Christmas!

Christmas was great, but way too busy. :)

We had some friends over Saturday for a light lunch. Just as we were finishing, we saw a Sheriff's car pull into our cul-de-sac. To make a long story short, our neighbor hit a gas line w/ a rented ditch witch and caught the thing on fire. We had to evacuate for about 30 minutes. DH and I were interviewed by the local news and made the headlines. HA!

Sunday, I baked...with a bad back. Backing up a little, I went to the dr on Wednesday because my back was really hurting. After a week of muscle relaxers, I still have no relief...going back again in the morning.

Monday, we went to my parents for the day. The kids got a boatload of stuff. They had a blast!!

Santa came Tuesday morning. The kids were beyond excited. The girls were really into opening presents! After it was all over, Josh said this was the best Christmas ever. He got a Nintendo DS - it's the only thing he asked for. :) He got a few other things - baseball lamp (he needed a new lamp for his room), skate shoes (not Heeleys), watch, and a few other small things. The girls got some baby doll stuff and blocks.

We went to DH's parents Tuesday afternoon. Again, the kids had a blast - got lots of stuff from grandparents and Aunts and Uncles.

Today, we went to Dollywood...I think we're all worn out!

Tomorrow, we're taking the kids to daycare and running errands all day.

I hope Friday is a nice quiet day...we're taking the kids to daycare and then coming home and crashing! I'm looking forward to a day to myself (even if DH is at home). :)

Pictures should be up soon. I've posted them- just waiting for everything to synch up so they actually are viewable. HA

http://butler.globeserver.com

Callie - not so politcally correct

We were watching a video this morning of kids singing - we watch this same video all the time.

Well, there's a little black boy in it. This morning, Callie seemed to notice him, because she calls out, "Look Mommy! It's a chocolate boy!!". Oh boy! I tried not to laugh - didn't want to make a big deal out of it one way or the other (we never have - we've never even mentioned the color of a person - we're all alike).

I have no idea where that came from!

Ornaments (for Janice)

Janice - here's a link to the ornaments the kids made. :)

Christmas Ornaments

Last night, the kids sat down to make Christmas Ornaments out of pipe cleaners and plastic beads. I wasn't sure if the girls could do it or not - the holes in the beads weren't big. But, I thought they could give it a try.

Well, Josh and Emma basically made ornaments for 2 hours (w/ a small supper break - not wanted by either one of them). Emma made 9 ornaments - by herself! Josh made about 7 or 8 (some of his were a little more complicated). Callie made 2. :) She wasn't quite into it as much as the others. She enjoyed making her 2 and then she was done.

We're going to put these w/ the teachers gifts and give them to family members from the kids.

I was really impressed that Emma was able to string the beads on the pipe cleaners so quickly. I really shouldn't be surprised, though. Her fine motor skills have always been incredible.

We're going to sit down and make some more tomorrow night. Maybe Callie can get 1-2 more ornaments made.

Christmas Lights

We went to the Bristol Motor Speedway Friday night to see the lights. I'll have to say that I was impressed. We had no idea what to really expect. We thought the lights were around the track and that we'd be finished in 15 minutes. Wrong! They had the whole campus decorated...with a driving trail that lasted about 1 1/2 hours. It was spectacular.

Josh's favorite part was the dinosaur area...they had several different dinosaurs and a volcano that was shooting out flames. He thought that was "awesome!". :)

Christmas music was playing throughout the whole ride (there was a special radio station for it).

It was definitely worth going to. Mom and I had a blast - I think the girls were overwhelmed. Josh enjoyed it!! I think he enjoyed getting to actually ride on the track. :) That was pretty neat!

Christmas Program

The kids had their daycare Christmas Program on Saturday. The girls were so excited about singing...until we got there. Once we got there, they were a little more subdued.

At first, Josh didn't want to sing, but his teacher talked him into it. I'm glad he did, because Josh seemed to have the most fun with it. It didn't hurt that his best friend was right beside him the whole time. :)

Callie didn't want to take her antlers off or wash her red nose! She wanted to be a reindeer all day. Emma couldn't get hers off fast enough. :)