baby Jesus out of Mary's hands because she wanted to hold that doll so so bad!

Nevertheless, rehearsal on Saturday went much better than expected, and Abby was thrilled when she saw her costume - an old priest's vestment that was remade into a gold and beautiful gown, as well as a glittery star headband. So I was hopeful that the actual program would go smoothly.

During mass on Christmas Eve, I sat on the front row with Abby, as well as some of the other "characters." I was supposed to keep them quiet/well-behaved during mass, but I had my hands full with just Abby. She told me her costume was making her hot 30 seconds into mass, and since her gown didn't have arm holes, it was like she was in a straight-jacket. So I hiked up the gown - exposing her tights & polka dot underwear (oh yes, super classy) and let her arms free for a bit. About 5 seconds before she had to go "on stage," she started to have a minor meltdown about her headband hurting. We powered through it and she did a.m.a.z.i.n.g!!

 Click here to view Abby making her entrance.

During mass, Nate was in the very back row with all the other shepherds. I took a video of him making his entrance down the aisle, but have had issues uploading it. All the shepherds & sheep kneel halfway down the aisle because Angel Gabriel appears and they were "terrified." It it too cute and of course Nate was the only one that stood up on cue.

 This last video is of the whole group. It's a bit of a hot mess, but nonetheless, a proud mommy moment for me! (It's hard to see Nate, but if you located Joseph & Mary, and he's two to the left of them.)

Click here to view the second video.

I am so proud of my little shepherd & star, and look forward to participating in this mass for many years to come!

Christmas Program

Nate had his Christmas program (& last day of school) yesterday. His class has been practicing these 6 songs for nearly two months now, and he was super excited to show off their hard work.

Click here to see video #1.

Click here to see video #2.

Click here to see video #3.

Nate's favorite song, Hallelujah, was the last video. I agree, there's just something about those angelic voices. And faces! Oh my handsome boy, I just love him so much.

And I love how in the videos Nate alerts me to anything/anyone that's coming down the aisle. Too cute!

Abby has one more day of school - Friday - and then we are officially on Christmas vacation. Can't wait to spend time with my little family!!!

A Pinterest-Worthy Makeover

 Ever since October when we decided we were moving, I was excited for the new house. For many, many reasons. But one reason near the top of the list was that Abby would finally get a "big girl room." For those that saw her room at #17, it was - to put it nicely - a cave. It was tiny, had old carpet, slanted ceilings, and did I mention it was tiny!? 

I had a budget set for decorating her new room at #31, but - shocker - I went over budget and had just a tiny bit left for her dresser. Enter: Pinterest. Oh how I love Pinterest. I found some inspiration to redo an old dresser, and one of my friends just happened to be selling an old dresser of her cousin's. See Exhibit A, below.

An old, outdated dresser with brass fixtures. But it was made of real wood and in reasonable shape. I snagged it and then enlisted the help of my genius neighbor Paige for a DIY makeover. 

I knew I wanted something neutral because her walls are off-white, her bedding is robin-egg blue, and there are a few bright fuchsia accents. I decided on a very light slate gray for the main color of the dresser, with some white and crystal accents. Thanks to Paige, the dresser got a little added pizazz on the side, with some detailed stenciling. Have I mentioned that she is amazing!? We spent 3 days on & off in my (creepy) basement, painting and gossiping and laughing and painting some more. I think we did a total of 4 coats of the gray, and I spray painted the old hardware white and added some snazzy metallic drawer lines as well (which is actually just some cheap rolls of wrapping paper I found at TJ Maxx).

I am super super happy with the finished product, and ready to start another dresser makeover!!

What do you think!?!?!?

'Tis the Season, Part 2

This past week, I got to have some "me" time and attend two different weeknight parties, while Greg was on kid duty :) First up was Wednesday night, when I went to a Tacky Sweater/Dirty Santa/Cookie Exchange party. Oh yes, it was a lot but it was a blast. It was my first time attending a Tacky Sweater party and I was excited! Luckily, my mother (the teacher) had a Christmas sweatshirt & turtleneck (!) that she let me borrow, as well as lots of accessories - think holly hair clip, wreath earrings, etc. My look was completed with Christmas socks and tightrolled colored jeans. I got 2nd place in the costume contest but don't have a picture from that night, sorry. If you keep reading though, you may see towards the bottom :) Everyone kept saying I looked like I was 12 years old....not sure if that was b/c of the baggy sweatshirt or the way I was wearing my hair. Whatever though; I had fun!

And then Thursday night, I went to an ornament swap with my Moms Group at church. They are a great group of ladies and I'm so happy to have found them! I ended up with two really cute ornaments, and again stayed out way too late talking & eating & drinking & sitting outside by the fire pit. Good times!

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Yesterday, as a family, we attended a Christmas party at our good friends' house. The adults were supposed to wear tacky sweaters (yay!) and then the kids go to do a gift exchange. I think we were supposed to make gingerbread houses as well, and I saw the kits at Alba's house, but I think we forgot to do them :) The kids were having too much fun running around and playing to stop! 

Greg was a good sport and wore the (women's!?) sweater vest that Alba found at a thrift store. She made sure to have extras for any husbands that didn't want to participate! :) 

 Alba just got a new puppy, named Coco!! He's a golden retriever and ~8 weeks old. He is sooooo cute and Abby had a good time chasing him around. Nate, not so much.

 Here's all the kiddos, waiting for the gift exchange. Clearly, we were not going to get a picture of all of them looking/smiling, so this was my best shot:

 Ready, Set, Open!!!!

 Here we are, in all of our tacky glory :) (I took the turtleneck off shortly after this picture was taken. I had forgotten how restrictive & hot those things were!!)

 3 silly boys, all in the same class: Chandler, Anthony, Nate

 Abby was pooped from all the partying, and I found her like this on Coco's doggie bed :) Bows out and everything.

 Then I asked her if she wanted some more food and she perked up :)

We had lots of yummy grilled cheese, fruit, chili, hot chocolate/marshmallows, "Grinch Punch" for the kids, and spiked eggnog & wine for the adults. It was quite a party and one that I hope becomes a new tradition. After the party, we drove to a nearby neighborhood called Idlewood to look at all the luminaries & lights. It was beautiful, and I loved hearing all the squeals from the backseat. We even saw a few Santas dressed up and got some goodies that they were handing out. I love this town!!

And then today, between masses, my Mom's Group hosted a "Birthday Party for Jesus" where the kids made ornaments, sang songs, listened to books, and ate cupcakes. And tonight, we are headed to one.last.party at two of Greg's colleague's house. Should be fun, but like I said before, I'm a bit partied out! 

I will leave you with one last thing....a video of my sweet Abby Reece singing. Like I mentioned in the previous post, she is loving all things Christmas this year - especially the songs. I keep a "Kiddie" Christmas cd in the car, and we have listened to it maybe 100,000 times already. Click here to hear Abby sing her new favorite song, "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." Though of course, she chose to change the lyrics a bit :)

I'm love love loving this holiday season with my sweet family, and hugging my kids just a little tighter these days thanks to all the recent tragedy in the news. I know how blessed we are, and I'm thankful every day for it!! Merry Christmas to all of our friends & family; we love you very much!