Santa's Village

We have planned to go to Santa's Village several times during the month of December, but got rained out everytime. We finally got to go the Tuesday before Christmas and so did everyone else! It was so crowded that it was miserable. We could barely move. We didn't even get to see Santa because the line was so long I knew Anna Beth would never wait that long.


We did get to:

Write a Letter to Santa




See the Reindeer




Decorate a Cookie




Make snowman pictures

Have a good time with Mommy & Daddy!

O' Christmas Tree

I did not commit to doing the December Daily because everyone knows I usually only post about once a month. I know, I'm not doing very well at this blogging thing. This year I managed to get up two Christmas trees. I wanted to share Anna Beth's bedroom tree. I went with a pink and green theme. I think it turned out really cute. I posted some of my favorite ornaments on her tree.

Happy Birthday Princess Lillian

Friday night we all gathered at Lane's Salon to celebrate Lillian's 3rd Birthday. Such a WONDERFUL idea! There is nothing Anna Beth loves more than make-up and getting her fingernails painted. I have a feeling this is a bad sign for things to come! Teenage years may be very expensive! Anyway, the girls had so much fun! Thanks to all of the girls at the salon for being so patient with all of our little princesses!




The Sweet Birthday Girl





Getting our nails painted





Next, it's time for make-up



Lookin' Good



Hair Time




Finished Product

Anna Beth and Santa

Every year Santa comes to visit all the children at the daycare where I work. He is just the sweetest little ole Santa you'll ever see! Just about all the kids love him. Anna Beth walked up to him and talked to him, but would not sit in his lap. After all of the kids visited with Santa, he read Twas the Night Before Christmas to them and stayed for snack time. During this time, my dad shows up to get Anna Beth. I told Anna Beth to tell Santa bye. She looks at him with the biggest grin and says "Bye Santa Claus! See you later!" and runs and gives him a big hug. I had already taken my camera to my office and missed a great photo opportunity. The hug lasted about 5 seconds and she realized she was in Santa's lap and was finished with the whole hugging thing. Maybe next year she will sit in his lap.

Christmas Parade

Why is it FREEZING every year for the Athens Christmas parade?!!! This year was no exception. We debated on whether to go and finally decided to just bundle up and bear it! I'm glad we did! Anna Beth had a ball. She waved to everyone that came by. She loved it!

Thanksgiving 2009

This year was the second year in a row that our family in Birmingham came to Athens for Thanksgiving. It is so much easier on us to not have to travel that day. We had lunch with Matt's family and supper with mine.

Here is picture of us Thanksgiving morning

Anna Beth & Destiny

Gatlinburg

A couple of weeks ago, Matt, Anna Beth, and I went to the mountains for a long weekend. We had so much fun together. Anna Beth was the most well behaved little girl the entire trip! No spankings occurred the entire weekend! It was really nice (for us and for her I'm sure)


Day 1


Pulling into Pigeon Forge, we decided our first stop had to be the Applebarn for lunch. We absolutely LOVE that place!

Day 2

We drove over the mountain to Cherokee in hopes of seeing an Indian. Unfortunately, Cherokee pretty much shuts down from the first of November until the first of May so we did not see any Indians. On the way over, we stopped at Newfound Gap. We missed the peak of the turning of the leaves, but it was still a beautiful view. For some crazy reason, on the way back from Cherokee, we decided we would hike to Clingman's Dome. For those of you who have not ever done this, it is a 1/2 mile hike to the highest point. Sounds easy, right? Well, the hike is at least at a 45 degree incline. Matt pushed Anna Beth the whole way up in her stroller. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest by the time we got to the top and Matt thought he was dying! Lots to laugh about on the way up and back down!

Anna Beth has a love for cameras. If she ever gets her hands on mine, she goes around the house snapping pictures of anybody and anything. She wanted to take our picture in front of the teepee. Turned out pretty good for a 2 year old!

On the way back to Gatlinburg, we saw a black bear eating up in the woods. It was right at dusk, so we did not get a very good picture.

Day 3
We had lunch at the Old Mill. We had never eaten there before and it was really good. Then we spent the afternoon in Cades Cove. We let Anna Beth out of her car seat in Cades Cove since top speed is never over 10 mph so she could see better. She thought she was big stuff sitting with us.

Snack Time:

Sorry this is such a long post! We had such a wonderful time together!

Halloween

Halloween this year was a little on the boring side! Our halloween party at the Smith's was cancelled due to rainy weather, so we set out to trick or treat. We only went to my parents and grandparents and Matt's parents house. Next year we may hit up a subdivision or two!

Our new "television"

As many of you know, Al bought a projector to use with his power point at church. Well, between Matt & Al, they decided they could hook the projector up to the television and project the football games onto the wall. To take that one step furthur, they realized they could watch two football games at one time (one on the television and one on the projector.) Our ceilings in the den are 10 feet tall, so it makes a pretty big screen! I have to admit it is pretty great watching life size football. As long as my living room gets arranged back the way it belongs after the game! :-)

Notice how small our flat screen looks in comparison to the projection!

Happy Birthday Destiny!

On October 13th, our niece Destiny turned 2! We celebrated with a "Hungry Catepillar" party!

Burns/Looney Road Trip

A few months ago, Matt came home from work and told me we were now the owners of season tickets for the Ole Miss Rebels. "Why?" I asked. "I don't want to go to their games!" Well, you see, Matt and Al had been talking to good ole Jay Looney and they had decided to purchase Ole Miss season tickets so we could have tickets to the Alabama/Ole Miss game. I thought this was a ridiculous idea at the time. However, Jay sold all of our tickets for enough profit that we were able to go to our game practically free. So, on this ONE occasion, I guess I would have to say the guys were right :-) We had such a wonderful time! When you get the 6 of us together, we are destined to have a good time! We rented a van to go to Oxford in so we could all ride together. The weather was absolutely miserable. It was cold and there was a heavy mist for part of the game. It wasn't a pretty win by any means, but it was win! Roll Tide!

Lauderdale County's Homecoming

At the beginning of October, my Alma Mater had their Homecoming. The parade route runs right in front of the daycare so we always are able to take the children outside for the parade. I was worried that Anna Beth would be scared of the loud sirens, but she loved it. She was especially amazed by the Tiger mascot that walked with the parade.