Tomorrow is OUR Christmas Eve!!!

I can't believe that Christmas is here! I don't know if it was the weather, having a newborn baby or just all the hustle and bustle, but I feel like I just blinked on Thanksgiving and all of sudden Christmas has arrived! Josh and I have been busy tonight preparing for Mr. Claus to deliver his gifts tomorrow night, but I wanted to get one more post up before we get into all the craziness and FUN this Christmas is going to bring, starting tomorrow. We were talking about how we think we may be more excited for our kids' Christmases than we were when we were kids ourselves. It is AWESOME!! Suzana really thinks that the place where we saw Santa and had pictures made is the North Pole! I asked her today if she wanted to go to the big book store (which is beside where we saw him) and she said, "You mean the North Pole?" Ha, I love it!

Yesterday's activity was making and decorating sugar cookies, which was always one my favorite traditions growing up. They turned out super cute and yummy!

This morning Suzana made brownies to take to the Ronald McDonald House. She is such a great little chef already, and cracks an egg better than me! We also took some toys to donate to their playroom. The coordinator thought Suzana was the cutest thing ever and told her how proud she was of her to bring some of her toys to other little girls. She really liked the "Donald" sitting in the front of the house. She didn't really understand why we couldn't get a cheeseburger there!!

We also took care of anther Christmas tradition tonight. Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park. I always enjoy seeing the beautiful light displays throughout the park. I think Miss S just really liked getting to sit in the front seat and play with the CD player while the car was moving! At the end of the light show, they have activities set up inside the welcome center and outside in the park.

Little man Leo was a great sport and hung out in his stroller. He likes to people watch like mama!

Proud of her for smiling while holding the hand of a big, scary costumed character!

And, her favorite part...ANIMALS!!

This year she was even brave enough for the camel ride, with daddy of course.

The little camels really STRETCHED out to get carrots. She screamed and squealed and laughed the entire time.She also enjoyed watching the model trains this year.

We hope that everyone has a very blessed and Merry Christmas! We are looking forward to spending time with our families and friends and for Josh to get a whole WEEK off from work. Enjoy this special time of year!

Christmas Catch-Up

OK, I have to be honest, this crazy, cold, icy weather has put a major road block in our Advent activities! UGH! Last week was supposed to be the bulk of the "going out and helping others" and we couldn't even get out of the house. So, here are the things that we actually did get accomplished.

Day 7: We picked up a couple of hot chocolates at McD's and took them to the Salvation Army bell ringers at Wal-Mart along with a bag of change and some dollar bills.

Day 8: Well, this day actually made up for a few of the days we missed because we accomplished three activities in one day! The original plan was for Suzana to perform in her preschool class Christmas program. Here she is posing on the stage.

A little brother support provided by Leo! It was very impressive that only one three year old out of 60 cried while on the stage... too bad it was our three year old, lol! Her awesome teacher got on the stage with her though and she did a beautiful job singing after that. I know, it is a shocker that little Miss Performer got stage fright!!

Since Gi Gi was here to see her sing, we decided to go see Mr. Claus so she could be there too. Leo was ADORABLE!! We got a picture of just him since it is his first Christmas and probably the last one for a while that he will smile in Santa's lap! Doesn't he look like a little elf?
This was as close as Suzana wanted to get for the picture! Afterwards, she did talk to him and give him a high five. She loves him to death, as long as he is not right beside her!

Third activity of the day was making gingerbread girls and boys with Sydney. I had this planned for another day, but this day seemed to work out the best; however, it actually didn't even work out because the girls mostly played! That same evening, Jake, Shannon, Luke and Brenna came for the weekend. Saturday, our day 8 activity was getting pictures taken of all the Gibson grandkids. They turned out to be so adorable! Here is our favorite group shot. Of course Suzana LOVED having three babies at her house. She is so in love with her brother and two baby cousins! Well, after they left on Sunday, the weather took over all we had planned! It snowed or iced all week. And if it didn't snow or ice, it was a balmy high of 15 degrees most days. One thing we did get to do was see Santa's special message (make sure you check it out on the post below if you haven't already). We also gathered some toys and books to donate to the UK children's hospital. After being cooped up most days, on Friday night we decided to get out and head to Chuck E. Cheese. Although we hadn't gotten to do the things I wanted all last week, that night showed me that she still understands what giving to others means when a little boy wanted to play a game beside her and his mom told him they didn't have any coins. Our precious girl looked at her daddy and asked if it was OK to give him one of hers :-) The boy's mom couldn't believe that a three year old would do something like that. I can...she is AWESOME!!!!

