Christmas in Tennessee

We had such a great weekend in Jefferson City, TN this weekend. I always enjoy our time up there visiting with my mom's family. Mom, Dad and the four of us stayed at Granny's house while Wayne and his family stayed at Johnny Wayne and Nancy's house just down the road. Jason (my cousin) drove in from Knoxville; he had just graduated from UT with his MBA - congratulations! Deanna (my cousin) and Matt (her husband) were able to come in from Greensboro for Friday and part of Saturday, so it was great to see them too. Mom, Dad, Wayne and his family also went up on Friday evening, so everyone enjoyed our traditional Christmas dinner together; we actually didn't come up until late Friday night because we had Lily's dance recital (more on that in the next post). I know they had a good time together Friday evening. We arrived about 11 PM Friday night, so we pretty much all went to bed as soon as we got there.

On Saturday morning, everyone came over to Granny's house for breakfast pizzas, cinnamon rolls and fruit slush; yum!!! Lily handed out all the cards she and Mia had made Friday morning. She was so proud of them. She made sure if anyone left their card sitting by itself, she would pick it up and bring it to its rightful owner. After breakfast, we all just enjoyed hanging out together and catching up. Here are a few pictures:

Dad reading Llama Llama Misses Mama to Mia

Molly, Lily and Mia pile on Papa!
Molly was so sweet to Mia.

Soon it was nap time for everyone, so Wayne's family headed back over to Johnny Wayne's house, and just about everyone in Granny's house laid down. Ryan and I ran out to grab a little bite for lunch, but then we came back and napped too. At one point, I think we were all taking a mid-afternoon nap! After nap time, we got ready and went to Johnny Wayne's house. Deanna and Matt had already headed back, but the rest of us had fun together. When we arrived, Nancy was making cookies with Molly and Zac, so Lily and Mia jumped right in and helped too. After that it was dinner time. I really appreciated that we reheated left overs, so Ryan and I could enjoy our traditional Christmas dinner; I look forward to this every year! Cherry almond pork, spinach casserole, corn, sweet potato casserole, lima beans, marinated asparagus, rice, jello salad and rolls. Oh my goodness, it's so good!

After dinner and dessert (cookies from the kids, chocolate pies that McKayla and Molly had made and a red velvet cake), it was time for presents. The kids could hardly wait! First, we were able to snap a picture of Granny with her five great-grandchildren though.

Mia digging into a huge bag. She was very excited to find a fun tool kit inside!

Lily was ecstatic about a Play Dough set that looks like an ice cream shop! On the way back to Granny's later in the evening, she said "This is exactly what I always wanted! I didn't even tell Granny what I wanted, but she knew and this is exactly what I always wanted!"

Lily showing off her Raggedy Ann doll from Johnny Wayne and Nancy. This made me think of the Raggedy Ann doll that my great-grandmother, Babo, (my mom's grandmother) had made for me when I was a child; she made Wayne a Raggedy Andy doll too. I wish we still had those. Lily is having fun loving her new doll though.

After lots of fun together, it was time to head back to Granny's for bed time. Sunday morning, we took it easy and enjoyed a quiet breakfast with Granny. We took our time and just enjoyed being together. After breakfast we packed everything up and headed home. Here's a picture we took a few minutes before we left.We had a pretty nice drive back; the girls did well and took good naps on the way. Lily couldn't wait to get into her new Play Dough set because I told her she needed to wait until we got home. She held it in her lap for the entire 3.5 hour drive; she held it even while she was napping! As soon as we walked into the house, she ran to the table and started digging in. Here's a picture of the girls having fun together with it. I have a feeling this is going to provide a lot of fun for them!

Mia has been having a lot of fun with her new tool box too. Here she is "fixing" things.

This was such a wonderful weekend, and I am so grateful we were able to go up to Tennessee. I wish so badly that we could see this side of my family more than we do. I always have a great time with them, and I miss them during the year. Weekends like this leave me with so many wonderful memories!

Sweet Pictures

My cousin Mandy took these two pictures at Thanksgiving this year. Look how great Mom and Dad look with their adorable grandchildren!

McKayla is 10, Molly is 5 (she'll be 6 in January), Lily is 4, Zac is 3 and Mia had just turned 2. Aren't they all just precious?

