Santa, singing, and more

We had our neighborhood Christmas party Sunday afternoon - a great time was had by all...

a Cake Walk! - Emma Claire and Wilson scored an AWESOME chocolate chip poundcake - yum yum!!!

Santa arrived and Wilson couldn't get out of his coat fast enough - I guess he thought he couldn't see Santa in a coat!

Off he went - chasing the Big Red Guy (who arrived in a Bronco by the way!!!)

Santa, be VERY VERY SCARED!!!!!

Wilson just cracks me up!!!!

Santa didn't even have a chance to unload his big sack full of presents!!!

Wilson kind of hogged the jolly ole guy!

I think Santa was wondering how much longer do I have to hold this little rascal?

Wilson told him what he wants - a Biceman and a sword (translated as "Ice Man" - from Spiderman and His Amazing Friends and a light saber sword!)

Emma Claire got her turn

And being the horrible mother I am, I sacrificed my youngest son to the Santa Terror!!!!

I'm not sure who is more scared, Santa or Henderson?

And, because a picture is worth a thousand words, I let Henderson endure his torture so I could get a picture of all 3 with Santa!!!!

Henderson did come away with a present, so all was good in the world again!

well, almost!

Some marshmallows were roasted on this cold cold day!

even more marshmallows were EATEN!!!!

Then, smelling like a campfire we headed to church for a beautiful worship service of the most precious voices EVER!!!! The 4 and 5 year old choirs sang a beautiful medley of Carol of the Bells (in which Emma Claire had a solo and ROCKED it!!!), Away in a Manger, One Starry Night, and All I Have.

Next weekend, Emma Claire sings All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth for the HUGE churchwide Christmas at First - at First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa. There are 4 shows and Emma Claire sings at the 4 o'clock shows on both Saturday and Sunday. If you are local - please come - I know you will be blessed - It.Is. AWESOME!!!!

Lastly, the elves brought each child a free doughnut coupon from Krispy Kreme - my children LOVE doughnuts, so needless to say they were VERY happy!!!!

Tonight we are marching - YES Marching, in the Christmas Parade. Our good friend, Thad Turnipseed is running for State Senator and we are supporting him in his race and walking and riding along with them! The children are beside themselves about actually being IN the parade!!!

B..A..M..A.. Go Bama Go!!!!

You can just imagine the smiles on everyone's face this morning at church - it was like it was Christmas morning!!!!! Gotta love living in a college town where 99% of the folks are all pulling for the SAME team - Go BAMA!!!!!

Will spent several hours last night booking all his tickets and reservations for his trip to Pasadena - I am sitting this one out - the children are just still at that "too young age", where going away is sometimes not worth the trouble! Hopefully we will be back to the National Championship many more times in the coming years!!!

We are bleeding Red - well, I guess, so are you, right? Hee Hee!!!!!

So proud of our team - Go Bama Go!!!!

Lately

( These 2 pictures are supposed to be at the end, but Blogger and I are having it out on clicking and dragging - Blogger is winning!!!!)

I'm not sure if you can tell from this first picture what this is, but look closely!!!

There! Is that better?

Wilson and I were talking about the Christmas Story and he ran out of the room really quick and came back with his barn and baby Jesus and the wise men - amazing what they understand at such a young, tender age!

Those stinky little elves had a grand time with the Silly Bandz the other night - they haven't made any huge messes yet, but they wouldn't want to set the bar too high right off the bat, now would they?

I don't have a picture, but this morning they were each in the kids' backpacks ready to go to school with them - thankfully it didn't cause any meltdowns when they really couldn't go to school.

Wednesday night we headed to the Alabama basketball game after church! Everyone caught a t-shirt but Wilson, and that may or may not have caused a melt-down, tantrum, whatever!!! Emma Claire was finally coerced (threatened to never come to another basketball game again if she didn't) to "give" Wilson her t-shirt (happily).

They had some dippin' dots...

