Christmas Day Wrap-Up

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Although, we had a bit of a rough start!! First of all, I have to say it was about 1:30 in the morning when I finally fell asleep. I just kept tossing and turning. Jackson woke up shortly before 3 am to go to the bathroom. When he saw that Santa had already come, he was overcome with excitement. So much so, that he proceeded to run through the house and wake everyone up yelling, "Santa Came!!". Ugh. It's wasn't even 3:00! We told the kids to go back to bed & that didn't go over so well. So we told them they could look at their Santa gifts, but no opening anything! We managed to hold them off until 6:00, and reluctantly, I rolled out of bed to see what the jolly old man had brought. Man, he must have thought my kids were really good, because the whole living room was full of goodies! I couldn't begin to list everything he brought, but here are some highlights. Jackson got a Hot Wheels car track that goes on the wall. It's really cool! ...A spiky backpack, a neat looking rc car Erector set and a couple pair of Crocs. Landry got an American Girl doll that looks just like her. She even has her ears pierced, parts her hair on the same side and has glasses that look just like Landry's. She's really neat. ...a Brittany Chipmunk with the Chipettes, a hair styling chair for her doll, and a bunch of other accessories. Corley got an adorable pink arm chair that's her very own size, a Weebles tree house, a broom and a slide. And let me tell you, that girl loves to slide! Then we were off to my Grandma's (Nana's) for a quick visit. She gave Jackson & Landry her notebook computer for Christmas. And let me say, that was a HUGE hit. They were completely taken off guard! Next, we were off to the nursing home to visit Jason's grandma (Granny Hazel) and give her her gift. We are so blessed to still have these two ladies in our lives. I love that our kids have Great Grandmothers. My great grandparents were long gone before I was ever even born. Our final destination was, as usual, my mom's. And can I just say how blessed I am to have her!! She ALWAYS goes above and beyond. The food was amazing...enough to feed an army. (Or at least enough leftovers to feed us for a few more meals!) The table setting was pretty with fresh flowers & her new table linens and charger plates. We opened gifts for several hours. No kidding. We did stop a couple hours in so we could eat, though. There is NO WAY I could begin to list everything she gave us, so here are the highlights. Everyone got a TON of clothes AND all new bedding!! Jackson and I got new drapes. And Landry got a ton of new pillows and accessories for her room. We don't have everything completely put together yet, but it's coming together great! We had a terribly fun day, and came home completely exhausted. Lucky for us, we've got a whole week off to recover!

Chick fil A

Oh, my babies are growing up on me. I'm sitting here at Chick fil A, a place my children have begged me to take them to for years. They beg to come here not just for the yummy food, but more importantly, the playground. It's not a very big or overly exciting playground. Just a slide, and a car, and a couple of interactive wall panels. Nevertheless, that thing could hold my kids' attention for hours! I have spent many nights when Jason was teaching sitting at Chick fil A, letting the kids play so I wouldn't have to sit home alone in an empty (by empty, I mean Jasonless) house. I told them we would eat lunch here today and they were excited. But a little less so than years past. They no longer want to play in the playroom, realizing they are way bigger than all the other kids. So what are they busy doing, you ask? They are using the Chick fil A WiFi!!! Man, times they are a changing!So my sweet little babies no longer want to come here to slide and play, but to surf the web. My only saving grace...I look down at my Corley, asleep on the booth beside me, and think of all the years to come. Looks like my Chick fil A playground days aren't over after all. Just on hiatus.

Christmas Parade

So, I was a Facebook holdout for a really long time. In fact, I kinda thought I'd never join. But, I did. I joined right after I attempted to start this blog. I once read a post somewhere that said something to the tune of "Facebook killed the blogging star." And you know what? They were right! I had all these really great intentions of keeping up with the cute little things my kids are doing & saying, but I can't seem to find the time to post once I get done checking facebook! Ugh! I really should try to do better at this. I think I would be thankful for it years down the road. So listen up, Gina. Must. Try. Harder.We went to the Christmas
parade tonight & since it was on a Monday, Jason got to come along too! It seems like most years it's on a Thursday & Jason always has to work. It was terribly cold & the kids (wearing layers & wrapped in two blankets each) kept complaining they were freezing. Poor babies. At least we made another memory. Freezing our butts off at the parade! It seemed really short this year. Or maybe it was that we stood more toward the middle of the parade route & where we usually stand near the end everything gets all spaced out. Sometimes there's even a few minutes that pass in between floats, cars, bands, etc. Who knows? But we did have hot chocolate & the kids got TONS of candy, so all in all, it ended up an ok night. I am so blessed to have three beautiful children and a husband that adores us all. (and does really sweet things like go get the van before the end of the parade and pick us up in a toasty warm car so we don't have to walk in the cold :) Thank you, Baby.