Mermaids, Santa and Fish

So what do mermaids, Santa Claus and fish have in common you wonder? We saw them all at the Georgia Aquarium today, that's what! Knowing that Ariel is one of Lily's favorite princesses (she's a mermaid in case you didn't know), I knew we had to go when I saw that the Weeki Wachee State Park mermaids were up in Atlanta for a visit. To top it off, Scuba Santa was going to be there today. We had to go!

When we got into the Aquarium, we high tailed it over to my favorite area where the tropical fish are. Sure enough, hanging out in the tank with all the beautiful, brightly-colored fish was Santa Claus in his scuba gear! He had a little bottle that he released food from so there were tons of fish swarming around him. He also had a special piece of equipment on that allowed him to hear questions from the kids outside, so he could answer them. Unfortunately, there were tons of kids around him, so it was difficult for Lily and Mia to see him. They seemed more interested in the other diver and fish in the tank though, so that was alright.
After seeing Scuba Santa, we backtracked a bit to see the rest of the tropical exhibit. While I never want to come in contact with a jellyfish, I love seeing their exhibit. Look how pretty they are!

After walking back through the tropical area, we headed over to the deep water exhibit which is a HUMONGOUS tank that houses whale sharks, other sharks, manna rays, flounders and many other kinds of fish. They have an observation area that is usually fun to sit in and watch all the fish swim around. However, today (and several more days leading up to New Years if you're interested) they also had some mermaid visitors. A few safety divers came out to set up their air tanks and get in position to keep some of the not-so-people-friendly sharks and fish away, and then two young mermaids came swimming down.

They mostly swam from side to side waving to the crowd, but every so often, they would flip over or dance a little bit (or "wiggle around" as Lily said). It wasn't exactly the synchronized swimming show I was expecting, but it was pretty neat. Both girls sat, pretty fascinated, for the fifteen minute show, so that should tell you something.

The blond mermaid seemed a little surprised when the very large manna ray swam very close to her!

The whale shark got a little close too! How did the safety diver miss him?

After the show, the girls and I darted out so they could take their picture with one of the mermaids who was relaxing outside the exhibit on a big rock. However, they would not let you take a personal picture. This evening, I looked at the picture the professional took, and while it was relatively cute, it wasn't as cute as the $34.99 they were asking for it. I have to draw the line somewhere. So, I'm sorry to say, but you won't get to see the girls with the mermaid. Guess we'll just need to go back down to Disney sometime and track down Ariel!

After this picture, we walked over to the touch tank where they have rays and bonnet head sharks available for you to touch as they swim by. Mia really wanted to touch them but she wasn't quite tall enough to reach them. After a minute or so, they asked everyone to keep their hands out as they fed the rays; that was pretty fun to watch as they splashed all around! We also noticed a dry Santa Claus available for pictures nearby; however, the girls didn't seem interested in all at seeing him (other than Mia crying out for a "pop" aka candy cane from him), so we skipped over him. Instead, we headed up to the cold water area to watch the beluga whales for a little bit. Two new whales were added a few weeks ago, so there are now four of them in the tank. They are such beautiful animals. We all liked watching them.

After the whales, we walked up the ramp where we saw the cute little otters. There were two of them in the exhibit having a lot of fun. Mia really liked how they kept rolling over in the water.

After the otters, we walked over the penguin exhibit. Mia later said this was her favorite part; she was fascinated by them. Bama and Lily walked through the tube and got up close with the penguins.

Mia liked that they could swim right up to the wall of the tank; she would lean back or step back each time though as if she thought they were going to swim right up to her. She watched another little girl "direct" the penguins up and down in the water, so when she walked away, Mia tried too. She was pretty cute to watch. I know she really enjoyed this part.

Yet another day of memory-making for the Hooks family!

Callaway Gardens

Yesterday, Ryan, Liz and I took the girls down to Callaway Gardens to see their "Fantasy in Lights." I have heard so much about this, but I've never been before; I was so excited! We left at 2 so the girls could nap on the way down which made the 1.5 hour drive fly by (okay, Liz and I napped too!). When we arrived, we found our way to the big tent that houses the will call tickets plus lots of neat activities and crafts for sale. We headed inside and the girls almost immediately caught sight of the face painting; they now both LOVE having their faces painted. As we walked over to it, they caught sight of something else - Santa Claus! We went up to see him, but both girls were a little shy; we didn't even take a picture with him. They were happy to get little candy canes from him though. After seeing Santa, they were ready to get their faces painted.

Mia got a pretty little Christmas tree.

