After Thanksgiving comes Christmas....Here is our Christmas festivities for 2016:
Elaina has a new friend who is in her her class this year, Ainsley. Ainsley has gone to Grace for several years but she and Elaina have not had class together until this year. They have become fast friends, to say the least. We just love sweet Ainsley. She came with us to Fantasy of Trees this year. They did all the usual things.......we love going to the Fantasy of the Trees. It really kicks off Christmas for us.
Coordinated outfits.....but of course!
We hung out with our friends, the Crass's one evening for a viewing of Christmas Vacation. Erik had not seen it in its entirety and did not appreciate it to its fullest. So, Evan wanted to walk him through it to give him a better appreciation. We had fun - I got to drink egg nog out of this moose glass - awesome!
Elaina had a solo part in her school Christmas play. She did so good - we were proud parents. She didn't seem nervous at all which was amazing to us
Opening gifts with her friend Kaitilyn
We went to Painting with a Twist with our new friends, the Taylors - Ainsley's family. We had a super fun time and we all came home with some great decorations
All of us.....
Ainsley came over again one day and we had a "Christmas" lunch on the floor
Guess what we did with these....an indoor snowball fight!!!! YES! super fun!
A little preview of the action (sorry for the terrible camera footage)
Elaina and I made cookies one afternoon. Always a fun time. Putting her Halloween costume to good use, too. :)
So, keeping with traditions, we hung out with our besties - the Halls and the Breauxs for our annual Christmas Eve cake decorating. This year we went to see a movie too....SING
Afterward, we came home to decorate the cake....they get better and better each year. I LOVE that Christine and Elaina do this every year. It's one of my fondest memories
The annual selfie....
Later that night we went to my mom's for our usual Christmas Eve celebration
Total dorks...with a Celia photo bomb in the back
The reindeer ears were a big hit
This baby is one of my faves - sweet Tessa!
LOVE!
Next it was home to get ready for Santa...Elaina left her usual treats and note for Santa. I will never be able to throw away this cheap plastic red cup. It's the one we use every year for Santa (at Elaina's request). And, she always moves the piano bench over to that spot to set everything up on. She is a creature of habit, that one :)
Her note to Santa was typed this year...she put a lot of prep into this
The next morning Santa sent her on a scavenger hunt for her gifts. Scavenger hunts are her favorite. She LOVED it. She drove her new American Girl doll car around to each spot.
Ta da!! Her final destination to her big gift from Santa. Her 6 ft American Girl Doll house. This thing is seriously cool.
My favorite gift of ALL time...this story that Elaina wrote and illustrated all by herself. It was about our trip to Orange Beach last year. She did it at school. I will always cherish this.
Finally, to end out our fabulous Christmas, we went to Erik's parents to celebrate with them.....
I have thought about it....and I miss my blog. Not because it is read by anyone other than Erik and maybe a small handful of other people on occasion but, I think I miss having that spot I can go to and reminisce over memories. I don't want to lose that that. I know there will be a 2 year void of pictures and events but I know that 20 years down the road I will be glad I picked it back up. I do have pics/events documented on IG so that is good. But this blog allows me to share my words more - how I felt about the particular event I am posting about. Or, maybe even just my opinion in general. Who knows...we shall see. For now, let's just pick up with the latest event in our house - Elaina made the MS cheer team for the second year in a row! We are very excited for her - she is excited too. She has come SO far in a year. When we entered into year one we ALL had no idea how any of this cheer stuff worked. We have done re...
Not much snow this winter.....in fact, I would hardly call it a winter. It's Feb 23rd and 70 degrees today. So......?? We did have one day where it snowed and was cold enough to make a fire. Below is one of 2 fires (maybe 3) we have had this year. Makes me sad. I mean, I am not a huge fan of cold but I do think we need a winter. Here are some pics to prove it did snow. We cuddled up on the air mattress in the living room next to the the fire one night and watched a movie. Fun memory The next day, Elaina and her friend Ainsley made a fort out of said air mattress Elaina and her friend Ainsley played in the snow. We had a kids vs parents snow ball fight (a real one). It was fun...I got nailed in the face with a snowball. That is a sign of a good snowball fight!!! Good times! Cute girls in their onesies....
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