Merry Christmas!

The day is finally here!  We were expecting an early morning, but we woke up before the girls.  The girls finally woke up after Randy jumped in the shower.  Natalie was excited about the presents she spied under the tree.  Clarissa woke up and said, "Mommy, my heart is so grateful!"  Needless to say, we had a great morning.  

The First Snow Fall

It's December---so where's the snow!?  Well, in Tennessee, we usually don't get our first snow until January or February.  On the night of December 11th, we had our first snow fall!  And to top it off, our first snow day on the 12th!  The girls had fun making snowmen and snow angels.  It was a winter wonderland!

Columbia Christmas Parade

The first Monday in December is set aside for the annual Columbia Christmas Parade (unless it rains).  It is also set aside for what seems like the coldest night of the year!  So we bundled up and braved the cold all to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.  It's officially Christmas in Columbia! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very busy Thanksgiving day!  After church, we decided to fore go the roasting of the turkey at home and had it at Cracker Barrel instead.  It was nice not to have to clean up!  Afterwards we headed up to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel to spend the day.  We first went to the Ice exhibit.  There were hundreds of figurines carved from ice!  I knew it would be cold inside, but was unprepared for the temperature to be 6 degrees!  Luckily they gave us an extra jacket to put over the ones we were already wearing.  The kids were a little scared of the Grinch but the ice sculptures were beautiful.  They also got to slide down an ice slide.  We ended our day watching the Rockettes in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for all of the fun!

Thanksgiving Feast

The kindergarten classes at Zion treated parents and grandparents to a Thanksgiving feast.  The girls were pilgrims and the boys were Indians.  They did a little program and then we had a complete Thanksgiving lunch.  Come to find out, the principal and some of the staff made all of the food, including cooking 7 turkeys!  It was all so good!

Happy Birthday, Clarissa!

November 16th brought Clarissa's sixth birthday.  We first celebrated with her kindergarten class.  Clarissa and I made a big cookie to share.  The kids loved it!  On Saturday, the 15th, the family went out for pizza at CiCi's and then up to Build-a-Bear Workshop to create a new friend.  Clarissa made a bear and Natalie made a moose named Lily.  To top off our birthday trip, the girls got to talk to Santa!  What a birthday!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween brought another year of debate--to buy a costume or to make one.  We went back and forth and Clarissa finally decided to buy one when she fell in love with a bride costume at Walmart (Natalie already knew she wanted to be Belle).  It kind of broke my heart to not make a costume, but it also saved me some time.  We had beautiful weather to trick or treat.  Thanks to the Kirks for letting us park at their place and for all the goodies!

Natalie's Birthday #2

Natalie celebrated again with her class at TLC.  The cupcakes were delicious!

Natalie's birthday

Natalie turned 4 this year!  We were just going to have a little party at home, but thanks to Hurricane Ike, we doubled our numbers!  We were so excited about having Uncle Ed, Aunt Amy, Hannah and Patrick here to celebrate.  We ate at McDonalds, played glow golf and had a pinata.  We had such a great time, and, according to Natalie, this was the "best birthday ever!"