Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Finally
Finally a post about the month of December... Christmas, events, etc. It was a super-busy month and there are lots of pictures... bear with me!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Christmas Tree 2010
Decorating the tree is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I love pulling out all of our ornaments and revisiting past Christmases. 
So many of our ornaments are from my childhood or have been given to my children by friends. I love being able to share those stories with my children, and I love the excitement that they show over "their" ornaments. 
My Christmas trees would never win any awards for beauty, but in my book, they are amazing, just for the love and joy in each and every ornament hanging on it.
Family Traditions
One thing I have loved about having my own family at Christmas time is creating our own little family traditions. There are certain events each year that that make it seem like Christmas to me.
The first ones that come each year are the boys' school Christmas pageant. This was the sixth (and last that I will see as a parent to a Little School student!) Little School Christmas Pageant. Harris was in the choir and had a speaking part. His line? One of my favorites:
We missed poor Jackson's this year due to the tummy bug. He was so excited for us to see it... we were all so disappointed to miss it. We did, however, got to celebrate Jackson's 8th birthday with a Mario sleepover with 5 of his classmates... wow, did we ever learn a lot about 8 year-old boys that night!
Another favorite is our BUGS Christmas party, a cookie baking/decorating party.
In previous years we have done an ornament exchange. This year we changed it up and did a Secret Santa. My boys were excited to keep their secrets and pick out just the right gift. All of the kids were so excited to see who had their name and what they got. Loved the flying paper and squeals of delight!
Each year we get the group together in age-descending order for a picture. The organizing of the picture is almost as comical as the actual group shots!
I adore this group of children and feel like they are all family. I have been so blessed to watch them grow from babies to little people with my boys, and I so look forward to what is in store for each and every one of them. I know they will be forever friends to Jackson and Harris.
We also love the Lights at the James Island County Park. We have gone the past couple of years with Aunt Amy, Uncle Scott, Lindsy, Kaila, and Connor. The carosel, train ride, and visit with Santa are much anticipated events at this house.
Sweet Miss Betty stops by each year with super-fun gifts for the boys. She is awesome, too for staying to help with assembly!
The St. Philip's Christmas Pageant on Christmas Eve was next... Jackson was a shepherd and Harris was a king.
Finally (unfortunately no pictures) is the Bailey Family Christmas Party after the Christmas Pageant at church. Jason and I love spending Christmas Eve with close friends in such a festive home. The boys, however, are always eager to get home... they know that Mrs. Clause has been to our house while we were away, leaving clean Christmas pj's for the special night.
The first ones that come each year are the boys' school Christmas pageant. This was the sixth (and last that I will see as a parent to a Little School student!) Little School Christmas Pageant. Harris was in the choir and had a speaking part. His line? One of my favorites: His name will be Jesus, and He will be great!
We missed poor Jackson's this year due to the tummy bug. He was so excited for us to see it... we were all so disappointed to miss it. We did, however, got to celebrate Jackson's 8th birthday with a Mario sleepover with 5 of his classmates... wow, did we ever learn a lot about 8 year-old boys that night! 
Another favorite is our BUGS Christmas party, a cookie baking/decorating party.
In previous years we have done an ornament exchange. This year we changed it up and did a Secret Santa. My boys were excited to keep their secrets and pick out just the right gift. All of the kids were so excited to see who had their name and what they got. Loved the flying paper and squeals of delight!
Each year we get the group together in age-descending order for a picture. The organizing of the picture is almost as comical as the actual group shots!
I adore this group of children and feel like they are all family. I have been so blessed to watch them grow from babies to little people with my boys, and I so look forward to what is in store for each and every one of them. I know they will be forever friends to Jackson and Harris.
We also love the Lights at the James Island County Park. We have gone the past couple of years with Aunt Amy, Uncle Scott, Lindsy, Kaila, and Connor. The carosel, train ride, and visit with Santa are much anticipated events at this house.
Sweet Miss Betty stops by each year with super-fun gifts for the boys. She is awesome, too for staying to help with assembly!
The St. Philip's Christmas Pageant on Christmas Eve was next... Jackson was a shepherd and Harris was a king.
