December Happenings

Christmas Eve

Emma and Maddie were anticipating Santa's arrival, and Emma kept asking, "Is he coming today?" We had to remind her that he would come early Tuesday morning, December 25th. Since he wasn't due to arrive for several hours, Mom and Emma decided to pass the time by making a gingerbread house, an annual Christmas event.



After dinner, Emma decided that Santa needed some food for his long journey around the world delivering presents, so we decided to bake cookies. We decided sugar cookies would be best, and Emma decided to add some sprinkles to make them extra special. As the cookies were baking, the phone rang. It was Santa wanting to speak to Emma!! He wanted to let her know that she was on the "good list" and to remind her that she needed to get to bed early that night so that she could have plenty of sleep. She was so excited she could barely contain herself. With all that excitement, we managed to finish the baking, bath Emma and Maddie, and get them into their Christmas pajamas. We even managed to snap a few pictures in front of the tree. Once we finished, Emma put the cookies by the fireplace so that Santa could munch on them prior to zipping up the chimney to resume his travels. Finally, we were able to get Emma and Maddie into bed, and as the fire flickered quietly in the fireplace, the clock approached midnight and we readied ourselves for Christmas's arrival.






Peter Pan
On Sunday, Emma's daycare friends and their moms accompanied us to the Shakespeare Festival to see Peter Pan. The kids enjoyed seeing Peter Pan fly through the air sprinkling pixie dust all over them. It was a tad scary when Captain Hook and his pirates came slinking down the aisles. Everyone was happy when Wendy, John, and Michael made it safely back home from Neverland.




Visiting Santa
Emma, Maddie, and I visited Santa during his tour through the area. Emma, with her list in hand, patiently waited her turn and when she had her chance, she didn't disappoint. I had visions of her losing her concentration and forgetting to relay to Santa her wish list only for him, in an effort to keep the line moving, to suggest a doll. Wrong! With confidence in her voice, she looked him in the eye and told him that she wanted a doll house, a jump rope, and a webkinz. She had more on her list, but she didn't want to push her luck and appear greedy. The next day a letter appeared in the mailbox from Santa thanking her for the visit and assuring her that she was on the good list and that he would try to accommodate her requests.





...On the Polar Express
On Friday, November 30th, Emma and I met up with our friends, Jennifer and Mason, in Calera to take a ride on the Polar Express. Emma had been watching the movie and was really excited to be visiting with Santa and venturing to the North Pole.








Christmas Parade

On November 27, Emma was invited to ride on Miss GiGi's float for the Christmas parade. Her friends Kate, Andrew, Jake, and Libby rode too, so she was excited. When the parade started, she was a little overwhelmed as far as what she should do, but after a while, she got the hang of it and by the end you would have assumed that she was a natural. Thanks GiGi for inviting Emma!

Thanksgiving

This year, Larry's family gathered at our house to give thanks for all of our blessing during this year. Larry's Mom and Dad arrived Wednesday afternoon; Monica, Gary, Samantha, and Ben arrived from Indiana early Thursday morning; Larry drew the short straw and had to drive to the airport to pick up Juli and Scott who flew in from Texas.
Preparing for dinner was a breeze. Everyone contributed and by early afternoon, we had our Thanksgiving feast. YUM!




On Saturday, we watched football leading up to the big game. Friends joined us for the game, and as we had hoped, the home team won. As much as we enjoyed the victory, however, it paled in comparison to the "bigger" event of the night: the 1st Annual F-H-H Family Pool tournament. No one went quietly, but after it was all said and done, Scott took all challengers and walked away with the trophy. The trophy presentation occurred just before midnight and was enjoyed by all. The rest of us will have to sharpen our games if we are to take it from him. Rumor has it that he has already been sitting at home admiring his winnings. We are all saying, "Next year.."

Finally. We Have Video!

Emma's soccer season came to an end late this fall. While she only scored a few goals (one for her team, one for the opposing team), she had a chance to run around and burn off some energy. As the video shows, we basically hopped her up on sugar, and then let her dance and run wild. Not much soccer was played as you can see. Even still, she had fun and met some new friends.







Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Happy Halloween

We survived the busy weekend and made it to Halloween. Larry purchased a pumpkin carving kit, and he and Emma spent the afternoon carving a cool pumpkin. Mainly he did the work while Emma supervised. Go Daddy! Dressed as Dorothy, Emma and Libby attended the neighborhood Halloween carnival and in the process snagged some yummy treats. She then went trick-or-treating with her friends Cole and Ben. She managed a decent haul of candy which pleased Mom and Dad. And, believe it or not, Emma is not fond of chocolate! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! Actually, Larry said, "Emma, where's all the good stuff?!" Better luck next year, I guess, when he'll have two girls getting him "the goods".

Ole Miss Football Weekend

It has been a few weeks since we blogged, and we have been very busy. On the weekend before Halloween, Monica and Samantha drove down to spend a few days with us. Friday night we met our friends Blake, Holli, Cole, and Ben for dinner. It just happened that it was Ben's third birthday. Happy Birthday, Ben! After dinner, we trekked over to campus to see the pumpkin carving contest hosted by the School of Architecture. We saw many cool, scary pumpkins, but we were unable to get any good pictures. Maybe next time. On Saturday, we headed to campus for the AU-Ole Miss game. We casually walked the campus, visited friends, and made our way towards the stadium so that Maddie could experience her first Tigerwalk. She didn't much care, but we sure had fun. We were lucky enough to meet our friends Rob, Jennifer, and Mason. We ended up having a great weekend.

The Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday Emma, Maddie, and I went to the pumpkin patch with Mrs. Diane and Aidan. It was a beautiful day. We started our adventure off with a great seafood lunch on the Causeway. Emma and Aidan fed the alligators at the restaurant. That was pretty cool. We then headed to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin. Emma and Aidan had a good time looking through all the pumpkins. They selected their pumpkins, and Emma pulled Aidan around in the wagon. Maddie, of course, slept through all of the fun.

The New Soccer Queen

Emma is playing soccer with the Rec. League. She is having a great time. She plays on a team with her friend, Libby. They do handstands, chest bumps, and pinkie swears on the field for each game. I don't think that they will make a career of soccer.