Christmas Part 2: This & That

This is definitely a little of this and a little of that from Christmas.  We were so busy the month of December that it would take me forever to blog about everything we did so this is a quick photo college of things I don't want to forget.

We started December with taking our picture for the family Christmas card.  It was surprisingly easy this year.  It was freezing cold, we were right by a major intersection with lots of traffic passing by and we were using our tripod with a remote rather than having someone take the picture.  We were set up to fail.  I actually thought we would try it but would end up having to come back another day but I was wrong!  Never underestimate the power of M&M's.  A little bribing went a long way.  After taking about 10 shots (it usually takes about 50) we had a winner (see below) and we were headed home with 2 happy kids.  Success!

Will's preschool Christmas party came next.  It was a family affair filled with sugar, singing and lots of memory making.  Below is Corey and Will after decorating homemade Christmas cookies.  Will's teachers made t-shirts for the kids to wear to the party.

Here is Will & Bradley.  They are big buddies at school.

Here is Will's other good friend Hannah.  They are so sweet!

Will with his teacher, Ms. Kim making reindeer food.

Corey and Papaw played Christmas songs for all of the kids to sing along to.  It was a lot of fun and the Jingle bells they got to ring while they sang were a big hit.

We finished out the party with a visit with Santa.  It was a great day!

The next thing we tried to do in December was take a picture of the kids under the tree.  I love to have these pictures of the kids in their Christmas PJs but this year they were not having it.  This is the best picture that we could get of the two of them together.

Gracie wasn't happy about all of the tree needles she was sitting on but after we got a pillow for her to sit on she smiled a little more for us and even got a little silly.

Will was all about posing sweet this year.  Sweet is much better than silly!

Lastly, we took our annual trip to the North Pole, aka The Bass Pro Shop.  They love going their even though we are not really Bass Pro Shop people (we really aren't very outdoorsy).  They really have the Santa thing down pat.. organized, friendly, fun and free.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Gracie still wasn't very sure about having to sit on his lap but I must say she did much better this year than last.

They both told what they wanted:  Gracie: a Cinderella doll and Will: a baseball pitching machine and catcher's mitt.

Then we wrote our letters to mail to Santa.  

Gracie worked really hard on hers.

And, Will and I worked together to make his list.

We finished out the night with a train ride in the mall.

They loved that Papaw rode with them and that they got to eat their peppermints while they rode.

I'm so thankful for all of these fun memories and can only imagine the fun we will have next year when we add another little one to the mix!  I am blessed!