Christmas Celebrations

Our Christmas celebrations began on Christmas Eve when Bill's family came over for dinner and to open presents. It was so fun watching Lauren, Allison and Parker opening their presents together. Bill and I were so thrilled to get our Zoo membership renewed. It had expired back in the summer. We are looking forward to some warm weather to get the girls to the zoo. Thanks Momma Sue and Tim!

Grandma and Allison

Dave, Jen, Parker and Lauren

Jay, Dave, Tim and Momma Sue

Allison's favorite word of the month, "Up!"

On Christmas morning the girls woke up to see what Santa Claus (or Claus as Allison called him) left for them. As they walked down the hall and into the living room, Lauren said, "Santa Claus came!" Allison was mostly interested in eating the cookie crumbs left on the plate of cookies we left for Santa. That girl is too funny! Lauren wanted Santa to bring her 3 things, a new Cedarmont Kids music movie, a Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and paints! Those were three very easy requests to fill. She also got an easel, clothes, lots of playdough and playdough "things", a cash register, and a doctor's kit. Allison got her very own doll (that was not handed down from Lauren), her own cash register, clothes, a Radio Rider Inchworm, the Hokey Pokey Elmo (which she absolutely loves), a Mickey and Minnie Mouse, clothes, and I can't remember what else right now. We enjoyed time with just the four of us until my family came over later in the morning for lunch and more presents. We missed Uncle Bob and Uncle Ben being here with us this Christmas.


Lauren and her new One Year Bible

Allison with her Bible Stories book

The girls on the Inchworm

Lauren holding Allison

Allison sporting the dr. glasses that came in Lauren's doctor kit

After lunch and a nap for Allison we packed up the van and headed up to Mom and Dad's to spend the weekend with them. We missed going to their house the weekend before Christmas due to sickness, so we decided to go up there for a few days. It was nice, because we got to see Aunt Susie, Susan, David and Luke. They always came to Mom and Dad's house on Christmas Eve and we have been at our house the past 2 Christmas Eves, so we haven't gotten to see them. So glad we got to this year.

Allison & Lauren at Granny and Papaw's

Aunt Susie, David, Allison, Lauren, & Luke

Susan, Luke, Lauren & Allison

Aunt Susie, Luke and Allison

Aunt Susie and Lauren

The Love of My Life

Bill and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on December 26. In some ways it seems as we have been together for such a long time. I have a hard time remembering living without him. In other ways, 5 years seems like such a short time considering how many years I lived without him. I love every minute I spend with Bill. He is such a kind, loving, and genuine man. And the precious children we share make my life so full of love and happiness. God has blessed me with everything I prayed for in a family!

For our anniversary we were going to try to spend a weekend away, but plans fell through. We are going to try to get away sometime in January for a weekend.

I love you my sweet husband!!! Thanks for choosing me to be your wife!

Tis the Season

I have several things I want to try to include in this post because I am behind! The Mease household has been a sick bunch of people lately. Bill is starting his antibiotic in the morning. I finished mine today and Allison finished hers yesterday! Knock on wood, Lauren hasn't seemed to get this one....yet!

I guess I'll start with Lauren's Holiday party at school. We (parents) were invited to come to her party to enjoy the festivities with the class. I didn't go for the whole party because Allison was with me, so we went for the last part. When Allison and I arrived, the children were finishing up "sewing" stockings. After completing the stockings the parents then handed out all kinds of goodies to stuff in the stockings. I never knew so much stuff could fit in a paper stocking! After their stockings were filled, the kids went out to the hallway to participate in reindeer games. Then after the games, it was back inside to decorate cupcakes. The kids loved this part! After decorating, it was time to fill their already hyper-active bodies with more sugar!!! Fortunately for Mrs. Jackie and Mrs. Christy after eating cupcakes, it was time to pack up and go home!! What a fun day!



Lauren proudly showing her stocking (which I cut out of the picture)








Lauren was kind enough to share her cupcake with Allison


I wanted to attempt to make a Gingerbread house with Lauren. Because I am so far from the Martha Stewart type, my Mom bought us a little kit that included everything you needed to build a beautiful Gingerbread house. This past weekend, we spent the afternoon decorating our house. Well ours certainly didn't look like the one in the picture, but Lauren had a blast decorating it and eating the extra decorations! I'm also sure the one on the picture was not completed with a 3 year helping out!;)





For those of you who received our Christmas card, you remember we selected a picture of the girls looking at each other while sitting in front of the tree. I actually started snapping pictures in front of the tree back at the end of November hoping to catch a good one! Well, that didn't happen.

So when we finally got both girls well and to church at the same time, they got to wear their Christmas dresses. (Lauren actually wore hers to Laurel 2 Sundays in a row!) I had this whole thing planned out where they would get to wear the dresses to church at Laurel and then at my parents' church. Well, due to sickness in our house, Allison didn't get to go to church the Sunday they were supposed to wear the dresses to Laurel. So I let Lauren go ahead and wear her dress because we were supposed to go to my parents' house the last weekend before Christmas and I wanted her to wear the dress to Laurel. Again due to sickness (this time Bill and I) we didn't go to my parents' house for the weekend. Instead we stayed home to get well. The girls and I were well enough by Sunday so I took them to Laurel in their matching dresses!

While wearing their cute little matching dresses, I tried again to get a picture of the two of them. No luck!!! Here are a few shots. If anyone has any suggestions for taking pictures of 2 small children and what you do to get them to 1. be still 2. look at the camera 3. smile PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!!






