More Christmas Fun

Christmas Morning (around 9o'clock) we loaded up and went to eat breakfast with all of our family at Nana and Papa's house. The kids were so excited telling each other what Santa had brought. Time to eat--There is nothing better than gravy and biscuits, eggs, and bacon. YUMMY!!





The rest of the day was playing , playing, and more playing.... That night More food at Nana and Papa's . (dressing, turkey, mac and cheese, corn casserole, and lots of desserts). Christmas Day was a fun day - I think everyone got exactly what they wanted!

The day after Christmas, the family went to Mamaw's house for her "famous" country breakfast. Penny entertained Mamaw and everyone else.



One more Christmas get together- my brother, Christopher and his fiance, Ashley came over for supper and presents. They brought Penny a



and Sam a








What a wonderful end to our Christmas - now time to get back to normal (got to take the tree down and find a home for all these new toys and clothes).

Santa came to the Smith's

You better not pout, You better not cry, cause Santa Clause is coming to town... That is what we have been pounding into the kids all month hoping they would act nicer to one another (not sure that worked). I was sure worried this year he might just skip over our house????

Shawn and I heard Sam asking Jordan around 5:45 "is it close to 6'o clock?" Don't remember how much longer they talked before heading into our room, ready to go see what Santa brought. I let Jordan go wake up Penny.


1-2-3- GO!!
First thing I heard from Sam "I got my Field goal post"!! WooooHooo.


(ipod Nano, Farve shirt, AL sheets, Lego Star Wars, poster of Ingram, and a quesadilla maker)

Penny just started screaming -yelling about everything.




(shoes, play dough, clothes, doll, and changing table, grocery cart, and tree house)

Jordan was very happy to see Itouch Ipod in her Santa pile.




(shirts, big purple purse, fondue maker, Vera Bradley "Morgan" purse, Vera Bradley notebook and pen/highlighter, and pj pants)

Well thank goodness Santa did visit the Smith House!!


When we finished looking at what Santa brought we let the kids open presents from one another. Jordan had done shopping at home so she brought her gifts: she gave Sam a Transformer and Penny a Hello Kitty cell phone; Penny gave Sam a Bible and yo-yo and she gave Jordan a necklace and braclets; (Shawn took Sam shopping at Target and Sam PICKED out everything by himself) Sam gave Jordan silly socks, Penny a Hello Kitty art kit, and he gave me (his mom) scarf and gloves. Why is it that no matter what Santa brings kids LOVE to open presents and it is so fun to sit and watch their faces.

Christmas Eve

It is so hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone but I can not let the New Year begin without blogging about our few days of food, presents, and enjoying family.

Christmas Eve is a very special night at our church- we have a candlelight service that I love to go to every year(Jordan and Shawn stayed at Nana and Papa's house- because she has a


on her foot.

I LOVE when we sing Away in the Manger and Silent Night holding our candles high in the air. (Penny had a problem with not understanding WHY she could not take communion- she keep saying out loud "I'm hungry and I'm thirsty- then she kicked several times and then made me spill the grape juice in the palm of my hand. Needless to say at that point I was telling her that Santa was skipping her house. When we left the service we went to Nana and Papa's. For the last two years we have let the cousins draw names and swap presents- this is fun to see what they buy for each other.


Sam gave Patrick a AL shirt and Smith gave Sam AL shirt and nurf gun.





Jordan gave Callie Vera Bradley tech bag; Callie gave Jordan silly socks and silly banz





Penny gave Patton a basketball and Patton gave Penny and bath baby doll and clothes.





Then Nana gave out "Stockings"!!



Right before we sat down to eat supper Jordan wrote the "blessing" for all the cousins to say- it was beautiful. Penny even was invovled (she got very upset when her paper only had one word on it Amen so Aunt Michelle had to write a "big" part to make her happy).


As Sam says "Now for the good part" present time-






(items to remember: Jordan- Vera Bradley lunch box, Vera Bradley purse; Sam- energy necklace, Wii game; Penny- room stuff, baby drink a bottle.


The weather had gotten really bad with high winds and a down pour- I was soaking wet putting all our presents in the car (it was pretty fun watching Shawn helping Jordan get to the car -we tied a garbage bag around her leg just so it would not get wet.