Lily couldn't pass up a butterfly; she loves them.

After this, we wandered around for a bit taking it all in. Both girls loved seeing the Christmas tree that was decorated with a village instead of ornaments; there was one that had a little train going around on a track, and they thought it was neat. They also loved the train that was going around the middle of the tent above them. After walking around a bit, we found a cookie-decorating station. We bought a kit for each girl which had a cookie, icing and topping in it. Lily got a tree cookie, green icing and mini gummy bears for a topping; Mia got a tree cookie, white icing and rainbow sprinkles for a topping. They had fun decorating these and sharing their toppings.

Of course, they enjoyed eating them too!

After a little more walking around and admiring all the trees, decorations, toys and crafts, we headed outside to a little playground. Both girls had a great time here; they always love a good playground. A few other kids were playing too, but it wasn't crowded at all. A few parents watched Mia in amazement as she climbed, jumped, slid and basically did everything Lily did. One mom even asked "does she always have this much energy?" If she only knew! While they played, Liz treated Ryan and me to hot chocolate which was so yummy and perfect because it was pretty chilly outside. We walked around a for a few minutes after the playground, and then we decided to go ahead and get some dinner. We could watch the first show while we ate.

We sat at a picnic table and enjoyed a quick dinner while watching the beginning of the light show. First up was their rendition of "The Night Before Christmas." It was neat but it was to our left side a little bit so the kids had a hard time seeing it. Then "The Nativity" started right in front of us. I think both girls really enjoyed it. Here's a picture from it; it really was beautiful.

After these two shows, we finished our dinner and headed to the car. We bundled up in coats, gloves, hats and blankets so we would be ready to roll our windows down during Fantasy in Lights. We got in line and waited a few minutes to get going. Once we started though, we were all amazed. It was beautiful! We took lots of pictures, and I have put some of them up here, but boy, these pictures just don't do them justice. The lights were awesome!

Lots of Christmas trees and these wooden soldiers greeted us.

Lily really enjoyed this show. She couldn't wait to see what was coming next!
Mia really seemed to enjoy the show too.

Welcome to the North Pole!

Mrs. Claus and an elf cooking and making music.

Callaway Gardens has a wonderful butterfly garden, so they had lots of butterflies in lights too. Lily loved these.

This little gnome was pretty cute.

We had to have a picture of the fairy who looks an awful lot like Tinkerbell.

Their flowers were gorgeous!

They had these two gorgeous trees out in front of a big lake; the reflections were so pretty too.

I liked their "12 Days of Christmas" display. Here are the twelve drummers drumming.

We all loved the next area. As you were driving through the forest, they played "Winter Wonderland" and everything was covered in white lights. They had snowflakes too; it was gorgeous!

I loved all the lights on the lake because of the reflections you would see. The swans were beautiful.

I thought the little ice skating family was cute too.

This was such a fun little outing. If you're ever in the area (it's near Columbus and Pine Mountain), I highly recommend the Fantasy in Lights. It was so much more beautiful than I ever imagined! Lily has already asked if we can go back. I can't wait for next year because I know this will become a family tradition!

Lily's Choir Concert

Wednesday night was Lily's Christmas choir concert; they called it their "Happy Birthday Jesus" party. About 40 kids participated, and it was adorable. Her friend, Alexis, asked her to stand next to her, and then Lily asked Parker to stand on her other side. They started out with "Away in a Manger" then did "Jingle Bells" while shaking their little bells as hard as they could. Next up was "Be Careful Little Eyes" with lots of motions; I was so proud of Lily for getting into it and doing all the motions too. Last up was "Happy Birthday" to Jesus which was so cute. The kids all seemed to enjoy it which was fun to watch. After all the singing, we were able to dig into the cookie cake, cookies and juice they had for the birthday party. It was such a sweet evening! Here are a few pictures to enjoy.

So excited to dress up!

Alexis, Lily and Parker before the concert.
Jill and Macey are ready to watch!

The kids having fun with Jingle Bells.

