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...

After party

After Grace's birthday party we came home.

And Grace sported her new cowgirl boots.

And played with some of her gifts.

Then Faith tried Grace's boots on for size.

And we were all so sad that the day had to come to an end.

Party at the Little Gym

This year we celebrated Grace's birthday at the Little Gym.

They started her party off by having all the kids sit in a circle and one at a time say "Happy Birthday" to Grace.

Then they kids got to play on all the gym equipment.

Grace was so funny showing me how strong she was.

Faith, as usual, tried following in her sister's shoes.

Then the children ran around on the mat together.  Grace was an airplane.

Next, they rode noodles and pretended to be cowgirls and cowboys.

After that, it was follow-the-leader time.  Grace was the leader.

Then Grace took the time to help her little sister play for a bit.

Soon it was back to the bars.

Grace is more bendy than I give her credit for.

And really likes those bars.

After a while, Faith warmed up to all the gym equipment.

And before we knew it, they brought out a great big wheel for the kids to ride.

And flip off.

Grace loved it.

Faith, however, was terrified.

Then the kids jumped on the air mat.

Grace loves jumping.

And the air mat was right up her alley.

Soon they deflated the air mat and it was time for cake and presents!

Grace was very excited to blow out her candles.   

So we brought the castle cake to her.

And she blew out her candles before we even sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  It took two more attempts before she'd let us finish the song.

Then everyone had their choice between vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, or chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  The bottom layer of the castle cake was vanilla and the top layer was chocolate.  Between all the layers of the castle cake was chocolate frosting.  The Rapunzel cake was just vanilla cake with vanilla frosting.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy the cakes.

Then it was time for presents.  Grace received all kinds of wonderful gifts from her friends.  But the sweetest thing was hearing Grace say, "Of course I will share my presents with you!"  We had a wonderful time at her birthday party this year.  The best thing, in my opinion, was letting the Little Gym set up, decorate, entertain all the kids, and then do all the cleaning up.  All I had to do was show up with Grace, the cake, and a few snack foods for everyone.  What an easy birthday party!  And Grace absolutely loved having all her school friends celebrate her 4th birthday with her.

Grace's birthday cakes

After the festival, I finished Grace's birthday cakes.

Grace and her Daddy cleaned my beaters for me.

Grace absolutely loved her two birthday cakes.

I made a pink and purple castle and a Rapunzel cake.

Those cakes may have been a lot of work, but the look on Grace's face when she saw them made every minute worth it.

Faith's baptism

Today was another very special day.  Faith was baptized.

She wore the same baptism gown that Grace wore.  A good friend and exceptionally talented lady, Angela, made it when Grace was born.  And just like Grace, Faith refused to wear the bonnet so I held it throughout the ceremony.  When the girls are older and get married, the bonnet turns into a handkerchief that they can carry on their wedding day.  And to make it even more sentimental, the beading on the gown and bonnet is from my wedding dress.  This baptism gown is by far the most beautiful dress I have ever seen and it one of my most cherished possessions.  

Here Faith is with her Daddy waiting patiently as she enjoyed the music.

Soon we were called up to the front of the church.

Pappy performed the actual baptism since he is an ordained Presbyterian minister.

Then Granddaddy prayed over her.  He's a minister, too.

How fortunate that both grandfathers were able to take part in the ceremony.

 And here we are with our family.  Such a handsome and happy group.

Seth, Queenie, Hope, Granddaddy, me holding Faith, David holding Grace, Pappy, and MeeMee.

What a special day for all of us.  David and I are so blessed to have such loving families and we are so thankful that both my parents and siblings and David's parents were able to be here with us as we celebrated Faith's first birthday and baptism this weekend. 

Faith's 1st birthday party: Cake, presents, and confetti

We started off the party by singing Happy Birthday to Faith.

And let her blow out her candle.

We've been practicing the blowing.

Faith clapped her hands after we sang to her and finally let her dig into the dessert!

Grace helped feed Faith her bee.

Faith thought it was "bee-licious!"

And buzzed her bee around in the air for another bite.

Then it was time to open presents.  Doesn't her little outfit look darling on her?

Grace helped Faith with her presents.

We made quite the mess!

Faith got her very first baby doll.  And she loves it!

And Faith walked around looking for more presents to open.

We gave her this little Queen Bee pull toy.  It's one of her favorites.  She's always liked Grace's "puppy friend" but Grace won't ever let her play with it.

Then it was time for the pinata.

After many tries we finally found the right pull string and out popped the confetti, glowsticks, and such.

I really have a mild obsession with confetti.  I think I may have enjoyed it more than either of my girls.

But the glowsticks were a definite hit.

Both Faith and Grace wore them all over the house.

And played with them for days.

Don't they look so sweet together?  There's just something about cute little bums in ruffled tutus that melts my heart.

Then Grace was kind enough to clean up the mess.  She's a little obsessive about keeping things clean.  Faith is the exact opposite.  Oftentimes Faith will go behind Grace making a big mess out of whatever Grace has just cleaned up.  But this time Queenie held onto Faith to make it easier for Grace to vacuum.