Christmas Weekend and Eve 2012

I can't believe it's already been a week since Christmas! This is the first Christmas we have stayed home, right here at our house, and it was wonderful. It was the best feeling knowing that we were not travelling and that our babies would go to sleep and wake up right here on Christmas morning! We are so incredibly appreciative of our family coming up here to be with us this year. Thank you all so, so much for making the trip! We had 3 rounds of family, food and gifts and we all felt very spoiled. I have so many pictures of the Christmas weekend/week span so I'll just post some of the highlites. The weekend before Christmas w/Nana and Papa...

They have lived in these sleeping bags since they got them. Such a useful gift at our house-thank you Nana and Papa!!

Christmas Eve morning we woke up to Minnie Mouse (thank you cousins!)

Christmas Eve day we stayed home, played, cooked lunch and waited for Shug, Grandaddy, and Honey to get to our house!

It was the nicest and fairly warmest day of the whole week, sooooo the kids got their suprise early from Shug and Grandaddy, pure happiness when they saw it!

That night we had a little birthday party for Jesus which was special for the kids and for us. We read the Christmas story, sang happy birthday and decorated cupcakes and named all the nativity pieces. Definitely one of the best parts of Christmas this year and something we will do every year.

I still have many more pics to share so that will have to wait! I have to say again how thankful I am for every person in these pictures and that we were able to spend these days together. I love every single one of them and am extremely grateful for the way they love our family. Christmas Day pictures coming soon!

Zoolight Safari

Last Wednesday night Hayes and I met Lindsey and Baker at the zoo for the zoolight safari. Hayes was on cloud 9 when I told her that afternoon we were going w/her cousin! We went last weekend too w/Nathan and Watson but it was so crowded, still fun but lots of people everywhere. Hayes and Bake Bake had a great time playing. We rode the train, saw all the lights and they ran around and danced in circles all over the zoo. Oh and they loved all the stick your head through and take a picture booths set up. Thanks Lindsey and Baker for meeting us!!

Hayes' Class

For a while now Hayes has loved to play school. She used to only play outside on the playset and she would help all her kids up the steps and then have school-sing songs, make up a craft for them, etc. Now she plays inside ALL the time. Yesterday she lined up all her kids and asked me to take a class picture of them! I truly think she may be a teacher one day! Lately she says she teaches the 10yr olds (which is our cousin Holley's grade.) Today she sat them all down and went around to each one to help them sit "criss cross apple sauce." Some were too small for that though. She has a great imagination and I'm so thankful for that!

Watson's 1st Haircut

Yesterday I took Hayes to get her hair trimmed and while we were there I finally decided to let Watson's curls have a little trim too! I can't believe I let her do it, but it was a matter of convenience since I already had both w/me and they were being really good. That sweet curly blond hair was getting a little wild and the hair girl convinced me it would still be curly if she trimmed the ends. She was right. It may be even curlier now!

They both got big santa suckers and loved every lick!

Our little raisin monster with his new trim-I love it!

H-3 yrs. 10 mos. W-21 mos.

Soaking in December

We are loving December around here. We have been at home, at preschool, to Dothan for a family Christmas dinner and that's about it! I tried really hard to get all my shopping done in November and thankfully that is finished almost. I did not want that extra stress in December. So far this month it has been really nice to just be home, enjoy the Christmas tree and decorations and not feel completely crazy-most of the time!!

We have had no shortage of video watching this month. Watson has discovered the Cedarmont Kids and is obsessed, obsessed, obsessed to the nth degree. It is ridiculous. Hayes was the same way w/them at her age. Something about watching other children sing that is mesmerizing for him. All day long if it's not playing he is screaming, "kids, kids, kids!!" I need some earplugs after about the 3rd go-round. The best part is that he has learned about 40 praise songs/hymns from watching it and loves to sing them all the time. He will say the end word of every line and it's the sweetest thing.

We went to painted by you in November (thanks to Groupon) and made a Santa handprint plate. Just picked it up today and it turned out so cute. I am guessing this will be our new cookies for Santa plate.

Last weekend was our Watson Family Christmas Dinner in Dothan with my Dad's side of the family. It was great. We got to see our cousins and lots of relatives. I always look forward to that day!! It was so different though without my Grandmama and Grandaddy and Ease there. Our generation of cousins is growing up and there just were not many older people, which makes me a little sad. And we didn't even get a family picture, just 1 of these 5 little cousins though who I love so, so, so much!!!

