Christmas "Pajama" Party

Tonight the girls had Kailey, Carleigh, Channing, and Hollace over for a Christmas "Pajama" Party. All of the girls dressed in their pajamas and had fun eating pizza "wreaths", making Christmas crafts, and playing games. We finished off the night by watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", eating popcorn and cookies, and drinking hot chocolate. The girls took home lots of goodies... a snowman puppet, a beaded candy cane ornament, two stocking ornaments, game prizes, and a gift from their friend. The moms had fun too! Cecili, Jenadi, and I all dressed in our pajamas and enjoyed eating pizza and helping the girls with their crafts. It was a really fun girls night "in". We will definitely do this again next year!

Mary Grace's Kindergarten Christmas Party

Today Mary Grace wrapped up her Christmas school events by celebrating Christmas with her Kindergarten class. This week has been busy at school. On Wednesday they had lots of activities about gingergread men. They went on a gingerbread man hunt, made gingerbread ornaments, a gingerbread foam craft and colored an oversized gingerbread cookie. Yesterday they all dressed in pajamas and watched the movie "Polar Express". They ate cookies and drank hot chocolate and were surprised to find a bell left by Santa in their cubbies to take home. So, today was another day full of activity including a wonderful lunch with yummy sweet treats, card making, and a book exchange. The class has been working on lots of Christmas crafts for the last two weeks and they were so excited to be able to share these with all of the moms and dads today. Mary Grace really enjoys school and is having so much fun. But, we are very excited to have a break for the next few weeks to just hang out and relax. Today's party was a great way to wrap up a wonderful first half of Kindergarten.

Little Kids Christmas Party

We LOVE Christmas parties. And, we are so excited that this year we have a total of 5 holiday parties to attend. The first for the season was a party just for the little kids at Tucker Smith's house. We have been to a Christmas party at the Smith house for the last five years. Cecili always hosts the best parties. So, while the big kids were in school enjoying all of their fun holiday activities, Carolyne and I enjoyed lunch, lots of crafts, games, and a visit from the big guy... that is right, good ole' Santa Claus. Carolyne was so happy to be a part of something so special. All of her friends were there... Tucker, Hollace, Channing, Brody, Hope, Hannah Chayse, and Jax. She had so much fun. She made a cute snowman craft, a Christmas wreath, and a little bit of reindeer food to share with Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve. She was really excited when she realized that she was going to get to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. The sweetest part was hearing her tell Santa her list, and then without a second thought, say "My sister Mary Grace would like...". Mary Grace was so happy to know that Carolyne thought of her and that she shared her list with Santa too! They are such sweet sisters. We had tons of fun! Thanks, Cecili, for once again hosting a wonderful Christmas party!!

Christmas Parade Fun

Today we enjoyed the fun and excitement of the Hendersonville Christmas parade. This has been part of our Christmas traditions since the year before we moved to Hendersonville. The Hitchcock family invited us that first year and we have enjoyed watching the parade with them every year since. This year we found our parking spot right across the street from Kids Kingdom and set up camp. We were bundled up like little snow bunnies since it was only 34 degrees this afternoon... brrrrrr! Mary Grace, Brody, and Carolyne had a little pre-parade fun in the back of our Explorer, but they could not wait to get their hands on the dumdum suckers they always get once the parade begins. So, once the parade started, we wrapped up in our blankets and took a seat on the sidewalk. The kids loved watching all of the cars, horses, marching bands, dancers, and parade floats. They really loved seeing "Maggie", the cow from Maggie Moo's. Of course, the best part was seeing Santa ride down Main Street on top of the fire engine. The girls were waving like crazy! We had tons of fun! It finally feels like Christmas is near!