Christmas at our house / Visit to Santa

Here are some pictures of our house, decorated for the holidays. Since we are going to be where we are going to be for the holidays, we decided to not put up all of our outside decorations this year.

Closer up so you can make things out.

It figures that the day I take outside pictures I don't realize that one candy cane is out AND so is the Merry Christmas sign. Oh well =)

Crabtree Valley Mall has the BEST Santa, he talked to them directly and spent several minutes telling them to be good, listen to their parents, brush their teeth, flush & wash their hands after using the potty, play nice, sleep in their own beds all night long, etc... He also gave Thomas a piece of candy if he would smile. These pictures are the ones that Tom took with our camera. The picture from the mall 'idiot' doesn't show them smiling, even though they both did (oh well). At least they aren't screaming! In fact, little miss was afraid to go over to Santa, but as we walked away she gave him a hug (so did little man) and she said "I LIKE Santa"! Success!

Here Santa is bribing little man to smile. LOL

Christmas Pageant

Today was the preschool Christmas Pageant and our precious little miss had been selected to play the Virgin Mary! When she woke up this morning (an hour early I might add) she was VERY whiny and started in right away with "I don't want to go to 'work' today"..... "I'm sick"..... "I'm blond"...... The poor thing was scrambling to find ways to get me to let her stay home (I'm blond?? LOL). I figured she was scared about something but it took me more than an hour to get it out of her. She didn't want people staring at her. Last month she and her classmates stood on stage and sang a few songs related to Thanksgiving and she did fine. SO.... I thought I would mention that and I told her that everyone had been watching her then. Her response "THEY WERE?" Oops, made things worse. Finally, after seeing that I wasn't going to budge, she agreed and got dressed. Well, let me tell you.... I was SO very proud of her. She conquered her fear and did what she was supposed to. She was awesome! And darn cute to boot! It turns out that after the pageant was over some of the parents were taking their kids home early. I asked little miss if she wanted to leave and she said she wanted to stay(she must not be allthat traumatized (smile). In my early morning efforts to try and soothe little miss, I said that if they got dressed and in the car I would take them out for lunch, a "celebratory lunch". It turns out that after the pageant was over some of the parents were taking their kids home early. I asked little miss if she wanted to leave and she said she wanted to stay. I left and came back about an hour later to pick them up. Her teacher approached me and wanted me to know that little miss had asked if she could take 'baby Jesus' home, and she was told no. They explained that it was the school directors "baby Jesus". She gave him up and then later asked where he was, concerned that he was all alone in the directors office (very very sweet!).

After work the restaurant of their choosing (Chick-Fil-A) was crazy packed and the kids wanted to play more than eat but they had a good time until little man started pushing the other kids and then fell and hit his head (he was ready for nap). We headed hom an little man went for a nap. The little lady and I worked on preschool brain puzzles for awhile before she asked to watch the movie "The Little Drummer Boy". She kept asking to see the parts with the Virgin Mary in them. I guess she wanted to make sure she got it right (smile). Here's the photos!

There she is!

Here's the happy couple! This picture cracks me up! She is looking at baby Jesus all lovingly like and he is SO bored. That must have been how it was in real life (LOL).

Surprise Surprise!!

WOW!!! First off, I turn 40 on December 5th and it was Tom's 40th birthday on theNovember 25th. That night, after a crabcake dinner and chocolate cake dessert, my parents told us that they had to go to the airport and pick up someone, "He". Neither one of us knew who it would be. I thought it was my father-in-law, Tom thought it was his brother. ERRR, wrong, It was my best friend Jessica from Texas. I invited her to come for Thanksgiving, but she told me she already had plans... little stinker. I was truly shocked! My father-in-law and brother-in-law already had plans to come in on Friday midday, this we knew because the guys were going to attend the UM vs. NCState game on Saturday the 29th. Anyways, the 7 of us celebrated Thanksgiving together (my folks, the 4 of us and my best friend). The next day we had plans to go to our neighbors surprise birthday party.... ERRR.... it was for us! Surprise!! We walked in and there were all these people holding up pictures of us infront of their faces. What?? It was a big thrill. Tom had family and friends there from Miami,FL; Milwaukee, WI; Greensboro, NC and Ft Myers FL. WOW! We also had the "Treestand Posse" there as well as friends from Asheville, NC and friends from GUMP (the kids preschool). What a wild surprise! The food was delicious and my folks put on a little skit for us. Several people got up to talk, as well as Tom and I, and we just enjoyed ourselves. Here are some pictures.

