Auld Lang Syne

I love New Year's Eve.... a day of reflection of the year gone by as well as a day of preparation for the upcoming year.
But the question, "should auld acquaintance be forgot"... I think not!
I rather like ringing in the new year with my old acquaintance.
Last year, for example, was quite nice with "my old acquaintance".....

...blush blush!
And so far this has been my evening with that special man again.

New Year's Eve dinner: filet, steamed lobster tail with clarified butter, twice baked potatoes, and steamed asparagus. Yummy.
I am a huge believer in starting something out right.  I always stay up for New Year's and I always try to make it a special evening/moment (even if I didn't get Emma's toys out of the way, or my computer off of the table...ha!)
As I look back at the year, I am thankful for all of our blessings.  My family is healthy, happy, and loved.  Not much more that I could ask for.
So here's to 2010!

Restoring Photos

I have finally gotten a little bit of time (ok, not really, but I've let some things slip because I enjoy working on this) to work on some old photos.
I just finished my first one.
This is a picture that I found of my grandfather.  What a handsome man.
But there were some scratches and damage that made the photo unable to display.
It's not the best, but it's my first try at this whole restoration thing.
The beauty of digital is that opportunity is related to time, not materials. There is obviously no permanent changes to the original.
So, here it is....

Coming Together

I love how families come together.
This is a tea cup that Colin's mother gave us and this is a cameo from my grandmother
(the faint handwriting in the background is my father's from a letter he wrote to my grandmother from college)

Preparing For Skype

Tonight we had a "Skype date" with Colin's family.  His brothers were visiting his parents for Christmas so we were able to "Skype" with them too.
I talked to the kids about how we were going to be able to see Nana, Papa, Uncle Peter, and Uncle Jeff tonight.  They got all excited.
So I asked them if they wanted to dress up.  Well, I suppose I should have used the term "dress nicely" because right away Drew said, "Yeah!!! I'll be Buzz and Emma can be Woody!"  I had to laugh.
Who can argue with that?
So...

Quick Draw McGraw (Emma) really cracks me up in this picture. She totally looks the part! (minus the pink paci)

Let It Snow

When we woke up this morning the house was nice a bright and seemed to be glowing.  We looked outside and the trees and ground were covered in snow.  It was so beautiful.

So we ate a quick bowl of oatmeal (or eatmeal as Emma calls it) and piled on the winter gear.  I couldn't help but chuckle thinking of little Randy from A Christmas Story, "I can't put my arms down!" Ha!

We headed out and had some fun in the snow.  We built our snow man with Daddy and were pleased with the final results.... except Drew.  He was quite disappointed when the snowman didn't come alive when we were finished.  But he understood that we didn't have THE magic hat and that's why our snowman wasn't coming to life.

Emma had fun playing in the snow, except when she face-planted.  Oops!

But she was right back at it once we got her dusted off.

The new (and temporary) member of our family.  Drew wanted to call him Oatie, short for Oatmeal

Now it's time to come in, get dry, start a fire, and play with all of our new toys.

 And then cuddle time with Daddy on the couch.

Merry Christmas

My how he's grown.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a very nice day.  We hung around the house together until it was time to go to Mama Janet's house for dinner.
We had such a great time at Mama Janets.  The kids were shy at first, but it took no time at all for them to get very comfortable there, especially after Mama Janet started offering cookies. (:

We watched White Christmas in the background, opened gifts, and spent special time with Mary, Brandon, Daniel, Jennifer, Mama Honey, Papa Horton, Mama Janet, and Mr. Wayne. It was a wonderful night.

Drew did a great job putting together his new puzzle

And Emma loved her new tea set

Of course, Drew's new car set was a big hit!
When the evening was over we prepared for Santa's visit.
We put the carrots on the front lawn for the reindeer and sprinkled our reindeer food to make sure Comet, Dasher, Rudolf and all of the rest of the gang were happy while they were here.
Then we came in and prepared Santa's cookies and milk.  This year Santa got our Molasses Spice cookies that Drew and I made.
After we set the cookies out, we got ready for bed.  As Drew and I were saying our prayers, we heard Santa fly over!  His bells jingled and we quickly got to bed so that he would come.

Santa 2010

Drew was "all business" when it came to Santa this year.
He knew exactly what he wanted to say to him and he wanted to make sure he was on the "nice list."


A job well done, Drew!


Twice!

Christmas In Village Park

Santa Clause, Christmas carols, Christmas trains, and the big big Christmas Tree!
Christmas in Village Park was so charming this year.
First we visited the Christmas Train Village inside.  Drew loved the model trains.

The only thing that could tear him away from it was the fact that we were going to take a train ride.

It was so cold, but we enjoyed the train ride nonetheless.

The tunnel of lights was the biggest hit of the night.

Everyone oohed and awed over it and then were melted by how excited Drew was about it.
Everywhere we go, Drew and Emma are always such a big hit, and this time was no exception.  People were so warmed by how happy he was.
The lights were so neat and the train was adorable.

Then we walked over to the bear show and let the cuddly creatures sing carols for us while it snowed by the Christmas Tree.

Then Santa came over.  Emma was not comfortable enough to see him by herself, but this was Drew's year to really get to know Santa.
He couldn't wait to meet him.  As soon as it was his turn, he hopped right up on his lap and started talking to him.  He was so excited to tell Santa that he wanted "Cranky at the Docks" for his Thomas set.  Then he took some pictures with Santa and gave him a big hug and hopped off his lap.

Mission accomplished.  Santa knows exactly what Drew wants this year and Drew has confirmed that he is, in fact, on The Nice list

The Sugar Cookie Incident

We made a batch of Granny's Sugar Cookies from Aunt Mina's recipe book for Christmas.  Apparently Emma was attacked by one of the Christmas Tree Cookies!!!

The victim

The culprit (or is it the other way around?)

A BFF Christmas

This year's BFF Christmas did not disappoint.

When we walked in we were greeted by our friends.  First I looked at Jill and said hello.  Then I saw Kaelyn and she was looking at me very suspiciously.  I felt a bit uncomfortable I have to admit.  Then I looked at Michael to say hi.  I was looking squarely at "Cousin Eddie" from Christmas Vacation.

He had the outfit down pat!  I busted out laughing!

 Then it all registered!  That's why Kaelyn was looking at me all funny.  I laughed again so hard.
We had lots of laughs as people were arriving and seeing Cousin Eddie for the first time.
We had so much fun sharing food and good company with our best friends.
The kids were all dressed in their Christmas PJ's to put us all in that Christmas-morning-mood for our gift exchange.  They had a blast playing together with all of their new gifts.

Sadie and Drew

Drew, Sadie, and Emma

Drew and Sadie conversing about the upcoming gift exchange (or at least that's what I see when I look at this picture... who knows what they were talking about...haha)

Drew opening up his favorite gift

"Daddy, I can't wait to open it!"

And Daddy had his little helper too

The kids opening more presents.

A cute little Emma playing with Sadie's Elmo

Just a cute picture of Emma playing with Sadie's kitchen.  Emma is so happy and so cute wearing her new little tie dyed shirt

Emma's front row seating at the drive-in
***Thank you so much, Mary for taking all of the pictures!