Visiting Santa

Last night Wayne and I took Nathan to Willow Bend Mall to visit Santa. Last year, Nathan cried when he saw Santa, so this year, Wayne and I have both been talking about Santa and how he brings presents to you. He's watched several cartoons and movies about Santa and was REALLY excited to see him. I kept thinking that he'll be excited to see Santa until he has to sit on his lap, and then he'll get scared. But even if he got scared to sit on Santa's lap, I thought oh well, it will still be a cute picture.

Look how excited he is!

As we were waiting in line, there was lots to see. They had Christmas trees all over and The Polar Express snow globes and activities to do while we waited.

Nathan and Mommy...we're getting close to Santa!

As soon as we passed through the last hallway, Nathan could look over this wall and see Santa. He started pointing and yelling to daddy, "I see Santa!"

The waiting started to get to Nathan. When there were two kids in front of him, it was like he couldn't stand the excitement anymore. He just laid down with his hands under his chin and waited :)

When it was finally his turn, a girl held his hand and led him to Santa, Nathan was so happy and sat right on his lap. He smiled the whole time like he just couldn't believe he was actually talking to Santa. It was the cutest thing ever. After they took his picture, I reminded him to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas and he said, "I want lellow trains Santa." Santa was so nice, and talked to him about Thomas the train. I finally had to pull Nathan off of Santa's lap because he didn't want to get down. As we were walking away, Nathan turned back to Santa, and yelled, "I want trains!" It was like he was reminding him so he wouldn't forget :)

How cute is this?!

The Trains at Northpark

Last weekend, Wayne and I took Nathan to Northpark Mall to see their electric train exhibition. Nathan LOVES trains, so we knew he'd love this. Wayne and I got a bit frustrated in the beginning because the mall was SO crowded...it was almost impossible to find a parking place, and the wait to see Santa (because we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone) was over five hours long! Even though the mall was so crowded, we had a fun time looking at the trains...needless to say, we skipped Santa and went to a different mall the next weekend for his visit.


Nathan and Daddy

The train display was so amazing! There were tons of different scenes with trains chugging along through all of them. The small details of the different locations was unreal. Some of the different landmarks that were shown were The Washington Monument, the White House, Golden Gate Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Times Square and lots more.

School Christmas Party

Last Tuesday was Nathan's school Christmas party, and he was soooooo excited! He talked about going to his party all weekend, and when he woke up Tuesday morning, that was the first thing he said to me, "Go to party wis me?" I was a little worried about him going back to the church for the day because he hasn't been in three weeks. He was out the week of Thanksgiving, and then with Wayne and I going to Santa Fe and Wayne's Christmas party in Nashville, he missed the last two Tuesdays also because he was with my parents and Wayne's mom while we were gone. But as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Nathan couldn't wait to get out of the car. He walked right in and didn't even say bye to me!



I came to Nathan's class at 1:15 for the party, and he was in the best mood. Look at this smile! For the last month, he has been loving to have his picture taken, and has been giving me the biggest smile!

Nathan couldn't wait to eat the cake...one little boy came up to the cake and stuck his finger in the icing. Policeman Nathan yelled, "No, Roman! Don't do that!" I thought it was funny because I know he'd love to do the same thing :)

Before we ate the cake, the kids sang Happy Birthday Jesus and then we said a prayer. Nathan looked at me and said, "Like this Mommy," and then put his hands together and bowed his head. It was so sweet. Then I saw him making the steeple with his pointer fingers and opening his hands to see the "people." :)

Nathan ate the icing and drank the punch, and left the cake part for me :)

The kids were all supposed to bring a wrapped book for a gift exchange. So after the kids ate their cake, they drew a number and took turns picking out their present. Nathan was number 8 and was very patient. But he kept saying, "I want purple present." In my mind, I was hoping that no one would choose the purple present because that was the one he really wanted, and he didn't take his eyes off of it.

He got the purple present!

He loved this book and wanted to keep reading it when we got home.

Nathan's teacher, Miss Sherry

Miss Sandy

Miss Kathy

I love all of Nathan's teachers. They are so sweet and caring, and it's obvious he loves them too. Miss Sherry told me that on the day of the party, he kept going up to all of them and kissing them on the arms and legs...he missed them.

One last picture with Mommy

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas!

I love, love, LOVE Christmas! If I could listen to Christmas music year round, I probably would :) So the day after Thanksgiving, while Carrie was still here, I put her to work. We worked Friday and Saturday night getting all of the decorations out and putting them up. The only thing we didn't get to was the tree. So after our Santa Fe trip, Wayne and I got the tree down, and the three of us decorated it.




