Christmas photos

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was fun celebrating with two little girls.  Last year, I was six months pregnant with Rebecca. She had a good day, didn't understand what was going on, but had fun anyways.  On Christmas Eve we went to church and then Christmas morning we opened up gifts. We sat around, played with girls and relaxed. Later in the afternoon, we went to our friends' house for a really good Christmas dinner.

Rachel modeling her dress before church

Rebecca relaxing in her pretty dress

Checking out the new toys!

The girls in their Christmas pjs

We took dessert to our friend's for dinner.I attempted to make a cake.

This is the "before" .

And the "after". Tasted better than it looked!

Sisters!

                                                                    

Merry Christmas!

         For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;

           and the government will be upon his shoulder,

              and his name will be~

                 "Wonderful Counselor,Mighty God,

               Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

    Isaiah 9:6

Dress Rehearsal

                                                                         

Back in October I was at the mall looking at clothes for the girls. I went into Crazy Eights and they had beautiful Christmas dresses already. There were some in a dark green  material that I knew would look pretty on both of the girls. And they had similar styles in big and little girls, so I knew I could dress the girls in almost-matching outfits for Christmas Eve. Since the girls are so far apart in age, and Rebecca wears Rachel's old clothes, I usually don't/can't have them dress the same. I don't want to overdo the "matching", but I thought it would be fun for Christmas.

For Rebecca

For Rachel

                                                                             
 Since I bought the dresses, I have been looking for shoes, tights(sparkly silver for Rachel- hard too find!) and hair bows. I managed to find everything, and this morning I wanted the girls to try on the dresses and make sure it all looked OK. Well, let's just say it didn't go too well. Rebecca was screaming and Rachel really needed to watch a Mickey Mouse Christmas special. I did get Rachel into her dress and tights- she looked so cute. For Rebecca- it was a nap. So hopefully tomorrow night before church we will get some good pictures of the girls to share. Wish us luck!

                                                                             

All I want for Christmas ...

Is my two front teeth! Rebecca is trying really hard to fullfill this wish. For about a month now the bottom right front tooth has been poking through. On Sunday, I was prying something out of her mouth and noticed another tooth trying to make an appearance.  Rebecca has been a cranky,drooly, not wanting to eat much of anything little girl- so guess that is due to her teeth.Yesterday I tried for a loooong time to get a picture of her little teeth, but couldn't get a good shot. So this photo will have to do for now.

Not much else is happening here at our house right now. Rachel is on Christmas vacation, and we are trying to take it easy. Today we went to a plyagroup Christmas party and had a great time. Tomorrow Rachel wants to bake cookies for Santa. And Santa sent Rachel and email message yesterday. She LOVED it and watched about twenty times!

Party Week

This has been a very busy week- full of Christmas parties and school activities. On Monday afternoon, my MOMS club had a party for the kids. It was lots of fun, Rachel had great time running around with her friends and eating pizza. Then on Wednesday morning, my ladies Bible study group had a brunch and gift exchange. There was tons of good food and I got the cutest jingle bell wreath as a gift. Rebecca was a great party guest, all the ladies wanted to hold her. She charmed them with her big blue eyes.

Rebecca at the party

Wednesday night was my MOMS club for "adults only" party, but I didn't go. Too much going on, and I wasn't feeling the best. I heard it was alot of fun though. On Thursday afternoon, we went to visit our local fire station. Rachel had never been on a tour or seen a firetruck up close before. It was really interesting, and the firemen were just the nicest guys ever. Rachel loved it!

Future firelady!

Then last night I went to a Christmas gift wrapping get- together. It was so much fun. My neighbor had a bunch of friends over. We all brought our gifts, paper and tape. She had drinks and desserts for us all. We talked for awhile and then we got wrapping. I managed to wrap all my gifts, and met some of the ladies in the neighborhood. I think it was a great idea, and made wrapping all those gifts much more enjoyable.

Then finally today, was Rachel's last day of school before Christmas break and her BIG party at school. Today happened to be a windy, rainy, cold day. Rebecca and I braved the elements and made it to the school in one piece. Rachel was so excited to have us there. It was a zoo in her room- kids and candy and parents everywhere. They made houses out of graham crackers and decorated with icing and candy.

                           Decorating her house and wearing reindeer ears.

Posing with her house- it was interesting getting it home in one piece!

I tried to keep Rebecca in her stroller and busy with some cheerios. It worked for about ten minutes. She could see all the fun and she wanted out-ha!

Rachel really wanted her picture with Rebecca in their pretty dresses, but Rebecca was not in the mood. She pretty much cried the whole way home and then went straight for a nap!

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Lastly, Rachel's teacher had a gift for each parent. It is the cutest plate, and the reindeer antlers are the child's handprints. Rachel's teacher is just the best.

Merry Christmas!