Looks like Allison has the face of a 90 year old toothless woman!~







Finally a cute picture of just Lauren


Today we went to the Mall to see Santa one last time before Christmas. The line was very long to actually to talk to Santa. If I had thought for a second, the girls would have actually gone up to him, we would have waited in line, but we had seen that same Santa many times, and neither girl was interested in getting too close. We were at the Mall the day he arrived and he actually came up to us, outside of the area where he sat. Lauren insisted on me holding her and Allison held on to me tightly also. Santa gave the girls gingerbread cookies, but that still didn't make them want to talk to him.

For our outing to the Mall, I put the girls in pigtails! These were Allison's FIRST pigtails. If I do say so myself, she looks absolutely adorable!







This is Allison when we got back from the Mall. She got her baby and stroller, purses, and juice and was heading back to the Mall. That girl is too funny!


Finally here is a little Christmas song from Lauren. I bought her the Cedarmont Kids Christmas Carols CD and DVD. She has watched the DVD just about everyday and we listen to the CD in the car. One of her favorites is The 12 Days of Christmas. For the sake of time, we started with the 12th day!

Round Two of Antibiotics

Poor little Allison trying to get to her Mommy

This time it is for Allison. She managed to get her first dose (at 18 months) a lot younger than Lauren did (at 3 years). I'm beginning to not like Saturday doctor's visit. We found out about Lauren's ear infection at an appointment on Saturday and this past Saturday we took Allison in and she has an ear infection. I guess I didn't know a lot about ear infections, but the nurse practitioner told me that all ear infections start as some viral cold or respiratory problem. I didn't know that! Allison has had a terrible cough for a long time, but at her 18 month well visit on Monday, the doctor said it can take those coughs weeks to go away. Her chest, lungs and ears were all clear. Allison had her flu shot and her last two shots (until Kindergarten) on Monday and she ran a fever and and had a runny nose for the first few days. We thought it was just the shots, but by Wednesday her fever was 101 even with Motrin and Tylenol. We got very little sleep all week, so after just 3 hours of sleep for me on Friday night, I called the dr. Saturday morning and we took her in. Ms. Rachel said she's got an ear infection. The nice thing about Allison is that she likes the "pink" medicine. Lauren didn't like it at all. Allison stands at the cabinet and says medicine in such a pitiful little voice. She has really had a tough week. Last night I was only up for about 10 minutes with her and then she slept until about 7:00 a.m. But that sweet little angel can sure pack a punch with her colds. I have caught her cold and haven't been able to sleep well the last couple of nights!!! Does it ever get easier with sleeping? I'm beginning to wonder about that. Seems like there is always something!:) Well hopefully we will be well for Christmas. Bill and Lauren have managed to not get it yet....Bill thinks he'll probably come down with it on the weekend. He's off for two weeks after this week, so he's a little worried he'll be the one sick over Christmas. I hope not.

Tagged

OK, if the truth be told, I am a real party pooper......I never play these games, but I decided this was truly easy as my friend Cindy said. She was tagged by our friend April to post the fourth picture from the fourth picture file.

This is a picture of Allison climbing in a kitchen cabinet. I have the one cabinet that is not baby-proofed so the girls can play in it. It has some plastic bowls and spoons and other odds and ends for them to play with while I'm cooking. (It doesn't seem to keep them distracted while I am cooking, but it does provide a fun hiding place during hide-and-seek.) The picture is from our June 2008 pictures.

Thanks Cindy for pressuring me to play along!:)

Thanksgiving Vacation

Last week we were blessed with the opportunity to spend a week with my parents at their timeshare over in the mountains. We were supposed to spend a week at the beach with them back in September, but our trip was scheduled the time my grandmother passed away, so we had to cancel. We left for the mountains on Friday, Nov. 21 and stayed until the Friday after Thanksgiving. This is only the second time in my life that I haven't spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Even since being married, we have always celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of the family each year.
While away from Mom's kitchen we had to modify the Thanksgiving feast a bit, but we still enjoyed our favorites that Mom fixes. On Thanksgiving Day after lunch and a short nap for Allison, we drove into the mountains and let the girls put their feet and hands in the snow. It was a beautiful drive and we were so excited to see some bears!! If you know anything about driving in the mountains, you know that if there are cars stopped in the road and parked along side the road, there must be some wild life around. Bill let me out to check out the scene before we got the girls out of their car seats. Sure enough there was a Momma bear and 3 bear cubs. I took a picture but they were too far away to get a good shot.
Also, during the week we went to the aquarium in Gatlinburg (a first time for all of us) after eating at our favorite pancake place, the Pancake Pantry. Other activities during the week included shopping, swimming, lots of playing with Granny, Pawpaw, and Uncle Bill, and even a date night out for Bill & I.


Uncle Bill & Lauren in their cool shades on the way to the mountains.


Lauren in her cute little hat


Allison flashing a big smile for the camera


Waiting in line at the Pancake Pantry


Daddy & Lauren in Pancake Pantry


Lauren in the Aquarium


Lauren's favorite thing at the Aquarium was touching the horseshoe crabs


Allison touching the horseshoe crab


Lauren in with the sea horses


Daddy and the girls in the mountains....it was burrrrrr cold

Lauren & Allison all bundled up

The bears we saw (they are really hard to see in this small picture)

Lauren & Allison at Newfound Gap on Thanksgiving Day