Christmas Celebrations

Check out my Slide Show!

Visiting Santa

The other day, Caleb came to me very concerned. He asked, "Mom, when are we going to go wait in a long line to see Santa? I haven't even told him what I want for Christmas yet!" So, we headed to the mall the very next day to let him know what was number one on Caleb's list. Lucy was trying to talk herself up, saying that "this year I will be so brave." We got as close as we could. Santa was trying to coax out of her what she would like for Christmas, and all Lucy could muster was a slight nod of her head. I felt like we were in the movie "Christmas Story" where Santa's trying to give an idea to Ralphie who has sudden stage fright. "A football, yeah. What's a football?" Anyway, I guess you'd have to see the movie to know what I'm talking about. Oh, and as for James, he fell asleep on the way to the mall and we couldn't get him to wake up until we got home. There's always next year, I guess.

 

Dancing Elves

So, we told our kids there's only 5 more days till Christmas. They were so excited that they began dancing around! Check this out!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1564233359

Packages!!!

We all LOVE getting packages in the mail! Today we received two big boxes that the kids made into Robots! It kept them occupied for quite some time! Oh, the simple pleasures in life.

 

 

 

Gingerbread Houses

I don't know what part is more fun about decorating gingerbread houses: making the house, sampling all the varieties of Christmas candies, or watching the kids try to hold themselves back from devouring all that lies in front of them! What a fun time!

 

Bryce's house, of course!

 

 

Bye Bye Beachy Keen

Overall, our trip was great! The waves were fun, the company was entertaining, and the drive home was car sick free!

 

 

Happy Birthday, James!!!

James turned two at the Outerbanks! He did great blowing out the candle and it was out before the song was over. He was kind of looking around like, "Why is everyone still singing?" But he loved the attention . . .

 

And the cake!

 

Opening presents after getting home.

 

Jockey's Ridge Sand Dunes

The weather was perfect, so we stopped by the sand dunes to play around a bit.

 

The kids loved playing in the soft sand!

 

 

 

More Wright Bros. Memorial

watching the planes take off from nearby airport.

 

Here was where we could see where the 4 sucessful flights of December (14th?), 1903 took place. Caleb ran out to each marker to see if he could run faster than the plane flew. (The markers showed distance and time of the flights).

 

 

Currituck Lighthouse

 

While we were there, we checked out this nearby lighthouse (just the boys went while mom waited with sleepy Lucy)

 

Even James walked all 214 steps on his own!

 

Getting to the top was a lot higher than it seemed!

 

It was totally worth it though!

Beach Trip

Happy Thanksgiving! We spent our Thanksgiving week in the Outerbanks, NC! We stayed with some friends in a beach house right on the beach! The weather was actually really nice.

 

 

 

One of Caleb and Lucy's favorite things was collecting huge beautiful seashells along the coast.

HOTEL night!!!

 

Yes, here it is! You are looking at what might be one of the greatest games ever made, but in the British version!!! Bryce and I were happy to discover (ok, maybe Melanie was a bit more excited) that our friends knew and owned Hotels! We had to play as soon as we heard! Although we were playing with pounds instead of dollars, and the Le Grande was called something like Le Toille, it was still the same! It was so great! Our friend Jason totally dominated and Bryce and I were left to auction off our properties in the end, but it was still great. We'll definitely do better next time, and yes, there will be a next time . . .

Soccer Stud

Caleb finished his soccer season on the GREEN MACHINE TEAM last week. Bryce and I had fun coaching when our team actually showed up!

 

Caleb really improved a lot over the 8 weeks and is sad that the season is over.

 

Lucy and James had fun messing around at the games. I don't know if it was harder to keep them occupied, or keep the team focused on the game!

 

Twilight Party

So Melanie went to her first Twilight Party! Based on the fun series by Stephanie Meyer, a friend put together this fun party decorated with red and black balloons, candles, beads, refreshments, everything! Everyone came in costume as a character from the book. We played games and debated who was really better for Bella, Jake or Edward. The debate still continues . . .

 

Melanie went as Alice. We had 2 Rosalie/Emmett couples, Volturi, Jessica and Mike, and of course, Bella!

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

 

 

 

As if we really needed MORE candy! The kids really enjoyed trick-or-treating in the neighborhood this year. They went around with 10 of their closest friends from the cul-de-sac and they were quite the crowd! Lucy decided she wanted to be a Barbie princess tonight instead of tinkerbell. It was a long night, and James was ready for bed early! Happy Halloween everyone!