My kids must have been really good this year

Christmas was so much fun this year. I have pictures out the wazoo to prove it but just haven't had time to getting around to posting them. It started the week before christmas when my mom and family came over to celebrate christmas and then a few days later we went to my dads to celebrate over their... who says christmas is one day (it isnt when you have 3 sets of parents and 7 siblings). Christmas morning was really fun this year because Reagan was SUPER excited about Santa this year. It was magical. As usual my kids had way to many presents but I just cant help myself this time of year... besides they were so good this year =)

Santa's remnants... Reagan insisted on chocolate milk "since all the other kids will just be giving him plain milk" and half eaten carrots from the reindeer. If you look closely you can see "Santa dust" left on the fireplace. It's how you know Santa has been to our house... his magic dust is all over the firplace. (Think red glitter) and Santa always leaves a note.




Reagans big gift from Santa was an easel and lots of art supplies. She was very excited about it. Brody got this awesome Radio Flyer rocking horse... I dont think he needed anything else because once he saw that horse I had to open the rest of his presents.

Brody and his horse... he has been in heaven ever since. It makes noise and plays music.

Reagan was a woman on a mission with opening presents. While she wanted to play with everything she opened she also wanted to take care of the pile of unopened presents. It wasnt until we were all done that I think she really sat back and actually looked at what she got.

Christmas Cookies

This is her favorite part:

She's been talking about it all month:

It's messy:

It's hard work:

but boy is it FUN!!!!

The End

Christmas Clothes

I love buying my kids christmas clothes, I guess you could say it's part of some of our christmas traditions. Unfortunately they tend to end up being a one-shot deal because they usually only wear them the Sunday after christmas, anyhow, I love how cute they look in their matching clothes. These pictures are from a few weeks ago because the church we attend doesnt have service the week after christmas.

Reagan- you cant see in this picture but she had black sparkly shoes (think Dorthy shoes but black) and she was quite excited about them. Oh the things you can get away with at 3 years old!

Me and Reagan

Brody was sporting jeans and his little black converse sneakers with his sweater-vest... it was so cute! I didnt want to do black pants because then not only would I or had to buy black pants (which I know he would never wear again) but I would have had to buy black church shoes too (also something I know he would never wear again). He looked like such a little man...

This is about the best family shot we got... my kids arent really into taking pictures these days.

Brody sporting his "phohawk" while I absolutely love this look for him, he doesnt like me to fix it so it just looks crazy all the time. He got a haircut shortly after this picture was taken.

He's warming up to the old guy....

Reagan Christmas Party

Reagan's class party was last Wednesday so I had someone come and watch Brody (thanks Katie) and went to her party. It's always fun to watch her interact with her classmates. They had a book exchange and I got these little Santa antena headbands for Reagan to give all her friends... it was a fun day!

Reagan opening her book.

Mommy and Reagan

They sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Jingle Bells" for all the parents

Some of the kids with their headband Santa things on... they were really cute!

Six Years

When I was back in college I thought I had it all figured out (what college student doesn't). I was sure I knew what I wanted. I had a direction I was going in and someone I was going with. I had been dating the same guy since my senior year of high school... I thought we were a pretty good match (at the time.... looking back now we were horrible for eachother but hey like I said I knew it all back then) We had similar values, He wanted the same number of kids I did, he wanted to raise them the same way, he was supportive of me being a stay-at-home mom... you know all the usual "questions" you ask someone before you marry them. On paper it looked good. There was just one problem in this little plan.

I was falling in love with someone else.

I was forced to make a choice. One... or the other. I couldnt have both (I didnt want both) I couldnt have a combination of them both (not that I wanted that either) just one of them.... forever. One was very familiar. One was new and exciting. One was predictable and one was not. One of them told me everything I wanted to hear and the other told me everything I needed to hear. Suddenly everything that I had ever thought about love was being questioned. It didnt take me long to realized I was concentrating on all the wrong things. Love is not a list of questions. It is not a "type", it is not a "thing." Love is a feeling. Love is looking into someones eyes and realizing that you can never live another moment without that person... no matter what... and live without that person was something I didnt want to do. Not for another second. And what seemed like a difficult choice at one time became a very easy choice. 3 months later I was engaged and 4 months after that I married that man.

Six years ago today I realized just how crazy I was about Stephen as I looked into his eyes and vowed to be his wife.

And I fall in love with him a little more everyday...

Happy Anniversary baby... I love you so much!

Death of a snowman....

A few years ago I bought this cute snowman. He is about the size of Reagan. He stood inside by our front door....

that is until Brody got a hold of him this year....

Our poor snowman has been beaten up beyond repair. The only thing he is seeing this christmas is the inside of my trash can.

RIP Mr. Snowman

Cavalia

This past weekend Stephen and I went out for an early anniversary celebration and saw Cirque Du Solei's Cavalia. It was an awesome show. Stephen bought these passes that were called Rendez-Vous and we had our own separate entrance with appetizers and horsdevours. We got free drinks and programs. It was kind of luxurious. Stephen only bought the seats because they were the only aisle seats left but I appreciated the extras =) It was a really neat show. The horses were georgeous! I havent been dissapointed by a Cirque show yet and this one was no different!

More than just a box....

