Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas 2010! We had a great Christmas - William's 4th and Madison's 2nd! Gramma Lossie came over to celebrate with us. William now believes in Santa more than ever since the merry old elf made his dream come true! He got a Thomas the Train train table, track and all of his favorite trains! He also got a scooter, some legos, new movies (Toy Story, 101 Dalmations, Beauty & The Beast & Cinderalla) and a pottery barn kids chair! Madison LOVED her baby dolls, stroller and doll bed, the movie she'll share with brother and her pottery barn kids chair! After overwhelming the kids with WAYYY too many gifts last year, we decided to do what we saw in a magazine article - we got each child 3 gifts since William is 3 years old! According to the article - you should get young children their age in gifts. We uppped it to three for Madi as well since one seemed a little skimpy!!! The kids have been playing with their gifts non-stop so it's a happy house! Daddy loves his Big Green Egg and Mommy loves her new boots, purse and big o cooking pot! A great Christmas for everyone - and Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

Magical Nights of Lights

With the intent to add a little more merriness and brightness to our holiday - we piled in the Yukon with our neighbors and headed up to Lake Lanier to see the Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier Islands. We learned we could squeeze three carseats for three tots - three and under across the back of the Yukon and loaded up William 3, Madison 18 months and Kendall 21 months. Brian and Jeff sat in the front and Jill and I prepared ourselves for a long winter's drive in the 3rd Row Back. Less than 10 miles into the trip - we realized we forgot Kendall's beloved "Baby" and soon wondered how Magical the Nights of Lights would be for the tots!

Finally arriving with our half off depot coupon in hand - we headed straight for Santa's Village so the tots could run. We took a free ride on the train and bypassed the other overpriced rides escaping the gift store with only one 89 cent cookie for William.

Now onto the main attraction - the nights! I don't know what I was expecting- but it was certainly not this! Seven miles of driving with blinking light displays in various Christmas forms - animals - spongebob - castles - you get the picture! Then all of a sudden we heard such a clatter - a tiny tot screaming - the lights just didn't matter! How many miles did we have to go? How much screaming - can more car endure? One tot, two tot, three tot - no more - they were all screaming - so much for the light show! Then as fast as it started they started to fade - one by one - off, off and away. To dreamland they went - one by one - as we pulled into our driveway - the evening done!

Wee Wee Wee all the way home!

Not being from around these parts, riding the Pink Pig is about as foreign to me as cooking collards used to be - but just like I love collard greens now, I guess I'll soon love the Pink Pig too! On our way through Buckhead today, we thought the tot-some would have a squealing good time and took our first spin on the Pig. We picked up Uncle Bob and headed over to Lenox. First we had to wait in line for almost 30 minutes for the OPPORTUNITY to purchase pig tix. The kids were soon entertained by a light up square on the floor and Madi took the opportunity to show the mall she thinks she can dance but unfortunately no talent scouts agreed. After getting our tickets, we waited in another line, our stroller now banned, for another 30-40 minutes thankfully escaping the Pig filled gift shop with no take-home pork. With the vintage pig cage that once flew over the toy section at downtown Riches now retired for a safer train on a grounded track, we boarded - me and the Mad in the front car and William and Uncle Bob behind us. As they strapped us in for the ride of our lives, William started to cry - would this be wee wee wee all the way I wondered - but tears soon disappeared as the pig made it's way around the track. It was kinda like a scaled down version of Disney's It's a Small World - only full of pigs! Our 2 minute ride over. The hour wait behind us. We'll be back again next year - or when pigs really do fly if I had the final word!

HO HO HOOOORIBLE!

We dressed up the kiddies in their Christmas best and trucked on down the highway to Phipps Plaza in the big city for our eagerly awaited, hardest ticket to get in the ATL, coveted appointment with Santa! William looked stunning with product in hair and a cute little train number from Janie & Jack Mommy snagged on ebay for a bargain - Madi - recently sprouted enough hairs to hold a festive bow and looked equally adorable in her Hanna Anderssen plaid and velvet dress - a consignment sale find - along with her matching patent leather mary janes. The tot-some were soon surrounded by the finest frocked tots in all the land - falling all over the floor, licking the rails and pulling at their festive finery. Sippy cups all over the ground, bows yanked out of hairs, parents looking more and more frantic as the pressure increased for the ultimate test of holiday cheer - will your kid flash a 5 star smile - or FAIL SANTA 101? Soon enough it was our moment of truth - time to march up to the Jolly Ol Elf. William let out a barely detectable whimper and was quickly reminded NO PRESENTS! He was then ushered into North Pole South and plopped on Santa's lap by the jolliest elf. Looking like we were marching him off the plank, he gave us a look glance then drudged over to Santa - the thought of getting no presents successfully brainwashed into his 3 year old head. Madi on the other hand burst into the worst tantrum a tot has ever thrown as soon as she got a glimpse of the red suit. After biting her nails in a fearful fret, pelting Santa with her kicking patent leather clad feet and getting red lolly pop all over his perfectly pressed shirt, Santa motioned to his jolliest elf and the tot was removed at once and promptly put on the Naughty List. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the sad stares of waiting parents and hear their whispers - uh oh, another melt-down in merry-town! Yep - my kid FAILED Santa 101 - who will be next? William on the other hand decided to seize the moment and took in a little one and one time with old Kris. Then with a squeeze from Santa and thoughts of a Thomas the Train Gordan Number 4 Engine dancing in his head - William said goodbye - candycane in hand and did a little jig he was so happy to be done. While William didn't flash a 5 star smile or give us his quite the Kodak Moment - he surely passed! Looking back on Christmas past - we started off on our Santa Adventures in 2007 with a sleeping William in Santa's arms, then a 14 month old William looking stunned on Santa's lap, last year we added a mellow Madi to the picture with a screaming, escaping big brother - and now we have screaming sister and a Santa-tized big brother! As our mantle fills up with pictures from the years - it's just a memory captured in time - reminding us of how it was - and how fast it all goes by.

