Baby Gemma

Last night I became an aunt to a beautiful baby girl, Gemma.  She was 7 lb. 4 oz. and simply perfect.  Aside from the births of my own kids, this was by far the most exciting birth!  My brother and sister in law chose to not find out the sex.  Also, it was not a planned birth so every day we were on pins and needles waiting. Also, we didn't know the name.  Every aspect was such a surprise!  I cannot wait to go visit my sweet little niece.  

25 Days of Christmas: Days 6-8

We had a busy, busy weekend - but it was oh so fun!

Day 6:  Open a gift

I let the girls open a gift from under the tree.  They usually open a couple of gifts from us on Christmas Eve and one is always pj's.  I decided to let them open this early this year so we could enjoy the cuteness all month long!

Caroline wanted a picture of her and the presents.  This is how she posed...and no, she does not have pants on.

A couple cute pics before we begin...

C opening her present...

And then opening AP's...

Day 7:  Make hot chocolate

We made some delicious hot chocolate on a very cold and rainy day.  It was delicious!  C loved putting all the extras into hers.

Our "toppings"

Success!!

Day 8:  Make a snowman pizza

This was such a fun activity!  Caroline loved playing with the pizza dough and Ann Parker thought the snowman face was so funny.

And it was a bonus that they both ate very well!  Maybe we will have snowman pizza every night...

25 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Day 5:  Listen to Christmas music

Tonight we took the girls to the Samford Wright Center to hear the Alabama Symphony Orchestra play some family friendly Christmas music.  We got dressed up and went to eat dinner at the Club before and had a little family date night.  Ann Parker lasted for two songs, which I consider a success.  After that, I played with her in the lobby while she watched Doc McStuffins on my phone and ran around.  Caroline, on the other hand, LOVED the music and happily lasted though the entire performance.


Caroline really wanted to take a picture of the candy cane on our countdown...

How AP spent most of the show...

After the show I had Adam take a couple of pictures to prove we were there.  They came out horrible, but C's faces are so funny that I needed to make sure we had these around for embarrassment purposes one day :)

25 Days of Christmas: Day 4

Day 4:  Make a gift

I took the girls to DIY Crafts to paint a couple things to give as gifts.  I won't show what they painted or tell who they are for since we want it to be at least a little surprise :)  They both loved painting!  It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon with my girls.  I have a feeling we will be going to paint pottery a lot...

25 Days of Christmas: Days 1-3

I am super behind on blogging...what's new?  I have several posts coming soon so watch out, but in the mean time I am going to start on our 25 Days of Christmas.  This is the first year that Caroline is actually excited about Christmas.  She was excited last year, but this year she gets it.  It is so fun getting to watch her experience the magic!!  I am loving every second!!  Since these years are so limited, I have decided that we are going to do some holiday craft/activity each day to celebrate the season.

Day 1:  Read a Christmas Book

We chose to read 'Santa is Coming to Birmingham' to kick off our December.  The girls loved snuggling up with Daddy to hear about Santa coming to our hometown!

Our countdown to Santa

Day 2: Make an Ornament

Thanks to Pinterest for this one...we made sweet little hand print snowmen ornaments for the tree.  I think they turned out so sweet :)

Day 3:  Host a cookie decorating party!!

We had some of our most favorite friends over for a cookie decorating party this morning.  What a fun time we had!!  In total, we had 14 kids decorating cookies and playing with every toy in the house.  I think we are going to have to make this a tradition!!

We had tins ready for guests to take home their creations.

My friends are truly amazing and they have the sweetest kids in the whole city and it was such a joy to have them over this morning.

We cannot wait to keep celebrating the 25 Days of Christmas!

Thankful

It's almost Thanksgiving and we've been very thankful around here!  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays - you get to eat, see family, and it's not about the decorations and gifts.  (Although, to be fair, I am obsessed with Christmas decorations...)  Here are some things that we've been up to lately!


Although we aren't spending Thanksgiving at our house, we have had a fun time decorating for the season.  We have lots of pumpkins and turkeys around here!

At the beginning of the month, we made a "Thankful Tree."  There were no rules - if C was thankful for 10 things one day and then we skipped a couple of days that was okay.  The first few days were hard for her understand.  She kept saying she was thankful for the wall...  She finally got that we are thankful for family and friends and things that we love.  There are still some random things on here, but she did a pretty good job!

The final list of what we are thankful for are: (in no particular order)
outside, Daisy, Raughley and Liam, sandwiches, Cohen, juice boxes, Rosemary, Trey, Caroline, Sydney and Brooklyn and Ms. Sarah, movies and popcorn, Mimi and Papa, Ann Parker, Grammy, Mommy and Daddy, Chambers, my house, Jack and Sam, veterans, Kiki, dance, flowers, windows, Charlotte, storytime, blankets, gates, AP, Caroline M., Ms. Lillian, Ms. Debbie and Ms. Shay

Last Friday, the girls had their Thanksgiving programs at school.  Ann Parker had her Thanksgiving Snack and she looked like a little doll.  They made these cute little aprons to wear and they were adorable.

She spotted her bestie, Brooklyn, across the room so she had to have a hug!  (Her face in the above picture is her seeing B)

After the snack, AP and I headed to Caroline's Thanksgiving Feast.  What a feast it was!!!  Each grade brought different foods - turkey, dressing, vegetables, fruit, salad, bread, dessert.

We tried to take a family picture (minus Adam who was away at trial) but it didn't go so well...

Oh well, still so incredibly thankful for these two precious blessings.  I still cannot believe that I get to be their mommy!!

Check out the giveaway post to see who won!!