After decorating the tree, we bundled up and moved outside to put the garland around the door.




And then that night, we tried on Nathan's new Christmas pajamas. He looks so cute in his doggy/reindeer pj's!



Here are two pictures of Nathan's new "smile" :)




Here are pictures of the rest of the house and what Carrie helped me with


As soon as we visit Santa, I'll put that picture in a frame too.



This is the ledge that separates the living room and kitchen. The garland lights up and is really pretty at night.




Kitchen


The garland on this side of the balcony overlooks the living room. It also lights up. Nathan points to it every morning and wants me to plug it in as soon as he gets out of bed.


And this is the side of the balcony you see when you first walk in.



My dining room




These are the main things I did, but Carrie helped me do even more throughout the house. It looks so festive and pretty! After all of the work of decorating the house, I dread packing them back up!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Wayne and I have never traveled as much as we have this year! I'm late in writing about our Thanksgiving because we left for Santa Fe the Monday after! Wayne has been working so hard so we decided to take a little vacation just the two of us...I'll write about that next :)

Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful! It was busy and filled with tons of family time. Wayne's mom, my parents, Carrie and Chris (and Otis), my sister Jennifer and her kids (Robert and Alexandra), and my Grandma were all here to celebrate!

Not only were we celebrating Thanksgiving, we were also celebrating my mom and Alexandra's birthday. Carrie, Nathan, and I baked the cake, and boy did he love helping! Carrie let him lick the beater, and he licked it clean :)

"I think I might have a tummy ache...."

"But I don't care! That was the best thing ever!"

On Thanksgiving day, we watched the parade while we cooked. Everyone came to my house for lunch which I loved!

Wayne carving the yummy turkey I baked.

Me and Wayne

We had so much food, and I was in Heaven! I wish I could take credit for it all, but I had help. I made the turkey, Carrie made mashed potatoes, Helen made a corn and green bean casserole plus brought over the rolls, and my mom made the stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and pies. This is my favorite meal...I wish we could eat like this all the time :)

And here is mom making the gravy.

Time to dig in!

Even Nathan was impressed with our cooking. He and Robert and Alexandra had the best time running around and playing while we cooked (can you tell he's already a little sweaty?) Having Robert and Alexandra at my house was wonderful! I was pretty much off duty until Nathan needed a diaper change :)

The kid table

After we stuffed ourselves, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Mom and Allie.

Nathan decorated the cake with sprinkles! This was a really special birthday for Alexandra because she is officially a teenager...13! I can't believe she's so grown up!

Nathan had to sample his hard work with Papa. He was actually more interested in the frosting than the actual cake. I think there were a few finger marks in the cake before we cut it, but oh well :)

After eating, we laid around a little, Nathan took a nap, the guys watched football, and the girls went to see Helen's new house. The next day, Wayne took care of Nathan while my mom, sisters, and I went to the movies. We saw "The Blind Side" and it was sooooo good! We also took Mom shopping (we helped her pick out the clothes and she paid) :) For her birthday, we all got her a Talbots gift card, and it was so much fun to take her shopping and watch her spend them...plus a little more.

On Saturday, we spent the day at the park and visited Grandma.

Nathan and Alexandra snuggling.

Robert is the one in the blue vest towards the top.

Hang on Nathan!

Mama gave them each a piece of chocolate to sit still for a minute while we took a picture, but one little person couldn't get his opened fast enough :)

"I just want a little bite and then maybe I'll smile."

After the park, we went to Grandma's apartment to visit. Nathan would not sit still for the picture! He found this little porcelain present box of Grandma's that he loved and did not want to put down. Normally, I'd say that was a "hands off" item, but to his surprise, we said he could play with it if he'd sit next to Robert. The whole time I'm thinking, "Please don't break it!"

And then that night, we all went to Mama and Papa's house for dinner, and for my dad and Wayne to watch the Arkansas game. Here's Aunt Jen and Nathan. Nathan is finishing off a popsicle.

"Mama, do you have any cookies in here?"

"I KNOW they're down there somewhere!"

While Dad and Wayne watched the game, Nathan, Alexandra, and Robert played, went on golf cart rides, and then made play-doh with Mama.

Robert worked very hard on all of his sculptures :)

And Nathan loved making snakes!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend with our families! Carrie even helped me decorate my house for Christmas! In the next couple of days I'll post pictures of our Santa Fe trip and the house. I can't believe it's already Christmas time!

Here is a video of Nathan eating the cake batter: