Christmas 2010

This year we wound up not being able to go to Maggie Valley to see Justin's parents which was really sad but it was for the better because the weather is super-bad up in Maggie Valley right now and we aren't interested in doing anything dangerous. :)  We wound up spending Christmas morning at our house with Santa and then going to my parent's house for Christmas Eve Mass, yearly tradition ziti and wine and then presents!  We had a great time with my family and received great presents!  Connor doesn't even know what to do with all the love she received from her family and friends.

Well, this is how our wonderful weekend of Christmas festivities went down:
Santa came and Connor was shocked.  I actually don't know if she was more shocked at her gifts or that her Grandma and Grandpa were there.  It really took her a minute to realize that Santa did come and the gifts were for her.  I don't even think she realizes that the gifts that are at home are for her!  We left soon after Santa came to go to my parent's house so she is in for a surprise!

This is Connor making Daddy's gift of her hand print in clay:

 We made cut and bake cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.  They were yummy! And we couldn't forget about the carrot for the reindeer!

 We also opened our Christmas pajamas:

Christmas morning, Connor was able to eat breakfast at her new table and say good morning to her new fish:blub blub blub (we are working with her to name him something different).  We opened gifts and got lots of hugs too!

Christmas day we traveled to Kerri and Justin's house to spend more time with our family and also to steal hugs and kisses from brand-new baby, Matthew:

All in all, we had a wonderful and BUSY weekend.  We just missed out on seeing Justin's side of the family.  I am thankful that we were able to spend so much time with them Thanksgiving.  We hope to see them some time in January.  Merry Christmas 2010!  We had an absolute blast and we hope you did too!

Welcome... Debbie or Maybe Macie!

Meme and Gangy bought Connor a baby doll for Christmas and we decided to let her open a present early.   This is  Connor opening "Debbie".  Actually, Justin suggested the name for this one... Look at how excited she is.  So cool! We are so excited too!

I had to edit this post because after the videos were taken, Connor randomly started calling her new baby doll, Macie.  The name stuck with her the rest of the night and she even insisted on taking Macie to bed with her, while Carol sat all alone in the recliner.  ( I am going to put Carol in her bed too so that when she wakes up she will have both of her baby dolls.) We don't want her to forget about Carol because she has been around her whole life and that would just make Mommy and Daddy sad. 

A Visit with Santa Claus... not so much.

Saturday, the 18th, we visited Santa Claus at the Little Shop of Stories in Decatur.  Someone read "The Polar Express" and then we all had a chance to sit on Santa's lap afterward.  Justin and I didn't know what to expect but felt pretty good about it because she saw Santa in the mall and waved "hi" and "bye" and we have been talking to her about Santa also.  Well, maybe next year...

My parents met us for lunch beforehand along with Jay, Elizabeth, Tuttle and Elizabeth's mom.  It was great!  We ate and then headed to see Santa!  It made for a great afternoon with family, friends and our babies.  I loved the fact that my parents were able to come because I know they love doing stuff like this and Connor loves seeing her Grandma and Grandpa. 

We were hoping that Justin's parents (Meme and Gangy) would be able to come into town since we couldn't get up there due to the weather for Christmas.  We will probably try and go in January, if the weather gets any better up there!

Just Some of my Best Friends...

Connor loves going to daycare.  Partly because of her friends and partly because of her teacher, Ms. Tocarra "Carra".  Tocarra is great.  Connor knows how to count to five and she knows the colors blue, green, yellow and red.  They work a lot with fine motor development too which is great because when we do art projects at home it makes for less of a mess. :)  We are extremely happy with her daycare and love all the teachers there too.

This is Maddie.  Maddie is the little girl that Connor talks about... ALL THE TIME.  Maddie and Connor apparently have a "love-hate" relationship and Tocarra talks about it all the time.  It is funny to see them interact because they don't say anything to each other but they seem to understand what they are both thinking.  Weird, huh?

These are some of her friends.  There are eight children in her class and they seem to all get along fairly well.  There is a little boy, Jeremiah, who is the directors son in her class.  He has cerebral palsy and needs extra attention.  Ms. Tocarra and Ms. D (the director) say that Connor just loves Jeremiah and that she is so gentle with him.  The class calls him "J" or "JJ" but Connor chooses to call him Jeremiah.  Jeremiah is not in the picture because he was eating his snack at the time I took the picture.

If you have no option and your child has to go to daycare, I guess having her in an environment where everyone loves her is the best scenario, right?   We think so!

 

Cookies are for Baking...

