Christmas Activities

We are always so busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas! I've tried to condense the majority of our month into this one post. These are just the highlights, but you get the idea. We had a blessed and memory filled Christmas season.
Each of the girls had a school party. Kaylin had a brunch on the 16th of December.
Annlee had a Polar Express Pajama party on December 17th.

Maryella had a program on the 10th of December and a party on the 17th.


The kids all sang in church one Wednesday night in the Children's Christmas Musical Extraveganza.

Kaylin performed in the Nutcracker as a toy soldier and did a beautiful job!

She was so pretty!

After school was out, we had a week to fill with fun before Christmas arrived. Mema and Papa visited and brought gifts for all of us.

The girls had been begging for this Barbie Jet, so it made a BIG hit!

They also looked really cute in some hats from Aunt Jan.

The same day, we had a pancake breakfast with Santa at church.

The candy canes are a favorite with my candy loving sweeties.

The rest of the week was filled with crafts and fun. We made candle holders with jars and tissue paper.

They turned out really cute!

The girls painted a Christmas tree that lights up.

They spent one whole morning dancing to Christmas music in their jammies.

We drove to Stephen Foster Park one night and saw Santa and some really pretty lights.


They decorated cookies for Santa.

The first row on the left is Elianna's, with help from Mama. The next row is Annlee, then Maryella, then Kaylin.

We also made a Christmas cake to take with us after Christmas to Alabama.

The girls did almost everything and did a great job!

Update

OK, Lindsey, this is for you! You said you were tired of looking at Maryella's swollen face, so here are some new pictures to keep you entertained for awhile.
To everyone else, sorry I've been slack on my blog recently! But I've been SO busy making cakes for people! I decided to try to see if there was any interest around Lake City in doing a little cake business and I've been thrilled with the response. I've had to do virtually nothing in the line of advertising and I'm having anywhere from 1-3 cakes to do most weekends. And the best part is ... it's so much fun! We shall see where it goes. For now, it's still in the experimental stage, but who knows. I'd love to do this for a living! It's such a wonderful way to be able to bring in a little money and stay home with my girls at the same time.
So, now tha you know why I've been slacking lately, I'll post some pictures from our life recently. And look for an upcoming post about Kaylin and Annlee's joint tea part birthday - that was a fun day!
At a recent birthday party for a little boy in our church - Elianna and her friend had a great time grabbing ice from the ice chest.


Jeff and I at the same party.


Cheese tastes better with your sunglasses on


And you never know when your going to need an extra pair of sunglasses


A sweet picture in their Halloween shirts


And behind our 4 girl scarecrows


Making sure her Barbie is watching tv with her. She kept turning the Barbie's head to see the tv.


Pretty Package

I Hate Mosquitos!

I don't know what it is that makes Maryella so attractive to mosquitos. I wish there was a medicine you could take that could conteract it. But this poor girl gets bitten by any mosquito within a 12 mile radius of her it seems. This is the second time she's gotten it on her eyelid. And they itch her so badly that she can't help but scratch them until they bleed, like the older bites on her forehead. Suggestions, helpful hints and ideas, thoughts - anything is welcome for solving this problem short of making her live in a bubble, which I'm beginning to think may be the way to go...

She was in the middle of eating breakfast in this picture and has a mouth full of pecan roll. It's just her eyelid that's swollen.

Maryella's first day of school

Maryella had her first day of school yesterday and overall had a great day! She cried (screamed) when I left, but got ok pretty quickly. She's got some sweet teachers who are very patient. One of them took her out of the classroom until she calmed down and then she was fine. Her second day got off to a rough start also, but there was no screaming involved (that I heard). We're hopeful that things will get easier soon. I think she really does enjoy being there. She's just got to make some really good friends and feel a little more comfortable.
Here are her first day of school pictures...

All ready to go! So excited to get to take a backpack this year!



In front of the school - still excited!


Elianna wanted a picture, too.


Playing in the classroom - still having a good time!


With her teachers - "I'll look, but you can't make me smile."

Summer Overview

We got a little busy as the summer progressed and I let my blog updates slide a bit - sorry. Rather than try to go back and catch up on all the pictures in the past 2 months, I'm just going to give a few highlights (and even that is a lot!). Anyone interested in seeing more can look on facebook - I think I kept my photos pretty up to date on there. July was incredibly busy!
It started out with a minor dental emergency for Kaylin and she ended up needing a tooth pulled. I still don't understand quite what happened, but she came through fine and handled it very well.
We had a fun 4th of July and I made my first cake pops. Those were fun, but harder than I expected them to be. They were worth the effort though - YUM! We ate burgers and hotdogs outside and just spent time together. It was a fun weekend.



We had Maryella's birthday party on the 10th of July - a week before the real day. She wanted a pink princess water party with a pink princess cake covered with flowers. She had thought for a long time about that and was very specific and insistent about it. It was a small party, but so much fun! The little girls who came seemed to have a great time!


The next day, we left for Cape San Blas for our annual beach vacation with my family. It was such a fabulous week!
We played on the beach




played at the pool


played in the house





celebrated birthdays with a cake I made

got to eat out and see old friends.






On our way home, it was Maryella's real birthday and we stopped at McDonald's for the chicken nuggets she had been begging for. We were driving back to Alabama for more vacation time.




When we got back to Alabaster, we stopped at Del Toro for a birthday dinner for Maryella. She wasn't sure about the sombraro thing but was excited about the singing and the flan!

Jeff and I left soon after that for Charleston, SC for our 10th anniversary trip. That was a wonderful time!




While we were gone, my parents kept the girls and treated them to a very fun couple of days! They went to the park

the zoo


and Pump It Up - we made it back just in time to join them for that one!

Then we drove back to Alabama, picked up the girls, and headed up to Tennessee for Papa Tate's memorial service.

After the service, we made a fast trip back to Montgomery, AL for a family wedding that night.

Whew, that was a whirlwind day!

After we got back home to Lake City, Maryella had her 4 yr well check and all was well. She's 35 lbs (50%) and 41 inches (80ish%) - growing right on track!

On August 5-6 we drove over to Jekyll Island for a quick beach trip to finish our summer. We had enough hotel points to get a free night stay, so it worked out perfectly!



And here are a few more random pictures from the summer.
Maryella did her on make-up!


Elianna with a cute hair-do.

A room rearrange we did for the 3 big girls. They now have a separate playroom and bedroom that they share together.





It was a fun and busy summer, filled with memories! Just the way we like it!