How did this happen???????

My brother Rob and his family were in Houston this weekend interviewing for a job. They spent the greater part of Monday and Tuesday in the airport trying to return home to Arkansas. In a last ditch effort to get home they flew to Atlanta hoping to connect here and get home. Well, as fate would have it. . . they got stuck in Atlanta.

Needless to say I was thrilled! This meant that I got to meet my new nephew TJ! They were able to stay and visit most of the day today, and I had so much fun. It was really fun to see my brother as a parent, and also to see how interested Abby was in the baby. Here's hoping you get stuck here again soon!

Abby Grace and TJ

Charlie, TJ and Abby

Nutcracker Birthday Party

When Abby informed us that she wanted a Nutcracker Birthday Party, I got a little excited with the possibilities!

What Nutcracker party would be complete without a bunch of ballerinas? So Abby and I made tutus for all her little girl friends.



Here is Abby waiting at the front door for her friends to arrive.


Once everyone was here we walked through the Nutcracker story, but made it into a scavenger hunt. There was the holiday party where they found a toy with their name on it, next they found their sword (candy cane) to fight off the mouse king. We also visited the enchanted forest, the castle, and were visted by the Sugar Plum Fairy. (We took some major liberties with the story.)








Here are all the ballerinas with their bags of loot from the scavenger hunt.


Next the girls painted their very own nutcracker. It didn't end up too messy. And our little ballerinas were REALLY into it!






Thanks to everyone for helping make Abby's birthday week so fun and memorable!

Charlie ouchie update

I have had several questions about Charlie's eye . It is starting to heal nicely, but he has developed a black eye from the injury. :(

Whenever he looks up and the mantle and sees the stocking hangers, he touches his nose and says, "ouchie!" So sad!

My Abby Grace is 4!

It is the end of an exhausting day, and I don't have the strength to write out a detailed narrative our the birthday festivities. Plus, pictures speak a million words!






So cute of Charlie I had to add it in!



Since Mamita and Papa Carlos drove all the way up from Orlando to be with Abby for her birthday I thought it would be nice to take a photo of them together. Abby didn't think so! On the other hand Charlie was cool with it.

Today

Today started out with so much promise. We woke up early to start our Christmas decorating. The kids were really excited!

Bad picture, but two really happy kids.


Abby wanted to help put the star on top.

And if Abby did it, Charlie wanted to do it also!

Here is the finished product.

But this is where our story takes a turn for the worse. Notice the very beautiful but HEAVY stocking holders on top of the mantle. Well, our Charlie decided to take a tug on the snowman stocking held up with the letter "Y". Of course the stocking holder went tumbling, and hit the bridge of his nose. . . OUCH! :(

He took it like a CHAMP, but it looks aweful! This is about 30 mins after the incident. Yep, that is still a smile.

Doesn't that look ouchie?


Here he is tonight before going to bed. The photos just don't capture how swollen and icky it looks.






And after a tough afternoon, he found his smile for the camera tonight.