Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Wow!!! What an amazing last few weeks we have had...so much has happened and I can't pick out just a few pictures to post so I am going to tell stories in one post and then do pictures in another. Here we go.....

Shelby's Christmas program at school was so wonderful. It started out with the Elementary students singing a few songs and then playing "Joy to the World" on their flutaphones (not quite sure on the spelling of that one). Then they brought out the primary classes and Shelby looked so cute, so little, yet so big all at once up there on the stage. I am sure that I was literally radiating with love and joy over watching her sing. It makes me tear up when I think that next year she will be in kindergarten!!!

Christmas is always a very busy time of year for us and this year proved to be the norm, but we did enjoy a little more down time than usual because many of our friends were traveling and there also weren't the 600 parties to go to that we usually attend. The week of Christmas we drove down to see Dove Street lights and that trip rated right up there with the trip to Charleston two years ago to see the lights...it was, well, how can I put this a nice as possible...it was filled with lots of noisy, and not the pleasant kind of noise that makes you smile. At any rate, we survived and have decided that next year we are going to try to combine it with having dinner with my family or something.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve celebrating the birth of our Savior. We started out the day by taking the children to the movies with our neighbors. It was so much fun! This was only Shelby's second movie ever and JP's first. Pratt and I were a little skeptical about how they would do, but both of them sat through the entire movie and really enjoyed it. At 5:00 we went to the candlelight service at our church and it was by far one of the best ones they have had that I can remember. The church was almost full and the music was beautiful. We sang lots of traditional Christmas hymns and then there was a short sermon. After that we sang "Silent Night." They dimmed the lights and we all held lit candles. It was just beautiful. Shelby and JP looked like little angels holding their candles. After church we went to Papa and Grammie's house for a fun get together. Shelby was so excited to see Uncle Jake!! She latched onto him and didn't let go the entire night. It was so cute...I just love watching her! JP kind of wandered around the house and enjoyed all the attention he was getting. The Cranston family joined us and it was great to see them. Pastor Jeff was such a trooper. He preached 4 services by the time he got to the house. He looked a bit on the tired side when he walked in, but for some reason JP really took to him and it wasn't but 10 seconds that he sat down and then JP started whacking him with a pool noodle. Thankfully Pastor Jeff is a fun guy and before we knew it he had JP doing those deep belly laughs that got us all tickled. Dinner was sooooo good and what a feast!!! By the time we left and got home it was almost 9:00.

Traditionally we let the children open a small gift of Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve. Shelby called it out before she even opened hers. It was kind of funny, but also kind of sad to realize that she is getting so big now that her memory goes beyond what happened just a few minutes ago. We also gave them sleeping bags this year and told them that they could sleep in them together in Shelby's room. JP was all over that, but Shelby wasn't too sure. It didn't take her long to decide that she preferred the softness of her bed over the hardness of sleeping on the floor. JP lasted a little longer, but eventually (around 11:00) he ended up in his bed as well. We will try that again next year and maybe they will be able to handle sharing a bed together.

What a day Christmas Day was for us!!! We had the best time seeing all of our family and celebrating with everyone. Our day started at 7:30 with JP waking up so we went on ahead and got Shelby up. They had a wonderful time opening all their presents and with each gift JP got he would get more and more excited. At 9:00 we went to Aunt Suzy and Uncle Patricio's house to see them, baby Sebastian, Meme and Christina. Meme made her famous monkey bread and country ham biscuits. Again, the children had so much fun opening gifts and playing with their cousin. At 11:00 we packed up, made a quick stop at home to unload and get some things, then headed over to Papa and Grammie's. JP took one look at the tree and kind of just walked around all confused and excited about all the presents that were there. I mean, you could hardly walk into the living room because there was so much and he just stood there in awe. At one point he could hardly take it any more and after he had opened a tool set to go with his new tractor he just threw his hands up in the air in total disbelief that things just kept getting better and better. Once all the presents were open we sat down to eat lunch and relax for a bit. At 2:30 we came home for some rest! We were up and at 'em again at 5:00 and made the trip to the island to see my family. We opened presents with them, relaxed, enjoyed some dessert and played. Shelby and JP had such a good time all day and despite how tired they were and how much we dragged them around all day they were great little troopers and very well behaved the whole day!!!

Since then we have been trying to get things back to normal before our trip to Belize this weekend. The house looks like a toy bomb exploded and trying to find places to put everything is going to be a challenge....thank goodness we were proactive and did a sweep through all the toys before Christmas. We are also making an effort to get Shelby and JP to bed on time after a week of staying up late. Everynight we put them to bed JP says, "I want to hide." So we pull the covers up over his head and say good night. As we walk out the door he says, "Mommy, mommy, wait." And I turn around and say, "Yes buddy." Then he peeks his little head out of his covers and says, with the biggest smile, "Merry Christmas." It is so cute and makes me laugh every time.

Merry Christmas to all!!! We pray that you all will know the peace that comes with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!!!!

So, what have we been doing?

Well, this blog is going to go in reverse chronological order....I never have been able to figure out how to arrange my pictures how I want...oh well!

This is my sweet Shelby sporting her new haircut from Daddy. After weeks and weeks of threatening her that we were going to cut it if she kept giving us a hard time about brushing it, we finally did it. We probably cut off about 3 inches or so and it made such a huge difference. She looks so much older and thankfully there aren't the knots to contend with each morning when we brush it. The next day at school one of her teachers told her that she really like her hair cut and Shelby said, "My daddy cut it, but it looks better when it is wet." I really have no idea where she came up with that one, but apparently she likes her hair better when it is wet!

On Tuesday JP had his little class Christmas performance at school. The children sang "Jingle Bells" and "10 Little Angels". As soon as JP walked out the door and saw all those parents he instantly became shy and stayed in his teachers arms the entire time. He didn't even mouth the words. After it was over and we started walking to the car he decided to sing. It was so cute!!! Since then he has been singing "10 Little Angels" all around the house. He usually skips from 3 little angels to 10 and then says, "wasn't that a band, Wissmus Morning...." I have a video so you can see!

One night after Thanksgiving we treated the children to come cookies since they had such a good day of making good choices. Shelby instantly wanted to put on her apron and she made Pratt put his on. Since JP doesn't have one we made one for him out of a dish towel and a chip clip. It was so much fun to see them so excited over their aprons. They ran around the house until bedtime with them on laughing and giggling!! Just love those two little sweets!!!

And a little bit before Thanksgiving...I know, that was a long time ago...JP sporting his Indian Headdress from his teachers at school. He was definitely attached to it for a while and wore it everywhere.

The weekend before Thanksgiving Pratt took over the children so that I could go with some girlfriends to Atlanta for a weekend of shopping and relaxing. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard and so much as I did on this trip!! We had the most wonderful time. We went to the North Georgia Premium Outlets, we saw the Rockettes Christmas Show in the Fox Theater and then we also had the pleasure of meeting Dante and his crew at Dante's Down the Hatch. I would love to be able to tell some stories so that you could understand just how bizarre this place was, but I have tried and no one quite gets it, so here is a picture (sorry it is a little blurry) of all of us at Dante's. I can't wait to see what happens on our next girls getaway!!!

JP singing "10 Little Angels".