A Trip to the North Pole

The girls and I had a great afternoon and evening together (Ryan is in Chicago for a few days).  They were very curious when they saw our Countdown Tag #4 that said "Train Ride to the North Pole."  They have never been on a real train before, so they weren't sure what to expect, but they were pretty excited, and they asked tons of questions.  So, after church we ate lunch, played a bit, packed up and headed north to Chattanooga where the "North Pole Limited" Train ride departs.  They were ready!

I intentionally left at nap time, and my plan worked: both girls slept for well over half the trip.  We arrived about 1.5 hours before the train left which gave them lots of time to look around and get a feel for things.  First thing we did was have a picnic snack in the trunk of the Pathfinder; they thought that was lots of fun.  We enjoyed Cheerios, Fig Newtons, grapes and an apple.  It was a beautiful day, so when we finished up we gathered our things and headed over to check out the trains.  The girls loved climbing up and seeing how big a real train is. 

 The loved the bright red caboose.

I overheard someone say they would make an announcement about 5 to line up to board; it was a few minutes before that.  I looked outside and a few people had already gathered, so we headed on out and were second in line.  We ended up with great seats thanks to this.  The girls enjoyed rainbow candy canes while we waited to leave the station.

 Once the train started to move, the girls immediately hopped up to start looking out the window.  They weren't sure what to expect, and they didn't want to miss a thing!

 After a couple of minutes, a lady in the middle of the train car welcomes everyone and then reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  She did a great job, and she walked up and down the aisle, looking at each child and making sure they all saw a page from her book.  When she finished, they handed out gingerbread cookies and chocolate yoo-hoo to drink.  The girls were excited about their cookies and the fact that I brought water with us; none of us touched the chocolate drink.

 After all the treats were handed out, another lady begins to explain how we get to the North Pole.  She explains that in a few minutes, we will ride through a magical tunnel where we will pick up speed which will allow us to get there so quickly.  Once we cross through the tunnel, we'll be in the North Pole.  She explained that any houses we saw belonged to the elves who live there; if a house light is on, that meant the elf was out at Santa's workshop making toys, but if the house light was off, the elf was either resting or playing in the woods because they like to hide there.  The girls were all too happy to look for those elves as we progressed down the tracks.  There were a couple of light displays too which they enjoyed.  Soon, we pulled into North Pole Station, and who should be there to greet and wave to the train but Santa and Mrs. Claus!  The girls were beyond excited!  Here they are waving out the window.

 This picture didn't turn out great, but that's Mr. and Mrs. Claus waving to us (and the other passengers).

 The girls couldn't take their eyes off of them.

 A few minutes later, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in our car.  Since we had been so early in line, we were all the way at the front.  We were the first people Santa stopped and said hello to.

 Again, the girls were very excited to see the big man!

 Santa sat down to snap a picture and talk for a few moments.

 The kind lady across the aisle snapped this picture of all of us too.

 After talking to Santa, Mrs. Claus gives each passenger a jingle bell with a rhyme attached explaining that the bell is from Santa's sleigh and whenever you hear it, you know Santa is near.  After the guests of honor spoke to each passenger in our car and moved on to the next car, the lady came back up to lead us in some songs (Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming To Town and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) and explain that we would go back through the tunnel which would return us home.  Lily spent the whole time before the tunnel looking for the elves; finally, she was certain she saw one with his pointy ears in the forest.  She was thrilled.  Towards the end of the ride, Santa and Mrs. Claus walked through the car again saying "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!"  They disembarked the train and waved good-bye to the train.  We pulled forward about 50 yards and were back at the station. 

When we left the train, we grabbed a little sandwich and chips from their cafe to eat as dinner in the car (keep in mind it was just after 7:00 PM at this point).  We headed back outside to see the light displays that were now shining so nicely.

Greetings from Lily and Mia!

 Again, not a great photo (I'm too tired to work on them right now), but you can see the girls peeking out around this snowflake; this was Lily's idea.

 They both really liked the soldier that waves to everyone, so we snapped a picture with him too.

Finally, we got back to our car, and I definitely had two tired girls with me.  I changed them into pajamas, divided up dinner and started the 2 hour drive home about 7:45.  They ate and then we called Ryan because both were so excited to tell him about the fun they had.  Then both were sound asleep by about 8:20.  The ride home was uneventful, and I easily brought both of them in and put them ride into bed.  Mia didn't say a word, but Lily told me "That was fun.  I can't wait to see what we'll do tomorrow."  Lots of great memories made today!