Reindeer Games

Santa and his Reindeer took a long flight from the North Pole to visit the kiddies of Alpharetta today and William and Madi were there! The threat of getting no presents from Santa if he cried was real to William and he was a perfect gentleman for Santa with no tears. He gave Santa his "list" which included only one item - a Thomas the Train - Engine #4 - Gordon - that's all he said he wanted. Madi on the other hand was perfectly content until we sat on her Santa's lap - then she burst into tears. The "Elves" made me jump into the sleigh with Santa to try to keep her calm - I guess this is her "crying year!"

It's Fall in Georgia!

The leaves have officially changed, it got chilly so I guess you can say it's FALL IN GEORGIA - accept it's now in the 70's all week! William goes to school with his jacket on and we end up changing into short sleeves for afternoon play on our new swing-set then change back into jackets in the evening! Here's some new pictures of our family in the backyard - I wish we could just keep it like this with the leaves so pretty - but winter will here soon enough :(

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 - it was a SPOOK-TAC-ULAR day for the kiddies in Georgia! We started the night off at a neighborhood Halloween Party - then our little Ladybug retired for the evening and Mommy took our little firefighter around the hood for his 1st Trick or Treating Adventure! We made it to all 19 homes and got so much candy - the jack-0-latern BROKE! Interesting - William has not asked for a single piece of candy - I am planning to donate it all so we can all have nice tootsies here!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

It's not even the middle of October and we already have an appointment with Ol St. Nick - crazy isn't it??? Even crazier - this is the FIRST time - in FOUR years I've been able to get an appointment with this particular Santa! The Santa at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta is apparently the King of Clauses! After William was born in 2007 - I saw an ad to make your appointment with Santa - so I signed on to the site - only to discover they were booked solid and it wasn't even Halloween yet! I tried again - year two and was too late - and the same scenario for year three. So after slumming it with the second rate Santa's for past three years - this year - I signed on the day the site went active and got one of the coveted spots!!!! If this Santa could get these two tots to say "cheese" - it'll all be worth it! Madison has no fear - so I don't think she'll cry - and William is now at the age where I can bribe him to smile with Santa and get a candycane - we'll see - check back on November 17 after our visit to the North Pole!!!

My Matilda

The Australian form of Madison is Matilda - so it's only fitting we love dresses by Matilda Jane!!! The are holding a contest for girls to appear in their Spring 2011 Catalog.... so a free trip to Seaside, FL and some free Matilda Jane clothes sounded good to me so I sent in a picture of Miss Mads. They had to be photographed wearing an MJ dress - so we donned the only one we own and topped it off with a hand-knit beanie Madison got as a baby gift (that just now fits her tiny head!!!) and some pearls and she does like she stepped straight out of the catalog - now we'll have to see if the judges agree! Whatever the outcome - she's My Matilda and she looks pretty darn cute to me ;)

Berry Patch Farms

Madi and I took a trip to Berry Patch Farms, just a few miles away from our house, for Pumpkin Adventure Take #2. We went with our play group - it's called the Double Trouble Play Group of Milton for Moms with two kids less than two years a part but my Trouble #1 was at school - so I just had Trouble #2 with me for the day which was basically double trouble anyway :)
Madi was in top form that day and said "thank you" at the appropriate times, "pumpkin" and pointed out a "cow"in the petting zoo. She LOVES to dance and now has a little routine. They were playing country music - her FAVORITE - so she did a little dance, waved to her fans, blew kisses to the crowd and took a bow. She is a very funny, precocious, little chatterbox. I'm beginning to think she's going to be an actress or a pop star because she's loves performing and does not have a shy bone in her body! She a little ball of energy which makes for a very tired Mommy!

Apple Pickin' in the North GA Mountains!

We made the trek up to Ellijay today - a town in the North Georgia Mountains famous for APPLES! Apple season peaked a couple of weeks ago - but we still found plenty of apples to pick in the orchards. We had an unseasonably warm weekend in Georgia - with highs in the mid-80's today so it was a bit warm out there! William picked an apple right off a tree and decided to eat it in the orchard while Madison decided she didn't like the taste of apples and called them "balls" and prefer to throw them! We came home with pounds of apples and two very tired tots! A great weekend in Georgia!!!

Happy Birthday to Me - I'm THREE more pix!

Happy Birthday to Me - I am THREE!

I cannot believe our little boy is a walking, talking, potty-trained, THREE YEAR OLD! To celebrate the last year of toddlerhood - we celebrated with CARS themed party, William's preschool classmates, friends and family. My mom flew in from Florida, Gramma Lossie, Aunt JuJu and Aunt Maxine were here along with about 10 kiddies. We jumped, slid, pulled the strings on a pinata and topped the afternoon off with hot dogs and a Lightening McQueen and Mater Birthday Cake. I am so proud of my little buddy - he really enjoyed the day, loved it when the kids sang him Happy Birthday and was just a perfect, happy little 3 year old. Can we just preserve this moment in time forever? Happy Birthday to our Sweet William - WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!