Christmas Eve in pictures...we're ready for ya, Santa!

110 with Rachael and Ben: Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Boy. the energy is high around here. The excitement is almost palpable. The anticipation of Santa is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Nana arrived in town on Wednesday and since then, it's been on. Holiday preparations are in full-swing: shopping, wrapping, baking, eating, cooking, you name it.

We didn't manage of picture of today's stay-home day, but, we did manage a trip to the park -- no jackets required. Nana finished her wrapping. We spent Saturday finalizing our last-minute shopping and Nana had special one-on-two time with Ben and Rachael while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a movie date with friends -- thanks, Nana! The weekend concluded with the Flotilla on the lake -- lots of fun with friends and the warmer outside temp made it enjoyable.

Stay tuned for pictures from our Christmas celebrations....

110 with Rachael and Ben: Daddy's birthday

This weekend was a bit different. For our 'stay home day', I was away spending some time with my grandmother, mom, aunt & uncle. My grandmother, at 93 years young, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. She has lived a life that most people dream of...a beautiful family, a wonderful home, a church community of 60+ years, a noble career, world travels, friends, near and far -- young and old. The only thing she wishes for is for more time with her husband, who passed away 25 years ago.

Mike, once again, stepped up to the plate and held down the fort while I went to be with my family. {How did I get so lucky to marry a man like this? I ask myself this every. day.}

Upon my return home, we kicked off celebrating daddy's birthday with some birthday donuts! I took both kids to dance (Ben was so happy to watch his sister in her lesson) and then to Christmas pageant rehearsal. Rachael was signed up to be in the pageant, but, Ben, in his always-ready-to-be-like sister way, jumped in and joined the action. In their first roles, Rachael was a Dalmation dog and Ben was a bumble bee....two animals that I'm sure were not present in that manger, but, nonetheless, the two had a good time being a part of this big tradition at our church. Ben enjoyed it just a bit more than Rachael, I think...he's our ham...she's got a bit of stage fright. Mike and I were thrilled to cap off his birthday with a date night to a great New Orleans eatery in downtown....yumm-o.

We capped off a very busy weekend with a girls' viewing of Disney on Ice. We went with a couple of friends and their moms....it was so much fun. What a nice night to be with Rachael...special treat to have some girl time with my favorite little girl.

110 with Rachael and Ben: Preparing...

With the season of Advent upon us, we are in a mode of preparing. Preparing for the celebration of Jesus' birth. Preparing for the arrival of Santa. Preparing for a special holiday time where family and friends gather to be together and to spend time.
So, today was about preparing and these two were my helpers. We made a deal: park first, shopping at Target second. We joined our sweet neighbor friends at the park for a beautiful morning walk -- 65 degrees....at Christmas time! This is why we love where we live. :)
After running out our energy at the park, we headed for Super Target. These two hopped in the cart and off we went. I piled things on top of them, beside them, next to them, under them. Most importantly, while we were there, we purchased clothing and gifts for the children we selected off of the Angel Tree at church. Mike and I are committed to teaching the kids about giving to others and this is the best way that I know how to start doing that.

110 with Rachael and Ben: Thankful

During this weekend of Thanksgiving...I am full of things to be thankful for! We celebrated the holiday with Mimi and Papa coming for a visit. There were pies, cake, a tasty turkey and all the trimmings. There was football-watching, walk-taking, Black Friday shopping, leaf-blowing and movie watching.
Papa and Mike went to a Hurricanes game. Mimi and I took the kids to see Frosty The Snowman musical.
Papa and Mike built a train table for Ben. Mimi and I took the kids on an adventure walk on Thanksgiving day....which was followed by a 2.5 hour nap from both of them -- hallelujah!
Here are some photos:

110 with Rachael and Ben: Storytime, Shopping, Partying

We're living it up on our Friday adventures, I'll tell ya! Today we indulged in our bi-weekly storytime and read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. After securing an arm's full of books, we headed to do some shopping in advance of the turkey-cookie-making project for Rachael's class. We capped off our morning with a stop at Ben's classroom for the Thanksgiving party. This week, Rachael's class performed a little song and dance about Thanksgiving while 12 parents with cameras galore watched adoringly.
What was evident is that Rachael is not (yet) a performer....she was interested in being in the front row, smiling sweetly, but refusing to do anything that the teacher was directing.

Ben's class had a nice cookies-n-milk party to celebrate the Turkey day happenings.

The final picture is the sample of the cookie that I helped the friends in Rachael's class to make in honor of Thanksgiving -- lots of fun!

110 with Rachael and Ben: Mommy goes on girls' weekend

So, for the first time since before Rachael was born (and in reality, probably since bachelorette party days in 2005), I went on a girls' only weekend! Thanks to my bestie, Shannon, and her hubby who had this idea that a girls' weekend would be great fun for Shannon's birthday....we were off on an adventure. Now, here's the caveat: we were supposed to go in July. But, Mom had a flare that sent her to the hospital and sent me packing for PA. Shannon graciously re-scheduled the weekend....to the weekend before my birthday! What fun it was to celebrate both of our birthdays, even if, it was supposed to be about her!

To say we had a great time is an under-statement. I also want to especially thank Mike who helped to make it happen....I couldn't have done it without his total support and excellent daddy-expertise. He's a true rock star!

110 with Rachael and Ben: Crashing Nana's girls' week

So, I did it. This mom took her 2 1/2-year-old and her 3 3/4-year-old on a trip. ALL.BY.MYSELF. Well, OK, just for the ride down...it was 200+ miles and 4 hours. And, they were GREAT. I got what I came for within the first 3 hours that we were there.....magnificent beach time with the kids and Nana...Gammy and Aunt Barb, too.
It was 75 degrees in November...what more could I ask???

Trick or Treat!

Our Halloween celebration was definitely full of treats and not too many tricks! The day itself was a 70 degree day, which made for an easy 'kick-off' party in our garage. We had 10 families together with 20 children total! It was a lot of fun and a great way to start the evening.
Nana was able to join us this year for the celebration; having a grandparent present always makes parties doubly fun. She even dressed up!