Finally (unfortunately no pictures) is the Bailey Family Christmas Party after the Christmas Pageant at church. Jason and I love spending Christmas Eve with close friends in such a festive home. The boys, however, are always eager to get home... they know that Mrs. Clause has been to our house while we were away, leaving clean Christmas pj's for the special night.
Chistmas
Just a few pictures of our Christmas...
Yes, a Red Rider BB Gun.
Such a happy day with the sweetest family. I love the happiness that Christmas brings.Happy Birthday, Jesus!
O-H-I-O
Right after Christmas, we went to Ohio to visit Papa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Nicole, and Dean. We were looking forward to some fun snow for these southern boys to play in, but no luck. It was cold, but there was no good snow for playing. However, that didn't disappoint us at all... we kept busy and explored all we could indoors. My pictures are a little backwards from the order we did all of these things, but I'm not up for moving them all around!
One of the days was spent getting lost in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Michigan. What an amazing place! I think this has to be the best museum in the world for boys (of all ages) to visit... tractors, airplanes, trains, old cars, new cars, race cars, RV's, presidential cars... they were all there.
They even got to build their own cars and race them down the tracks.
There were also exhibits that showed the results of a car-centered culture... McDonald's drive-thru, roadside motels, etc.
We sat on a old train and heard a reading of "The Polar Express".
Model trains with video cameras on them... we could see ourselves as they went by.
A paper airplane making station with a test strip to determine how well they flew.
The Weinermobile was a huge hit with the boys... each of them got in this big bun and had their chance to be a weiner...
One day we went for pizza for lunch before The Imagination Station. The boys thought it was the coolest thing ever to make their own pizza.
I think this was one of Jackson's most favorite parts of the trip...
the kid can eat his weight in pizza!
Next stop was the Imagination Station, an incredible children's science museum. I think we were there for at least three hours, and I feel like we got only an overview of the whole thing.
The best part of this day? Getting to see the boys playing with Nana, Uncle Mike, Aunt Nicole, Papa, and Dean. They truly loved the time with family.
One of the highlights of the trip was getting to see a Globetrotters game... what a cool time! All three boys loved it (as did all of the adults!), and all of their giggling certainly made me giggle... not one of them stopped smiling the whole timer we were there. The Globetrotters played some amazing basketball and were amazing entertainers.
I haven't been back to Ohio during the winter in over 11 years, and it was so good to go back then. It was cold, but the time was certainly warmed by all of my family there and having a great time. Thanks Papa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Nicole, Dean, and Nana for the great time... we are all looking forward to another visit (next time in the summer)!
One of the days was spent getting lost in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Michigan. What an amazing place! I think this has to be the best museum in the world for boys (of all ages) to visit... tractors, airplanes, trains, old cars, new cars, race cars, RV's, presidential cars... they were all there.
They even got to build their own cars and race them down the tracks.
There were also exhibits that showed the results of a car-centered culture... McDonald's drive-thru, roadside motels, etc.
We sat on a old train and heard a reading of "The Polar Express".
Model trains with video cameras on them... we could see ourselves as they went by.
A paper airplane making station with a test strip to determine how well they flew.
The Weinermobile was a huge hit with the boys... each of them got in this big bun and had their chance to be a weiner...
One day we went for pizza for lunch before The Imagination Station. The boys thought it was the coolest thing ever to make their own pizza.
I think this was one of Jackson's most favorite parts of the trip...the kid can eat his weight in pizza!
Next stop was the Imagination Station, an incredible children's science museum. I think we were there for at least three hours, and I feel like we got only an overview of the whole thing.
The best part of this day? Getting to see the boys playing with Nana, Uncle Mike, Aunt Nicole, Papa, and Dean. They truly loved the time with family.
One of the highlights of the trip was getting to see a Globetrotters game... what a cool time! All three boys loved it (as did all of the adults!), and all of their giggling certainly made me giggle... not one of them stopped smiling the whole timer we were there. The Globetrotters played some amazing basketball and were amazing entertainers. 
I haven't been back to Ohio during the winter in over 11 years, and it was so good to go back then. It was cold, but the time was certainly warmed by all of my family there and having a great time. Thanks Papa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Nicole, Dean, and Nana for the great time... we are all looking forward to another visit (next time in the summer)!
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