Christmas Eve and morning

Merry Christmas!  We hope your day was filled with fun, family, and friends just like ours was.

Christmas eve was a busy day for me.  I worked at the hospital in Roanoke all day and arrived home around 3:30.  An hour later, we were headed to my mom's house for dinner.  We ate dinner and then the kids gathered around the tree to open our traditional one present (which for the kids turned into two presents!).  Lydia was not feeling well so she's a bit emotional in most pictures.

Sam got coloring pages from Robby and a new coat and snow pants from Grandma!  Lydia got a new coat too.

After presents we went to church for the 7 p.m. service.  Lydia was really not feeling well at this point so we headed home right after and got ready for bed.  While we were gone, Santa's elves left new pjs for Sam and Lydia!

Sam was in charge of Santa's cookies and milk

Christmas morning arrived!  We opened Santa gifts before Grandma and Uncle Robby arrived.

Then it was time for breakfast and more presents!

We took some family pictures

Robby left around 11 to drive home.  We had a leisurely afternoon before our friends came over for dinner.  The Schadey, Kaylor, and Sullivan families joined us around 5:30 for dinner and games.  We had a great time!  Merry Christmas!

A caroling hay ride

Last night we went caroling with our church family.  It was so fun, but also so cold!  Randall put hay and twinkle lights on his flat bed trailer and we drove to a large neighborhood in Blacksburg.  Once we parked everyone climbed on the trailer.  Since it was so cold and everyone was trying to stay as warm as possible we sang from our seats once people opened their doors.  The middle school kids, Sam and Isaiah were the door knockers. 

Robby joined us.

Most of the group.  We had about 25-30 people (I didn't count...it was too cold!).

We definitely had some funny moments.  Randall would park in the middle of the street where it seemed several people were home.  A few doors shut in our faces (mid song!) and some people who didn't open the door at all and watched from the window.   We pulled up to one house and Kaye said "don't stop here, they are Buddhists!".  Colby brought his trombone so he added his tune to all of our songs.  But there were  plenty of people who seemed to enjoy our songs, or at least our efforts. 

After over an hour on the trailer the adults convinced Randall to head back to the cars.  We all went back to the church building for hot chocolate and cookies.  I love making memories with my family and my church family!

Santa Visit

Tonight we visited Santa at the mall.  I am a cheap frugal mom and refused to pay $16.99 for 1 5x7 (the least expensive photo package) so this is the best I got.  Its not professional but it proves that Sam and Lydia talked to the big man.

I am shocked Lydia even got near Santa!  She has shared her fear of Santa daily since he started making an appearance in our house (in the form of ornaments, stuffed animals, as a character in a Christmas book).  Her complaints about him include "Santa scare me" and "Santa hurt me".  But she will also say "Santa put candy in my sock (stocking)".  With the promise of a candy cane tonight and Daddy staying near by, she was able to look at Santa and tell him what she wanted for Christmas.

On the wish list this year...
from Sam: a red junior scooter (check) and a mystery mountain case (?)
from Lydia: an Abby tutu (her halloween costume).  Alrightythen!

We took a few quick photos in front of the mall Christmas tree...

 ...before we had a meltdown.

All good things must come to an end.  We headed home to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Hope everyone is having a joyous holiday season!

Jingle Bell 5K

What a great morning for a run!

I had hopes of training some for the Jingle Bell 5K after Thanksgiving but life got in the way.  Actually, I ran once.  Life really got in the way!  This was the second year Tanya, Dani, and I ran this race and it's one of my favorites.  I didn't beat last year's time because I had to walk briefly a few times (it's a pretty hilly course) but I'm ok with that due to my lack of training.

Tonia joined us this morning too and had hopes of walking but her foot was hurting so she cheered us on instead.  After the race we got snacks and drinks...everyone was super excited about Throwback Pepsi!

We finished the morning off by shopping in Downtown Roanoke which has great unique shops, I think everyone found something to buy.  Success!

O Christmas Tree

Today was a perfect day to get our Christmas tree!  This is our second year going to this tree farm and we just love it.  We took a hay ride out to the field and started our search for the perfect tree.

We found it!

James got to work with the saw.

The farm picked up the tree for us and took it to be wraped and prepared for the ride home.  We decided to walk back to the office instead of hop on the hay ride because the weather was so nice.

So beautiful!

The farm has lots of other things to do, too. 

Sam even got to mine for gems!

Our outing ended with a family photo :)

We ate lunch on the way home at Mikie's 7th.  Now it's time to decorate!

Gobble Gobble

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Arkansas with James's family. But before we got there, we spent the night with Seth and Crystal who live in north Alabama now. Seth and Crystal are about a week away from welcoming a baby to their family so it was especially great to see them.

We arrived in Arkansas on Monday afternoon.  After unpacking and having dinner, we headed to Audriann and Paul's basketball performance at the high school varsity boys game.

The highlight of the night: POPCORN!!!

Everyone was still fired up from the game so before bed we had a cousin dance party!

On Tuesday the older guys (Sonny, Nathan, Troy, and James) were busy fixing fences in the field and the younger boys helped/played near by.  I caught this cute image of Jase, Sam, and Paul coming in at lunch time.

I made a mess of Dawnyelle's dining room table while she helped me make my Christmas cards.

And after the fences were fixed and Lydia had her nap, Nathan saddled up the horses so the kids could take a few rides.  Lydia and Audriann were the only ones who wanted to ride.

On Wednesday we headed to North Little Rock to visit Nathan at the fire station.  He was out on a call when we arrived so we ate an early lunch at TGIFridays while we waited for him to get back.  The kids loved climbing in the truck and trying on helmets and masks.

Our visit was cut short when they had to leave on another call.  The men took the kids home and the ladies stayed in North Little Rock for shopping and hair appointments.  Elizabeth is in hair stylist school so Rachel and I both got haircuts from her at her school.

Finally, Turkey Day arrived!  The turkey was still frozen in the middle on Thursday morning so it was a good thing we didn't plan on eating until 4 p.m.  Everything came together really well and we had a yummy meal (as usual). 

We also took family pictures on Thursday.
Sonny and Ann

Nathan, Dawnyelle, Elizabeth, Audriann, and Paul (and Tex!)

Rachel, Troy, and Jase

James, me, Sam, and Lydia

The family.  We missed Sarah, William, and Jordan who were unable to come.

On Friday Ann, Dawnyelle, Audriann, and I went into town for some Black Friday shopping.  We don't go really early, though!  We usually get to the stores around 9 or 9:30 and it's not crowded at all.  I was able to finish shopping for Sam and Lydia and found all the deals I was looking for.  Last year we opened presents on Friday and decided to do that again this year.  Sam was so excited, he was connecting "Black Friday" with opening presents so all day he was running around saying "I'm so happy it's Black Friday!" The cousins decorated Ann's tree while we were shopping.

We have so much to be thankful for this year.  Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!