New Year's Day

We were blessed with beautiful weather on New Year's Day, so we took advantage of it and headed to Radnor Park for a hike. It was a great way to start the new year!

Christmas 2011

The kids set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for Rudolph (sorry Dasher, Dancer and crew--you're out of luck this year!). When they woke up the next morning, the first thing they wanted to do was check to see if Santa ate the cookies. They came into the living room, glanced briefly at the presents that Santa left them, and made a beeline for the plate. Santa was a bit of a messy eater, leaving lots of crumbs on the plate.

Once it was established that Santa did indeed eat the goodies they left, they turned their attention to the gifts under the tree.

Here's Ethan modeling his new rain boots. He loves wearing them around the house. Seriously, he probably puts them on several times a day. Maybe he's just happy that he has a pair of shoes that he can get on and off all by himself. Now we just need some rain to splash around in.

One of the gifts from Mommy and Daddy was a huge box of art supplies to be shared by both kids. In the box was a foam crown for each kid to decorate, and Kaitlyn couldn't wait to do hers. I think this was the first thing she played with after opening her presents. I like the craft stick embellishments :)

Gran and Papa Bell joined us later in the morning, and the kids had fun opening a second round of presents.

The day after Christmas, we left for Memphis to spend a few days with Jeff's family at Jess' house. The cousins had a grand time playing with each other. And we got to celebrate with Jeff's parents as they had their 40th wedding anniversary! Congratulations, Greg and Linda!

Our kids got to go bowling for the first time. I knew there were bumpers for kids, but who knew that there were these cool ramp things too?!?! The ramps made things a little more fun for the kids and gave the balls enough momentum to knock down several pins. Kaitlyn even picked up a couple of spares :)

With the exception of a couple of elderly leagues, we had the whole place to ourselves :)

After bowling, we went to the Collierville square where the kids could climb on some old train cars that are open to the public.

It kind of looks like a train is bearing down on our unsuspecting family, but I assure you that these tracks were inactive and all the trains were not moving :)

Passing some time on the square by catching up on the daily news...

Mimi and Papa with all four of their grandkids.

December Fun

The Christmas festivities started this year with our annual OC Family Breakfast with Santa. This year, Kaitlyn got to go through the rotations with her BFF Hannah. Everything is SO much more fun when you have a dear friend to experience it with!

We ate breakfast and made reindeer ornaments (which I thought were quite complicated for the preschool set!).

And then we saw the big man himself. Santa! Kaitlyn had no problems with him at all. Ethan wasn't quite so sure. When he first sat down, he insisted on leaning away from Santa and turning his face completely away. In the picture below, we had managed to convince him to at least face forward for a picture, although his body language still communicates his distrust of the strange man in the red suit. But there were no tears, which is a huge improvement from last year! Kaitlyn's requests were a globe, a snowglobe and boots. Ethan asked for stamps (the ink kind, not the postage kind).

What Christmas would be complete without a visit to the Opryland Hotel? I think the kids had forgotten just how spectacular it was because their jaws dropped open and their faces were full of amazement when they first entered and saw all the lights and decorations. They loved the giant trees. It's so fun seeing the world through the eyes of a small child.

Then it was time for Christmas parties and programs at school. For the first time, Kaitlyn and Ethan got to be together in a program! And when they saw each other on stage, they made sure to wave at each other. So cute! Ethan didn't sing a word of the songs, but he did shake his bell with gusto when it was time. Kaitlyn's class was the oldest class on stage, and they were told repeatedly that they had to set a good example for the little ones and sing loud. She took that responsibility to heart and found the courage to sing out on stage for the first time. She was quite proud of herself...and of course we were too! Maybe in two years, Ethan will start singing in his programs too :)

After the program, it was time for class parties. Ethan's party was short and sweet--perfect for a bunch of 2-year-olds with short attention spans!

Here he is with his beloved Miss Julie. I know it looks like he feels the same way about her as he does about Santa, but I promise that he loves her :) He was just being a little shy.

Santa and Mrs. Claus came around to all the class parties. Ethan only got close enough to snatch a candy cane, but Kaitlyn was all about hopping up in his lap.

And here's Kaitlyn with Miss Kristy. We've had several teachers at Otter Creek now, and we've loved every single one of them!

So when school gets out for two weeks, we have to find other ways to spend time with friends and get some energy out. So we had the Brown girls over one day for some welcome distraction. They all wanted to sit together while they ate their snack.

And somehow, they all managed to fit in the closet when they were "hiding" from the pretend tornado that was apparently about to destroy the house. Good to know that we've got tornado safety training covered!

More about Christmas coming soon!