Getting into the Christmas Spirit

We just finished a great weekend packed with fun activities.  Friday evening we went to a drive through live nativity at a church here in town.  There were live donkeys and llamas, which was exciting for the kids.  It was set up so that we drove through each scene, tuned our radio to have audio, and never left our car the entire time.  I was most excited for us all to get a visual of that night in Bethlehem with Christ was born.  Since it was going to be a warm evening in the car the girls got to dress themselves in whatever cozy clothes they wanted.  Complete with coordinating headbands, nice. 

 Saturday morning we went to a friend's birthday party at our preschool playground (which is in their neighborhood)  There was a bouncy house, which made for and lot of toddler dog piles and laughter.  

 Then Saturday evening we went to our friends', the Powells', annual gingerbread house decorating party.  Here is Parks working hard on our Pink Palace.  

 Did I mention that our lovely hostess had a baby on Wednesday?!  This is an annual, much-loved, party, so there was no skipping it.  She made all of the gingerbread houses and the soup we had for dinner in advance.  It was impressive! 

 The Lanier's Ski Cottage

 The Thomas' School Bus

 This is the inside of the Phelps' winning house.  Can you believe this thing?  Yes, that's his Iphone set up as a moving fire place, a Christmas tree complete with wrapped presents, stockings hung, and food on the table.  The  Phelps are always so creative.  

 Here's our finished palace.

 Before the voting we each got to go around and tell the story that goes with our house.  Here is Caroline singing "the Wheels on the Bus" which added a huge cute factor and almost secured them the win.  

 Here is the brand new little man himself, Charlie Powell, just 3 days old.  Precious.

 Ben and Charlotte sneaking candy at the end of the night.  Charlotte and Lily Kate kept asking me when we got to eat the houses.  It seems like total nonsense to a little kid that we would decorate a cookie house with candy and frosting and not eat it at the end.  

 And to close up the weekend I made these this afternoon for Charlotte's class snack tomorrow.  

 Here's my helper.  Merry Christmas, hope you're getting into the spirit at your home!

Comparisons

Here are some shots of all three girls at the same age, 4 1/2 months.  To me it is very obvious who is who but, if you aren't sure, Lily Kate, then Charlotte, and then Hadley (pic from today).  Hadley definitely looks different than the other two, in my opinion.  Her forehead is different and her hair is much lighter.   Kate is clearly the chunkiest :)  They do all three have the same little chin!  To me, Kate looks most like me, Hadley looks most like Parks and Charlotte is the hybrid.  

What we've been up to...

Lily Kate's class went on a field trip to the bowling alley.  It was really cute to watch the kids interact.  I love seeing her with her friends.  She loves them.  There is lots of giggling, hugging, song-singing, and running from the boys.  So funny!  Based on her skill level, I'm not likely to recommend bowling as a hobby just yet, but maybe in a few years.

 Lily Kate also went to Maddie's birthday party.  Maddie had a daytime slumber party, it was a great idea!  They ate breakfast (complete with a cake made of stacked pink donuts!), read books, got pedicures, and watched a movie.  I love the idea & the girls had a great time!

 Not to be left out, Charlotte & Hadley are having fun too :)

Attempts

Every once in a while I will line the girls up and try to entertain them in some way while I attempt to get a good picture of the three of them.  I'm telling you it is an impossible feat.  It always makes me laugh to go back through them

 Silly face... eyes closed...

 crying...

checking out belly button??  "I'm over this" smile..... and lost one all together..

Family

"The big girls"

 Henry, Connor, & Will

 Parks & Hadley

Me & Kate

New Cousins

The newest cousins, Hadley and Connor.  Connor is just adorable.  I'm surprised he isn't smiling in these shots because he is giggling most of the time.  Lily Kate calls him "Big Buddy".  He's a sweet chunk of love!

Chattanooga Children's Museum

We had a wonderful time in Chattanooga with Parks' family this past week.  It was really a treasure for us all to be together.  We went to the Chatt Children's museum, which the kiddos loved.  

 Lily Kate and Lillian are inseparable, they are two peas in a pod, so similar in so many ways.  They really love each other.  We have started letting them video chat some on the IPADs and they will spend half an hour talking about their toys and what they did that day, it's really cute.  Lillian will be 4 in two weeks so she is just 1 year younger than Lily Kate.  

 Charlotte doing what she does best, dancing.  

 Hadley with Granmar (Parks' grandmother) & her Soni (Parks' mom) 

Introducing Eva

This is Eva Gerstmyer.  Isn't she precious!?  I have been dying to meet her.  On our way to TN we drove through Winston Salem to visit with my long-time friend, Lauren & her husband, Brad.  Their daughter, Eva Elizabeth, was only 2 weeks old.  When you have a 2 week old the thing you want most is the Carpenters with their rowdy kiddos to come stay with you, right?  They were very gracious to let us come visit.  We love them very much.  

Thanksgiving Preschool Program

I can't sing the praises of Lily Kate and Charlotte's preschool enough!  I love it.  They have great teachers and they love going.  Last Friday Lily Kate's class had a Thanksgiving program.  There she is in the center, all smiles.  

 Here we are visiting Charlotte in her class.  

 Lily Kate and Nadia, one of her buddies, at the "Pie Party" - now that's my kind of party.

Birthday Parties

So, I get a failing grade on picture taking for the last few weeks.  I cart my camera around to the places I go but I also cart around 3 kiddos and usually it never leaves the diaper bag.  I have good intentions.  Last week we celebrated Ben Phelp's birthday.  I have no pictures of Ben at all, of course.  This top picture of Charlotte and Samuel, two peas in a pod, is adorable.  Grace took it :)  The only 2 pictures I took were of the cute frog cupcakes that Sherry made and of Charlotte showing us hers.  

 This afternoon we went to Maggie Dorosko's birthday party at the gymnastics gym.  Again, no pictures of Maggie, no pictures of her awesome cake (which Wrenn made to look like Rapunzel's tower!), about 11 completely blurry pictures of Charlotte jumping into the pit of foam blocks, and these three, which aren't too bad.  

Hannah & Lily Kate cheesing for us,  LK on this really awesome swing (that parents aren't allowed to ride), and Hadley and her giant cheeks!
Happy Birthday, friends!

Sweet Snuggles

Sweet Babbles

Here is our sweet Hadley doing what she does best.  Were you able to overlook the facts that our house sounds like a pool hall (block towers falling down on hardwood floors) and that apparently we leave our fridge wide open for periods of time?  Ooops.

Quality Time

Every afternoon Charlotte takes a 2-3 hr nap. This leaves a big chunk of time for Lily Kate and Hadley to hang out every day.  They really love each other.  

Preschool Day at the Fair

Our local fair had "preschool day" last week.  It really is a brilliant concept: a cheaper fee to enter, they don't even open the rides that the kids can't go on, nor do they open the booths that sell $7 funnel cake or give you a chance to spend $20 to win a goldfish.  Thank you, fair, for not making me think of creative ways to say "no" all day long.  We had a great time as a family, laughing a LOT and bumping into friends all day.  Here's an example of how a picture turns out when you make a 2 year old take a picture she doesn't want to take.  :)

 You think that bow is big enough?  

 Charlotte's favorite ride was the "merical round".  We rode it 4 times throughout the morning and she was just as excited every time.  No one tell her we have of these in our mall, just down the street from our house.

 Our fist attempt of millions at a "girl shot".  Charlotte is rubbing her eye and I'm pretty sure Lily Kate is twisting Hadley's wrist.  Give us a couple years, we'll get a good shot.