Santa and The Pink Pig

Thursday, December 1, started our Christmas Countdown of Fun.  When Lily woke up that morning, she made a beeline to the stocking and pulled out the #1 tag.  I was still lying in bed, but I heard a squeal and then she came running in and said "Mommy, I read it!  It's says 'Ride the Pink Pig!' We're gonna' ride the Pink Pig today!"  Needless to say, she was uber-excited.  To make it even better, she was Servant of the Day in her class on Thursday; their share topic right now is "my favorite ornament," and on Wednesday night, Lily had picked the Pink Pig ornament because she loves it so much.  Mia was almost as excited as Lily too.  So, after school and Mia's gymnastics class, Ryan and I took the girls to Lenox.  I changed the girls into cute outfits while Ryan went in to buy tickets.  When we met back up a few minutes later, there was literally no one in line.  We walked right up to the front, and about one minute later, the ride in front of us ended.  Loved the timing!

This bright sign at the ride's entrance is ridiculously bright pink.  Of course, that means our girls love it.

 So excited during our brief wait to board the ride.

 The girls were ready to ride!

 Watching and loving it.  They held hands the whole time which is what I loved.

 As luck would have it, as we walked off the ride, Priscilla the Pink Pig walked in.  We couldn't resist the photo op.

 After the ride we headed inside to meet Santa.  He was on a short break, but the girls were patient to wait on his return.  We were the second people in line, so they watched the girls in front of us talk to him.  When it was their turn, they walked right up and happily sat on his lap.  Yea!  After taking a couple of pictures, Santa asked each girl what they wanted.  Mia told him she liked the zip line (from my cousin's house that she rode at Thanksgiving) and wants that; Lily told him she wants the princess castle with rooms for Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty (Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle if you're wondering).  I hope Santa didn't promise them these gifts...

 The next day, the girls had another Santa surprise.  They were thrilled to receive a card in the mail from him (Mommy may have had a little something to do with this).  They keep asking us to read it over and over to them!

 This is the front of the card which lists the girls' names, ages and activities they enjoy.

 The inside of the card declares they made Santa's "Nice List" for a variety of reasons.  They were quite excited about that!

What a great way to kick off our Countdown!

Mia's School Picture

I love this girl!

The Little Gym

Both of the girls love their Little Gym gymnastics classes and their teacher, Ms. Maria.  Lily goes each Wednesday afternoon while Mia goes Thursday mid-morning.  They love learning and showing off new skills.  They enjoy spending time with friends, and they have a great time singing funny songs they learn.  As they progress, we see their coordination and skills developing which is so fun.  Every so often, Ms. Maria sends us these pictures taken during a class.  It's a nice little surprise when they come in.

My little monkey Mia gets so excited about her class!

 Lily is so proud of herself and the skills she is learning.

Down or Up?

Lily is so excited that tomorrow is December 1.  Last year, we started a new tradition.  We hang an advent stocking, and each morning, the girls pull out a little piece of paper that tells them something fun we are going to do together that day.  We were talking about this on the way to school this morning because we saw a store with lights on all around it.  It reminded Lily of our trip to Callaway Gardens which made us start talking about our December stocking fun.  I asked Lily "Are you so excited that we start our Christmas countdown tomorrow?"  Lily paused for a minute and then said "Mommy, it's not a countdown.  It would be a countdown if we started at 24 and went to 1, but we start at 1 and count up to 24.  It's a Christmas countup."  I wasn't sure how to argue that wonderful 5-year-old logic, so I agreed.  So, let the countup begin!

Three Year Old Mia

I can't believe Mia is three years old now!  This little girl brightens our day every single day.  She is absolutely precious, and we feel so blessed to have her as our daughter.  Over the last year, her speech has taken off.  Dr. White even commented today on how verbal Mia is.  Of course, she doesn't say everything perfectly yet, and there are a couple of things I love to hear her say and can't bear to correct her:

• "Blanana" for banana
• "Pakin' Hook" for Captain Hooks
• "Maked" for naked (she loves to take her clothes off at night and say "I'm maked!")
• "Free" for three (as in, "I'm free" when asked how old she is)

She had her well visit check-up today, and it went pretty well.  She is 32.4 pounds (65th percentile) and 3 feet tall (25th percentile).  Her blood pressure is 94 over 60 which is in the normal range.  I asked Dr. White about her hearing.  I have been concerned for a couple of weeks now.  When we visited the ENT a few months ago, they took out Mia's tubes, and she has seemed fine.  However, recently she has been turning the volume of her toys up and saying she can't hear things like the tv or radio.  I also know she had a little cold last week which could add to the fluid level.  Dr. White noted her right ear had a large amount of non-infected fluid in it, and her left ear seemed pretty normal.  It's something to watch for a few weeks to determine if we need to take her back to the ENT.  We'll see what happens with this.

