Christmas Morning

My sister and I really wanted Hayes and Emery to experience Santa together, so Ben, Emery and I stayed with Alison, Brian and Hayes on Christmas Eve. Alison and I can't help but treat Hayes and Emery like twins....they're only seven weeks apart and besides, it's what we know! Late at night after two very tired munchkins finally went to sleep, the mommies and daddies stayed up and arranged/assembled their Santa gifts. Such fun! These motorized trucks were the big gift....so funny to see them zoom around chasing each other or pulling each other in the cargo space.

Alison is actually 17 weeks pregnant and is expecting a girl in June! We are so excited for another precious baby to join the family. Although Ben and I had thought we would wait a bit longer before trying for another baby, the pressure is on to give Alison's new baby a "cuz" close in age. YIKES!
The trucks and tricycles

Ben having a late night cocktail while admiring his handiwork

Emery usually sleeps in until at least 8 most mornings, but she was up at 7 on Christmas! How did she know? I tried to stall her and keep her upstairs until Hayes awoke, but she glanced downstairs and saw a new Elmo ball amongst her pile of gifts and it was game over. I had to wake Hayes and my sister. Actually, Emery screaming "Elmo! Elmo! Elmo!" woke them.

Emmy's loot

Cuz and Bobbles on their Mack trucks

Mom, Spark-e and Hayes helped Maddux go through his stocking

I think she's going to be a tomboy

Then again, she does love her new baby doll, stroller and dollhouse....

I think my family's obsession with the Griswolds has reached unhealthy levels. Alison special ordered Clark moose mugs so that we could have "mimoosas" with breakfast.

My brother in law is a huge Vikings fan

See above post. Last year Alison surprised Brian with this huge inflatable Vike. What's that white stuff on the ground!?!?! Atlanta had its first white Christmas in 128 years. I am so glad that this was our year to be in Atlanta so that we could experience this historic southern snow. It really did feel more festive.

Greenville got snow, too! This is what we saw as we pulled in our driveway on the 26th. I never thought I'd get to see my house with snow AND Christmas decorations. That just doesn't happen down here. Usually, if we're going to get any snow it's in February and it's icy, not this pretty and white. But now the snow can go away and warm up. Emery has lots of new outdoor toys she wants to try out!

Merry Christmas! This holiday season has been magical. I know next year will be even better as Emery can begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Eve

This year we celebrated Christmas with my family in Atlanta, which means that Christmas Eve was spent at my Uncle Greg and Aunt Donna's house with all the cousins, second cousins, grandparents and friends. Such a fun evening....Greg and Donna always prepare a spectacular feast and plan something fun for the kids (and the adults!). This year the big surprise was that Santa made a stop at their house and had presents for everyone. We enticed Santa to the house by spreading reindeer food on the lawn after dinner. It worked! Santa's first stop in all of metro Atlanta was on Bollingbrook Road in Marietta. Incredible! The fun for the adults was a gingerbread house contest. I must admit that this contest actually caused much stress for the adults in the week leading up to Christmas Eve, but the end results were pretty spectacular.

Emery received a Mrs. Potato Head from Santa

Donna telling Santa that she has been a good girl this year

Sprinkling the reindeer food outside (birdseed)

Shawn's gingerbread entry is Uga's house.....notice all the mortally wounded SEC mascots bleeding all over the field. Go Dawgs!

The Slagel entry! I attempted to recreate the Griswold house....8805 Skyline Drive, Chicago

Greg and Donna made an exact replica of their own house. Very impressive!

The other entries...check out Alicia's Polar Express train that she made without a kit. I think all but two of the entries were made entirely from scratch. I couldn't believe it. I was kind of banking on the fact that mine was enormous and made without a kit giving me bonus points with the judge, but one of the kit entries actually won. Redo!

Speaking of the Griswolds, my crazy uncle cut down a tree from his own front yard to use as a Christmas tree this year. No squirrels, but he did break the front porch lights when hauling it inside. "Little full, lot of sap."

Kids' Christmas Party

Emery and I recently headed down to Atlanta to attend Sarah and Ragan's Kids' Christmas party. What a splendid afternoon! Ragan and Sarah went all out....delicious lunch, cute sippy cups (snowmen, polar bears, penguins), cookie decorating and lots and lots of toys! Ragan's house is stunning....I hope the party didn't wreak too much havoc. Thanks for having us! My high school friends sure do have some cute kids.
Emmy decorating her cookies (basically she just ate the frosting)

Group shot....the kids were surprisingly obedient during this

Emmy got to see Cuz!

Lunch: Chick-fil-A, PB&J sandwiches cut into Christmas shapes, fruit salad and potato chips. Yum!

December Fun

Emery loves those Office Max "Elf Yourself" videos. I think these might be her favorite part of the holiday season thus far (besides snowmen....more on that in a minute). My sister made a Jib-Jab video using Hayes and Emery as the elves. Emery got such a kick out of it (and so did I) that I made another one using her Slagel cousins, Uncle Jerry and Daddy as the elf faces. It's pretty funny. I would post it on here but it's $4.99 to download and, frankly, I'm just too cheap to shell out five bucks when I can just fire up my email and see the video there.

Emery watching herself and Hayes as elves.....for about the fifteenth time.

As I mentioned above, Emery is obsessed with snowmen this year. She adores them. We have to walk Maddux by our neighbor's house every day so that Emery can wave and point to the enormous inflatable snowman in their yard. I believe Sam's Club sells those huge snowmen and I was tempted to get one, but then I found this smaller version at Publix and decided that this is more my style. The snowman is meant to go outdoors, but Emmy enjoys having it inside.