This year at Reagan school they coordinated with Samaritans Purse and did the "Operation Christmas Child" where you fill a wrapped shoe box with things that a child from another country might need/want for Christmas. I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to teach Reagan about children that are less fortunate and the joy that comes from giving.

Since you can pick the age range and sex of the child you want to give to I decided for Reagan to best relate we would buy for a little girl age 2-4. I explained to Reagan that there are children all over the world that don't have a warm house and lots of toys like she does and that we were going to go to Wal-mart and fill up this shoe box for a little girl that was 3 just like her (hey... we will never really know if she was actually 3 or 2 or 4 but for all intents and purposes I thought that would hit home for Reagan.) And hit home it did! She was very involved in everything we picked out telling me things like "I don't think a three year old girl like me would like that mommy." She was telling everyone in Wal-mart that she was buying presents for a little girl that was 3 just like her that didn't have any toys. The most amazing part of the trip... she didnt ask for anything. She was so concerned with finding just the right gifts for this little girl that she didn't even think about herself. Here are some of the things we bought for her.

Hairbrush and hair clips

A princess toothbrush and toothpaste

Chapstick

A purple dress and purple socks

A pair of shorts and a shirt

A baby doll

A princess flashlight

An etch-a-sketch

Crayons and 2 coloring books (one with stickers)

A My little pony

Some bracelets and necklaces

A bag of suckers

A bag or hard candy

We crammed it all in a shoe box and Reagan made a card with a picture of her in it. She was so proud of it. She wanted to show it to everyone that came to our house for the next week. I really think she understood (as much as a 3 year old can) what we were doing and while I know that one little box cant change the world, I do believe that one little box changed a little girl (and I am not talking about the little girl that was receiving it.)

What she doesnt know....

Reagan hates two things more than just about anything....

1. Wedgies

2. Tight shoes

If she only knew that in about 15 years she will actually pay money to wear

high heals and thong panties!!!!

Brody's Favorite Book

Brody is obsessed with this book. I am not sure what it is but we read it morning, noon, and night. If you say anthing about reading a book he starsts walking around saying "Gerald-Gerald-Gerald" (that is the giraffe's name in the book). We read this book so much that the other night I was reading it to Brody before bed and realized that the words on the page didnt match up with the words I was saying.... I have this whole book memorized- word for word. To Brody's defence it's a really cute book!!!! If you havent read it you really should.

Santa Baby

Reagan: LOVED Santa this year!!!

Brody: Not a big fan!!!!

He was a great looking Santa dont you think?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

UGA vs. Ga Tech

This year UGA played downtown for the Ga vs. Ga Tech game. Since it ended up being a night game we decided that an all day tailgate was just the ticket. We got downtown around 10:00am and had a blast all day. We got the perfect spot across from this guy that was playing music on these huge speakers so everyone could hear. His music was a nice mix of everything so while we watched games on the TV we set up, we danced, ate BBQ, salsa, and buffalo chicken dip (thanks Megan). I didnt stay for the game, I gave my ticket to Jordan, but that was fine by me since we wouldnt have gotten home until almost 2am. I got to go to the fun part which, for me, is the tailgate! The Dawgs won in a surprising upset so it was a great day and lots of fun hanging out with the "adults" in my family and not having to worry about kids for the day. It's amazing how much you actually get to talk when you dont have kids running all over the place. =)

Go Noles

November 20th

Normally we are all about the Bulldogs at our house, but every once in a while, we hang up our bulldog hats and put on the Seminoles ones.... BUT, it's only because I love my family more than anything, including the Georgia Bulldogs, and since my baby brother is a Seminole, I have to cheer for him.

Jordans diving team came up from Florida to dive at Ga Tech so of course we had to go watch him. I scrounged around and was able to find a few FSU things for my kids to wear that would do for the day (I never realized just how difficult it would be to find FSU stuff around here). We made a sign and went down, pom-poms in hand to cheer him on. Reagan was actually really into it, she kept asking where Jordan was and wanted to "see him jump off the big tall board." She didnt really understand why she couldnt put her bathing suit on and jump in but other than that the kids did great. Jordan did really good until his last dive where his foot slipped and he didnt complete his dive... he ended up making finals the next day so he was relatively happy with everything. Regardless, its always good to see him and I think it was fun for him to see Reagan and Brody decked out in their FSU gear and show them off a little.

Thanksgiving Feast

November 17th

I'm a little Indian on the go (march in place)

Here is my arrow (hold right hand up) here is my bow (hold left hand up)

When I go a hunting hear me shout

YOU BIG FAT TURKEY YOU BETTER WATCH OUT!!!

(the last part is only effective if it's screamed at the top of ones lungs =)

Sung and acted out by Reagan at her Thanksgiving Feast

You cant see it very good in this picture but the feathers on her hat are red and black which she informed me was "for Georgia Go Dawgs football"

Reagans school put on a Thanksgiving performance and afterwards had a big feast. It was so cute to watch her sing the songs and do all the motions, she was really into it and she has been practicing them for weeks at home. The food was less than stellar but it didnt matter... she was so excited to have Stephen, Brody, and I at her school with her. She made table decorations and place settings for all of us. It really was a great morning and was great of her school to go to so much trouble fro the students and their families.