Christmas in Inverness

On Thursday, December 22nd we went to Inverness to Marvin's sister's house to have our Christmas with the Sheffield side of the family.  It was wonderful, the kids got lots of really neat toys and the adults played dirty Santa. 

The kids were really hyper so most of my pictures of them are blurry

Uncle John warning them to behave

group picture!

admiring Aunt Denise's pretty tree

opening their gifts

Christmas Program at FPK

On Tuesday, December 13th the children's preschool had their end of the season play and it was wonderful!  Camden was great and sang her little heart out on every song, and they even let Neil's class come out on the last couple of songs.  We were on the second row so we had a great view.  I just wasn't able to get a clear picture of Neil on the stage because he was on the other end.  We did get him on video thanks to Marvin.  I will try to post the video later.

My little girl!

getting handed off the stage to me:)

Playing in Neil's classroom

Gramma was proud of her!

 

 

My Big Guy

Neil is growing up and moving out of the "baby" stage very quickly!  Last week we took the passy for good this time :) and today Marvin converted his crib into a toddler bed. I was really surprised at how good he did.  He only had a few nights of fussing before bedtime without the passy and tonight he went straight to sleep and never even tried to get out of the bed.  He may be on the floor in the morning but starting out was smooth.  Thank goodness for Marvin or Neil would probably be in a crib at 4 and still have his passy, I always said I wouldn't be that mother but something about knowing he is our last baby makes me want to keep him young a little longer.

Mommy - Daughter Day!!!

I know I am way behind on Christmas posting but I couldn't wait to blog about today!  Every year on the day after Christmas I remember going shopping with my Mama and sister with the Christmas money we'd received and I know this is crazy but as soon as I had Camden that is one of the things I have looked forward to doing with her.  It only took 4 Christmas's but it finally happened!  Her first Christmas she was like 14 days old so that was out and her 2nd Christmas I was pregnant with Neil and the third one was just too much going on and Neil was still young and into everything.  But this year was perfect...Marvin and Neil stayed home and took down the Christmas tree and organized all of the new toys and Camden and I took off to Jackson.  She was perfect and we had a wonderful time.  Thanks to my wonderful husband I actually have pictures from the day because I am now the proud owner of an i-Phone!!!!

Waffles and colors on the way!

Lakeland Wal-Mart has a carousel!!

Lunch with my sweet girl

On the way home.

Camden's 3rd Birthday Party!

My little angel had her first "big girl" birthday party on Thursday, December 8, 2011 in the ROC at our church.  I was worried about it because of our lack of funds and my lack of creativeness but I think it was perfect.  She had friends and family there and even a few from school!  Thanks to my wonderful husband for coming up with things for the kids to do.  We had a play-doh station and a cardboard house to color.  Camden loved it and she didn't want to leave the play-doh to open her presents until I assured her the play-doh would come home with us too. She was so cute opening her gifts and after each one she would say "oh! that's just what I've always wanted".  We got her a watch and earrings (because that's what she has been asking for for months now) and a Leapster Explorer or computer as she likes to call it.
Melissa Evans did her cake again this year and it was perfect!  I didn't have time to get her a picture of the napkins and decorations but it looked like everything anyway.  She is so talented!  The party was at 5:00 p.m. because I was late booking the ROC but it really turned out perfect anyway.  And I think we had such a good turn out because it wasn't on a Saturday this close to Christmas.
Neil loved the markers (his first time with them) and he decided to camp out in the house with them and color his hands the whole time.  Thankfully they were washable.  Overall birthday #3 was a success and all that really matters is that Camden had a good time and I think she did.  How did time go by fast enough for me to already have a preschooler?!? I am so thankful and grateful to be able to soak up all of this time with them because it is passing really fast!

Sweet Picture

Thank goodness Uncle John was there to help!

Birthday Girl!

He loved the markers...

Camden's very own cake

Happy Birthday to the sweetest little girl I know!

Chloe & Ella's Birthday Party

My super talented and creative friend Lindsey had the cutest birthday party today for her girls. It was rainbow themed and she had the neatest activities for the kids.  They each got an apron, paint, and a canvas to paint a rainbow and then they got to fill a jar with rainbow colored sand.  The cake and all of the food and decorations were rainbow colors as well! Very cute and I hate I only got two pictures from the party.  After we left the party we headed to Grenada to have a belated birthday supper with Pop-pop and Nana.  We also managed to buy groceries for the week today as well.  Overall it was a good day, just very busy.  I am looking forward to a relaxing Sunday at home tomorrow.

I helped her with the first two colors and she did the rest! Yes I will be framing it....

She wouldn't smile but this was the sand station

Breakfast with Santa

Our church's men's ministry put on another Breakfast with Santa this year and I was so glad they did!  This morning at 8 we went to the ROC to have a pancake breakfast, make some crafts, and have a picture made with Santa.  The kids were wonderful and both sat in Santa's lap happily and Camden even told him what she wanted for Christmas.   Neil wasn't quite old enough to participate in all of the crafts this year but we did let him color a cross ornament and he got to eat one of the cookies Camden decorated. The crafts were really great most were ornaments and she even got to decorate a potholder as well as some cookies.
 I am going to post the picture I took of the kids with Santa below and hopefully I can post another one later that the church took.  I really hope that the church's shutter speed was faster than mine and that they actually caught both of the kids looking and smiling...

Yummy pancakes and sausage

Decorating her first ornament

Painting a stained glass Santa

He was so happy to get to use a marker:)

These were my favorite!

Christmas Parade and Christmas Tree!

Today we took the kids to the annual Christmas parade.  They had a blast and Neil loved all of the bands and people dressed up.  There were several bands from out of state and all over the place and lots of people dressed up in cosumes galore.  We really wanted Wendy's chili after but it was packed so we backtracked to Backyard Burger.

Yesterday Mama came to help me decorate our tree (I gave up putting on breakable ornaments when I realized Neil had broken 3 in the first 5 minutes).  It looks great!! The only picture I could get was with my phone so its not that great but you can get the gist...

Twas the Night Before Christmas - Play

On Tuesday (November 29th) we went to Cleveland to see Twas the Night Before Christmas at the BPAC.  After our last experience with Neil I was a little nervous but suprisingly he did really good.  This play was more geared for the younger kids and it was also shorter.  I didn't get many good pictures but we had a great time and that night I got to go to Bunco so overall it was a wonderful day!

Before leaving I wanted to get a picture of them and of course Camden insisted this bear be in the picture.

Chloe waiting on the play to start

Ella is wishing I would put the camera away...