Christmas Fun and Family Time

She's up and he's come! I love that big smile on her face.

Taking it all in!

Trying out another gift and performing her first Science experiment with daddy. (and of course, dress up clothes tops a lab coat any day)

One of her favorite gifts has to be matching outfits for her and doll, Molly. (day 2 of owning the gown and mommy washing the gown- Ha!)

Meeting the Duck Master at the Peabody after our Christmas Eve breakfast

We've had a wonderful Christmas and while I wouldn't call it a a true "White Christmas," we even enjoyed some beautiful flurries on Christmas Day.

Of course, we have had the best time watching the excitement and magic of Christmas through Lily Grace, but more importantly special time together as a family. God is good indeed!!

Sweet Treats

Last week, friends joined us for our annual Gingerbread decorating party. We had a wonderful time!!
It's always fun to see how each house will turn out and equally as interesting to see how much icing and candy goes on the houses vs. in the kid's tummies. HA!
After lunch we enjoyed Snowmen cupcakes compliments of Miss Misty. Each year she surprises us with a fun Christmas dessert and this year was no exception. Sooo cute!!!
We also exchanged books and played and played some more.
This year we had a new guest. Baby Beckett, as Lily Grace refers to him who is Elliot's brother. Lily Grace is smitten with him. I am happy to report that Beckett managed to leave our house without having been strolled around in a baby doll stroller, or dressed in doll clothes. Whew!
Thanks again to all of our friends for the all the yummy food and of course the time spent together. We love you all and enjoy celebrating the holidays with you each year. You all make them extra special.

Weekend of Performances

Elliot, Claire and Lily Grace after their Christmas Program

After the Nutcracker Ballet

Lily Grace had her preschool Christmas program Friday night. It was adorable and of course, so was she. As I sat and watched her, I thought to myself what a true blessing and privilege it is to be a mom. That was my sweet baby up there and I reminded myself to take it all in. These are after all, the days I prayed so hard for. So again I tell you, God answers prayers.
Sunday afternoon took us downtown for the annual Nutcracker Ballet. We arrive early for pictures and for Lily Grace to purchase a Nutcracker to remember her visit by. (I've named this year's choice the Liberace Nutcracker.) We love attending this Christmas performance as a family and as always, it was magical.
A downtown dinner followed the performance where I watched my wonderful husband indulge his little girl in the magic of the show we had just seen. Months after we attend, Lily Grace can be found in one of her flowing tulle dresses, dancing to the Nutcracker CD. She loves for Matt to play the role of the Nutcracker and she of course is Clara. When we arrived at this chic little downtown restaurant, she asked Matt to dance with her. Now mind you, this wasn't an environment really conducive to her request, but I watched Matt do something that most daddies would not. He granted her wish. He stood up to the side of the table and twirled her and swayed in movement as she had asked. My heart melted. His love knows no boundaries with her and he doesn't let embarrassment guide or direct it either. Thank you Matt for teaching our little girl to love unconditionally by example.

Breakfast with Santa and some Holiday Baking

Saturday we had the pleasure of having breakfast with Santa at church. We were all so excited and had a wonderful time!
Once back home, Lily Grace (make that Mary Poppins) and I got busy baking. We even got daddy involved. We made Coconut Macaroons and our annual Gingerbread Ornaments for our Christmas tree. We tried a new Gingerbread recipe this year. It's awesome! The cookies bake up so nicely. They look and smell just like Gingerbread cookies, but bake up really hard to use as ornaments. So good in fact that Darby didn't know the difference and ate one right off the tree. Ha!
Lily Grace did some of her own baking as well. She spent about an hour playing in flour after we finished baking.
You can see the recipe here if you and your family would like to make your own Gingerbread ornaments. Happy Baking!

Ice Skating!

I love the smile on Lily Grace's face and mine. It's that forced type smile because we are really concentrating on standing up. HA!

So excited and cute

Getting warm in the lodge after skating

Look at our smiles now that we are on "steady ground" in the lodge. Much bigger! HA!

The zoo announced that it would be opening an ice skating rink throughout the holidays this year. We have been so excited about taking Lily Grace. Matt took off work today and off we went.
Matt knows how to ice skate. Lily Grace, well she's four and lives in the south so it was her first time. Me, being a lifetime southern girl have only been once. I was 8 years old and on a church field trip. The only thing I really remember about the experience is how fast my legs could go without my body following. I flailed along the side of that rink, holding onto the bar for dear life. So you can understand why I was a little apprehensive about today. I am happy to report that Matt was a great teacher and had Lily Grace and I going around the rink within minutes. (I only hit the floor once. Now let me just add, that when you do "hit the floor," there is nothing remotely graceful about that. And getting back up, well that is a sport own its own.)
Lily Grace smiled the entire time and could have skated all day long I do believe. We had to pinkie promise to return.
Matt, as always, you were wonderful with her (and me) and I loved watching you teach her something new.

Skating with Daddy

Feliz Navidad

Lily Grace can often be heard singing around here and last night was no exception, just one of her more entertaining performances. With her upcoming Preschool Christmas program approaching, she has been focused on Christmas songs and with her new-found love for Spanish class, this song in particular. She said that her Spanish teacher showed her how to sing it. Apparently, Lily Grace took it seriously and threw a bit of herself into it. HA! Each time she sings it, she does so with this same exaggerated expression and I just had to video it. Of course, she was all too happy to perform, after she got up on the stool, which she deemed her stage. By the way, according to her all of that pointing, is her pointing to each audience member. Sorry the video is short. It was quickly interrupted by all of my laughter. You can see why.