Monday, December 23, 2013

tis' the season...



A few December happenings....


Cate and I made it to the cinema to see Frozen.  It was excellent! 

 
We went to Eckerts to find a Christmas tree and didn't think about Santa being on-site.  The not-so-combed hair and mismatched outfit made for a great photo op! 

 
MeMe and Joe hosted an early Christmas before Jon left for Norfolk.  

 
Due to Annie's finals, I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with Trevor this month!  (I think Murphy was grateful)

 
If things get quiet, there is a good chance he is in the boys room jumping on beds and messing with the TV! Can you see him in there?!

 
Carter got a new do!

 
We got a fair amount of snow this month.  And for the first time in a long time, I loved it!  I think it's because this is the first year I don't have to shove kids in coats and fight them into car seats.  I've never gone a winter season without a baby of my own or a borrowed one I babysit :) 

 
We celebrate lots of birthdays in December.  Cate was gracious and rode the saddle at Texas Roadhouse for her daddy and gpa.  YeeHawww!
 
 
Even a packed booth turns into wrestle mania with these nutsos.  Why can't they just keep their hands to themselves?  WHY??? 

 
Cate loves this Santa hat hair accessory :) 

 
We love The Sing-Off and Cate insisted on dancing with Scott during each song.  Very entertaining....especially the lifts and spins when she does the splits!
 
 
Trevor loves Murphy.  Murphy does not love Trevor. But, he hasn't taken a bite out of his face yet, so we're good.   (I'm pretty sure the third picture is going to make Jen puke!)
 
I had a three minute standoff with this deer.  I thought I was going to have to get out of my car and fight but I had new shoes on and there would be blood involved and I just wasn't feeling it.  Sooo, I sat back and let them frolic til they decided it was time to move on. 

 
I guess Trevor was over more than I remember :)  My mom and sister took the kids to the high schools performance of A Christmas Carol and we watched T-Rev while Annie worked on her school project.  He thinks Uncle Scott is funny looking. 


 
We've gone a few rounds with the Christmas cookies.  


 
Oh, look who it is again :) 

We cruised through Toys R Us shopping cart-free.  He was one happy boy!

 
And then he slept and I was one happy girl!

 
We met Aunt Fran and BauBau at Culvers and the balloon guy was there. Bonus!  Who doesn't love the balloon guy?!

 
My sister scored tickets for me, my mom, and Aunt MeMe to see DONNY & MARIE in concert.  Say what?!?!  Yes, I wore my D&M shirt to the concert.  I sent this picture to Scott and his reply..."Oh great. You're that person". Damn straight. 

 
I hope we both survive these 17 days off.  I'm not sure it's possible, but I'm going to give it all I've got. 

 
I was the head room Mama for Brady's class party.  Is he too cool for school or what?! His teacher has a desk in the corner of the room labeled "4th grade desk for Brady Smallie".  She said she will NOT let him move on next year and instead he will remain in her class and his new teacher can just send his classwork over.  
 
 
I popped into Cate's room to take a few pictures.  
Girls are so huggy. 

 
I got the better end of the deal (than Candi and Jaime's kindergarten chaos) with Brady's class.  He only has 18 in there and they were calm and cool.  We served a sundae bar which was a huge hit.  Sorry to the parents whose kids came home with a sugar high or belly-ache
 
We played a fun game where the kids had to follow directions and draw a Christmas scene on a plate while it was on their head.  Brady totally nailed it.  I can see a tree, mantle, fire, stockings, and wrapped gifts on there, can't you?! 

 
And of course we had to wrap kids as trees.  This, for some reason, is a kid favorite at every party. 

 
They had a school wide sing-along in the gym that morning.  Thank you Mrs. Medlin for sending me a picture of her sweet Sam and Cate.  Two super cute reindeer! 

 
Last night we attempted the gingerbread house.  The prebaked, prescored, premeasured kit takes it to a lame level, but it is what it is.  Ours totally rocked until Brady started moving things around and ticked Cate off.  Then all hell broke loose and our gingerbread house is currently residing in the bottom of a trash truck.  But it lasted long enough to get a good picture :) 
 
ONE MORE DAY!  The excitement is building!  I only have one gift left to receive from the Amazon santa and then I will be officially finished and ready to enjoy! 
post signature

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Par-tay

Cate's friend (and classmate) Ella invited our family to their big Christmas party last night.  This is an encore to the Halloween bonfire/party and Cate has really been looking forward to it.  The boys had other plans so it was just me and Scott with Cate...nice! There were a zillion people at the party...like 60+ and we only knew 3 :)  After a catered meal, Santa stopped by and had gifts for all of the kids.  Each kiddo got to spend lots of time with Santa and he was very patient with all of their questions.  Cate asked him how he steered the sleigh if it didn't have a steering wheel and a little boy asked him how he felt about his face being printed on wrapping paper!!!  Too funny :^)


Two cuties ready for Santa!

The anticipation was almost too much!






It was a really great night and something Cate will talk about for a very long time.  She is more excited than ever for all of the holiday celebrations to begin!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Thursday

Thursday was Cate's class fieldtrip to the Magic House but she refused to go.  Each class is only allowed to bring four parent chaperons on the bus due to space so the other parents usually follow the bus and meet the classes there to help with crowd control.  For the last 11 years, I've been stuck on the bus, and this time I was more than happy to follow behind in my own car.  However, Cate didn't like that idea and told her teacher she would not be going.  And to be completely honest, I was perfectly fine with this.  School buses make me nauseous and I'd rather not send my kids on them...and I actually loathe fieldtrips.  The Magic House is my least favorite of them all.  Debbie Downer, I know.  Anyhoo, I was super excited to get an entire day to spend with Miz Cate!  

Turns out, a few hours of early morning sleet and possible afternoon snow canceled the fieldtrip but we were already on our way and there was no turning back :) 

Our first stop was the STL Galleria.  It's my favorite mall of all time.  I have so many fun memories at the Galleria.  I skipped school in 8th grade to attend it's Grand Opening....I will always remember spending an entire day there shopping for 1st day of highschool clothes with my Grandma Dorothy...and my favorite girls and I spent way too many hours there in highschool.  I think my car had a Galleria autopilot button that delivered us to the green level of the parking garage with very minimal effort by me.  It was awesome.
 
Last year Cate asked for a Clarice reindeer from Build-a-Bear but we put it off too long and by the time we made it there, they had sold out.  She forgets nothing and has reminded us of this for the last 11 months so Thursday was the perfect day to get the deer.  She walked through the Disney Store for at least 30 minutes and took pictures of things she "needs" for our January Disney trip.  She opted out of a visit with Santa but blew him a kiss as we made our way up the escalator :)  
 
 
Our next stop was American Girl.  One of her dolls hair was a rats nest so we took it to the salon.  So ridiculous, right?  Anyway, they combed it out, braided it, and pierced her ears which Cate thought was the coolest thing.  We looked around for awhile and took more pictures for her Christmas list and then headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  Once we finished lunch, the sleet started back up so we decided it was time to make our way home.  I'm so thankful for a full day of fun with my Catie Bug...it was a much needed Girls Only day!
 
And the lucky girl ended up with a four day weekend due to sleet and snow canceling school on Friday!!
post signature