Hayes is almost 4 (next month) going on 14. She is a pure grown up now it seems like. She helps so much at home. I love her age. Actually I've pretty much loved every age since they were both born, except for getting up in the middle of the night, could have done without that. It's hit me hard lately that Hayes will start kindergarten in a year and a half. I know it sounds like a long time, but it's really not! I want to soak up every ounce of my time with her at home and I've made a conscious effort to do that for the past year. I just know I'll look back when she's in kindergarten and totally wish she was here to play "get on the bus" and doctor with her babies and paint messy pictures and play bag lady where she dumps tons of stuff into grocery sacks (all for mommy to clean up of course!) She doesn't nap (and hasn't in forever) and really doesn't even rest, but I've gotten to where I am okay with it b/c she's pretty independent. She is all about doing projects, every single day! I am having to be really creative to come up with stuff for her to do during W's rest time. Making cookies is always her first choice. We've baked alot the last couple of weeks and everything we make she says is her favorite. The girl has a major sweet tooth!

I'm sure (haha) I've mentioned this before on the blog, but Bam Bam is quite the handful! He can climb out of his crib is 1 second and can now turn the door knob to get out of his room. However, we have made big naptime progress and he's napping again this week (last week was a no-nap week!) He is just getting up so early now that he can get up on his own, gone are the days of him staying in his bed until 7:30 or 8. Now it's more like 5:45 or so which has been shocking for my system. He is 100% full speed ahead from the second his feet hit the floor in the mornings!

He still hasn't had a hair cut yet, although it's definitely in his future. I'm so afraid of what will happen to all those curls. I'm thinking it may stay curly like Hayes', hopefully.

We have gotten so many Christmas cards with children looking at the camera and smiling. It's amazing. I truly am blown away that other children can do this, because mine totally CANNOT! Individual shots-yes. But together? It's a joke! I love their hilarious little selves anyway.

Here was our rest time last week one day. They had about 10 different activities for "quiet time." Not very restful! They're always into a new stage and I'm constantly adjusting!

I do love that we had the extra week of Christmas this year. It really has made the month go by a little slower which has given us lots of time for little projects. I love that we can celebrate Jesus' birth this year with Hayes and Watson and that she is starting to understand. And I love that we are beginning new Christmas traditions for our kids. We are staying home this year for Christmas and our fam is coming to see us. So, so fun and we are excited. Hope you are enjoying this season and all the busy-ness or downtime it brings!

School Picture

My little school girl...

Hayes-3 yrs

The Weekend

I love weekends when we have no big plans, so we can just do whatever comes along. Our Bham cousins, Alice and Claire, who Hayes talks about all the time and planned a birthday party for came over Friday afternoon for a snack and to play. They are so sweet to my kids and we love to see them. They are older, but I figured out Hayes will be in 9th grade when Claire is a senior in high school. If we still live here they will be at the same school at least 1 year. That was totally random.

Friday night we had family fun night w/a fire, Frosty the Snowman movie (H's favorite), and popcorn. Watson though he was so cool staying up late, I would catch him looking over at us eating his popcorn and smiling.

Watson is 21 months now and Hayes is 3 yrs 10 mos-almost 4 and 2. Still seems like he should be a baby but he really isn't anymore. So sad!

They seem so much for grown up now too?? Hayes has called me Amy all weekend. She says the funniest things all day, every day!

Watson decided this weekend that he was going to start crawling out of his bed. He did it first on Saturday when he was supposed to be napping. Nathan was home w/him and I was not. Then Sunday he did it again immediately when I put him down. I closed the door and 2 seconds later I could hear him jiggling the door handle. I went back in his room at least 15 times to put him back in the bed. He finally had a 30 minute nap in his bed. So I feel like I won that battle for Sunday, we'll see what this afternoon holds. I'm afraid my afternoons w/at least 1 sleeping child might be coming to an end. SCARY!

Saturday morning we took the kids to the bass pro shop. It was definitely worth the drive. I had hoped to get a picture of both kids w/Santa, but that did't work out. The line was too long so there was no hope of that. But, there were so many fun things to see and do!

They loved all the 4 wheelers and animals everywhere.

Can't believe she wanted to touch this big bear!

It was a great weekend with family. Hope you had a good one too!! Happy Monday!!