Sleeping Arrangements.

Harris (and the rest of our family!) has been blessed with a brand new bed from some good friends...and he absolutely LOVES it.

For now, he's sleeping on the top bunk for "little nap" and the bottom bed for "big nap," and pretty much thinking he's super cool during both.

With the new addition to his room, Babe has made the transition from the crib to a big girl bed.  And even though her new bedding from Granti is super cute, Hadley is pretty adament that she DOES NOT want to sleep in her "new big girl bed."

She'll jump and play and laugh and read and sing in it all night long, but when it comes to actually sleeping, she's not all that crazy about the idea.  Ben's been in charge of breaking her in, though, and each night is progressively getting better and better.  She hasn't realized that she can, in fact, cllimb down off of the bed, and for that we are extremely thankful.  We do get a little nervous, though, because she's all about sleeping on the very edge of the bed; she loves to be as close as she can to it without actually falling off.  I'm thinking the purchase of a bed rail is in our very near future.

Just as soon as I snuggle with those sweet little faces.

Snow Day in Trenton.

 

Highlights include:  Harris eating snow CONTINUOUSLY, running into Maci from Teen Mom at DSW in Chattanooga (and telling her she's my hero!!), finally making it to the Chinese buffet, and sharing The Sound of Music with Ben and DoDo for the first time in their lives.

The hills are alive.

White Christmas.

As if the morning didn't hold enough excitement, we packed up on Christmas afternoon and headed to Mimi and Poppa's house for an evening full of fun.  The snow that came through North Georgia halted our plans for a Chinese Christmas dinner, but it didn't stop us from enjoying a great night with the other half of our family!

We opened even more presents before relaxing in front of the television and heading to bed.  I scored a sweet new purse, Barnes & Noble and New York & Co. gift cards (both already spent!), and another slew of exciting stocking treasures.  Highlights for the kiddos included bubbles, suckers, and their new UGA gear.

And, of course, playtime with Lil' Ben.

And snow...

The Rest of Christmas Morning...

Soon after our family completed the unwrapping of our gifts to each other, Granti, Auntie, Tyler, Cody, and Baby Sam Sam headed over to continue the celebration. 

We love us some Baby Sam Sam and were super thrilled to be able to share in his first Christmas.

Chef Ben cooked up an excellent breakfast, including scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, biscuits, and homemade gravy.  He's most definitely a keeper. :)

After filling our bellies, we proceeded to open even more gifts. 

And then Tyler, Cody, and the kiddos had a blast playing with Harris' new NERF arsenal.

Sweet Sam was worn out from all the excitement.



In the words of BeBe, "he's so cute."

My favorite memory of the day, by far, was hearing Ben whisper "best Christmas ever" as we fell exhasuted into bed at the end of the day.  I am so in love with that man.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

Christmas Morning, In Pictures...

What a fun, fun morning for our little family of four! 

The Children Were Nestled...

...let the tradition begin.

Elfie.

Ben and I were super stoked to have the kiddos home in time for the Family Christmas Eve service at The Way.  Babe and Harris enjoyed singing carols, laughing at "Elfie," and playing with the glow sticks that were used in lieu of actual candles.

Hadley especially loved Elfie; she couldn't get enough of him! 

I'm thinking it's because as soon as she laid on eyes on the man, she yelled out, "Look, Mommy, it's DJ Lance!"

Christmas Eve.

Cassidy had to work, so I headed to Conyers with these fellas:

Yep.  Merry Christmas to me!

Actually, we had a great time celebrating with Dad's side of the family.  Jimmy made some kick-butt queso dip, and Uncle Jerrell gave tasers as Christmas gifts.  Nothing screams "Happy Birthday, Jesus," quite like melted cheese and concentrated electricity.

Except, of course, for this:

It's just not Christmas until someone gets tased. For the record, the whole thing was Tyler's idea.  And he walked away (once he could stand) with $81.00  Merry Christmas, indeed.

Here's our first attempt at a family shot.  For some reason, Aunt Connie didn't realize Ben was part of the family. 

Here's take two.  We certainly don't want him feeling left out...

We missed you, Cass.

Cookies.

Oh, Santa.  I hope you like sprinkles.

A whole lot.

These guys sure do.

Countdown.

We've got quite a few "Christmas countdowns" happening around these parts...

By the time we look for our elf, Herman, open up the door on the Advent calendar from Mimi and Poppa, and add a number ornament to Harris' "Mickey Mouse" and Babe's "Winnie the Pooh" trees from Granti, it takes about ten extra minutes to get out the door in the morning.

I don't mind, though...the countdown has always been one of my favorite things.

Well, He Wore It.

The Singin' and Dancin' Show.

While I'm not sure that was the official title, Harris was beside himself excited for "The Singin' and Dancin' Show" put on by his preschool class last week.  He was fabulous!!!

After enjoying our Christmas lunch, we were treated to three Christmas songs performed by fifteen of the cutest four-year-olds I've ever seen.  Harris sang every word.  Loudly.  I was so, so proud of him!

Hadley dug the singing, too, and even joined in on quite a few of the verses.



Harris and his classmates participated in a book swap after their performance.  I absolutely love watching that kiddo interact with his friends.  He's become quite confident this year, and is even starting to become slightly bossy (I have no idea where he gets that from!).

He was thrilled with his book, "Biscuit and the Baby."  I was blown away by the fact that HE CAN ACTUALLY READ IT.  I seriously had no idea he knew so many words.

Oh, he melts my heart.

Field Trip!

Ms. Ginnell, our fabulous, gift-from-God daycare provider, took the kiddos to see Santa last Friday.  Ben had the day off and was already planning on keeping Hadley home, so the two of them packed up and headed out to the mall to meet her friends.

According to Ben, they had a fabulous morning.  Babe even gave Santa a hug...willingly!

We are so incredibly thankful for Ms. Ginnell and all the love, support, encouragement, and fun she provides for our family!