Going to give the snowman a high five

Emery has become somewhat of a picky eater these past few months. She still eats weird items for a baby (wasabi peas are her favorite and she's also fond of beef jerky), but no longer eats vegetables except when they are in beef stew. Since I'm not about to prepare beef stew every night, I researched how to get your child to eat vegetables. The Sneaky Chef to the rescue! I bought this book at Barnes & Noble and the basic idea is to make vegetable purees and sneak them into your child's meals. It works! I've even been doing it with my food as well because I know for certain that I do not eat as well as I should. We've stocked our freezer with green puree (spinach, peas and broccoli), orange puree (sweet potatoes and carrots), and white puree (zucchini and cauliflower). So far we've added the purees to Spaghettio's, jambalaya, quesadillas, beef stew and berry smoothies. Success! If any of you have picky eaters on your hands, or just want to find ways to sneak more vegetables into your own diet, check out The Sneaky Chef. Above is a picture of Emmy enjoying her smoothie completely oblivious to the fact that it's laced with spinach, peas and broccoli.

Emery attended the first birthday party of Aven and Hudson Kennemore (twins!) last weekend and had her first "Build A Bear" experience. What a great party! Kim arranged for the bear making company (Duck Duck Goose in Greer) to come to their house and outdid herself with the bear-themed party. Emery chose to make a monkey. I don't know what is so special about this monkey, but she takes it everywhere with her! Publix, the playground, Chick-fil-A, gymnastics, etc. Here she is at the birthday party giving her new BFF a hug.

If At First You Don't Succeed......

Before we knew what a disaster Santa at Phipps was going to be, Ben and I made reservations to take Emery to Brunch with Santa at the country club. Thankfully, Emery did a bit better this time. I wasn't able to get any pictures of Emmy on Santa's lap with my own camera, but I'm hopeful that the professional photographer's pictures are worth purchasing. Besides visiting with Santa, we ate a delicious brunch with friends and Emery was able to run around the dining room and lobby with her playmates: Davis, Aven, Hudson and Avery.
Daddy digesting while Emery goes wild

Emery and her future hubby, Davis

Failed attempt at a family Christmas card picture

Festive Maddux

Atticus: "OMG--you look so ridiculous, I can't even look at you."

Maddux: "I know...shut up!"

Santa at Phipps and The Pink Pig

Tis the season to scare the poop out of your children! Alison and I took Hayes and Emery to their Santa at Phipps appointment yesterday, which resulted in panic attacks for the kiddos. Last year they both sat on the jolly guy's lap and smiled. This year, not so much. I kind of figured this would happen, but not to this extent! Emery is usually pretty daring and friendly. I thought she might be a little apprehensive, but I did not anticipate her screaming and flailing. Thankfully, they recovered quickly and the rest of the afternoon was splendid. We ate lunch, threw pennies in the fountain and rode the Pink Pig! The Pink Pig is probably confusing to those of you not from Atlanta.....I guess it's actually a little strange even being from Atlanta. I'm not exactly sure how a big pink pig train coincides with Christmas, but it's been around since 1959. Alison and I used to ride the Pink Pig every year when we were little. Back then it was at Rich's downtown and the train was on top of the building, suspended by a rail and it circled the enormous Rich's Christmas tree. Well, now Rich's is Macy's and the pig has moved to a tent at Lenox Mall's Macy's. I guess the pig decided she would rather be in Buckhead. Not exactly the same, but still an Atlanta rite of passage. Emery and Hayes really enjoyed it.

Heartbreaking! Thankfully, Santa took it all in stride. The Santa at Phipps is incredible.

Nanny smoothing things over with candy canes and potato chips

Fear makes Emery hungry. EVERYTHING makes Emery hungry.

My parents and Nanny joined us on our adventure. Good thing! Even outnumbered 2.5:1, Hayes and Emery ran circles around us. They had so much fun playing on the stairs at the movie theater inside the mall. Thankfully, Dad watched them do this while the ladies ate. However, every now again one of them would get loose and sprint over to the food court.

Lenox has this digital mat out on display with all these fun scenes....popcorn, coffee beans, water, soccer balls, stars, etc. The kids thought this was way cool.

The Pink Pig!

Out in the west Texas town of El Paso....

Ben, Emery and I spent Thanksgiving with Ben's family in El Paso. Ben's older brother Jerry, sister-in-law Korey, nephew Austin and niece Alexa live there in a fun-filled house with gorgeous views. Emery had a blast playing with her cousins and Ben and I were able to relax thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Slagel and their fabulous babysitting!
We watched "Toy Story 3" about five times during the trip. GREAT movie, although I cried at the end. Austin has this fun Buzz Lightyear scooter that Emery fell in love with.....guess we might have to tell Santa about that item.

Skinny dipping! Well, only Emery. The rest of us wore suits.

Sweet Mazie

Crazy Rosco. Jerry and Korey have the cutest, most entertaining Boxers. I hadn't seen them in two years, but I think they remembered me. I love these dogs! They are so good with the kiddos.

Grandma with Austin, Jerry with Alexa and Ben with Emery (I had a friend make these turkey shirts.....aren't they adorable?)

The next generation of Slagel women

Sunset at the country club

Emmy's first golf lesson with Daddy

Thanksgiving Day