An Aerial Delight

Hello all!  I'm finally getting around to writing about some things that happened after Christmas.  Our Christmas festivities went on for about 2 weeks this year.  Some of our "Midwestern" side of the family decided to come out for a visit the week in between Christmas and New Year's.  We were thrilled to see my grandparents and aunt and uncle for a week.  On December 30, a Sunday afternoon, we got an extra special treat.  There is currently a Bald Eagle's next out at Berry College, and all of the visiting family, along with my parents, decided to go out and see it.  It was a cold day, but sunny, and it was a fun, outdoor family activity.  Cline and I and the girls went to church in the morning, and then came home for our afternoon rest.  It was one of those rare, perfect days where everyone went into a deep sleep, and Cline and I both had the opportunity to sleep simultaneously for a good couple of hours.  I ruined that, though, when Mom called and said they were all heading out to see the Eagle's nest.  I woke Cline up, and informed him that we were going too, which would require us waking up all 3 sleeping girls and loading them in the car immediately.
Cline protested, of course.  We don't give up our opportunities for a nap lightly!  But I insisted that it would be a fun, family activity, and we hardly ever do outdoor, nature-involving family activities, and it would be an educational experience for the girls.  Cline warned me that we wouldn't be able to see anything, telling me that we were going to get the girls out in the cold and try to point out which far-off pile of sticks in a tree was supposed to be the nest, unsuccessfully, of course.  (He wasn't being difficult or mean in any way, and certainly wasn't trying to avoid seeing my family.  He was just making a good case for allowing our family to indulge in the rare nap we were experiencing!)
Although he's usually right about these kinds of things, I would not be convinced.  So we packed some hats, gloves, and snacks for the kids and drove out to Berry College.

 As it turned out, I was right this time.  We could clearly see the 2 ton nest, and it was fascinating to look for the Bald Eagles!

 Lo and Behold, one of them flew out of the woods and perched on a nearby tree.  He flew around a few times right in front of us, landing closer and closer to the nest each time.  It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and it was HUGE!!  I did not think to bring my camera with me, but my Aunt had a great lens, so she shared her pictures with me!

I heard someone say that the nest weighs about 2 tons, and the babies (2 of them, I think) have since hatched.  Not too long after we'd been there, just to really finalize my bragging rights about how we were right to sacrifice our nap for this experience, the OTHER Bald Eagle put on an aerial show for us before settling in/near the nest!!  Even Cline admitted that it was so cool, and that he was wrong in his reluctance to go.

The girls had a great time, and walked down to the pretty fountain area with the family, while Cline and I walked slowly with Elizabeth.

It was a great, family day, enjoying nature!

More Christmas Celebration 2012

There simply wasn't time to open presents from Lala and Poppy on Christmas day, so we went for a visit a couple of days later.  In fact, my Aunt, Uncle, and Grandparents came to town from the Midwest a few days after Christmas, so we had a whole week of festivities.  It was great family time, and we've got plenty of new toys to keep us entertained for a long time!

 Christa and Abby Kate were excited to get "bon-e-rows."  (Bow and Arrow sets from Brave).  Christa was quite good at shooting the arrow after a little practice.

 Since Abby Kate loves to dress up so much, she got the whole set.  That is some crazy hair!  She slept in the whole costume that night!

 It was very cold after Christmas, so we practiced our bike riding in our closed garage.  Shortly after we took this picture, we remembered to put on our helmets :)

 Christa is a great little bike rider already!

Earlier this year, Cline's great Aunt Carolyn gave us an amazing heirloom dollhouse for the girls.  I've been collecting dollhouse furniture with each of the girls since they were born.  Each year for Christmas, Cline and I get them a set; it's our only present to them other than a book from Daddy.  I'd planned to get them each a house around age 5 or 6... or maybe request one from Santa.  I'd assumed I would get it from Pottery Barn Kids, since that was the easiest place to find the furniture each year.  But Aunt Carolyn had this great doll house that she really wanted to be put to use.  Cline and Chas had actually played with it growing up.  (Don't judge - this house has so many tiny, antique accessories, any child or adult, boy or girl, could be entertained for hours)!  Aunt Carolyn's husband had built this house for her after they were married, and she'd accumulated great furniture and accessories.  Her granddaughter loves horses, and doesn't play with dolls, so the house is now resting happily in Christa's room.

 The girls were thrilled to get this great surprise a few days after Christmas.

 Mommy had tons of fun arranging all of the furniture and tiny accessories.  There are miniature newspapers, books, pots and pans, a spool of thread, hat racks.... the list goes on and on!

 We decided that the attic would be the best place for most of the Pottery Barn furniture, so that we could leave the vintage charm to the rest of the house.  We combined the upstairs bathroom and nursery.

 Upstairs bedroom.

 2nd floor bedroom, with sewing table, tiny rug, coat rack...

 I love the porcelain claw foot tub, vintage toilet, and sink!

 The desk to the right is a roll top desk - that really rolls up and down!

 There were even Christmas decorations for the foyer!

 That is actual "china" for the China cabinet.  And fireplace accessories, too!