Danced a little!

Got on the Jumbotron!!!!!

Had some popcorn!!!! (see 1st two pictures)

Tomorrow is JAM packed with parent's morning out at church, choir practice for Emma Claire (she has a solo in our HUGE Christmas program next weekend), another Alabama basketball game and then the National Championship Game -

Oh! Wait!

You didn't know that tomorrow was the National Championship game? Well, it should be - the top 2 teams in the country are playing each other!!!! I can't wait!

Can I get a ROOOOOOLLLLLL TIDE! ROLL!!!!!!

Merry Christmas To All....

And To All A Good Night!!!!!

Look Who's Here!!!

There was a package at our doorstep yesterday evening and to quote Emma Claire, "I just KNOW it's our elves, some of the other kids at school have already gotten their elves, it just HAS to be our elves!!!"

She was right!!!!

sent straight from Santa himself!

He also sent each child their own ornament -

here we have "Cinnamon" with Spiderman!

"Clarabelle" with Cinderella!

and Henderson got "Kiss" with Elmo! "Kiss" was the only word he kept saying when I asked them each what they wanted to name them - so "Kiss" it is!

then they CAREFULLY hung their ornaments on the tree

This morning we discovered they had a GREAT time in the Halloween candy!!!! And as a result, Wilson ate candy for breakfast too!!!!! (Sometimes these things backfire!!!!) What fun!

Patton came over yesterday afternoon for a playdate and the children got out the craft box

And played with the Jump Castle - UPSIDE DOWN!!!!!

And just enjoyed being Children, playing and chasing each other!!!!

A look back at Thanksgiving 2008

Here's a look back at what a DANDY last Thanksgiving was - which I hosted at my house for the FIRST time ever!!!! I was reminded of this when I read this post! I love looking back and seeing Henderson's bald head!!! Feel free to laugh - I did - AFTER the FACT!!!!! Giving thanks that this Thanksgiving was puke free!!!!

Christmas!!!!!!

Even though my house has been decorated for over a week now, it is NOW officially the Christmas season, which means I can break out all those beautiful clothes and the little elves can arrive soon!
Christmas-time just brings out all the smiles in everyone!

Halloween is never far away though - Spiderman makes a daily appearance!!!

and the prissy gangsta!

Someone has discovered a love of all things Elmo - especially' tickle me Elmo'!

Daisy is always in the middle of it all, much to Henderson's delight - he LOVES that dog!!!

Henderson also loves his blankey (which neither of the other two cared anything about) and HE LOVES TO BE HELD AND ROCKED!!!!! THAT, makes me SO happy, except of course in the mornings when I'm trying to get ready and the little rascal is crawling up my legs!!!!

Wilson, well, we are still working with Wilson, diligently EVERY day on controlling his temper, keeping his hands out of his mouth and not wetting the bed at night. He is truly a challenge, and God is teaching me more and more everyday on how much He loves me, not matter what I do - the same way I love Wilson, who when he's not making me want to scream and cry, brings me such joy!!! (How's that for a run-on sentence??)

Emma Clair-, she had the busiest and most fun week EVER last week! It started out completely normal, but then she ended up spending the day and night with her cousins on Monday, her Nana on Tuesday night. Then we all spent the afternoon and night at my parents house on Wednesday night and then Chandler and Patton (her cousins) spent the night with her on Thursday night, after a day full of playing together on Thanksgiving day!!! Then Friday she spent the afternoon and evening at her friend's new house. If you know Emma Claire, you know that her favorite things EVER are playdates and sleepovers!!!! Saturday and Sunday were spent at home, in withdrawal, but we managed to have some great family time - playing outside, painting and watching movies!!!!

See the happiness Christmas brings out????

Emma Claire and I painted on Saturday while the boys were napping - she REALLY wanted to do a Christmas one - and I think she did a GREAT job - I helped outline the tree for her, but she pretty much did the rest by herself!!!!

Have a great week!