Making Christmas ornaments

Today Grace made some new Christmas ornaments for our tree

She painstakingly put colored beads in her tiny gingerbread man and Faith's little penguin.

And then I put them in the oven and jarred all the beads out of place.  So Grace and I spent another twenty minutes putting all the beads back in place so we could bake them.  These have been the hardest ornaments we've ever made together, but we'll always cherish them.

Decorating for Christmas

Now that we're home after spending Thanksgiving in Charlotte, NC

It's time to put up the Christmas tree!

Grace likes hanging the branches and then Daddy hangs the lights.

And everybody puts on decorations.  Except for Faith.  For some reason she keeps pulling ornaments off the tree and throwing them in the trash.  I don't suppose she realizes that Santa keeps a Naughty List...

Look! It's Peter Pan!

How adorable is this costume?  MeeMee made it just for Grace and she absolutely adores it.  Thank you so much MeeMee for taking the time to make something so special for her.  I can see her wanting to wear it to school everyday as she pretends to fly around fighting Captain Hook.

Thanksgiving

Everyone was ready for turkey and dressing.

And Scarlett was sweet all bundled up.

Already she's such a charmer.

And here's Scarlett with her family.

What a gorgeous family.

And here's me with mine.

Can you tell my kids are smiling in anticipation of the feast we were about to enjoy?

The kids ate at their table and the rest of us ate in the other room.

And while the food was wonderful, we enjoyed the time with family so much more.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Just hanging around

One of the most amazing things about kids

is that they can find fun with nothing more than a tree and each other.

Date night

Another wonderful thing about visiting Charlotte is built-in-babysitters!

David and I got to enjoy more than one wonderful night out.  Just the 2 1/2 of us.  

Cousins

Grace and Stephen had a wonderful time playing together this week.

In fact, they were usually inseparable.

That's how best buds roll, y'know.

Actually, all four "big" cousins played together nonstop.

They wanted to pack as much fun in while they could.

Of course, that doesn't mean they enjoyed getting their pictures taken all the time.  I have to pack that in during our short time together, too.

Scarlett's ready for Santa

Here is Scarlett all dressed up and ready for Santa Claus.

He'll be coming to visit before we know it.

This sweet little girl is definitely on the "Nice" list.  Wouldn't you agree?

And if Santa doesn't spoil her rotten I'm sure her grandparents, aunts and uncles certainly will.

Sweet Scarlett

One of the highlights from our trip was finally meeting our new niece.

This is sweet Scarlett.  Isn't she precious?

At just 6 weeks old she's really gained a lot of head control.

And she's always really alert.

Such a tiny baby girl.  We love her dearly.

And I had the best time playing dress up with her.

I think she enjoyed it, too.

It's simply astounding how quickly they grow up.

So I took the time to capture those tiny little feet.

And that sweet little bum.  I can't wait to see you again Scarlett.  You be a good girl for your Mommy and Daddy and soon you'll have another little cousin just your size to play with.  

Going to church

While in Charlotte for Thanksgiving we were able to go to church with our family.

All the big cousins had a wonderful time together.

And they all adore their MeeMee!

Horseback riding

Today we decided to go horseback riding.

We rode double.

Grace and I saddled up together.

And David rode with Faith.

I must mention that taking pictures of them riding behind us was quite a challenging feat.  

Faith wasn't too sure about riding on that tall horse with her Daddy.  

But eventually she warmed up the idea.  At least enough to tolerate the ride.

Those horses really were quite tall.

And before we left, Grace got to sit on a pony all by herself.  I'm sure she'll be asking for a pony of her own come Christmas.

Her head was stuck

As you know both of my girls now sleep in bunk beds.  Grace on top.  Faith on bottom.

Hoping to prevent them from falling out of bed, we put up side bed rails.  And I went a bit further by putting a bookcase right next to the bed leaving only a small area by the ladder left open for Faith to climb in and out.

I thought that I was making her bed safer for her.  At 3am this morning, I found out otherwise. I woke up to Faith screaming like she was hurt.  I rushed down the stairs with my hands sweating and my heart racing only to find her lying partly on the floor.  Faith had fallen out of her bed and landed halfway to the floor with her head facing up and solidly wedged between the bookcase and bed frame.

In fact, she was so stuck I couldn't get her out.  The more I tried the more Faith screamed.  Rather than panic, I took the logical approach.  I yelled for David.  Needless to say, he came running downstairs half asleep thinking we were about to make a trip to the emergency room.  As soon as he arrived, we pushed the bookcase away from Faith's head while David pulled her out.  After Faith was free, she clung to us until she fell back to sleep just moments later.  And somehow, through it all, Grace managed to sleep peacefully just like a little angel.  I, however, did not.