I bought the pre-cut cookies from Pillsbury and thought it would be such a neat treat for Connor to use our cookie cutters and then see them baking! She did pretty well. She was totally interested in cutting them and then really liked seeing them bake. We haven't tried them yet but I am sure she is going to love them. Excuse the hair; that is how they returned her to me this afternoon at daycare...

I have another package to do tomorrow and am exci ted because she will have a better idea of the proces s of baking!

Connor's 1st Girls Night!

This year, the girls from our cul-de-sac had a little Christmas party! Or otherwise known as Christmas Girls Night! It was so much fun and since we planned it on a night that Justin was teaching, Connor got to come and stay up late! Justin picked her up when he got home and Mommy stayed to converse with her friends and sip peppermint martinis!

We did a gift exchange, ate and also decorated our Christmas wreaths. It was a productive girls night and I took home plenty of memories! Connor was such a good girl, as always, while she was there. It was great, too, to dress her in Christmas stuff. I love all her dressy clothes which were from my sister.

I can't believe that I actually had enough creativity to decorate the way I did. It came out pretty good (with the help of my friends, of course!) My wreath is the bottom left. Pretty good, huh?


There was not a dress code. Four out of five of us wore grey. Ha!

This is Mel, Fran and Stacie, obviously enjoying the peppermint martinis!

Krystal and Connor. I just LOVE that smile.

She was so excited to be with all the girls. She just ate up all the attention.


We will definitely invite Connor next year! Maybe then, she can stay longer! I just love this little girl. Love, love, LOVE her!

A Message from Santa...

A family member of mine gave me this link to use for Connor. She thought it was so cute and I do too! I don't really think that she will get too much out of it this year but she can recognize Santa and knows that he is very special so it will be neat for her to hear her name and see the pictures that Santa has of her! It is free and is going to definitely be great next year!

Take a look:

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/CrqlviJh4dtKG8b1nwIU1A

A Visit to Work with Meme

Meme is a nurse at a nursing home and we had the opportunity to go visit today! Her nursing home has pets for the residents. It helps those who are in a nursing home environment to feel more at home. Well, Connor had a blast meeting all the animals and also Meme's coworkers.

This cat's name is Grady. He is the old cat that had been there for at least seven years.



Meme was showing Connor the birds here. She kept saying, "chirp, chirp."

These are the feeeeesh and also Marly that she got to meet today.




We didn't want Meme to go to work today so we went to visit her to fill the void. We love you, Meme!

Happy Thanksgiving from Maggie Valley!

We came to Maggie Valley this year for Thanksgiving and have been relaxing the whole time! Connor has had a blast spending time with her aunt and uncle and especially her cousin, Evans. I have been taking pictures like crazy because we don't see Evans too often. We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did and it leaves us with plenty of unforgettable memories. Here are some pictures of our day:

This is the entrance to Meme and Gangy's house:


Connor and Evans after Thanksgiving lunch:


Mommy and her precious little girl:


Justin, Connor and me posing for a family pic!


Evans and Connor waiting for everyone to get situated for a picture. Connor really loves E. It is sweet to see her around him:


Speak no evil, Hear no evil and See no evil... the Horton boys being silly:

Watch me SCHWIMMM Mommy!

Just look at her looking at E. It is so cute.

Connor was finger painting on Justin's toddler table. I can't wait until she is old enough to really start to use this. I don't want to take it home yet because I am just too afraid that she might accidentally do something to it:

50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly!

Every year Justin and I use a local drug store's Christmas photo cards. The past three years the selection has been lacking so I was super excited to hear about Shutterfly's 50 Free holiday photo cards. The selection is awesome and they are soooo cute! Because Connor is getting bigger, we can get a little more creative with our pictures so having a better selection to choose from will only make the Christmas card look all that much better!

I am so happy that I have been introduced to shutterfly because the selections to photo gifts is awesome and seems like it doesn't end. I have numerous friends who use shutterfly so I know that this free offer will definitely be something that they are interested in as well. I think that using Shutterfly for your holiday gifts is so easy and I am actually having fun doing it. I was just telling Justin that I could not wait until a certain couple of people in our family open up their gift from us. Their faces are going to be priceless. And every time I work on the Christmas projects, I get excited!

Here are a couple of my favorite Christmas selections:




I love this one because it will give us the opportunity to capture the year, especially since so much has happened!

I can't say exactly what I am doing on shutterfly for Christmas because I don't want to ruin any surprises but I will share with you what I really enjoy and plan on using with Shutterfly:

Obviously, Christmas cards!

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

I have never ordered return address labels but plan on it this year:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-address-labels

and I just love the idea of gift tags that will match my return address labels and my Christmas cards:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards/ginger-kids-red-gift-tag?sortType=1&storeNode=60313


Thank you Shutterfly! I look forward to continuing partnership with you!