Christmas Fun

We had a little bit of Christmas fun today. A big tradition in Atlanta is riding the Pink Pig. This was introduced in 1953. It is a ride that started out above the Rich's building downtown; I have heard it described as a "miniature suspended monorail." I cannot imagine riding an open, outdoor ride above a building in the winter! Anyway, it stayed there until 1992 before moving to the annual Festival of Trees. After being there a few years, Richs (now Macys) moved it to the Lenox Square mall where it reappears each year under a tent. Now instead of being a small, little car that rides along, it is a little train that looks like a pink pig; her name is Priscilla if you don't know. Well, that little history lesson is just so you know that this is a fun tradition that has been around Atlanta for awhile; my dad rode in the original Pink Pig downtown, I went on it as a child and now it's fun to take our girls; we went for the first time last year. Lily was so excited when we told her this morning we were going back. Luckily the line wasn't very long, so we only waited about 10 minutes before we boarded. When you board, to your right you see the original Pink Pig car...take a look.
As you ride around the track twice, you hear the story of Priscilla and how she became the Pink Pig. It's a cute little story. There are scenes set up as you ride showing her life. Here's one of them.

It only take a few minutes, but both girls really enjoyed it. Lily asked multiple times to ride again. Next year, we may need to remember to buy the "two ride" ticket so we can go again! Here's a picture of Lily and me during the ride.

Since we were at Lenox, we decided this would be a great time to go meet Santa Claus! Again, we only had to wait a few minutes and then we walked up. Both girls willingly sat on his lap which I could hardly believe. Lily even smiled for the camera; Mia had a deer in the headlights look going, but that's okay - there was no crying! Here is the picture Ryan snapped while standing to the side. The professional one is a little cuter, but it's not scanned in yet, so you can get an idea from this one.

Lily even told Santa a couple of things off her wish list: new arts, new crafts and a Santa outfit; she has also told us she wants new books and new clothes. Mia didn't say what she wanted, but she agreed to whatever Santa offered. They were both thrilled to get a candy cane from Santa as they left, and Mia gave him a big wave and "bye bye!" as we walked away. I was so relieved this went well!
After meeting Santa, we headed across the street to have lunch at Johnny Rockets. We gave the girls a little treat by getting them strawberry milkshakes; it's the little things that make them happy! We finished everything off with a Toll House Cookie and headed on home. What a fun day with Christmas traditions!

Weekend Fun

This past weekend was a lot of fun! On Friday, Ryan and I left work early to go home and pick up Lily. We took her down to Atlantic Station to see the Cirque du Soleil show called "Ovo." Ryan and I love Cirque shows, and we thought Lily would enjoy seeing one too. We were right! We had purchased some pretty good seats that included an aisle seat. We let Lily sit there so she could lean out a little and see more. Also, they handed out cushion boosters to all the kids so that raised her up to see better too. Of course, getting to snack on popcorn always helps too! Though she talked a lot and held my hand the entire time, I think she had a really good time. She loved the bright costumes (the ladybug was her favorite), and she liked watching the acrobatic routines they performed. There was one point that a somewhat scary looking character came out; Lily leaned over to me and said "I think this is not my favorite part." She also picked up on the music changes during scenes. When the music would turn deeper or darker, she would look up to me and ask what was about to happen. A few of the acts really seemed to interest her, like the Chinese girls who used their feet to juggle, bounce and throw big inflatables; they were amazing. If you ever have the chance to see this (or just about any Cirque show), I highly recommend it!

We had our picture taken after the show in front of the big top.

Lily loved it!
After the show, we walked up to Atlantic Station for dinner. They had the whole area decorated for Christmas...snowflake lights, a train ride, humongous Christmas tree, carolers and Santa were all there. Lily thought all of this was pretty cool. We then enjoyed a yummy dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (see picture below) and headed home. We had a great time on our "Daddy/Mommy/Daughter Date Night!"

On Sunday morning, Ryan and our friend, Brian, left our home about 6:45 to head to the Atlanta airport. We had received a call a couple of weeks ago that Ryan had won the AirTran Fan Flyaway contest! He received two AirTran tickets to Tampa, hotel accommodations for a night (at the same hotel where the Falcons stayed so they saw several of them) and two tickets to the Falcons/Bucs game. We couldn't believe it! I wasn't able to go, so Ryan asked Brian to join him. They had a fantastic time. Brian works for Raymond James and since the Bucs play in the Raymond James stadium, Brian was able to get upgraded seats to the club level and passes to their delicious buffet lunch. Of course, a last minute Falcons win added to the fun too. I think they had a great getaway!

