Christmas in Mississippi

Our first Christmas stop was in MS with my grandmother. The kids got to open a few gifts from Pop-pop and Karen while we were there. We normally do our Christmas with them in MS, but Roger could not get off work, so we waited until we got back to GA to have Christmas together. Mamaw and the kids got to open gifts.

Elijah's School Party

Elijah's class had brunch for their party. I was not sure about this, since Elijah is not a big breakfast food eater. He ate some, mostly cinnamon rolls and fruit.

Of course there was candy also, so he took in his sugar intake for the year!!!

And no party would be complete without a visit from Santa!!

Blog redo

Redoing the look of the blog. It will take me several tries, but maybe by tonight I will have it like I want!!! I am also going to post Christmas pictures today as soon as they upload from the camera!!

HO, HO, H1N1

Yep, it got us. It all started Tuesday before Christmas when Elijah spiked a 104.2 temp. He slept most of the day and was pretty lifeless. Wednesday his temp was down to 102 and he was back to normal. By Friday he was better. Glad for the H1N1 shot. Sarah decided to wait until everything was closed on Thursday to have green drainage with red eyes. Yep, pinkeye. Oh the fun. But the fun was just beginning. By the time Santa had made his stop and had the toys set up, Mommy had a 103 temp. It is NEVER good for mommy to be sick. I kept my head up long enough on Christmas morning to see the gift opening, then I slept the day away. We were to return home on Sat, but with a 102 temp, I just was not able. We came home today and lets just say it was a long trip home. I hurt all over and now I have enough mucus to drown in. My Mom also got the flu, so Doug had it all by himself on Christmas! I really wished I had made the time to get the H1N1 vaccine. I got the flu, but I have been sick and could not get the vaccine until last week and I was just too busy. If you have not gotten the vaccine, GET IT ASAP!!!!! I will update on our Christmas fun later. We still have Christmas with Doug's family this weekend, so the fun is not over yet.

Sarah's School Party

Sarah's class had a Christmas craft party. We made a tree and a paper gingerbread house. She had lots of fun. She is really doing good in school. She loves to go and I am beginning to see her do some new skills. She is talking more and is now saying some words unprompted. This is a big step. She is also starting to talk to more people. To this point only her therapist and us have really heard her talk. Tons of new skills all the way around. We are really proud of her.

Terrific Kid

Elijah received the Terrific Kid award at school for outstanding character qualities. I am so proud of my young gentleman! He is really a great kid if I say so myself!!!

My to-do list

This week is busy. Tons to do and then we start our traveling this weekend, so I have lots I really must get done. No time to waste.....well, you know how it goes. Here is a recap of my day yesterday:

To-do list:
1. Finish my last 2 embroidery projects for Christmas. This is where the hang up began. Not a good start. My thread kept breaking. So I changed my needle. I have been embroidering tons so I have gone through the needles. Nope not it. Then I cleaned the bobbin area, changed the bobbin, recleaned the bobbin area, tried a new needle,....you get the picture. I spent all morning on #1. and it is still not done.
2. Clean kitchen because I did not last night because I was downloading the patterns I needed for my embroidery. Not done, see number 1.
3. Laundry. Not done, see #1.
4. Take Sarah to school. Late, see #1.
5. Help at Elijah's school. Late, see #1--forgot to eat so had to stop and get a snack.
6. Pick up kids. Done-ontime, well I was already at the school!!
This was just my list until 3pm, then I just threw out the list and started over!!
Things not on my list:
1. Clean up all of my scrapbook stuff because while I was working on #1, Sarah got the baby gate down and took all of my stuff out and spread them all over the playroom. So not good.
2. Find Sarah's shoes. Boy can those shoes hide!
3. Clean up the trash that Sarah has spread over the kitchen while I was looking for shoes. Now I need to add mopping to my to do list.
4. Count to 10, no make that 100. I was pretty upset by this point and it was only 10:30am.

Praying today goes better, and no #1 is still not complete.

Abbe and Olivia's Christmas Party

Sunday we went to Abbe and Olivia's Fancy Christmas Party. Everyone wore their fancy party outfits.

First we put out magic reindeer food, hoping Santa's reindeer would see it and bring Santa for a visit.

Then we made some fun crafts.

The reindeer found the food, so Santa visited while the reindeer ate!!

Letters to Santa

On Saturday night we put out letters to Santa in our stockings. Doug's family had this tradition. Our family always mailed them. I like putting the letter in the stocking and then the next morning Santa leaves a gift in the stocking. Of course this is a picture moment, so the kids have their Christmas pj's on!!

DSAMT Christmas Party

Please Santa, I have been good....well, sort of.

My what a pretty hat you have, my dear Santa.

Santa he has been bad that is why he does not want to see you...

ME, Santa it is me we are talking about.

Great I have to share Santa with Elijah.

Birthday Party for Jesus

Each year we host a birthday party for Jesus. The kids really love this. I try to start out our Christmas celebration with Jesus and His birth and focus on this. We do have Santa and all of the fun associated with that, but I really try to make Jesus our primary focus. This gets a little harder as Elijah has gotten older, I am sure the time is coming that he will no longer believe in Santa, but the message of Jesus will continue.

We started the night with a few crafts:

Then had supper and did a nativity scavenger hunt:

Where the kids learned "What God wants for Christmas"....their heart:

Then the kids decorated their own gingerbread(graham cracker) house:

Well, most did, Sarah licked the icing off her's:

All in all, we all had FUN!!!

It Snowed!!!

well, a dusting, but to a six year old it was a big snow storm. He was up at 6:30 dressed and outside in the snow. Way too early for his elderly parents!!! Sarah got up at 7 and was very intrigued by the white stuff. She has never been out in the snow. She has always been sick when it snowed. She was not sure about the snow, but had fun playing. Yep, the snow suit is way to small, but you can not find them for toddlers and she does not keep her body temperture up. I need to find a ski suit for her.

More Christmas Pictures

Here are a few more of the pictures we got for Christmas.

Thanksgiving Craft Day

On Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Elijah had a craft day at school. They had tons of fun! Here are a few pictures.
Then on Wednesday at the library they made wooden turkeys. The kids really liked this. The turkeys are so cute. Today at the library Sarah was suppose to make gingerbread houses, but it is cold and raining here and I just don't think she is well enough to go. I know they will be cute. Our library does so many neat things. In fact, the town as a whole has tons of family activities. I am really loving living in a small rural area.

New Blog Pictures

Here is our Christmas Blog Do!!! Tracy was going to take our pictures for us, but I did not get it together and Sarah ended up being sick during our visit. So, yesterday we took the kids to get Christmas and yearly pictures. I hope that in the spring Tracy can do family pictures for us. My mom wants to have pictures of the whole family also. I will share more of our pictures over the next month and in January I will share the yearly pictures of the kids!!!