Christmas Eve 2011

This year, Robby and I decided to host our in-town family for a casual Christmas Eve dinner. Our family of four went to the Christmas Eve service at church, where Maggie was able to participate in the Christmas Pageant. She chose to be a cow, and was the cutest cow out there in my unbiased opinion!! After church, we came home and waited for the family to arrive. We took a few minutes to take some pictures, and go figure, the girls were all about performing!

Love this one of Mary Allison-this pink blanket (a reject from Cousin Caroline) is her thing-she loves that blanket and loves to snuggle with it. I can't believe I don't have any prior pictures of her and that blanket, but now it's documented!!



The girls under the tree-ready for the festivities!




Maggie loves to help Mary Allison walk...she is not even close to walking yet, but she does love to practice when her sister helps her!



Annual picture with Mama...



And Daddy...tired of pictures at this point!



This year, we made cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birthday-Maggie was in charge of icing and stirring, and I think she did a great job! That girl loves to bake!



Meanwhile, Mary Allison decided to help unload the dishwasher! She started pulling up full time that week-she randomly did it for me at 9 months and didn't do it again until that week. She didn't even show signs of trying to pull up for any length of time...she just decided to do it and she did! Funny girl!



Just a few shots of Maggie-feeling the Christmas spirit...loved seeing the holiday through her eyes!




Mimi and Papa with the girls...for Mimi's facebook page!



Snuggling with Uncle Charlie...just about bedtime!



Went in to check on my girls after the family left...LATE...this is how I found this little stinker...wide awake and sitting up-no telling how long she'd been awake! Someone was waiting for Santa...HA!



Just about ready for Christmas-stay tuned!!

Art Camp-Christmas Week

Once again, Allison came to my rescue and told me about a fabulous art camp for kids during Christmas! It was so great-Maggie had such a wonderful time and came home with lots of treasures. A lot of their projects were Santa centered, but they also spent a lot of time talking about baby Jesus. They even had a birthday party for Jesus! While she was gone, I was able to get a TON done, and even had some spare time to upload all of my Christmas pictures...whew...too bad I am JUST NOW blogging about them...I digress! Since my camera was out, I decided to take pictures of some of the beautiful art work. She was SO proud!





And Sister was all smiles because she got lots of one on one attention and blazed a trail up and down our hallway, burning a little energy! See all of that drool on her outfit? She's currently working on SIX teeth! She has to two front and center on the bottom, but is working on FOUR on the top and two more on the bottom-bless her!



Thanks for yet another awesome activity, A!

Christmas Cookies and Fun With Friends

It truly was a crazy busy Christmas. Typically, I get bogged down with the monogramming business, but I was determined to enjoy this Christmas with my family. Mission accomplished! I cut off my sewing mid-December, and we lived it up!

My friend Mande had Maggie and Benjamin (and DeEtte and Mary Allison) over for a play date with Elliott the week of Christmas-the kids played so well together. Meanwhile, the mamas enjoyed catching up. Mande was the ultimate hostess-we ate and visited and laughed and completely overstayed our welcome. I truly had missed visiting with my friends, so it was a great chance to be still with friends!

Mags and Elliott...



Sweet Benjamin...



The three of them...putting on their fake smiles so I would just hurry up and get the pictures over with...HA!



The little girls-so precious!



The next day, Maggie was invited to the neatest birthday party-it was at an old cabin in the heart of Birmingham, but it truly felt like we were in the mountains. I am not sure who enjoyed the party more-me or Maggie! We loved being a part of it, and truly enjoyed celebrating the big FOUR with Mary Beth!

Up to no good with Ella...surprise, surprise!



Mary Allison was there-absolutely miserable...we ended the day with a visit to the pediatrician. Side note...we have recently discovered that she has acid reflux that has really been causing much discomfort. She is such a happy baby, but she truly wasn't herself for the entire month of December! She's now on some medicine and soy milk, so she seems to be back to her old self...praise the Lord!! Anyway, she was there and quietly enjoyed some Cheerios on the floor.



It was one of those crazy 70 degree weather days in Birmingham, so we, thankfully, got to spend some time outside. We went on a stroll by the Cahaba River-loved that the kids automatically held hands for the excursion-such a sweet group of kiddos.



