Breakfast with Santa

About two weeks ago, we headed to our annual Breakfast with Santa event.  We started going last year, all proceeds go to the Bell Center here in town (which I like supporting).  It's a great event with crafts for the children, a great breakfast (this year we had breakfast pizza since it was at California Pizza Kitchen), and a special visit with Santa!

Pierce made a thumbprint Santa on his sleigh with his reindeer bookmark!

This special Santa is great with all the children, he takes up lots of time with each one.  Pierce made sure to tell him everything on his list!

Gingerbread House

I'm way behind on my blogging this month with the crazy holiday season...time to catch up!

On one rainy Sunday afternoon, Pierce worked on his gingerbread house for a fun afternoon activity.  He thought it was lots of fun but wanted to eat the candy more than decorate with it!

He was proud of his finished product but didn't understand why he couldn't eat it all month!

Guess who's back?!?!

Elfie finally made his way back to visit! Pierce has been asking since Thanksgiving when he would arrive and he came last weekend. He has been busy with mischief all week!

The night he arrived, he wrote all over Pierce's bathroom mirror.  He's also gotten into treats in the kitchen and drank out of the syrup bottle!

Then, he made a sleeping bag out of daddy's underwear, rolled the tree and the mantle, and read a book to lots of Star Wars characters!  He's been a busy little elf.

Elfie keeps us on our toes and hopefully, keeping Pierce off of the naughty list!!

Christmas Music & Batter Bash

Last Sunday was the annual batter bash event for the children at church and their Christmas music performances. All of the kids did great! Since I help teach the 2's, we are always a little nervous how they will do on stage. Everyone had good behavior!

Pierce did well, but did have some ants in his pants and had a little trouble being still! I do love hearing all of the little voices though!

Pierce decided to take pretzel santa hats for his treat at batter bash this year.  My favorite part was that no cooking was actually involved!  He was helpful in the begining, but as you can see, we made a lot and he faded away a little.

Super excited about his chef's hat again and showing off his goodies!

All of the kids were pumped full of sugar after basically eating junk for dinner.  I was worried he would never go to bed but he practically fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Tis the season!!

Elf Training Workshop

Last weekend we met the Patterson's at the library for an Elf Training Workshop! Pierce was excited to go and see how elves were trained. He loved the "not real" elves (as he told me)do some singing and dancing. They got to practice their skills at quickly putting a box together, determining naughty and nice, have some elf snacks, and make their own elf hat!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

About a week ago, we headed out to find our tree for this year.  I love Christmas with a child because they get excited about all of the details of Christmas.  I know that this time will not last, so I try hard to soak it all in!  Each year I say that I'm going to get an artificial tree at the end of the season but never do.  I grew up with a real tree and I still love one!  There's just something about the smell of it, those stinkin' needles falling off everywhere, and the threat of it potentially falling that I love!  ;)

More Than Thankful!

Since we are well into the Christmas season, I should probably post about Thanksgiving! We had another great thanksgiving with both of our families. Luckily, my sister and her family came to Alabama this year so we got to see all of our cousins this year! It makes for a crazy holiday for us since our families are relatively close, so we drive back and forth to see both families.  It's hard to see everyone, but we do our best!

Our first stop this year was in Luverne for a few days.  Pierce always loves seeing cousins he doesn't get to see too often.  TT always has a great meal! 

Pierce and Abby had so much fun playing on the ipad together!

Our next stop....the farm!  Pierce was BEYOND excited to see Chapman and Sullivan.  It was our first time sleeping in the new house!  Gigi and Poppa treated us and kept the kids every night at the barn and us siblings and husbands got to stay kid-free at night.  It was fantastic!!

Chapman and his daddy got up super early one morning and went hunting!

We also made rice krispie cake pops!  The boys loved them and were quite the helpers!!

These boys love spending time together, I hate we can't do it more often but we are so thankful for the time that we can.  We are more than thankful for both of our families and the chance to have a special Thanksgiving with both of them!

Cousin Photo Shoot

During Thanksgiving we were excited to get in lots of cousin time this year! We always have good intentions of getting the kids dressed and taking photos and hoped to get a photographer to do one of everyone. That didn't work, but the Burkhart's did need a family photo so I took some. Then, we had a long overdue cousin photo shoot!!!

We even got a Christmas card done for Gigi and Poppa to use this year.  Now, if I will only print some of these for our house!!

Go Phillip!!!

Pierce and some of his buddies had the opportunity to go watch their favorite lifeguard and big soccer player play in a game! Phillip was by far the favorite lifeguard at the pool this summer. He loves kids and these boys! He would even play with the boys on his breaks instead of actually taking a break from kids.

Phillip played soccer in high school and now plays for Oglethorpe. They traveled here a few months ago to play Birmingham-Southern so the boys made it to his game!

His dad, Mr. Doug, was kind enough to take lots of pics and share them with us.  Go Phillip!!!

Healthy Boy!

A few days before Thanksgiving we took Pierce for his 5 yr check up. This time of the year we focus a lot on what we are thankful for, it made me the most thankful to hear the doctor say "he's very healhy!".

Going to the doctor is definitely not my childs favorite thing.  We talked about his upcoming visit for a while, inlcuding the fact that he would be getting multiple shots.  I think he was so traumatized by his flu mist in his nose last year that he actually said he would rather have an extra shot!  Well, it was all fun and games until the nurses came in with the shots.  Good think I drug daddy along for some assistance!  Luckily, they make is super quick and it was over very fast.  He did milk it for a while and was unable to walk or do anything for a good 12 hours!!

Here are his stats:

Weight - 41.6 lbs (50%)
Height - 43.5 inches (60%)

Thanksgiving Feast!

Pierce loves his class at school! We are very thankful for such awesome teachers this year, a great school, and sweet friends. This little boy gets excited about everything and his Thanksgiving Feast last Friday was no exception!

One of the teachers texted me and said, "he eats well!".  I was trying to decide if he was making good choices and they were impressed or he was just eating a lot of the bad stuff!

I've enjoyed hearing all about being thankful, pilgrims, indians, and the Mayflower!  Pierce told his teacher he was thankful for God and his toys.  I wish his parents had made the list, but at least he has his priorities right!

Happy Birthday, Henry!

Pierce helped his buddy, Henry, celebrate his sixth birthday last weekend! He was even more excited to learn that it was a star wars themed party and really wanted to wear his Obi Wan costume but I thought he might be the only guest in character! The FLC was the perfect spot for so many kiddos with plenty of room for the little jedi's to run around!

I can't believe Henry is 6 and Pierce is 5!  Seems like they should still be toddlers with us chasing them around.  Time is definitely flying and needs to slow down!

Card Outtakes

The dreaded annual Christmas card picture is never fun. Some years I try to schedule pictures so this difficult task does not fall on me, but this year I failed to do so which resulted in a solo photo shoot. It was a beautiful afternoon, but a super silly little boy...

At the end, he got on the ground and said, "Mom, I need to do some sit ups and push ups!".  In hindsight, I probably should have used a silly one with his big personality.  Thankfully, they are done and I can mark this "to do" job off my list!!