Christmas 2009

Abbie is delighted that she got 2 new babies-one even has a paci!

Sophie loves her new doll house that Santa brought her!

most of our crew on Christmas morning

Sophie with her cousins, Layton and Luke

On Christmas morning, the girls were up by 6:30! So much for sleeping in at all. We stalled them until 7:00 giving us time to wake up a little, get cameras ready, and call my parents to tell them to head over soon. At 7:00, we headed downstairs and the girls got to see all of the surprises that Santa brought. Then, Paula's parents, sister, Martha, her fiance (Matt R.) and brother, Phil all arrived shortly thereafter till the living room was almost full of gifts to open. The girls opened their gifts from us and we traded gifts with each other. After that, we enjoyed a nice breakfast together with a lot of good food. Then, shortly after, we headed over to Paula's aunt and uncle's house nearby where we had lunch and spent the afternoon with family. Paula's cousin, Amy, was such a good sport because she let Sophie "paint" her nails, etc with her new play make-up kit. Sophie was somehow using the curling iron to fix her nails too. =) Abbie got a nap while we were there so that was great! It was very cold outside with a few snow flurries but none of it stayed around. We all had a great Christmas!

Abbie got a couple of baby dolls, a play stroller and vacuum, the Mickey Mouse clubhouse and some other things. Sophie got the big dollhouse (shown above), a Barbie doctor set with twin babies (perfect for her), a Leapster like she wanted, Legos and more. Matt got me a Wii for Christmas but wasn't able to surprise me. I sort of found about it. I think he got it as much for himself as for me but that's OK. We've both had some fun with it. I also got the Wii Fit for Christmas. Since I knew about the Wii, Matt also got some Wii games and accessories for Christmas alongwith some other things. We were very blessed this Christmas!

On the day after Christmas, Matt's cousin, Mark, his wife, Ashley and their boys (Luke and Layton) came over for a visit since they were in town anyway. Their boys are close in age to our girls so it was great to be able to get together!

Christmas Eve

Paula, Summer, and Abbie

Paula and Abbie

All of the grandkids and great-grandkids

Matt #1, #2, #3 with their women

If you know the story, it's just been too funny how I married a "Matt", then my cousin, Keri, married a "Matt" this past summer and now my sister, Martha, is planning to marry Matt Riley in June 2010. I suggested we get a picture with all of the "Matt's". I also have a more distant cousin named Matt who wasn't there. He was the "original Matt". =)

This year for Christmas, we stayed in town and celebrated with Paula's family. We spent Christmas Eve at Nana and Paw-paw's house (Paula's parents) with her dad's side of the family. We had a lot of fun as always eating, visiting, singing (especially 12 days of Christmas) and exchanging gifts. As you can see, Abbie was having a great time! She and Sophie both enjoyed handing out the gifts and especially opening them. =)

More to come on Christmas Day very soon...

Cookies for Santa

Jessie, Sophie, and Carley are ready to cut out the cookies!

Abbie's not so interested in baking but she's definitely interested in eating! I had to give her some sprinkles to eat so she wouldn't eat out of the other containers that we were using to decorate. (she didn't want to go and play with other toys while we decorated. She wanted to be right there with the big girls!)

On Dec 23rd, me and the girls headed over to the Gray's home to bake and decorate some cookies and gingerbread houses for Santa. The girls all had a great time and made a big mess in Miss Jill's kitchen! We found out that their attention spans for cutting out cookies and decorating didn't last too long when they were together since they could go and play. Abbie liked to sample everything. Jessie was the most generous with her sprinkles-she used tons of them. The girls were all fun to watch! We had fun and Sophie was so excited to take home some of the cookies to eat and a few to save for Santa! Thanks for having us over, Jill!

Christmas Festivities

Sophie enjoys the yummy food at the Christmas party.

Doughnuts!

Miss Sandra's class

This past week, we've been busy with some Christmas festivities. Last weekend, it was Breakfast with Santa at church followed by a Christmas party that night with our Sunday school class. The next night after church, we had fun surprising our friend, Ben, with a big birthday party. Then, this past Monday, we had Sophie's Christmas party at school. The kids enjoyed giving out things that they had made to the parents and exchanging gifts. They were all very excited about their gifts!!! What a fun age to be with at Christmastime! It was their last day of school before Christmas. A few weeks ago Sophie told me that she thought that she was starting kindergarten after Christmas because I had told her next year. =)

On Thursday night, we had Sophie's Christmas program at school. Each group sang several Christmas songs and recited a couple of Christmas poems. Nana, Paw-paw, Uncle Phil, Aunt Martha, and our immediate family were able to be there. Alongwith all of these festivities, we also had a couple of doctor visits but hopefully everyone can stay well for a little bit. Abbie had her second ear infection (in two weeks) and both girls had forms of pink eye. Abbie's case of pink eye was actually more serious because it got into the tissue in her face but she's doing much better after all the antibiotics. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Crafts

Anna Kate, Mia, and Sophie are excited about making gingerbread houses.

Sophie with her finished product (before we took it apart and ate it later that night)!

Here's our sugar cookies before they were placed in the oven.

Here's Sophie putting the finishing touches on the cookies-Sprinkles!

Yesterday, we had a fun and very creative kind of day. My friend, Lauren, invited us over to make gingerbread houses. Sophie's never done that before but I knew that she would love it. We knew that Abbie and Will would have fun while the older girls made their gingerbread houses whatever they ended up playing. Wouldn't you know that Will and Abbie wanted to sit at the table with the big girls and just eat graham crackers and the other candy decorations? Too funny! Sophie, Anna Kate, and Mia needed a lot of help to stop eating the icing and do some decorating but they had fun.

That afternoon, I had told Sophie that we could cut out sugar cookies and then bake and decorate them. So after lunch with the McDonald's we came home and had rest time. Then, we got to work on the sugar cookies. Sophie and I had a lot of fun! Maybe we'll let Abbie in on more of the baking fun next year!! =)

Ballet Class

Sophie and Abbie had fun dancing together part of the time.

Matt shakes his pom-poms along to the beat of Jingle Bells as we sang and danced. We got a workout by the end of the hour.

Sophie and the girls in their dance class with their teacher, Miss Jeanie.

On a side note, Sophie and I were able to go to the mini-Nutcracker this year that is put on at Harpeth Hall each year. We both enjoyed it overall and it was just long enough for us!

Budding Artist or Future Cheerleader?

Abbie was so proud that she was painting with water!

Abbie and Sophie with their pom-poms when we "took dance" with Sophie

Sophie shakes her pom poms to the rhythm as we sang "Jingle Bells"

This past week has been a lot of fun but it's also been busy. On Monday, Abbie and I did some shopping at Target. The whole time, I promised her that if she'd be good we would get a popcorn snack. Well, it worked really well but if you know Abbie, she also really likes whatever carbonated beverage you're drinking instead of watered down juice. So, I ordered a diet Coke and she drank a lot of it. I know it's terrible but at the same time, I didn't really want a huge tantrum in the middle of Target. While we were there, we also bought Abbie a paint with water coloring book. She really loved trying it after we got home! Sophie is really into arts and crafts so I think Abbie felt special to get her own little book.

Then, on Tuesday, parents were invited to attend ballet class with their child. We all went with Sophie and it was a lot of fun! Abbie and Sophie were both excited. I got a couple of pictures of Matt with his pom-poms. He was a good sport too!