Twas The Nights Before Christmas

The days leading up to Christmas morning were just as eventful. I was off for several days and the first one was the Friday before Christmas. Jennifer had left some Eggo's waffles out of the freezer by mistake the night before so we decided to use them to make ornaments for the birds. We got out some cookie cutters and cut them into shapes, tied some strings on them and then hung them on some trees in the front yard.
Ellie shows off her decorating skills.

Evan was a little close to the roses - he thought he was under attack.
Little prissy - Charlotte was more concerned about the shoes we put on her than decorating for the birds. She finally got into the groove. The kids never got a chance to see the birds attacking the trees but Christmas morning I witnessed the attack. Black birds vs. Blue birds. I watched for several minutes.

Friday night was when my family would come over to do Christmas. We started the night off with a meal - finger foods!!! Here's a shot of the big kids table. See a new face? That's my brother Louis' fiance - Angela. Evan sat at this table for a short period and then he joined the girls.
The girls. The kids had been starring at a tree full of presents for a few days and they were more than ready to dive into opening some gifts. Uncle and Aunt Pop Pop (That's what the kids started calling my brother because he always has fire crackers to shoot off when we go to his house) thought they were going to bring us misery by giving the kids a bunch of musical instruments. It did not work. I usually lead the way with making a racket. Jennifer has to calm me down as I lead the band. Here's a shot of Naw and Paw with their grand kids.
Christmas Eve Morning

I guess we have started a tradition - stopping at Krispy Kreme on the way to Conyers to see Tompkins Family . We did not get out this time - wanted to avoid the creepy Santa they had last year. Jenn went in and said he was not there so we ate our donuts in the car.


Ellie really only licked the icing. She loves the sugar! Evan takes a bite out of his snowman donut.
Charlotte is all smiles as she starts to take down her little snowman. She loved it. The Tompkins gift giving did not disappoint. Charlotte shows off her new bag and one of her new princess dolls. Evan getting ready to rip into his new tool set. He loved it. It won't be long before he is helping me fix things around the house. Ellie shows off her bag, doll, and the Elmo hat Victoria gave her.
Taking a quick picture with Victoria. Now we are back home getting ready for Santa. The kids really enjoyed putting out the cookies and milk for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer. The night ends with us all snug in our Christmas pj's getting ready for Christmas morning.
BRING ON SANTA

Christmas Day 2011

It takes 365 days to get here, but it finally has arrived - Christmas Morning. They slept later than usual which meant I was about to go crazy waiting on them. This year Santa had to keep up with the little ones requests. Ellie asked for a Belle doll and a Doll House. Charlotte asked for a Ariel Doll and a Doll House. Evan asked for a Choo Choo Train and a Tug Boat. As you can see by the smiles below, he delivered.

It did not take much time until they wanted to open more presents. Here's a shot of them digging into the wrapping paper.They got some new PJs so a quick wardrobe change before we open our stockings or socks as the kids have been calling them.They even helped Mom open her presents.Now it was time to go to church. Nothing better than going to God's house on the day our Savior was born. No nursery today so the adventure would be to keep them entertained throughout the service. Carlie their babysitter came over and sat with us to help us keep them in control. It was a busy day with no nap time. Ellie jumped in the bed with grandmother when we got to granddaddy and grandmother's. That did not last long they wanted to open more presents.
Family picture time
Later that night they took a picture with Zona. They all wanted squeaky toys just like him. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Our last day at Disney was fun filled. We still can't believe the weather. Mid 80's all week. We wish we would have planned for more time so we could go swimming. Here's a shot of me and my crew as we head off to eat breakfast with Mickey Mouse and Friends.We had a little time while we waited on the boat so the girls wanted to capture a memory with Dad. I can't wait to add this picture to my office. Evan strikes a pose with mom as they wait.The boat took us to the Contemporary Resort (that's the hotel that the monorail runs through). We had reservations to eat breakfast with the characters. It was fun even though the kids did not eat much. They did load up on fruit. Evan had been asking for watermelon and he finally got some. Ellie was too rapped up in the characters. They would enter the room and make there way around. Guess which stop we were? Last! So, Ellie had to watch and wait as Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, and Mickey made their way around the room. Charlotte seemed comfortable in her chair but was still cautious. Evan was shy at first, but had a great time.
Evan showing Pluto his shirt. He was so proud.

Ellie loved the celebration time. Everyone would waive their napkins around their head like a helicopter. When they stopped she would ask to do it again. After breakfast we decided to go see some of the Christmas Decorations. Jennifer had researched what was at each hotel and she and Michelle had seen some earlier in the week. We were going to see the giant gingerbread tree at the Contemporary and the giant gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian Resort. The Grand Floridian was really nice. We were going to get a picture of just Michelle, but the kids wanted to join in.
What a great picture. Only took 100 attempts and Michelle and I screaming like idiots in the front of a nice hotel. So worth it. They tried on crazy hats in the gift shop. Ellie loved the Dumbo hat.Evan wore the Pluto to match his shirt. Getting Evan to wear a hat for more than two seconds is not easy, but he like this one.Princess for the Princess. We went back to the camper and begged the kids to take a nap, but they did not. So we load up and went to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We packed some sandwiches and headed to the park. After a quick bite we headed to see the Disney Princesses. Aurora was first. That is sleeping beauty or sleeping dootie - as Ellie says.
Belle And Cinderella. We were getting our picture made and then all of the sudden fireworks went off. Neat picture! It was finally time for the parade and it was just in time. The no nap was causing the kids to be a little fussy. They loved the parade. We had great seats right next to a family that had 18 month old triplets. They were from Brazil. It was neat to pass the time talking to others that face the challenges of three little ones. Only one difference. They travel with an entourage. They even had a full time nanny. Charlotte sat in the front in Michelle's lap, Evan sat in front with Jennifer, and Ellie had a high level seat on my shoulders. She was the announcer for our area because she could see who was coming first and she would scream it as load as she could. People were relying on her for the announcement of Mickey.
After the parade we made our way to ride some rides. It was great - no lines. We had a blast going from ride to ride with no wait. We had a great view of the fireworks over the castle. Ellie got to ride and say bye to her favorite ride - Dumbo. Evan got to ride and say bye to his favorite ride - Peter Pan's flight. Charlotte got to shake her bookie to It's a Small World one more time. There was hot chocolate, cookies & snow. It was a great night, but sorry kids we have to go home tomorrow. But guess what? We left the camper in Orlando. We will go back down in the spring and camp our way home.