Christmas Eve at Gege and Papa's

The coolest dinosaur ever!

Rachel opening her huge bear


Riding on her bear

Trying out the cool dinosaur!

Enjoying watching the helicopter take off

The beautiful cake we made to celebrate Jesus' birth

For some reason, Bradley didn't like it

when we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus

Both kids enjoying their huge animals!

Papa got some serious exercise when he decided

to push the kids around on their animals

Well, thank goodness, Bradley took a nap on the way to our Gege and Papa's and slept on Nick once we arrived. He just needed a little pick-up. When he woke up, he chugged down some coke, opened some presents and seemed to be in great spirits! The kids were super spoiled with presents galore and we had tons of yummy food that Gege prepared. Both kids got large, sturdy animals that they can sit on to watch tv or play with. Bradley's remote control dinosaur is really cool and can do so many realistic things. Both kids love it even though neither really wants it to touch them when it's moving. Rachel was thrilled to get the "Pee Pee in the Potty" doll that she had seen on commercials for months. And, Rachel and Bradley LOVED watching daddy play with his remote control helicopter that Gege gave him this year. They could hardly contain themselves when it flew around the room and crashed into the floor. We had a great evening with Gege, Papa and Stacy and Randy. We gave the kids baths and then loaded our car and headed home for bedtime. What a fun day!!

Christmas Eve at Nana and Pop's

me and mom
me and gram

We're having so much fun opening presents! :)

helping Gramma open her calendar

Fun at the playground!

Pop, Nana, Rachel and "cooperative" Bradley

Our precious family!

We are lucky that we get to see both sets of Grandparents in one day since they only live 30 minutes apart! We spent the morning with nana, pop and gramma. We had a delicious brunch and then opened presents and went outside to see pop's new goats. We didn't get a good look at them since they're not used to people yet, so they were more like a white streak in the woods. The kids burned off some energy playing on the always cool playground. Then we came back in and rested for a bit before heading to our next destination. We all got some really great presents and have really enjoyed playing with them now, even though some of us (Bradley) didn't act like we liked anything when we were opening them!

T'was the night before Christmas Eve...

Rachel's little piggy and Bradley's little puppy

...and Mommy convinced Daddy to let the kids open just one present! They both got a fur-real friend pig and dog that moves and makes animal noises when they're petted. Both kids loved them! I knew the kids would get so much from grandparents, Santa and mom and dad, that I thought it would be nice for them to get just one present early to enjoy without competition! They had a blast feeding their animals and petting them for one evening!!

Ready and Waiting

We're home today and ready to celebrate Christmas with our families! We baked cookies this morning for Santa. And, we made a cake and cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birth. Both kids were really into it and SO helpful in decorating them all. Each cookie and cupcake has about 500 sprinkles on it. I think Bradley and Rachel's philosophy is: "More is Better" when it comes to sprinkles. The kids are so excited about opening presents and seeing their grandparents tomorrow. They are just such precious, loving, sweet kids and I feel so very grateful to be their mommy and have the privilege of sharing all these fun times with them!

Merry Christmas!!

**The above picture was from a couple of weeks ago when we had a Christmas party for Deborah's side of the family in their barn. It was a great location and the kids had a blast...especially playing in the clean stall with all the fresh shavings!

**UPDATE: Everyone is feeling so much better! Bradley still has alot of congestion, but both kids seem to have gotten rid of the nasty infection and just have minor colds now! Thank goodness!!

A fun family Party

Bradley and Lauren playing together

Daddy's boy

Bradley helping Nick make a fire in the outdoor fireplace

Elle & Rachel

The lovely girls: Sophie, Lauren, Elle & Rachel

wearing their new colorful boas.

