We have had such a wonderful time celebrating Christmas and getting to spend time with family and friends.
We kicked off the holiday season with Emmie's dance studio in the Christmas Parade. Emmie LOVES doing this! The other kids and Paul stayed home and watched it on TV while I took Emmie. This year I let her walk by herself and I sat in the stands with some friends and watched which was nice.
We didn't realize we were going to lunch afterwards but after the parade Emmie, Evelyn and Emma informed us we were going to lunch at Olive Garden! We did have fun with the big girls!
I love these sweet friends so much!
Our local Chick-fil-A did a dinner with a craft, storytime and Santa Cow so we went to that. Ruthie and JP were not so sure about Santa Cow but overall we had a great time!
About a week before Christmas we headed up to Greenville to do Christmas at my parent's house with my brother and sister-in-law and my adorable neice who were visiting from Mississippi. We went to a train museum and saw Santa, the kids spent lots of time playing together, and we also opened some presents!
K was not so sure about that Santa guy!
JP played with this little train almost the entire time we were there!
These two were so cute together. Emmie loves younger children and so she "babysat" K while the adults were in the other room.
These two are going to be trouble together as they grow up! They are so funny!
Counsin pajamas!
Uncle Ben snuggles
Uncle Ben and Aunt Ruth are GREAT at coming up with unique presents (not some sarcasm here). This year they gave each child $25 in pennies which is bad enough but then they arranged the pennies in designs on a box and stuck them down with packing tape. For the record...$25 x 4 children is 10,000 pennies. Funny Ben and Ruth. Funny. (PS. I'm so glad they have a child now. Payback is going to be fun!)
On Emmie's birthday we had a special visitor come to our house. Emmie has been asking for an Elf for years and she finally got one. His name is Patrick and as much as I resisted getting one I did love how excited the kids would get every morning as they searched for Patrick.
JP had his Christmas program at preschool. He had been talking for weeks about how excited he was to be on "stage" and he did such a great job!
We had class Christmas parties at school. I was in charge of Ellie's party so we went to hers and then popped in to see Emmie and Ruthie. Poor JP was worn out and he slept through the entire party in the corner of Ellie's classroom!
On the 23rd we had Christmas with the Edwards crew at our house. I majorly failed in the picture taking department but I did snag a few! We opened presents, hung out, and ate dinner.
JP couldn't WAIT to paint this little car from GiGi and PaPa
Uncle Blake and Aunt Emily gave the kids each an Old Navy gift card and I took the kids to spend all their gift cards the other day. JP used his Old Navy gift card to get these slippers and they are awesome.
On Christmas Eve we FINALLY had time to make our Gingerbread Houses. The kids look forward to this every year.
Ellie and Emmie
JP and Ruthie
In the afternoon we went to church for the Christmas Eves service at church and met my parents there. It was the Lesson and Carols service which I always love! After the service we came home, ate pizza for dinner and settled in to watch The Star Movie and drink hot chocolate and eat all the Christmas goodies (Ellie's favorite part!).
After the movie they headed to bed and Santa came!
They were so excited when they woke up in the morning (and so was Franklin...he LOVES getting presents, probably more than any of the rest of us!)
This is the cat purse Ellie got. She absolutely loves it and has carried it everywhere!
After we checked out what Santa brought we had breakfast and then opened presents! I think everyone was quite pleased with all that they received!
The girls got tickets to see Wicked with me! They were so surprised. JP got a ticket to Disney on Ice and a day with Paul.
The Christmas that every pre-teen girl asked for a water bottle for Christmas. Emmie was so excited to get a hydroflask. She is obsessed with having all the VSCO girl things.
Finally a bike of his own!
A Christmas miracle...Franklin snuggling with Grandaddy!
The kids spent the afternoon playing with their new toys and my mom fixed us a delicious lunch! My parents headed back to Greenville after lunch.
Christmas night we had a fire pit with our neighbors. We do this often but normally after the kids are in bed. Since it was Christmas we let the kids stay up and roast some marshmallows. They had a great time!
Ellie and our neighbor Kurt
Ellie got this cup for Christmas. It is normally solid black and says "I solemnly swear I am up to no good". If you run it under hot water though a Marauder's Map appears. We discovered it also appears if you have your cup out at the fire pit! My friend Sarah made it...check out her page!
JP, as you saw in an earlier picture, got a new hat for Christmas. It came with matching gloves. Funny boy wore them to bed Christmas night!
On the day after Christmas, my dad called me first thing in the morning. He had left his wallet at our house so my parents were headed back to Columbia to get it. It was a gorgeous day and we didn't have any plans so we decided to meet them at the zoo! It was a perfect day for the zoo and we loved our "bonus" day with grandparents! We spent a few hours at the zoo and then had lunch at CFA before my parents headed back to Greenville.
Paul and I were kind enough to give Gran and Grandaddy our wristbands so that they could squeeze into the train while we watched. haha!
