Christmas Activities

I don't think I ever posted these cute pictures I took of the kids one night in front of our tree. 

 And, our Santa picture this year didn't turn out quite like I would have wanted... I had no intention of being in the picture (as you can tell, I had just worked out before we went); but, David would not even go up near Santa's chair so I scooped him up to get him in the picture at least. Presley, for the first time, did so wonderful with Santa! She actually talked to him on his lap for a good 10 minutes while I checked out. I was so proud of her and glad she has finally gotten over the fear of Santa. Anna actually let him hold her till she saw David crying. Then, she was upset. 

 I do want to document how well David is doing on the potty.  David has been actually going on the potty for a week or two now- and going every time he sits up there. He goes at least 2-3 times a day. I'm so proud of him! I'm going to give him a little more time to continue to get better, but we will definitely be potty training soon!

 I cooked my first turkey last Friday for our FRG Christmas party! I was SO nervous and fought having to do this, but it was the best solution and thankfully, it turned out really well!! 

 Pictures before we went to the FRG party. I asked Presley to hold Anna and David insisted he do it. He is Mr. Independent these days and wants to do every "big kid" thing that Presley does!

 Enjoying our Christmas hats from Aunt Charelette and Uncle Craig!

 Here is Presley's letter to Santa this year. She wants a stuffed animal doggie, cowgirl hat, sophia's amulet, toy monkey and Doc McStuffins toys. 

 She had her Christmas program at Dance class this week. They did a really cute Susie Snowflake dance. She's really doing well in class and still loves dancing!

 Modeling her cute Christmas outfit she wore to school today for the taping of their Christmas program. I can't wait to see it on Friday and enjoy her Christmas party at school. She's already told me she made me and Cameron a secret surprise that she wrapped in green, sparkley paper with red ribbon. She gave everything away except the actual present which she gave me hints to what it is... she definitely is not a vault (which she gets from me...)

Anna at 6 Months

Anna turned 6 months old on Monday. I honestly don't know where the time has gone. She has grown up so quickly. I can't believe it! She is developing quite a precious personality! She loves playing with her toys, chewing on everything, getting any type of attention from David or Presley. She's just started bouncing/jumping in the jumperoo.  We've started rice cereal, but no other solids so we'll be introducing those soon. Today at her checkup, she is 25.2", 15lbs, 7oz and 42.5 for head circumference. Her stats are on a good curve and she's growing well. She's hitting all her milestones, except rolling back to front. I think there's just a little too much in the middle to allow her to roll, but we'll get there. She is babbling a lot!  She loves her crib and new room, all to herself! She is sleeping great- taking 2 1-1.5 hour naps a day in her crib and only waking twice through the night to eat, usually around midnight and 4am. I'm so glad she's finally on a good nighttime routine. It took us a while to get there, but I can handle getting up twice a night much better than seven times a night!

 She still gets rocked to sleep for every nap and bedtime. Presley and David both quit letting me rock them around 8 months, so I know the end of our snuggle time will be here soon. I'm savoring these moments when she just falls asleep in my arms so sweetly!

 We are re-introducing the bottle. It's not going very well... this picture is deceiving, but I actually had water in it here just to try to let her play and get comfortable with it after she pitched a fit the day before when I had milk in it. Hopefully, we'll get her back on the bottle soon!

 Sweet picture before heading to Daddy's FRG Christmas party!

 Not the most flattering pictures, but she was cracking all of us up the other night during dinner when she was blowing bubbles. 

We love you so much, Anna!! 

Busy Saturday

We have had a really busy, fun day! There is still lots of snow on the ground and the temp today was 3 degrees, but we got to enjoy lots of activities we had scheduled. Thankfully, they keep the roads pretty clear during the winter around here.  The kids have both started soccer this morning and really enjoyed it. Their classes are at the same time so it works out nicely. Cameron goes to David's class with him and I watched Presley. I was really impressed with how fast she dribbled and ran down the field! David did a great job also and loved when the coach dropped all the balls for him to kick all over the field. 

 My little soccer stud!

 This afternoon, Presley, Anna and I went to a birthday party for one of Presley's friends. The girls were all surprised when Snow White, Belle, Cinderella and Tinker Bell showed up! Presley was a little nervous at first, but warmed right up! The princesses called her Belle since she was decked out in her Belle dress, tiara and gloves! It was so cute!

 Getting some help with her fairy wings from Snow White

 Getting a tiara from Belle

 Learning how to wave and curtsy like a princess

 SO HAPPY!

 Even Anna got a picture with the princesses!

