The Holiday Wrap-Up!

It's sad to say, but the holiday season has once again passed.  I love the holiday season (not just because of the presents and obscene amounts of food that can be consumed) but also because I LOVE the decorations, tv specials and movies, and now that I'm a parent, the feeling of pure excitement and joy about Christmas from my kiddos.  Christmas was a pretty big event in our house this year... mainly due to the fact that our two girls are spoiled rotten.  But also I guess because they are pretty cool kids.  Santa decided to reward them for their good behavior this year with some pretty awesome gifts.  Addison's big wish was for a Barbie Dreamhouse (which of course Santa brought her) and Avery got a pink tricycle.  Of course they got a TON of other random junk... Barbies, baby dolls, lots of princess items and dress up clothes.  Anything that screams girlie and princess we probably have.  And Scott and I didn't make out too bad either.  I got a new DSLR camera (yay, my first big girl camera!! Pics to come soon)  and Scott was the big winner as he bought a brand spanking new Nissan Titan Pro4X truck the week after Christmas.  I can't even begin to describe the look of sheer joy and happiness that man had when he got to drive home his dream truck.  Literally, he sat in the driveway for an hour the first night just playing with all the features and settings.  He's special.

Aside from Christmas, life is back to the normal routine.  Addison will celebrate her 4th birthday this Thursday.  Four going on 14 sometimes.  She had her first real birthday party this past weekend at Chuck E. Cheese and had a fantastic time with all of her friends from preschool, as well as some family members.  I have to admit, doing a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese is pretty convenient.  I mean, I wish I was that mom that had all the time in the world to custom create a really fantastic and personalized birthday party for my child, but that's just not reality for us.  Between doing the full time mommy thing, full time teacher thing, working on Board certification, and just trying to keep our lives somewhat in order, I realized that sometimes buying convenience is really just the best way to go : )

Finally, the last bit of big news from our neck of the woods is that we FINALLY got snow! Last Thursday we had a fast and furious snowstorm that dropped about 4 inches of thick, wet snow on the Roanoke area.  The girls were soooo excited to see the white stuff and we even got out to play in it for a bit on Friday morning since we had our first snow day of the year! Yes, snow days are one of the measely little perks about being a teacher that gets us really excited!

Hope you all had a great holiday season! Enjoy the winter and do a little snow dance for us every once in a while!

 Patiently waiting on Christmas morning to see what Santa had left for them. 

 The Birthday Girl at her party

 Addy got to go in the TicketBlaster at Chuck E Cheese.. and racked up!

 Chucky and a very excited Addison

 One of Addison's Christmas surprises was going to see Disney on Ice a few days before Christmas.  She was all decked out and ready to see "real life" princesses. 

 Yay for snow!! Now if only both kids would sit still for a picture!

 Addison modeling her snow gear : ) 

Avery riding her bouncey turtle that Aunt "Teen" got her for Christmas