They gave me the cake because we already sang for Tom on his actual birthday.

Everyone who was in attendance.

Our familes.

The three cousins and uncle Bob.

NC Museum of Natural Sciences + more leaves

One week later we decided to go and see "Rexie". The "Night at the Museum" dinosaur, except ours isn't a T-Rex, it's an Acrocanthosaurus ("Acro" for short). Acro is the T-Rex of the south. They have a full skeleton that was found in NC. They made a footprint to depict how big it was. Little man just loved looking at the dinosaurs and the video. I had a hard time pulling him away.

That's not a real deer... atleast not anymore. They have lots of stuffed and live animals to see.

In with the butterflies. Little man liked the pineapple plant.

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves!

Frolicking in the leaves!

Gosh! I just LOVE Fall. I don't think Tom cares for it as much as I do, that's because he has to suck up all the leaves with his riding lawn mower. Even though he wont admit it, I think he truly likes getting out there and riding around (smile). A few days before these pictures were taken it rained and a bunch of our trees shed all of their leaves. It was definitely the peak of the season. The temperature on this day was in the low 70's. Absolutely Beautiful! We went to Marbles in the morning and came home and took a nap (both of them- which is unusual for her). While they slept, I raked the front driveway and made a pile for them to attack later on. Our neighbor came over and played with the kids, she is the one with her feet in the air (in the pink shoes). My favorite picture is the last one, with all the leaves in the air after they threw them. We really had a good time!

The driveway, you can barely see the thing, I had to zoom in just to find it.

What happens when you get a running start and jump backwards into a pile? This!

I caught her doing it twice!

We just finished burying little miss when she popped out

Her attempt at falling in backwards.
Little man woke up
Daddy came home to help rake.
WEEEEEEE! What fun!

Marbles Museum

The Marbles Museum is located in downtown Raleigh and it is a fairly new museum. There used to be two separate places for kids to go and they combined creating Marbles. These guys really love going there and it is great fun. There are several different sections and the trick is making sure they are both in the same section. It isn't always easy and takes a little bribery, "After this I promise we will go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and play inside if you follow me to get your brother!" That usually works (smile) Here are some pictures of our time there. The first section of pictures starts inside a real bus (half of it) and has all different types of activities and places to play. The bus, a boat, a car, a firetruck (wooden) but with real firefighter clothes, an ambulance as well as a pretend triage full of baby dolls and baby beds (the kind you see in a maternity ward - clear plastic). There is a post office with actual equipment to weigh the boxes, and a postal truck and dolly ramp to slide the packages on (as well as a lobby complete with lane poles to wait in line. There is a wooden barn (one sided) with huge stuffed animals (some bigger than the kids), a pretend front porch, as well as a pretend stage complete with dress-up costumes and curtain to pull back. There is a three table train set (they all connect) as well as a Jungle tree complete with rain forest stuffed animals. But, I think the thing the kids love most about that area is the food store (complete with all different types of containers and plastic food) as well as the home kitchen (complete with pots and pans). I can't drag them away from that area. Well. here they are:

I was driving the bus but mom is slow getting the camera open, and I don't wait!

You enter the play area from the bus this way... weeee!

She's so alert, she even put on her life vest before getting in. Way to go

Out of my way mom, I've got a fire to put out!

Ain't I a cutie.... I hittin' the streets of a big city.... lookin' for babes (babies that is!)

Here's the ambulance. He just turned on the light! Thank God it doesn't make noise (smile).

Here is doctor Stucker, setting up an IV for a patient

Mommy is now the patient

OH! We LOVE to shop and play cashier!!

When you leave the enclosed play area above, you can head towards the "water park". It's all about water there. For the older kids they can do experiments and there is a room that simulates life under the water (complete with huge stuffed animals that live undersea and many books for read as well).

Hey Mom! Look what I figured out.......

SPLASH!! Ain't it great mom!?!
When you leave the water park you head straight for the ole' pirate ship.

Swab the deck ye Matey!

LAND HO!

I believe you're right there Capt'n!

Anchors Away!

Upstairs playin' drums in Rio De Janeiro.

Here we are after playing for three hours, we could keep going!