More Christmas Celebrations

We continued our Christmas celebrations at Steve and Emily's after church on the 23rd.  Callen sang with her Sunday School class in the service at church, so we all attended together and then went to Emily & Steve's for a lovely lunch.

We got these three to snap a few pictures before we ate.

 Carter is a sweet big cousin. He loves to love on LE.

 Christmas Eve, I asked C&C to take a few pictures in their "church clothes" in front of the Christmas tree.  They obliged long enough for me to get at least one good one...

 and then the sillies came out.

 That evening, we had Mom & Dad, Button, Ken & LE over for dinner, so we snapped another picture of the three of them.

 This is my two on Christmas morning before all of the ripping of paper started!

 After opening stockings...

 Ready to open the presents under the tree.

 Carter loved his new UA jersey...and has worn it every day since.

 Callen received a UA cheerleading outfit...gearing up for the big NC game coming up!

 It seemed they must have been really good this year because Santa seemed to bring all of the items they requested!

We capped off our Christmas morning with a yummy cinnamon roll, sausage and cranberry apple breakfast.  Callen suggested that we pretend our cinnamon rolls were cupcakes and so we put candles in them to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  It was a wonderful Christmas celebration!

Gymnastics Twins

The Saturday before Christmas, we headed to Decatur to celebrate with Nick's family.  We started off with a delicious breakfast to kick off the annual Christmas Bingo at Popsy and Gigi's house.  This was the first year that Carter was really into it.  He was excited to score a nerf gun, jelly beans and some movies!

After Bingo, we went over to Debbie's to celebrate Christmas.  We had a yummy pizza dinner and then  got to open gifts.  Debbie got Mary Reese and Callen matching green sparkle leotards for them to wear for gymnastics!

Modeling the matching leotards {with matching scrunchies!}

  with Debbie!

 Doing the butterfly

We had a fun time celebrating Christmas in Decatur!

Callen's Christmas Program

In December, Callen's school {also where Carter goes for after-school}, hosted a Santa breakfast for the families.  It was so great!  They had it from 7-9am so that the school age children could come also before school.  We went by...Callen wanted to take a picture with Santa, but Carter said he had already taken one so he didn't need to take another one!

A couple of days later, the preschool classes held a Christmas program.  Callen had been reciting her poems and singing songs for a few weeks in preparation.  {she is on the middle row, second from the right below...next to the child with the white bow}.

 They did a great job and the program was very sweet!  After the program, they hosted us to a reception in their room.  She was excited to show me all of the crafts they had created!

 She loved her "Callen elf" as she called it.  It is now hanging in her room! 

Callen with two of her sweet friends after the program.  

We love VDS!

Merry Christmas from us!

We're hoping that you already received your Christmas card from us, but in case you didn't, I thought I'd share it with you here!

The North Pole Ex.press

In early December, we were able to join all of our cousins on the Willis side for a trip on the North Pole express.  Unfortunately, because we booked our tickets at different times, we weren't on the same train car as the rest of the crew, but we had a fun time traveling to the North Pole to see Santa.

All the Willis cousins before the train ride.

Carter and Callen with their train tickets.

Callen sat with Daddy, 

 while Carter sat with me.

 Once we made it to the North Pole, the elves came by first and gave us keys and north pole ex.press ornaments.  

Then, Santa and Mrs. Claus came through to visit with us!

After we visited with Santa and Mrs. Claus, we were treated to cookies and chocolate milk for our ride back to the station!

The Second Half of 2012

I am sure that no one is reading this anymore since I haven't posted since May!  However, we did have a busy summer and fall {which I hope is obvious from the lack of posting!}.  Rather than posting about each and every fun event and activity, I figured I'd capture the last six months in pictures to catch up!

At the end of May, we went down to the beach for Memorial Day.  LE was indoctrinated into the beach life with her own toe-dipping.

We spent lots of time at the beach around the 4th of July and at then end of August, right after school started, we celebrated Callen's 3rd birthday and Carter's 5th with a pool party.

 Nick and I were fortunate enough to take two fun trips.  The first was to Grand Cay.man.

 And then we headed west to Napa Valley.  Very different trips, but both very enjoyable!

 Carter started Kindergarten.  Below, he is with his teacher, Ms. Wilson on meet the teacher day.

 Callen started 3K at a new school the same day that Carter started Kindergarten. She is loving it and growing and learning so much!

 This is Carter walking into school on the first day.  He really wanted me to drop him off through carpool, but I couldn't bring myself to do it!  We got about 10 steps from the door, and he asked me if I could stop!  I reminded myself to be thankful for the independence and the confidence!

 Halloween had us pulling out our pixie dust and our toy box, as Callen was Tinker.bell and Carter was Woody.

In early November, we witnessed LE's baptism.

 Callen and LE posing for a picture after the service.  Carter had to leave early for a soccer game, so he missed out on the pictures.

Whew.  Ok, so there were many other fun moments but I think they were captured on my cell phone!  I will do separate posts on some of our Christmas fun activities.  But, that should catch up anyone who was wondering if we are still around!

Headed Home

I think this was how we all felt after a great week at Dis.ney World!

Last Day at Dis.ney World

On our last day, we opted to spend more time at the MK again.  We got their early so that we could be there for the official park opening.  Carter and Callen enjoyed seeing the characters ride in on the train and   dance to the music.

Once we could enter, we headed straight to Pixie Hollow to meet Tinker.bell, who was the one person we wanted to meet but had not yet gotten to see.  We waited just a little bit and then it was our turn.

After we left Pixie Hollow, we headed to the Pirate ride so that we could do that again for Callen--she loved it!

Then, on to Splash Mountain.  Nick managed to convince Carter to ride again!  This was right after the plunge down into the briar patch...Carter and Nick are in the back of this log. {sorry, my camera settings were off!}

We spent the day riding our favorite rides at MK and enjoying our last day in a somewhat leisurely manner.  This was by far the busiest day in the parks of our whole trip, but, then again, it was a Friday, so I am not totally surprised.

Taking a pic with Zurg after the Buzz ride.

We stopped for a late lunch at Casey's Cor.ner and there was a tall table available, but we could quite figure out how to the children would manage to eat.  Turns, out the window sill was just the right size! {don't worry...Callen didn't eat the food that is on the actual sill!}

After lunch, we asked Carter and Callen if there were any other rides they wanted to ride...it seemed they preferred to play in the fountain!  It was hot, so I can't say I blame them!

We headed back to the hotel to take naps, and when they woke up we let them pick which evening activity they wanted to do again {we had done all of them by this time}.  They picked Fatas.mic at Holly.wood Studios, or as they called it, "Mickey saves the Day!"

We headed over to Epcot for a quick dinner in Morocco and then walked over to Holly.wood Studios.  We grabbed our light up toys, got some ice cream for a snack and then headed in to enjoy watching Mickey save the day again!

 They loved it!  After Fantas.mic, we headed to Epcot because they were having Magic Hours.  We rode the Nemo ride a few more times and then decided to head back to the hotel...exhausted and thrilled by a wonderful week at Dis.ney World!