Christmas Slumber Party

I believe that you are never too old for a slumber party... So, Lisa and Emily came and spent the night last night for a good old fashioned slumber party full of snacks, events, "Eclipse," and some wine.

We went to Hollywild's Christmas Light Safari. I think that everyone can say they have truly never seen anything like it. Lee's favorite part, besides being stuck in a pen with wild animals and lots of cars, was the sign that read, "The animals in these cages are VERY dangerous." He is pretty sure that they housed a velociraptor.

Here are a few pictures from the party. (Some of the pictures are blurry because of low-light conditions.)

Caleb LOVED the Christmas lights. He continually told me that was his favorite part.
Poor Lee was the driver and had to negotiate herds of scared deer and crazy SC drivers.
I had almost given up on having an animal come put their head in our car, but then Lee rounded up a HUGE cow for me!!! I was thrilled and it ate some bread and bagels from my hand. It just snotted on Lee when he didn't have anything yummy for it.
Emily's favorite part was feeding the goat a baby bottle.
Some morning TV time...
Lee made blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes for all of us.
And... The grand finale was "Christmas morning."
I think that Lee will be a little embarressed to use his BK Eclipse gift cards, but he is happy to have access to food. Lisa also gave him a little bag of fruit and candy. It was too funny because we watched "Eclipse" the night before, which, BTW, isn't as good as "Twilight" or "Full Moon."

Weird Kid

Graysen spent two hours yesterday laying in a corner in the playroom with dishes up his shirt and surrounded by "friends."

Oh! Momma is caught taking pictures!
Hammin' it up for the camera.
You can see the dishes in his shirt. He kept them there for hours.
Later that night, when Lee and I went to kiss the boys good-night, we found Graysen with a pull up over his pants and over his diaper. (I am just happy that his diaper was still on!)

Oh no! Am I in trouble...
Of course not! Mommy thinks you are too cute to punish!

Big News!!!

The boys, Lisa, Todd, and I made the front page of this mornings' "Gaston Gazette." Here is a link to the article:

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/forecast-53272-coldest-won.html

Belmont Christmas Parade

Yesterday we went to the Belmont Christmas parade with Lisa, Todd, and Emily. This was our fourth year in a row going to a parade with them and we really enjoyed it, even though it was FREEZING, literally!!!
The boys LOVED seeing Belmont's mighty fire-fighting force. It is all that they talked about on the way home.
Lots of local celebrities were there, including the "original" Wells Fargo coach...
Chick-Fil-A cows...
And the Carolina Ghostbusters!
The boys were very excited to see Santa, and based on Caleb's jabbering, I am pretty sure that he thought it was the REAL Santa!
Afterwards, Lisa invited us over for a warm meal of beef stew. It was very yummy and helped warm up our frozen bones.
Everyone reading their "menus" that Emily laid out.
Grasyen ringing Emily's PawPaw's dinner bell to summon everyone for dinner.
It was a great and memorable evening!

Playdate Christmas Party

Yesterday we had a Christmas party with our friends. All of the "reindeer" had a great time!
Yummy cupcakes!
Instead of exchanging presents, each child brought a present for an Angel Tree child that is in foster care. The kids got to wrap each present themselves and were very proud of their wrapping jobs.
Wonderful looking presents... (The presents are not supposed to be wrapped, so Norma will un-wrap them and turn them into Carson's school.)
Sweet Baby James slept through most of the playdate. He is precious!
Of course, the kids' favorite activity was unplanned. They loved un-spooling the ribbon. By the end, I had a continuous string of ribbon starting from downstairs and wrapping around the entire house!

First 2010 Christmas Playdate

The time for Christmas playdates is here! I always enjoy these festive playdates and spending time with friends. Our first playdate of the season was with our neighbors, Julie, Kyle, and Maggie. The kids had a great time doing a craft, decorating cookies, and, of course, eating cookies!

Graysen was the most excited and dedicated to his craft. He is so proud of the ornament that he made.
All the kids ready to decorate cookies.

Graysen's First Movie

Yesterday, we took the boys to see "Tangled" with Sarah Grace, Uncle Erik, and Aunt Amanda. This was Graysen's first trip to the movie theater and he did great, although he wore his 3-D glasses upside-down most of the movie.