Christmas Eve

We always flip flop Christmas Day with our families each year, so we spent Christmas Eve with Bryce's family this year.


Big, beautiful tree with lots and lots of presents! Happy Birthday, Jesus!


Enjoying one of Grandma's christmas cookies


The meticulous gift opener


Showing off her doggy purse


Grandma Monk


Unky Charlie


She kept throwing the paper back behind her. So cute!


Playing with the puzzles from Uncle Charlie


Grandma and Grandpa got Charlotte her own digital camera. Fancy! This is me taking a picture of Charlotte taking a picture of Grandpa. Try to beat that, Inception! Notice her platform.....


The rest of my pictures from that night look like this one....


Put the camera down, silly girl! It's mommy's turn!


Happy Family









Mommy and Daddy caught Santa leaving Charlotte's presents under our tree that night!

Christmas Craft

We have never had this much time off before Christmas before. We usually get out two or three days before Christmas, and then we are rushing to get everything baked, wrapped, and settled before the big day. We have had a leisurely week of this winter break, literally all of us have taken a nap every day and I am already reading book # 3 this break. We also went to the local craft store for some time filling fun, and came home and made this together. It really was so much fun to do it as a family!

It was a 62 piece gingerbread kit, here is our step by step process:












We're still working on "cheeeeese!"

Monkey Joes

We met Valerie and Emma Grace at Monkey Joes for some good energy burning fun. It was not as crowded as I expected, but they day care that decided to visit that day was full of some rowdy kids! Charlotte and Emma Grace had a great time though!













I know the last two pictures aren't the best....but they do tell you the level of intensity of fun, and speed of these slides! Just look at her face!

Techy

We had a Christmas celebration with Chris, Andrea and Nathan at a local mexican restaraunt. This is definitely a tradition I think we should keep, it was fun and delicious!






After dinner, Charlotte and Nathan schooled us on how easy it is to use technology!

Fancy Nancy Christmas

Mary decided that Charlotte HAD to have the Fancy Nancy Christmas book BEFORE Christmas, and what a great surprise to find it in our mailbox! Charlotte was ecstatic to get to open a present BEFORE Christmas, and she was not let down when she saw what was inside. We have seriously read this book every day, several times a day since she opened it!








This is as far as I got in the picture taking, because she was saying "read it please!"

Grandpa Jack's Birthday

We went out for my Dad's birthday, where Charlotte colored and ate like a perfect angel baby. It was so nice to have a good meal out and be able to relax with family after finishing a busy semester at school.



Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!








I added this picture so I will remember later why we didn't take Charlotte to see Santa Claus. Just standing next to a stuffed toy of Santa was enough to bring tears to her eyes!

Magical Nights of Lights

We visited Lake Lanier for their Christmas light extravaganza. It was a magical night! Charlotte loved sitting up front and watching all the lights go by. She kept saying "Look!", "Oh, and that one!". She was absolutely amazed. The Disney themed lights were her favorite, especially "Tinky Bell". She woke up the next morning talking about "Tinky Bell green and flying in the forest". She did not want to leave, and we will certainly make this a tradition!

Bundled up and ready to go