At home we fixed Santa his cookies and milk and left food for the reindeer. Now time for BED!!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Cookies

Every year I say I am going to attempt to cook my mothers two cookie recipes, but for the last few years slice and bake has served the purpose. Well this year was going to be different - when Patton and Smith came over (while they had a running group party) I had everything ready to start the Peanut Butter cookies. The four kids help with the peanut butter dough irolling into balls and then using a fork to flatten them for baking. I think there favorite part was using the flour- it seemed to get on them some how????
While we were cooking peanut butter cookies we started our pretzels dipped in white chocolate. The kids added the sprinkles (and they really added sprinkles).
Our last cookie was a tea cake cookie- they loved getting to play with the dough and using cookie cutters.
This was a tradition that I will never forget while I was younger and I hope to continue it with my children each Christmas season.

Another Elf?????

Yes we seem to have found another elf at our house-

Sammy Elf got this hat on his field trip and ever since he has been walking around "making elf messes". It is hard to catch him in the act because ever time we see him he is frozen still. I am really getting tried of all this elf "mischief!!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Penny had her Christmas Party on Friday. They made angel shirts and all wore them that day for the party.

Penny and her class have been very busy learning about Mary and Joesph and baby Jesus. It has been so wonderful to hear her tell all about the night Jesus was born in a manger.
She had a wonderful party with lots of great snacks,

even a birthday cake so they could sing happy birthday Jesus.


Mrs. Ann and Mrs. Christy had lots of goodies for them to take home. It was a fun party and Penny always loves a good party!!

Sam's Field Trip

On the last day of school (before Christmas vacation) Sam has his first field trip of first grade. They loaded the bus around 8:15 heading to there fist stop: Constitution Village. I was not there during the tour of the village (but that was OK because I had been there last year with Sam when Shawn ran in the Rudolph Run). The next stop was Early Works, this is where they learned lots about how to be a good elf. When I meet up with the class they were enjoying an elf snack.

Then headed in to meet all the other classes from Ben Davis to receive their diploma from Elf University.



Back on the bus for the last stop of the day: The Train Depot. We started the tour with a lesson on how to train the reindeer. Tinka taught us how Santa helps his reindeer follow directions- the moms got to participate in this activity.

Then we enjoyed a trip to Whooville,


and seating on the train listening to the story, The Polar Express.



They also enjoy looking at a HUGE display of Christmas Villages.



What a fun trip to finish the first semester of first grade.

Sam's Christmas Party

Sam's first grade class had an awesome Christmas party (one of the BEST I have ever been to). The homeroom mom had a craft for the kids to do and we were ready to pass out the food as soon as that was over. They even had an "estimation station" to guess how many pepermints were in the jar (190).


Then they passed out their stocking buckets (**teacher friends, this was a great idea each child brought in some type of Christmas item:ex- pencils, candy, books, straws,etc...) each kid had the same thing in their bucket. No five dollar gift and No crying and fussing about what each other got.


Sam brought everyone three of the hottest items that kids want right now- Silly Bandz!!


Wow who in the world thought of this rubber bands that turn into shapes.

Christmas Program @ FBC

On Wednesday, we went to see the Christmas Program at First Baptist. Sam had been chosen to be the Shepard in the "nativity scene". They worked so hard on the songs, it was a wonderful time to get ourselves in the mood for the upcoming Christmas season.

Up on the House Top

On Monday of this week, I got a text letting me know Santa was on the roof on Woodmont!! We were already in our comfy clothes but that sure did not stop us from jumping into our car and heading over to see him.
As we pulled up to his house Penny gasped with such excitement and Sam was yelling Yo' What's up Santa??

We got out to move closer to see him when all the sudden he calls out "Hello Penny and Sam", I think they both froze and looked at me with "big" eyes trying to understand HOW he just called them by name.


Santa also could not believe how much they had grown since last year. They shouted out a couple of things they would love for Christmas (Penny was so silly she could hardly even talk). It is so exciting to have Santa visit Decatur during his busiest time of the year.

Going to Church

On Sunday we were actually on Time for church!! I even had time to snap a few pictures of the kids in front of our Christmas Tree.