Dentist Appointments

Peyton had a checkup and since he had lost his first upper tooth, I was curious to see what the dentist would say. It looked like a weird hole and even the dentist said it looked very different. But he could already see the permanent one coming in.
This was also a checkup for Makenna. Her very first. Brian and I had to go together because we both knew that she would need someone to give her full attention. Brian stayed with her while I went Peyton. Peyton did great since he's an ole pro but Makenna would hardly open her mouth unless to scream. Not that we were surprised. But fortunately, they both got very good reports and the dentist said that Makenna should get her last 4 molars by the time he sees her again in July. And of course Peyton is on a roll losing all of his. Having children with opposite milestones definitely keeps it interesting around here!

Makenna's 2nd Birthday

We had a small birthday celebration with Makenna on her birthday. We ate spaghetti with wagon wheel pasta, had cupcakes and let her open her gifts from Papa Chuck and Nana B. She blew out her candle like a champ! I guess she's gotten used to blowing hot food because that candle wasn't anything for this sweet 2 year old!

Happy Birthday Kenna Girl!

Christmas Morning

Well...Santa not only ate his cookies, but he answered Peyton's question! He wears the red suit because it's flame retardant! Hello??? That makes sense right? Why didn't I think of that when Peyton asked? :)
In any case, we had a great time with the kids. They were surprised and got many neat and fun new toys.
By the way, we had lobster, steak, and shrimp for dinner. :)

Christmas Eve with Grandpa and Granna

We had a wonderful potato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for Christmas Eve dinner at Grandpa and Granna's house.
After dinner, the kid's got dressed in their new jammies and then we sat by the tree and read "Twas the Night before Christmas". We purchased the book this year and I was very excited about it. It was illustrated by Mary Englebreit and was just beautiful. Anyway...we also read the Christmas Story from Luke.
This year, along with the traditional cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer (Peyton insisted on leaving 9 this time...1 for each reindeer) Peyton colored Santa a picture and also wrote Santa a letter asking him why he always wears a red suit. It was supper cute. He said, "momma, if all of the carrots and cookies are gone, then I'll believe that Santa is real." This validated my suspicions...I had been wondering if he still believed. I sure hoped that the plate would be empty.

Back up to Christmas Eve (I'm seriously behind in posting)

I got off work at 1:15 on Christmas Eve and was able to come home and enjoy the afternoon with my family. We opened Christmas gifts and then packed for mom and dad's house. Traditionally, we spend the evening and night at their house so that we can all wake up together on Christmas day. Here's some pictures of the afternoon.

Christmas with Denise

Denise, Drew, and Charlie invited us down to Greenwood for some good food and fun to celebrate Christmas. It was a great chance to catch up. Denise and Drew used to be our neighbors but moved to Greenwood and we miss them terribly! Charlie built a beautiful home and it's always fun to go down and spend time at his house as well as on the farm that his family owns. It's about a 45 minute drive and the kids were flat worn out....as you can tell!

Festival of Trees

We shot downtown Saturday afternoon to see the festival of trees and do some street shopping. We went to a great new(er) shop called The Lollipop Shoppe and of course to the Life is Good store. It was a beautiful day and it felt great to get the kids outside and get some fresh air.

Peyton with his favorite tree. A tree decorated with fabric candy. Makenna's here with her favorite tree...one decorated with various ducks. (quack, quack!)

There were so many fun and whimsical, clever, and beautiful trees. Great job Greenville!

Yo-Yo Baby-O!

Live Nativity

One of the local stables hosted a live nativity and hay ride this. It was super cold and they served hot chocolate while we watch the nativity. The owner told the story of Mary and Joseph and they had animals walking everywhere and gave us the opportunity to pet them. As much as Makenna is in to farm animals, she wasn't very keen on petting any sheep or goats. The stable also "dressed up" a horse to look like a camel. It was quite comical to say the least. After the show, we loaded up and took a hayride around the property. It was a fun afternoon treat with the kids and biblically educational too!

Elmo

Makenna? Meet Elmo...Chicken Dance Elmo. Elmo? Meet Makenna. Your new best friend.

Makenna loves that bird....

Makenna's Baby

Makenna is a girlie girl through and through! I put in Makenna's favorite video "Baby MacDonald" (baby Einstein) and she looked so cute and content sitting on the sofa with her babies. I tried to get a picture but when she saw me, she wanted me to take a picture of her babies too. Sweet right? She didn't want anyone being left out. :)

I'm not sure what she was doing in this picture. Looks like she's playing monkey to me!

Tree Trimming

Makenna kept asking for my dad all through lunch on Sunday, "pa-paw outside?". So I called and invited him over. I knew that he would be by himself that afternoon since mom had to work and the more the merrier when tree decorating right?

Makenna was so cute putting the ornaments on the tree. Now if we can just get her to LEAVE them on! She's all about the tree. I don't dare wrap any presents and put them under until closer to Christmas. I can only image the damage she would do to the gifts!

We had a good time making cookies, and listening to Christmas music despite the spat that Brian and I had regarding the lights. He's being a bit of a bah humbug this year but the season is early...hopefully he'll snap out of it!

**Notice on the 2nd picture how those 4 ornaments on the bottom are all grouped together. :)**

My Sweeties

Thanksgiving Day

Some snapshots of Thanksgiving at my parents house.

Maybe Makenna is going hunting???


Piano time with "pa paw"

My plate of deliciousness. Yummy!


The chef's. Mom made her traditional Turkey Casserole and Daddy made a wonderful ham.

Pa-paw, mine tastes really good. Let me see how good yours tastes.

My brother and his wife. (My other brother was behind a camera so unfortunately there was not a picture taken of him.)


Makenna...cheesing it up while eating an orange.

Family picture.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!