Christmas Eve!!!!!!

We enjoyed a yummy ham dinner when we suddenly heard jingle bells!!! What could it be? 

Santa! Checking on us to make sure we were eating our dinner and getting ready for bed! He said he'll be back later!!! 

Quinn was NOT happy. Did not want to be put down. 

And look what he left on the front porch! A Christmas Eve box with Christmas jammies, the book, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and reindeer food. 

This was Quinn's face when we told him we were goig back outside to spread reindeer food, he was scared that man in the red suit was still going to be out there, ha! 

Then it was bath & jammie time. 

And family book time before bed. 

Milk & cookies are out. Now it's mommy & daddy time. Watching the movie, The Holiday and enjoying a drink. Later when it's safe we'll put the fire out so it's safe for Santa to come down. 

Early morning

Anna likes to do her reading eggs work on the computer every morning and this morning Quinn wanted to be a part of it too. As of now he is sitting still and listening. 

Tough Kiddo

Over TG break Quinn had all 4 canine teeth come in at the same time, sharp!

Last night, we get a glimpse into Quinn's mouth and what do we see? 4 molars (2 on the top & 2 on the bottom) coming through. What is up with this kid getting all 4 teeth at the same time?!? What a trooper.

This morning, Quinn falls (as usual) but busts open top & bottom lip, huge fat lip.

He really has a high pain tolerance.

Gingerbread fun!

Airlie gardens

Snuggling with Syd

Anna's School Pictures

Here is one of Anna's school pictures, will upload the other later. Quinn of course would not sit for pictures.

Our TG Vacation

Tuesday:

Anna & Quinn had a sleep over at Gram & Pop's Monday night so when they woke up they could all head to the mountains. Greg and I went to work :( When Greg got off, he picked me up and we drove out there together. Very thankful that Mom and Dad took the kids earlier in the day, it was a looong night of driving with a lot of traffic and rain. When we got there, both kids were asleep but Aim said that they came out of their beds quite a bit before finally falling asleep - both loving the bunk beds. 

Wednesday:

Woke up to this! A white out! Lets get outside! We played outside for the morning, but didn't have much to sled with, we tried a cookie sheet and a cardboard box but they didn't work so well. Quinn liked being outside but only if he was being held. Figures! And Sydney, such a snow-mountain dog. She stayed out the whole time with us, if we took a a long walk down the mountain she was right there, into the woods, there was Sydney. We know she loves the woods, but thought she'd get cold with the snow, not a chance. 

Later in the afternoon, Dad, Mom, Aim and I took a trip to the grocery store for a few last minute things for TG dinner. We did OK getting down the mountain but coming back up we got stuck! Luckily we bough a nice big sled at the grocery store, so we just loaded it up and pulled our groceries back up to our house. We parked the truck right where it got stuck and went back the next day to get it. Love adventures! 

Thursday: 

Happy Thanksgiving! We enjoyed some nice quiet time today, along with more snow time.Quinn enjoyed the new toy bin with toys that make sound, oohhh! Sydney and I enjoyed some snuggle time after our outside hike. Our Thanksgiving was wonderful as usual, stuffed our bellies, ate too much pie, and all went to bed early, after watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving first! 

Friday:

We were always the first people in the house awake each morning, right around sunrise time, here is a glimpse of what we looked like -tired while the others were WIDE awake. When it was a normal waking hour, we let Quinn and Anna venture upstairs to wake the g'rents. We were all able to venture out since most of the snow on the roads melted. We went to the Mast General Store and looked around, always a good time and left with bags of candy. After that we went and walked around Boone, in and out of shops. And then took another scenic route home, we just love mountain roads & towns. Sometimes I wish I lived out there. Coast or mountains, such a hard choice? 

Saturday: 

We headed out again to Beech Mountain for a craft fair, a wild mountain ride! The roads never cease to amaze us! After shopping around we went outside to this neat rope playground and had some fun. Then it as onto our FAVORITE part of TG break - THE CHRISTMAS TREE FARM! Of course, our car couldn't get up the hillside (Greg and I have already begun to research practical cars for the mountains since we'll be coming back a lot), so we began to hike up to the farm, then it was Pop to the rescue, he picked us up and drove us up the rest of the way. It was such a cute tree farm, run by a family with their mountain house right next door -such nice people and a homegrown experience. We had a big yellow stick to measure our trees height, then when we found the right now, the men came and chopped it down and drove it back to our car. We filled out last night with book reading and the Mighty Ducks movie, and more leftovers of course! 

Sunday:

Goodbye mountains, until next time. 

Thankful for the experiences the mountains provide us with - solitude. 

Thankful for family near and far. 

Thankful for our children. 

Thankful for HELP with our children.

Thankful for excitement to come. 

Thankful for memories made.

Thankful.