Family Pictures

Before enjoying a fabulous Christmas dinner, we somehow rounded-up all the kids, got them showered and dressed up in their matching shirts given to us by Cynthia and Jay, and we wore our red clothes, so we would all look coordinated. The kids all looked so adorable and we actually captured a halfway decent photo of them together, all of us together and the family groupings too! By the end, you can tell by the photos that the kids are all tired of smiling and looking at the camera, but they did a great job. After we were done with the photos, we released the kids to play. The girls went immediately to the backyard to jump on the trampoline. Chandler headed next door to play with the neighbor boys and Jackson hung out with us while we all prepared for dinner. Cynthia and Connie had planned and prepared a great meal and before long, we were sitting around the dining room table enjoying a truly delicious meal together. Over dessert, CK and Cynthia told their parents that they planned to send them to Europe for a cruise and week of travel. They couldn't believe and were totally overcome with emotion! It was so sweet and exciting to watch them talk about the options and adventure ahead of them!

We ate, talked and enjoyed the end of a wonderful Christmas spent together. We ended the evening with dishes and putting the kids to bed before we all retired as well.

Grandpa and Grandma with their girls

The Lee family

The four of us, and Buddy makes 5

A close-up

CK and me

My favorite dog and me

Sweet sisters

CK and his girls

Cousins (who are a little tired of smiling and looking at the camera)

The entire gang! Merry Christmas!

The dining room all set up for our great Christmas dinner

Decorating Gingerbread

Yesterday afternoon, Cynthia and Grandma took all the girls and Chandler to see the Nutcracker. I'd taken Sofia years ago, so I wondered if she'd remember any of it. The girls got all dressed up and headed out, but not before we took a few great pictures of everyone together. Jackson hung out with us while CK and I baked, which ended up being a lot of fun. Jackson really got into helping us and it was so fun to hang out with him and get to know him better. He's such a happy and easy-going kid and loves to learn new things and explore. That evening when everyone returned from the musical, they all said how much fun they had and Sofia had actually remembered a lot of the details once she started watching the Nutcracker.

In the morning, I took Buddy for a walk around their neighborhood, which was basically deserted given the holidays. Buddy loved sniffing all the new smells and peeing on every new blade of grass. Buddy was so happy to be with us in Atlanta, but wouldn't go up or down any stairs, even to go outside to their backyard! Meanwhile, the cousins loved bouncing together in the trampoline together. The weather is so mild and nice, it was great that they were able to bounce and have fun together!

This afternoon, before we got busy opening presents, the kids set out to decorate a gingerbread train set. The kids loved it and we set them all about the island with their own frosting and candies and the kids each had a section to decorate. Each of the kids chose their own train section and then started decorating it with frosting and candies. Sofia was very meticulous while Olivia and Jillian worked together to decorate their two train sections. It was so cute to watch them together. They all really loved it and had fun together. Once all their sections were finished, we put them all together and they looked great. It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon together!

The crew before heading to the Nutcracker

Buddy...not sure about those stairs!

Morning fun - trampoline time with cousins!

Buddy is VERY comfortable at their house, on their couch!

Figuring out the gingerbread train decorating

The happy group before getting started!

Sofia's finished train section

These two are so adorable together!

The finished product! Looks great!

Heading to Atlanta for Christmas

Yesterday, we loaded up on the Baron and headed to Atlanta to spend Christmas with Cynthia and her family and the girls' Grandpa and Grandma who were already in Atlanta. The girls were super concerned about Winter, their Christmas elf and what would happen since we were leaving for Atlanta before Christmas. Thankfully Winter showed up in the morning wrapped up in plastic wrap with a note saying she was ready to go to Atlanta with the girls. Since she could be carried without technically being touched, the girls could carry her and they were both so excited that Winter could go with us! The girls took turns carrying Winter and we put her safely in the back of the airplane before we loaded up all of our stuff, gifts and Buddy and headed to Atlanta.

Sofia sat up front with CK and either napped or read, while Olivia sat in the back with me and enjoyed playing with my phone taking photos of me and/or her stuffed animals. She and I also napped, as did Buddy, who preferred my lap. The flight went smoothly and we arrived at the airport outside of Atlanta, where Grandpa picked us up. The girls were super happy to see Grandpa and couldn't wait to see Grandma and all of their cousins. We looked forward to a fun long weekend with everyone!

Winter is ready to fly to Atlanta

Olivia and Winter

Sofia and Winter

Selfies by Olivia

Sofia and Olivia's School Christmas Party

Today both girls' classes had their Christmas parties and they were so much fun to attend. Olivia's class party was first and was so much fun. One of the dads dressed up as Santa and walked around the classroom while the kids had snacks and played bingo and other games. It was so cute and the kids had a great time. Olivia wanted me to sit right next to her and was a little bit shy. She played bingo, but wasn't really that into it. She also enjoyed her snowman craft. She didn't want to play pin the carrot on Olaf, so she just sat next to me and watched. After the Olaf game, the kids got their picture taken with Santa and then gave Mrs. Schultz her class Christmas gift. Shannon, who is the class room mom, did an amazing job and bought an advent calendar made of small metal buckets and each of our kids wrote Mrs. Schultz a sweet note and gave her a small gift. It really turned out perfect! It was so cute! Mrs. Schultz was so surprised and really appreciated it. I gave Olivia a big hug and headed up to Sofia's class room for her party.

Sofia's class party was pretty similar to Olivia's in some ways in that they played bingo, pin the nose on the snowman and then played limbo and had a snowball fight. They enjoyed punch made with ice cream and Hawaiian punch and pretzels, fruit and cookies. Sofia was so happy when I arrived and gave me a huge hug. She played bingo until she won a prize and then asked me to grab her book from her cubicle. She then sat there and read while everyone else in her class participated in the games. I tried to convince her to get involved in the party but she was far more interested in her book. Typical Sofia. So I gave her a hug just before I headed out before they started their snow ball fight. She loves the snow ball fight and was super excited to join in, but it gets pretty crazy so I wanted to clear out. The girls really loved their parties and it was fun to be part of their day.

Santa arrives at Olivia's party!

Santa and Olivia

Enjoying her snack!

Another photo with Santa!

Selfie!

Olivia's Santa - so cute!

Doing her snowman craft

Mrs. Schultz and her awesome class gift

With Sofia at her party!

Reading.....

Sofia and her reindeer prize

Back to her book while her classmates do limbo