Shadow and Rosco

We have two new additions to our family....we adopted wto kittens for Christmas and they finally came home today. Shadow and Rosco are cute brothers who are enjoying their new home. They are already enjoying lots of love, playtime, and cat naps. We already love and adore theses sweet kittens and look forward to making many memories with them!

Snow Mountain

This week while Renee and Angela were in town we took a trip to Stone Mountain and enjoyed a day in the snow at Snow Mountain. It was a fun day of sledding, tubing, building snowmen, eating smores, and playing in the snow. Thanks MomMom!

A Very Merry Christmas

What a wonderful holiday we have had so far! Our Christmas spent in North Carolina this year ended up being a great time filled with many fun memories. Santa even had our temporary address while we were away! It had been a while since my brother, mom and grandmother had spent Christmas together, and now that we have family's of our own it was special to have this family gathering. We enjoyed rest and relaxation, movie watching, eating, playing in the snow, reminiscing and some teasing and laughter. Wish we could have more times like these!

Our Christmas continued as soon as we got back in town. MomMom and Angela arrived in Georgia just as we did, and the surprises kept on coming. The kids were pleased with the gifts they had already received, but were even more excited by some of the gifts that were waiting for them from the rest of the family. Madison got the guitar she had been wanting, Hudson got his first bike and thinks he's Buzz Lightyear, our family got a wii, and we are all excited about the new additions to our family....we are adopting two kittens that will be coming home on Friday....we can't wait!

We have so much to be thankful for this holiday season...despite all the gifts. We are all healthy, extremely blessed, full of love and joy, surrounded by family near and far, and we have a savior who loves us! It can't get much better then this.

Take a minute to count your blessings and remember where they came from!

Merry Christmas!

An Unexpected Guest

We are up in North Carolina spending Christmas with some family. Because this is our first year that we are away from home, Madison wondered if Santa was going to know where we were. Last night before dinner we heard the doorbell ring so we sent Madison to answer the door. To our surprise Santa was at the door with his sack full of presents! I wish you could have seen Madison's face as she yelled out, "Santa....its Santa.....Santa's here!" It was priceless. All the kids (and grown-ups) enjoyed visiting and taking pictures with Santa. Hopefully, he'll come back tonight!
Merry Christmas Eve!

The Nutcracker

This weekend was Madison's first time performing in the Nutcracker with The Carrollton Academy of Dance. They spent many months preparing for their first full production of the show. Madison performed in the marzipan dance and was chosen from her class to be in a special scene of the presentation of the court. Party Parents were needed to perform in the first act, so I gladly volunteered. It has been a long time since I have been on stage, so it was a lot of fun to be a part of a production again. It was even more fun to share that experience with Madison and be behind the scene with her the entire time. Hudson and Brian got to enjoy the show. He was a little scared of the rat king and wasn't too sure why I was up on stage. I think he liked it though because as soon as he got home he put on his brittish soldier pj's on and pretended to be the nutcracker.

Madison really enjoyed the experience and did a great job. Her favorite part was being in the extra dance and spending time with the older company girls.

Way to go Madison!

Frosty Festival

This weekend Hudson performed in his first gymnastics exhibition. He demonstrated his skills on the floor, balance beam, trampoline and bars. He had a great time flipping and jumping around and even received his first gold medal!! Good thing he didn't notice that the medal had a girl gymnast on it.....they don't have many boy gymnasts here in Carrollton. Maybe one day!

Great Job Hudson!

Brian put together a little video of his show. Enjoy!

Holiday Parties

The kids are out of school for the Winter break. To celebrate the season both kids got to enjoy holiday parties at their schools. At Hudson's school they acted out a brief skit of the birth of Jesus. Hudson got to be Joseph. Once they all arrived in the classroom, they put the baby in a manger and all sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus. Too cute! Then they had their usual party food and enjoyed a book swap.

At Madison's party they participated in a variety of holiday crafts, had a gift exchange and enjoyed a Mexican themed meal.....yum!

Now the kids are at home until January 4th. We have all already enjoyed sleeping in and staying in our pj's a little bit longer each morning!

Our first snow!!

Since the day we moved up to Georgia, one of the things the kids were most excited about was the chance to see snow for the first time this year. It has been really cold for us native Floridians, and more mornings then not Hudson asks if it is snowing. Sunday after church, we walked out of the building and unexpectedly into snow. It was amazing! Our friends, The Sheets, were visiting us this weekend, so all the kids got to enjoy the excitement together. We all went home, bundled up and played outside in the little snow that we had, then warmed up by the fire. We were already having a great weekend, and this just topped it off!

I have a feeling there will be many more days like this to come! Looks like its time to invest in real winter clothes!