Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas everyone! (better late than never, I suppose)We had a wonderful Christmas here at the Graham house. Mom, Dave, Ed, and Diane were all here for Christmas eve and Christmas day which was wonderful. On Christmas eve, Zack, Dave, and Dalton all went out to Taco Mac for lunch and to watch some football. The girls (mom, Anna, and I) went to the Flying Biscuit for a delicious meal. That place never disappoints! Afterwards-we met up back at the house and Mom and I started getting everything together for our Christmas eve smorgasboard. We decided instead of having a big meal we would just put together a ton of snacks. Everything was soooo good! Here is mom in all her glory. :)
After our dinner the kids opened their Christmas eve PJ's. Here we all are in our jammies before reading our stories. (Minus Zack-next year I'm making him put his on, too!) Before we went to bed, Dalton and I set out some food for the reindeer and for Santa himself. Forgot to take a pic of that but he was so cute and excited doing it!Christmas morning pics are a little lacking but we certainly enjoyed every minute. Santa was so good to Dalton and Anna and most importantly we all just enjoyed being together. Dalton absolutely loved all of his stuff. In true 4 year old fashion-his most favorite things were a little plastic set of pirates and cowboys-both of which were less than $10 total!Christmas day was spent napping, eating, and just being together. I don't think we could have asked for a better Christmas. Hope you all enjoyed yours, and happy new year!!

Holidaze.

Need I say more?? Too tuckered out to even eat....

Traditions

One of my favorite things about the holidays has always been traditions. I always enjoyed them growing up and now I'm enjoying having our own traditions with our little family. Here is a little list of some of our Graham family traditions:
1) Making a gingerbread house...this was our second year doing this and little man absolutely loves it! We have a blast decorating and making a mess with all the icing! I can't wait for Anna to join in on this!2) Decorating the house together as a family
3) Picking out a live tree together (I need to start taking an annual pic of this)
4) Advent calendar-this was a new thing this year. I found felt Christmas tree shaped advent calendar and put little small "activities" in each pocket for each day. They weren't always elaborate-even things as simple as "Read Polar Express tonight" but we really had fun with it.
5) Elf on the Shelf-This was Alfie's (our elf) second year here. He flew many interesting places and Dalton had a great time searching for him each morning!
6) Opening Christmas PJ's on Christmas eve-first year for this but we will definitely continue this fun tradition. A great way to "kick start" the presents and just a fun tradition in general.
7) Reading 'Twas the Night before Christmas and the story of Jesus' birth from the book of Luke on Christmas eve. Important to remember the real reason for the season!
8) Annual best friend Christmas dinner/gift exchange-getting together with the Smathers and the Thaxtons is always a blast. This year everyone came to our house and Zack grilled some yummy steaks and we all exchanged gifts. It was so much fun as it always is. We weren't able to do professional pics this year but here is a pretty good one-it is quite the feat trying to get 5 kids to look at the camera and smile! Also-Dalton, Sadie, and Reese played together so well this year. It's truly like they're all family--they are very sweet to each other and do a very good job with sharing. Here's a little pic of Sadie and Dalton playing on the swing set.

Santa Baby

This year, we started a new thing that I hope will become a tradition...we went to downtown Lawrenceville for Santa on the Square. It was a really fun event and a great way for the children to get to see Santa. Santa on the Square is a Friday night 2 hour event that included crafts for the kids (cookie decorating, ornament making), hot cocoa and cookies, Christmas caroling, and an up close and personal visit with Santa--all at the historic Lawrenceville courthouse. It was beautiful and way better than waiting in line at the mall-which is what we have done in years past. I was able to get some really cute pics...Anna, of course, was far more interested in pulling Santa's beard than actually making any requests. :)Dalton requested only two things this year-Legos and books! It was nice that he didn't go too overboard with his requests, as I'm sure we have plenty of years for that. And in fact, when I asked him what else he wanted, that's all he could come up with. So sweet! I'm glad that he wanted somewhat educational things, too. Love that boy!

Soccer Superstar and a Christmas Card Preview

Last week week Dalton had his end of soccer season banquet. He had a great time with all of his soccer buddies at Pizza Cafe. He is so proud of his medal and trophy! We actually had the trophy on the mantle in the living room for a few days because he wanted it to be front and center in the house. It may be a while before we try organized sports again but this was definitely a memorable season. Like I told Dalton, no matter what I will always be proud of him as long as he tries his best! Go Blue Tornadoes!In other news, Anna continues to love to eat. Here is a sweet picture of her enjoying some delish rice cereal. Tonight we tried oatmeal cereal for the first time. I seriously don't think Dalton ever ate even one dish of oatmeal. He wasn't a huge fan of rice cereal but he absolutely hated the oatmeal. However, Anna-boo absolutely loves it. The other night when I was feeding her I dropped a little on her bumbo tray and when I got up to make a second bowl for her I turned around and she had her little head down trying to lick up the drop off of her tray! Tonight with the oatmeal she would just squeal like a little pig if it took longer than 1 second between bites and try to grab the bowl out of my hands with both of her hands. It is so funny to watch!Here are a couple of Christmas pictures from after church yesterday. It took about 30 minutes and 200 tries and afterwards I wanted to consume large amounts of wine but I FINALLY got a few really cute shots...

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Turkey Day

Happy (much belated) Thanksgiving everyone! We had a wonderful thanksgiving this year in North Carolina with our families. We got into town Wednesday night and had a delicious dinner with Zack's family. Thursday we went to Mom's house for some more turkey and the works! All the food was so good I think I gained 10 lbs in one weekend!
Friday morning Mom, Diane, and I hit Starbucks and were at the mall by 5:30. We got some awesome deals and above all else I had the best time shopping with my most fave shopping buddies! A great way to kick off the holiday season.
After shopping, we met up with Dad and Joanne and got to go see Diane and Josh's new house. It was so good to see Dad and Joanne although it never seems like long enough. Diane's new house is awesome! I was so impressed. I am so proud of my little sis and can't believe she is going to be a homeowner in 10 days! WOW! Seems like just yesterday she was sitting in the living room floor watching Barney. Now if that doesn't make you feel old I don't know what does.
Friday evening Aunt Judy and Lesley got to town. It was so great to see them both and I am so glad Anna finally got to meet her Aunts!
The rest of the weekend was spent having fun with all the fam and stuffing as much fudge in my face as humanly possible! All in all it was a wonderful Thanksgiving :)

P.S.-Here is one funny picture I had to include. For Dalton's November pen pal project he had to draw a picture of his family to send to his pen pal Kyle. HILARIOUS. This is his own work with NO prompting from me. Please take note of the fact that Anna is not with the rest of us. Pretty sweet how he has us all holding hands. Also--funny that he considers Kip a part of the family. I can't wait to show him this when he gets older!