 The kitchen was especially fun to arrange.  The cast iron stove said "princess" on it.  It's at least 20 or 30 years old, so it was fun to see it marked with the official "girl" logo.  There were tiny dish towels, place mats, etc.

 It's a gorgeous house, and has already been enjoyed for hours!!

 My family decided to have a big get-together the Saturday after Christmas.  All of my mom's side of the family was there, except for my Uncle and 2 cousins.  Cline smoked some BBQ, which was a challenge with the cold weather, but the food was delicious.

And the company was superb!

It is now 11:30 on Dec. 31.  In a half hour, I will ring in the New Year with Cline.  I can't help but feel so thankful and blessed for another great year with the best family I could ask for!  We're looking forward to great things in 2013 and wish all of our family and friends a Happy New Year!

Christmas Day 2012

Merry Christmas!!  Santa must have thought our 3 girls were pretty well-behaved this year, because he sure was generous! 

 Christa got her very first bike with a baby doll, a Barbie tracing set, some safety gear, and some stocking stuffers (which mostly consisted of art supplies for her new easel).  Abby Kate got a new Pinkalicious tricycle, a baby doll, some building blocks, and a new Magna-doodle.  Elizabeth got her first pillow pet and a Minnie Mouse purse that plays music.

 Good morning, girls!

 Abby Kate was so excited about her new building blocks.  She's been playing with an alphabet set we have a lot lately, and decided that would be better than a Spiderman costume.  (She'd requested a Spiderman costume multiple times in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I'm not sure what that was about, but I'm glad she changed her mind at the last minute)!

 Ready to ride!

 Elizabeth was thrilled with her gifts.

 Ready to get this thing out of the box!

 Christa was really excited to get some wax juice candy.  She's been saying it's her favorite for about a month.

 Sweet baby Elizabeth!

 Elizabeth had the cutest pose, whenever I pulled the camera out and prepared to take a picture.  I was glad to catch this one!

 Two growing girls!

 I wonder how long they'll let me dress them in matching pajamas the night before....

 Family Christmas morning picture....

 .... followed by more attempts at pictures with Aunt Alicia.  (Mimi and she came over to see the girls on Christmas morning).

 OK, we'll make this one a sisters picture, too!  Uncle Brandon was in town, too, and we didn't purposely leave him out of all the pictures.  He had a big project for work that he had to do, so we didn't see too much of him this trip.

 We decided to spend  most of the rest of the day at our own house.  Cline's entire side of the family came over for the day, and it was very fun and relaxing!  Between all of us, we had quite a feast.  There were cheese grits, breakfast casserole, hashbrown casserole, country fried ham, biscuits, gravy, cheese ring, artichoke dip, ambrosia.... all of the traditional family favorites!

The kids look pretty happy so far.  Elizabeth was napping during this time.

 

We spent the evening at Cline's grandmother, Momese's, house.  

Another cousins picture, minus William who had crashed by this point.

Christa got this great new apron!!  She loves to help me cook, and her favorite TV channel is currently the Food Network!

Abby Kate was excited to get a Belle dress!  

 Elizabeth got a smaller pillow pet and a new charm for her charm bracelet.  We broke our "no pacifier outside of the crib" rule, given the late hour and long, rainy day.

It was a great Christmas for all of us!  We are so blessed.

Christmas Eve 2012

Hello again, all!  This Christmas Eve was the best one we've had in years (well, except for the fact that Cline had to work).  Aunt Alicia and her husband moved back to Dallas, TX this year, from Miami, where she was unable to get any vacation time over the Christmas Holidays.  Since she's now back in the corporate office, they were able to travel.  The girls and I followed our "normal" tradition most years, going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at my parents' church.

 Sweet girls!!  We spent a lot of time over the last month talking about how important Christmas is - not because of presents or good food or fun things to do, although those are all good and fun things.  We are so thankful that Jesus was born, and we get to celebrate that every year!

 Although we discussed and understood the true meaning of Christmas, the girls were still pretty excited about opening presents :)

 Mimi and Pa got Christa this great art easel.  She couldn't wait to use it.

 Abby Kate got some great things, but was especially excited about more clothes to change into!!  It's a good thing her Aunt is in the fashion industry; we got the hookup!

Elizabeth was perfectly happy to chew on a sucker while the rest of us exchanged presents.

It was a great Christmas Eve!!

Almost Christmas

Finally, school got out, and the activities wrapped up for the year.  The girls and I enjoyed a couple of days at home before Aunt Alicia arrived to town!!

 We have a great ottoman in our den, and the girls have thought of all sorts of fun ways to use it!

 We finally got around to our baking.  Here are the girls unwrapping Rolos for our pretzel turtles.  Yum!

 The day before Christmas Eve was a Sunday this year.  The girls looked especially cute in their pre-Christmas outfits!

 The only way we could get them to all look at the camera at the same time was to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It."

 Elizabeth just doesn't cooperate with our pictures sometimes.  She was still getting used to Aunt Alicia, despite the pep talks I'd had with all of the girls, instructing them to lavish her with immediate love and affection (per her request)!

 Sometimes Mom just has to join the picture!

 A decent family shot.

Now everyone loves Aunt Alicia!!