 Then, we rushed home to catch the second half of the SEC Championship Game. Presley's Aubie hairbow has kept its magic, as Auburn won!! This is a snapshot of the fun the kids had stacking paper towels while Cameron and I watched the game. I love how easy they are to please at this age! They have a ball together, most of the time!  Since they now share a room, they still talk and laugh so much at night. It's really cute to listen to. I'm so glad they have each other and can't wait till Anna's old enough to enjoy playing with them, too.

Big Boy Bed

Our high temp today was 11 and tonight is going to be -11! Needless to say, we didn't leave the house today and Cameron was off all day because of how much snow we got. We had a fun morning making our Gingerbread Village with the kids. 

 Then, we got crazy and decided to go ahead and move around their beds. Ever since Thanksgiving when I put Anna down in David's bed for a nap, she's been taking 2 naps a day there for an hour and a half! One day, I literally had her in there, she got up, David went in, David got up and Anna went back in... it was getting a bit ridiculous. David napped in Presley's bed one day this week when Anna was in his bed and he loved it so we decided to move the two twin beds into Presley's room and Anna is now in the crib in David's room full time. I hope this means we will all sleep better! 

David was a little hesitant when it came time for bed, but Presley was so sweet to him. She told him stories, made him giggle and kept assuring him how big he was. It was really cute to listen to. We let them talk and giggle for a while before we went up there and told them it was time to be quiet and go to sleep. I'm so proud of my big boy! I am sad to think last night was his last in his crib and we didn't even realize it, but I know he will enjoy his big bed!

 And he now is included in prayers and storytime with Pres, which he loved!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. While we were sad we didn't get to be with either of our families, we enjoyed a great meal and company with our Army family. The week of Thanksgiving, I took a few pictures of the kids outside for our Christmas cards and a gift for Mallie's birthday with a pic of each of her grandchildren. My sweet man!

 My beautiful girl!

And my sweet baby girl!

 

Then, the several attempts at a group shot! They were all in great moods, though so I got a few that I loved.

 Here's a pic of the snow we got the week before Thanksgiving.

 Anna got her first taste of rice cereal this week. She grabbed the spoon and pushed it in her mouth. She doesn't love the taste of it, but she enjoys the whole eating process. I don't think we'll have a problem with food. She moves her mouth whenever she watches us chew. David freaked out when I first gave her the cereal cause I've told him so many times she can't have anything but milk. He now loves to watch her eat, though.

 Presley's dance teacher invited all the siblings in to their class this week to do the Turkey Wobble. David held her hand for a while, but more watched everyone else dance. I was glad he participated and he was so proud of himself when he got in the car. He kept saying, "David, Dance."

 We went over to our friend Kendra's house this week for crafts. The kids had a ball! They painted around 15 flour ornaments Kendra had baked. I even got David to do a few and painted Anna's hand on one. 

 Thanksgiving morning, Presley loved watching the parade. Her favorite was the Rockette's. She asked if she could be a dancing girl like them when she grows up. She was such a big helper with Anna while Cameron and I were cooking. She read her stories and entertained Anna most of the morning.  She also kept lecturing David about cleaning up his toys since we had told her not to make a huge mess cause people were coming over. Such a little mommy!

 The kids all ate in the kitchen... David was the last one at the table. He thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner (and I think he ate off all the leftover plates).

 Enjoying a cookie with all the boys!

 Presley had a ball with Rylee, our friend's daughter. She's just a month older than Presley. They wore every outfit in her dress up closet and had a parade. Presley cried and cried when Rylee left. She was definitely over tired, as it was after her bedtime, but I think they just had so much fun together, she was sad to see her go. I'm glad we've made some good friends here for us and our kids. 

 The kids love getting packages and tore through a Christmas package from G and D. They loved all of it and Presley told me that night to remind her to write a thank you card to G and D thanking them for her stuffed reindeer.

 We decorated for Christmas the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and the kids were super excited to pull out all the decorations. They were a big help with the tree and loved drinking apple cider while we decorated. David loved pulling out all my old Santa ornaments which are Santa on various trains, buses, rockets, etc.  He has carried around the Santa train and Santa tour bus (which he calls a school bus) the past few days. The school bus has to watch him eat all his meals at the table and goes up to his room for nap and bedtime. 

 We topped off Thanksgiving weekend with an Auburn victory over Alabama in the Iron Bowl! Presley wore her Aubie hairbow she's convinced is magical cause they've won every game when she's worn it. 

 It was quite an amazing victory with an unforgettable ending! 

WAR EAGLE!