While Ryan was in Tampa, I had a great day with the girls. We went to church that morning, and then enjoyed a relaxing lunch at home before nap time. Both girls took great naps, and soon after they woke up, we headed back to church for their "Christmas Packages" festival. They had all sorts of great activities for families...sleigh rides, tractor pull, live nativity, live reindeer, s'more making, face painting, craft projects, classic movies (Frosty the Snowman and Charlie Brown Christmas for example), games, carolers, family portraits, music and food to name most of the things going on! When we arrived, our car thermometer read 39 degrees; the line for the sleigh ride and tractor pull was too long to wait in that kind of cold, so we headed on in. We went straight up to the face painting area. Both girls now love this. Here are pictures of both of them getting their faces painted with little Christmas presents.

After face painting, we went over to the arts and crafts area where we colored a picture and then made an adorable reindeer ornament. I wanted to get pictures of those things, but it was difficult to manage both kids, three coats, a diaper bag and a camera by myself! After this we watched the hand bell group perform a couple of songs; both girls were fascinated by them. Next it was over to the game room where we played a bean bag toss game where you tried to get them through wreaths. We were in line when I got a phone call from my friend, Wenjia. Wenjia and I worked together at KPMG and actually left working there on the same day (December 15, 2004 if you're wondering). She and her husband moved down to Columbus, GA and of course I started my own practice. She and her family (she and her husband, Yi, now have an almost 4 year old, Dylan, and just turned 1 year old twins, Sophia and Olivia) have recently moved back up to Marietta, so I invited them to come to the festival. I was so excited they were there! I haven't seen her since New Years, 2007! It took a bit of time, but we finally connected with one another. Here is a picture of us with Mia and one of her girls; I believe this is Sophia (how precious is she?!).

We actually spent almost the rest of the time playing on the indoor playground. There were several kids there, but it was not nearly as chaotic as the rest of the church activities! It also allowed Wenjia and me time to catch up with one another which was great. We stayed here for about an hour, and then we decided it was time to get some food. We probably spent about another hour in the dining area eating and catching up. By then, it was about 7, so I knew we needed to head on back home because I could see the girls getting tired. I hated to leave Wenjia though because I just loved visiting with her again. Hopefully it won't be another four years before we get together again!

As we were walking back to the car, Lily said she really wanted to do the carriage ride; it was simply too cold though, so we compromised instead by going to visit the live reindeer. They had four hooked up in front of a big sleigh; they were enjoying some hey. We all thought it was pretty cool to see them up close.

They also allowed you to sit in the big sleigh that they were hooked up too. A nice lady took this picture for us before we walked very quickly back to our car and headed home - it was so cold!

I love these kind of Christmas activities!

Smart Mia

I am amazed by Mia. I don't know if it's because I feel like she's "my baby" and I hate to think of her growing up or just the fact that I think she's awesome, but I am amazed each time she picks up something new. Here are a couple of recent developments:

1. This morning at breakfast, Mia had her yogurt container, the bowl of Cheerios commandeered from Lily and her juice in front of her. She nodded her head specifically at each item and said "one, two, three." A little surprised, I said "Very good Mia!" She looked up at me and replied "four, five, six." What?! I just laughed a little and said "That's right! Wow, great job!" Lily's response was "Can you count to ten Mia? Let's count to ten!" Several times while getting ready, she would look at my shirt and say "Buttons. One, two, three." Last week Liz told me how Mia was starting to play with Liz's fingers and count them, but I was still a little surprised when I heard her do this myself!

2. I think Mia is trying to potty-train herself. You know she loves to imitate anything she sees, so of course, she wants to learn and do this. For a couple of weeks now, she has asked to use the potty by exclaiming "Poo Potty! Poo Potty!" Sometimes, we take her in there and she will just sit there looking proud of herself. Once she even went a little bit which made us all excited. To be honest though, it's kind of a pain because she thinks this is awesome so she wants to go in there all the time which really is a little annoying (just being honest here). However, this morning after breakfast when she exclaimed "Poo Potty!" I thought, why not, we've got a little time to kill. I stripped her down and let her run into the bathroom. She climbed right up and a few seconds later really peed. I was so excited, and she was so proud of herself! When she stopped, she looked up at the Minnie Mouse poster that hangs on the shower door across from the toilet and said "Minnie?" so I "told" Minnie what Mia had done and gave the poster a high-five. Mia and Lily thought that was awesome. Maybe Mia really is ready for potty training (at about 10 months before Lily!). I really dislike this stage though...the "I have to go NOW" stage. We'll see how these next few weeks go, but maybe she's on the way!