For those who saw my FB post about the big present for JP that he was so mad I wouldn't let him open before Christmas...this is what was inside: A Paw Patrol suitcase. He was so excited!
We are now recovering from the month of December and have had a lovely time of having no plans since Christmas! We have done some game playing, lay around, and we got to spend an evening with some sweet friends visiting from the west coast!
The whole group minus baby C who was being snuggled by someone else.
Look how these girls have grown! The bottom picture is 2013. Top is Ellie, MRH, Emmie. Bottom is Emmie, MRH, Ellie.
Happy 6th Birthday sweet Ruthie! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. This year was a big year for you as you completed OIT for your peanut allergy and you started kindergarten.
You my sweet Roo are my little fighter. You are one of the toughest kids I know and you are incredibly brave. This past year we asked you to do something really scary. We asked you to eat peanuts after we had spent years teaching you not to eat them and to question every single thing you put in your mouth. My little warrior, you were a little nervous and unsure but you stepped up and trusted us. You were amazing through all of OIT. Even with OIT I was so incredibly nervous sending you off to kindergarten this year. Fortunately you have an amazing teacher who I knew was looking out for you and the first time I picked you up from school and you were telling me about who you ate lunch with and you made no mention of what anyone else was eating it made me so happy. I can already see you forgetting what life was like before OIT but I hope you always remember a little bit of what that anxiety felt like. I hope you can remember how you faced something scary and it changed your life forever!
Speaking of taking on scary things, you were pretty nervous about starting kindergarten this year. However, the first day came and I walked you to class and you walked right in and never looked back. You have two wonderful teachers and they always tell me how fabulous you are. They talk about what a hard worker you are and how focused you are on every assignment. They recently told me about how you there is a little boy who has been struggling and you have taken him under your wing. They said you always help him and you always pick him as your partner when you have partner assignments. I'm pretty sure you're just happy to have someone you can boss around but I am proud of you for looking out for those around you. I laugh every time I see you at school. You always seem to have some little boy by the arm and are dragging him around talking 90 miles an hour (no doubt telling him all the things he needs to be doing). You are a force to be reckoned with!
Ruthie I will never forget the day we brought you home from the hospital and set your carrier on the floor and your sisters ran over to look at you and your eyes just lit up. From that moment on you have wanted nothing more than to be one of the group. You are 4 years younger than Emmie and 2 1/2 years younger than Ellie but you are SURE that not only can you do anything they can do but I'm pretty sure you view yourself as the oldest (which occasionally causes some conflict with the actual oldest child)! Anyone who knew you as a toddler knows that you can do anything you put your mind to and I have seen this determination in so many ways. When you were 2 I went to change your diaper one day and you yelled "no diaper!" and that day you potty trained yourself. When you were learning to swim you said you refused to wear your float one day and that day you took off swimming. I also remember being so worried about how you would adjust when JP was born. After all we had always treated you like you were the baby of the family. You however slid right into the roll of big sister. You and JP are incredibly close and I love to watch you together. My favorite is those times when I come into your room in the morning and you are snuggled up in his bed whispering to each other. I am so glad that you have a buddy and that you get to be an actual big sister (instead of just pretending you are the biggest sister!).
You are so determined and so determined to be independent. You are always on the go and rarely want help with anything. I treasure the moments when you want me to hold you or you want to snuggle up beside me. Ruthie, I can't wait to see where life takes you. You are strong, courageous, determined and independent. You are small (although you have grown so much in the last year or two!) but you never let your size hold you back. There is a huge personality inside of your little body!You can do absolutely anything that you set your mind to and I hope you always believe in yourself the way you do now. Last night I read to you from the book On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman and there is a line in there that says "For never before in story or rhyme...has the world ever known a you, my friend, and it never will, not ever again." You are truly one of a kind sweet Roo and the world had better get ready because I have no doubt you will take it by storm!
Happy Birthday Ruthie Mitchell!
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I had to throw this picture in because I love the pictures of you with your fingers in your mouth. It is just so you. As much as I fuss at you to get your fingers out of your mouth something about it just tugs on my heart!
Today we headed up to Spencer, NC for a Polar Express train ride at the NC Transportation Museum. We had a great time and the kids were very excited!
We arrived early enough that we were able to do a craft and write letters to Santa before boarding the train.
We also grabbed a funnel cake and watched a performance by a bubbleologist with the Soap Bubble Circus. It was such unique entertainment and lots of fun for the kids and adults!
The kids also played in the "snow". JP especially LOVED it!
There was a little show before we boarded and then our train arrived!
They came by at the beginning and punched a "b" (for believe) on each of our tickets.
I had purposely picked a time when it would still be light outside at the beginning of our ride so that the kids could see out the window.
After a short ride where we ate cookies, drank hot chocolate, and read The Polar Express, we arrived at the North Pole!
The North Pole!
We got off the train and watched the first gift of Christmas given! When we got back on the train Santa came and gave each of us a silver bell.
We had a short ride back to the station after that. We loved our time on the Polar Express!