Saturday night was our Christmas celebration with Joe's side of the family. We went to Pat and Jim's new beautiful house in Atlanta and had a great time! Rachel always has so much fun playing with Carter, Elle, Lauren and Sophie. (Bradley had a good time playing with Lauren later when he FINALLY warmed up...about 3 hours into the gathering!) The food was delicious and there was a ton of it! The kids each got goodie bags filled with lots of neat trinkets to play with. The adults each brought a gift and played our traditional game where you draw numbers, choose a present (or steal one from someone else) that can be anything from a purse to a laptop table to a neck massager. We always have a fun time and enjoy "stealing" from each other until the item is "frozen" and can't be taken again. At the end of the night, Nick and I joined Matt, Leigh Anne, Heather, Randy, Stacy and Randy for a game of Blokus. It was really fun and I can see where I could get addicted to it if I had one!! We left really late, but the kids enjoyed looking at Christmas lights on the way home. It was a really fun evening!

Rachel's School Christmas Musical

Rachel sitting with her class; 5th from left on the TOP row.

Rachel with her class about to sing their song.

Last Friday was Rachel's Christmas Musical. We were all so excited about it and Rachel had been practicing new songs for a few weeks. She was told to wear her "Sunday Best" and all parents/grandparents/siblings were invited to attend. We were fortunate enough to have Gege, Papa and Pop join me, Nick and Bradley. (Nana wasn't able to come since it was in the middle of the day.) The musical was great...each class sang their own prepared song and there were a few kids who were picked to wear costumes and have a small nativity scene. All the kids looked so cute and the ones who were dressed for the nativity were either standing there looking scared or taking off their costumes. The production was only about 30 minutes long...just long enough for the kids to sit there before getting too restless. Rachel did a great job of sitting with her class and waiting for her turn to sing. I was also very proud of Bradley because he was so good and patient during the hour that he sat on the pew at church. I had a few chocolate bribes to keep him going, but he did really well. When the first group sang, he did look at me with a grumpy face and say, "Not sing". I knew he was trying to tell me that he didn't want the kids to sing, but thankfully Nick told him to stop and he did. Little Bradley's always trying to gain a little control over any situation. :)

Once the play was over, we all went to Cracker Barrel (Rachel's choice), where we had to wait a LONG time for our food, but it was good. It was a really fun day and I was so touched to hear all those sweet little voices singing Christmas songs. It was a nice way to get even more into the Christmas spirit!

Our poor little sick girl...

Sick little Rachel with Bradley wanting to sit right next to her.

Today was Rachel's last day of school before Christmas, but unfortunately, she didn't get to go. She woke me up this morning at 5:30 and said her throat hurt, her nose was running and her tummy hurt. She was also burning up. So, I took her back to bed, gave her some Motrin for her fever and laid down with her. About 20 minutes later, she started gagging, and luckily, we made it to the potty in time for her to throw up in it. I figured that the Motrin had aggravated her already sensitive tummy, so we decided to go in the den and watch a Barbie movie. I was already worried that she would have to miss school today and I didn't want to talk about it with Rachel and make her sad. But, today was supposed to be a super fun day at school. They were having a class Christmas party, exchanging books with each other, having a book fair and even Santa was coming to visit. Also, ironically, this was the party that I had volunteered to organize. Thankfully, I had already arranged for Deborah to watch Bradley so that I could be at the party. So, she stayed home with the kids while I ran to the school to set up for the party. I also was lucky enough to have such wonderful moms in Rachel's class who were more than willing to pick up the slack and run the party. I came home from the school and took both kids to the doctor, where Rachel was diagnosed with strep throat and Bradley just has a nasty cold. Rachel felt so puny at the doctor, that she actually laid down on the examining table. Bradley was obviously feeling great, so he was jibber-jabbering and being brave and charming with all the nurses. Anyway, we got 2 prescriptions...one for each child and then came home to rest. Poor Rachel has been asleep most of the day on the couch. Bradley hasn't been able to stand that she's laying there and either wants to sit right with her/on top of her, or he likes to pat her head or face and say, "Ray Ray hurt". Rachel loves the attention from her baby brother and is tolerating him so sweetly. The above picture is just this evening where Rachel fell asleep (again) and Bradley climbed up next to her to watch tv. They are such sweet kids and sweet siblings!! I hope my little ones feel better before Christmas...hard to believe that's 1 week away!!