                                                                        

Callaway Gardens

This past weekend, we headed out of town for a quick trip to Callaway Gardens. It is a huge resort/natural garden type place. They have all sorts of activities- most of them for the summer. But in the winter, they have a beautiful Christmas lights display.

We left for our trip on Friday when Rachel was home from school. The gardens are about two hours from us. But due to Friday traffic in Atlanta, detours, potty breaks, and getting a little lost- we made it in three hours. We were suppose to see the lights the first night, but had dinner and hung out in our room instead. Saturday morning we went to the Butterfly Center. They have many butterflies in a special enclosed garden and you walk through and can see them flying all around. Rachel loved looking for the butterflies, and some were really pretty.
                                              

                    Then we went over to a big tent filled with holiday activities, shopping, and food. We wandered around for awhile, Rachel decorated a cookie, made a little painted heart ornament, and we took our picture in Santa's house.
                                                              

Then we headed back to the hotel and got ready to go see the lights. We were supposed to ride on the "jolly trolly" but it was a rainy and cold night, so we decided the warm and dry car would be a better choice. The lights are beautiful, but hard to take pictures of- especially on a rainy night, while driving or holding a fussy baby in your arms. So sorry these are not the best.

                                        This is the entrance to the park.
                                                                             

Rachel and Rudolph

It was a nice trip for our family. Raphael and I were talking about how much work it is to travel with a baby! So many things to pack, and Rebecca is getting alot more vocal and active, so it is a challenge. We had a great time though, and look foward to more outings soon!

Jack is Back!

A couple of Christmases(sp?) ago, I saw a cute little elf in a catalog. It was called An Elf on the Shelf. You order the elf and a book comes along with a story about the elf, his work for Santa, and he is coming to your house for the days before Christmas. The elf watches and listens to see if you are being good and reports back to Santa each night. In the morning, the elf is in a new location. I thought Rachel would like the elf, so I bought him and she named him Jack.
                                                                       

On the first of December-Jack came back. Rachel was really excited to see him. She loves getting up each morning to see where he is and what little present he brought her.(We also have an advent Christmas countdown little house kind of thing and each day there is a small gift.) This year Jack has been on top of the fridge, in the Christmas tree, behind the candles, after awhile I start running out of places to put him. I also have a hard time remembering to move him each night before I go to bed.

It is fun to watch Rachel be excited for Christmas. She told me " it is not about the presents, it is about baby Jesus and the guys who take care of the sheep in the fields." At least she gets the main point of the story.

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This week at Rachel's school they have an area set up for the kids to do some Christmas shopping. The parents send in money and then each class goes "shopping".Most of the gifts are less than five dollars,and Rachel really wanted to buy special gifts for us all. Her class went on Tuesday, and she was so proud of the presents that she bought. She wanted us to open them right away. Here are her purchases:

A lovely butterfly tealight candleholder for Mommy

A "DAD" pen for Raphael

And for Rebecca- bear slippers.

And of course,Rachel bought for herself- I think we all do that.She got a pencil that smells like bubblegum and a kalidescope- that broke already.

I am off to work on Christmas cards!

O Christmas Tree

Yesterday after church we finally got around to decorating the Christmas tree. I have had the tree up for over a week, but was waiting for a time when we were all home and not in a rush, so we could decorate up the tree. Rachel helped me quite a bit, and then ended up get distracted with something else-ha! Imagine that! She did like going through the ornaments and asking about them- whose are they? what store did I buy them at? are there any candy ornaments that she could eat? She makes me laugh!

Rachel doing her "fashion model" pose by the tree.

As you can see Rebecca was "helping" too. She was trying her best to get into the box with all of the ornaments.

This year I scaled way back on the Christmas decor. Since Rebecca is so busy and into everything, I figured that this year "less is more". I only put one tree up, in the keeping room and decorated the mantels too. I put up two nativity sets and that is about it. I found out it is a lot faster to decorate when you only put up one treee instead of four!

Our pretty Willow tree navitiy set- thanks Mom!

We did put up a tree in Rachel's room too. Last year, I got a great deal on an all white little tree for her. I bought pink and white ornaments and it looks really pretty in her room. That tree went up the day after Thanksgiving- Rachel made sure of that!

And then on the wall over her bed, I did a little decorating too. I saw this idea in Pottery Barn teen catalog and thought it looked really cute. I already had the snowflake ornaments, so it was quick and easy to do.

I used poster putty sticky stuff and sprinkled the snowflakes along the wall over her bed. It looks really pretty, and Rachel just loves it.  The picture is kind of hard to see.

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In other news- Rebecca was looking so cute yesterday for church that I just had to get her picture.

She loves to stick out her tongue!

Today I went to the store with her and I could hear her laughing. When we got to ToysR Us, I could see why she was so happy.

She has figured out how to pull down the cover on the carseat. Now she can look around whenever she feels like it. She was SO proud of herself!