Today, we have tried to get back on track. I rearranged the calendar and have tried to fit a few things in that we didn't get to do. We found out a few days ago that Kelly and Kirk were making their annual Lexington Christmas trip today, so that was the perfect activity for today!

Kirk and Suzana are opening his Mickey Mouse airplane ride-on toy.

This is Suzana and Kirk last year during their visit!!! This is Suzana feeding Kirk his bottle on their 2009 trip when he was just four months old... and, well, I guess she felt like they needed to do it again today for old time's sake!! (She is using the bottle from the gift they got her. She said, "It is just what I wanted!" Thanks Walkers!)
We threw a new baby into the mix this year. He got a really cute growth chart! It is hard to believe that Kirk was just a month older than Leo when he was here last year and that next year when they visit Leo will be as big as Kirk!!!
Hopefully I can make one more post before Christmas! Have a great week!

Special Message

Watch Santa's special message to Suzana by clicking on the link below! So cute!!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/-yydrhOrCgpR9-XIKm32tg

Advent Days 6-10

On Advent Day 6 (last Saturday) we woke up to about 5 inches of snow! I decided to switch our activities around and make that day "playing in the snow with daddy day!" (I hated to miss being wet and freezing cold, but someone had to stay with the baby, lol!) Josh got a picture, but it was on his phone and I can't figure out how to download it on here (Cam, I am sure you can tell me!) Anyway, they had a great time and Suzana rode on her sled for the first time down big hills!


On day 7, we went to the UK Housestaff Medical Alliance children's Christmas party. Suzana and Leo looked so sweet in their red!
There was a surprise guest! Suzana couldn't wait to see him, but of course she shook all over when he came out. She wasn't too scared to get her gift from him though. She also liked helping him hand out gifts.This was as close as she would get for a picture.A little closer still, but that is as far as she went. She said when we go see him to get pictures taken (the mall) then she will sit on his lap and kiss him :-)

Day 8-Watch Dora's Christmas Carol then no more TV the rest of the day. We didn't get out of our PJs!! It was a great day. We got out her princess castle and had many tea parties and a picnic lunch. This was such a perfect day for this because the temp didn't get above 15 degrees! BURRRR!! No pictures to share though, we were too busy playing!

Day 9-Gingerbread House with Daddy! Their house is precious. He was amazed by her fine motor skills! She was amazed with the yummy icing and candy :-)Leo watched her at work!

Day 10-Painting pottery with friends at the Mad Potter. No pictures to share because we can't show what we made just by chance you will be getting one of the pieces for Christmas :-)

Advent day 4 and 5

Our Advent activity yesterday was making ornaments for the tree. We talked about the meaning behind the candy cane and made pipecleaner and bead candycanes. We also made a picture frame ornament with Suzana and Leo's picture to remember their first Christmas together as brother and sister.

She LOVES making crafts! She has amazing fine motor skills! Josh came home this evening from a week-long trip to Chicago . We missed him SO much. Suzana acted like a CRAZY lady when we picked him up at the airport. I seriously don't think I have ever seen her so excited! She wouldn't leave his side ALL night. Our activity today was to watch a Christmas movie in our jammies. It was the perfect thing for tonight because Josh came home with matching Christmas PJs for Suzana and her baby! We enjoyed watching The Polar Express, one of my favorites, and eating cookies. I think she may still be awake in her bed right now, she was wired.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Traditions!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This little man is the happiest baby! He loved his first Thanksgiving! Suzana and Josh put up our tree right before Thanksgiving. She was really excited! She thought it felt funny!

Thanksgiving night, Gi Gi and Paw Paw read the Elf on the Shelf to Suzana and we put the little elf up. She loves trying to find him every morning!

The day after Thanksgiving we decorated the tree.

And wrote a letter to Santa Claus!

Last night we started our Advent activities. We are going to do something to get ready for Christmas everyday of Advent. Some things will be family traditions others will be helping people in the community. I am really excited that Suzana is old enough to start doing things like this now! Yesterday was our first day and the activity was reading the Christmas story in the Bible.

This morning we got out her Little People Nativity playset and talked about all the people and animals that were there when Jesus was born. She enjoyed comparing the toys to the pictures in the Bible. We are going to leave it out all season to play with.

We also got a little snow today, which helped lift our Christmas spirit even more!If you are wondering where baby Leo is during all these festivities, this is his usual spot! :-)