Group shot-I was a bit camera happy because I was working with Santa on a little Christmas project. We needed some fun pictures of my girls and their friends, so there are lots of December pictures!



Next up, Adelaide hosted a bunch of kids for a cookie decorating party-it was crazy and chaotic, but SO MUCH FUN! I am so thrilled to have found such a great group of friends through VHUMC, and I absolutely adore the kids Maggie tends to hang out with. I love that most of these kids will go to school together for many years to come!

Group shot...whew!



It's also neat to note that a lot of these kids have siblings that will be in Mary Allison's class...so, we took a picture of the littles too! Guess who wasn't very happy for the cameras? I love that some of them are looking at her like she's crazy! HA-we still hadn't figured out her stomach issues at this point, so she was pretty miserable!



Ahhhh-much better!



Maggie was in cookie HEAVEN!

Maggie's Christmas Program

The kids at Maggie's school put on a precious Christmas program mid-December. There is nothing that puts me in the Christmas spirit like hearing those sweet, angelic, three-year old voices singing about the reason for the season. It truly was adorable! Maggie is not a performer-pretty shy with new friends, and this was her first public performance, so I was not sure how she would do...she did GREAT! She truly had a great time, and she loved showing us what she had been working so hard on at school.

So happy to find us in the crowd...love that smile!



I put this on the blog too, because it is SO Maggie-that's her shy/timid face...LOVE IT! Mary Beth is her neighbor to the right-Maggie takes ballet with sweet Mary Beth, so you'll be seeing more of her in the spring...and in these pictures...she is in just about every picture, so I thought she needed an intro!



"Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head." She was so serious-Allison Y and I laughed because both Ella and Maggie looked like they were going to fall asleep after this-the soft, sweet, quiet song totally relaxed them and it took a while to regain the energy! HA!



...and she's back!



She was really pumped up about the class party after the performance!



Belle drove to Birmingham to watch...how sweet is that? She arrived the evening before and left immediately after...wasn't even here for 24 hours. What a GIFT!! Unfortunately, this was the only picture I got of them because she was too focused on the party! Thanks Belle!



Daddy and Mimi made it too-it was Mimi's birthday, so we were extra thrilled to give her a special performance on her birthday!



Ella, Mary Beth, and Maggie showing off their snowman books from their teachers...such a wonderful gift!! All smiles!



A hug for Ms. Mande...Mande has been Maggie's teacher for two years now and we LOVE her!!



And a hug for Ms. Patsy-we love her too!! I love this picture because it was totally spontaneous!



Taking a picture with Adelaide and Ella-couldn't get these three monkeys to fully cooperate!

Christmas So Far-More to Come

This year, I am thankful to be friends with Allison Youngblood! She keeps me in the know...for example, a few weeks ago, she texted me to see if we wanted to go to the Vestavia Tree Lighting. In true LEE ALLISON (my mom)fashion, I told her that we'd love to...then, I asked what tree we were lighting!? She's totally in the loop, and I love just waiting to hear about the next event we need to attend...HA-everyone needs a friend like Allison to organize their social calendars!

Maggie and Ella were LOVING Santa and Mrs. Claus-Mary Allison, however, was stuck in the stroller!



Then, she invited us over to bake and decorate cookies. Maggie was very dilligent about decorating-and didn't waste any time eating ALL of her cookies, while her friends were too focused on the decor...my kind of girl!



Serious picture of Ella, Elliott, and Maggie...



Crazy picture of those sillies...



...and a group hug! Ahhhh-life doesn't get much sweeter!!



Thanks Allison-what's next?

Fall Photo Shoot

One afternoon this fall, while the girls were playing in the yard, I decided to grab my camera and take a few pictures. I haven't done as well taking pictures of Mary Allison as I had promised to do, so I spent a lot of time trying to capture her. She is such a funny little thing! She is SO happy-I've been asked by several of our nursery workers at church and teachers at school if she is EVER NOT happy!! I just love it!










Forgive me as I catch up on posts this week-I am WAY behind, but the great news is that I have shut down LaLa-Grams for the year, so I'm thrilled to have my life back!!!