A few things to note about Mia at this fun age.  She loves pirates.  She likes to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney, and she likes to pretend that we are pirates.  When you ask what a pirate says, she crooks her arm, bring it in front of her and says "Arrr, matey."  She loves telling knock-knock jokes.  This is her favorite: "Knock, knock.  Who's there? Me.  Me who?  You know me!"  Mia laughs more than any child I have seen; she is such a happy little girl.  She is really enjoying books now which I love.  She is getting into Search and Find books which is fun.  Her favorite Bible story is David and Goliath.  She rarely walks anywhere; she prefers running.  She loves the scooter we gave her for her birthday.  She also likes to lay down on the ground in Lily's scooter path, a la old timey bandits with the damsel on the railroad track.  She loves to climb as high as possible on playgrounds and climbing walls.  The girl is fearless!  She is pretty athletic; she loves to catch, throw, roll and kick balls.  She loves to paint and attempt art projects.  Mia is a great eater.  Her favorite foods include spinach ravioli with a wild mushroom sauce (at Figo), a vegetarian burrito from Moes, bananas, raspberries, kiwi, strawberries, grapes and tomatoes ("matoes!").

Mia is such an amazing, smart, sweet and beautiful little girl.  We are so proud of her, and we love her more than we ever could have imagined!  I can't wait to see what this third year offers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving.  What a wonderful day set aside to remember all the many, many blessings we have.  This picture shows two of my most favorite blessings:

Thursday morning, we watched the Macy's parade together; what a fun tradition!  We paused it for a few minutes to make a Thanksgiving dessert: Rice Krispie Turkeys.  They didn't look quite as nice as the recipe picture, but they were gobbled up that afternoon.

After making a couple of other dishes and watching the parade, we all got ready and headed over to Sid and Elaine's house.  A lot of my dad's family gets together there each year, and we have a blast together.  Luckily, it was a beautiful day so the kids were able to play outside; a lot of the kids were running around barefoot!  Both girls loved playing on their swings and running around on their tennis court playing soccer, basketball, riding bikes and doing just about anything but playing tennis.  Their favorite part though was definitely going down the kid zip line that Sid and Elaine have; they loved it!  Mia was the first one to try it out, and then all the kids played for a long time on it; talk about fun for them!  Of course, we also enjoyed an amazingly delicious meal, and we had fun with a lot of family.  Again, what a wonderful day!

The girls didn't take naps during the day because they were having too much fun, so about 15 minutes after getting home, this is how we found Mia in the living room.

 A few other miscellaneous Thanksgiving things...

Lily made this cute placemat at school.  Her class had a Thanksgiving feast the Tuesday before, and they used these.  Lily loved telling me how she painted her hand to make the turkey.  They also made a little turkey napkin ring which was pretty cute.  Mrs. Worrell made a tree, and each child attached a leaf that said what he or she is thankful for.  Lily put "my food."

Liz helped the girls make these adorable turkey crafts at home one day.

Liz helped Mia make this sweet little tree.  Mia was so proud of herself!

Such a sweet little cheerleader!  I am so thankful for this little one!

On Friday evening, Ryan and I put up our Christmas tree.  We love putting this up each year, so we can relive lots of fun memories as we pull out the ornaments we have acquired from our various trips.  What a fun evening.

I love to pull out this nativity set that Meme brought back from the Holy Land.  She brought one back for each of her five grandkids.  This hand-carved wood has a very nice, distinct smell to it; that smell makes me think of Christmas whenever I walk past it. It's beautiful, and I love it.

We both love this Hummel nativity set that Ryan's Grandmama gave him before she passed away a few years ago.  It's as lovely as Grandmama.

On Saturday morning, we went to The Optimist Club's pancake breakfast.  Delicious!  Afterwards, we stopped by the Dollar Store to let the girls pick up a new ornament, and then we came home to decorate their tree.  They had a blast!  They sorted all through their box of ornaments and picked out their favorites to hang.  Mia was partial to the little jingle bells while Lily found every one of the princess ornaments.  It was a fun time.  Here are several pictures of them getting the tree ready.

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving weekend as much as we did.  Now it's time to think about the upcoming Christmas season!

Family Pictures 2011

Last Wednesday, we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to have our annual family photographs taken.  It was a little overcast, but it didn't rain a drop.  We practically had the place to ourselves which was nice too.  The gardens were beautiful, even if everything wasn't fully in bloom, and we were able to explore and enjoy a lot of it.  We all loved working with Drew, and we look forward to seeing her again next year!  She took well over 200 pictures, edited 60 of them and gave us a disk that has all the photos on them.  I feel like she did an excellent job of capturing the sweet and fun personalities of our precious girls.  It was very difficult, but here are my most favorite ones. 

An Expert

Lily checked out a book at the school library today that is about the ocean.  When Liz asked why she picked this book, Lily replied "So Mommy can be an expert on fishes because she needs to be an expert on something."  Very interesting...