Merry Christmas

My parents came to visit us this year for Christmas, it was so good to enjoy a few days with them. As much as I enjoyed our Christmas with them, it wasn't the same without my brother here to celebrate. My brother is serving our country in Afghanistan and his presence was deeply missed. I am so proud of him and his brave service to our country.

This year we started a new tradition for Christmas that we adopted from our friends the Bakers. This year instead of giving the children a ton of toys, which can be very costly and take away from the true meaning of Christmas, we gave them three gifts. A "gold" gift, a "frankincense" gift and "myrrh" gift. The gold gift was a costly gift and something that they really wanted, the frankincense gift was a special gift, something that really means a lot to them. Finally, the myrrh gift was a practical gift. After our tradition of reading the Christmas story together as a family we explained the three gifts Jesus received and their meanings. Then we explained to Claire what each of her three gifts represented. I am excited about this new tradition. I am always looking for ways to help our family reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. I hope this made the girls' gifts more meaningful to them as well.

There were also a few cute moments during our Christmas morning festivities. All season long Claire has only asked for one thing, a princess cash register. That is all she has wanted. Then, two days before Christmas, when we were out shopping so Claire could pick out a gift for Keeley, she saw a Princess Magic Oven. Oh boy was she excited! She wanted one so bad. Well, Nathan and I had already bought her Christmas, but since it was all she talked about from that moment on we felt it would make a more appropriate "frankincense" gift then the one we had picked out for her. So the next morning my mom and I returned her original gift and went and got her the oven. I was so thankful we did this. On Christmas morning before we opened gifts she said "If I get a cash register and a oven I will really have my hopes up!" Then when she opened her gifts and saw that she did indeed have a cash register and a oven she said "I got my hopes up!" It was too cute and made us all laugh. Keeley was also quite fun to watch. Last Christmas, not only was she really sick, but she was really too young to get into it. This year she was so excited. Every present we brought to her she would take to my dad (aka poppy) and say "help" or "out". He would help her unwrap her presents and her usual response would be "wow"! Nathan and I had so much fun watching the joy on our children's faces as they unwrapped their gifts.

Biltmore Estate Visit

The Biltmore Estate has so much to offer for families and so this year for Christmas my parents gave us a year membership to the Biltmore. They actually gave it to us at Thanksgiving so we could see the Biltmore Christmas decorations. The first time we attempted to go, the wait to get into the house was three and half hours. We knew that would never fly with kiddos so we decided to just check out the barn animals this time and come back another day to see the house. Although it was bitter cold the girls had a great time petting all the animals. Keeley especially liked the goats and Claire's favorite seemed to be the baby chicks.

Grove Park Inn

One evening we took the girls to the Grove Park Inn to see their display of Christmas Trees and all the gingerbread houses. Each year the Grove Park Inn hosts a gingerbread house contest. They have hundreds of entries in several different categories. There is even a contest for the kiddos. The houses were very impressive and after attempting my first made from scratch gingerbread house this year I can REALLY appreciate all the skill this takes. The girls had a lot of fun looking at all the neat gingerbread houses.

They had a sleigh and a christmas tree set up in front of the gorgeous fireplace and I thought it would make the perfect background for the family Christmas card picture. After several attempts I finally gave up and decided to use a picture we already had. It was hard enough when I needed one child to sit still and look at the camera, it is near impossible with two!

Tennessee Christmas (comes a little early)

This year we are staying here for Christmas and so we did our Christmas over Thanksgiving with Nathan's side of the family. The girls were so excited! Even Keeley got into the action. She ripped those presents open like a pro. When she opened her Tinkerbelle doll she got really excited and shouted "Yeah". Then we she opened her Tinkerbelle sweatshirt she said "cute". Looks like I have another girly girl! Cate and Claire had a great time opening their presents as well. It is so much fun to watch the excitement on their faces. Once again, Jo Jo went a little overboard so getting all the loot home was quite a challenge, but we made it. (barely)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The wishbone would not break!

Claire and her daddy ready for a ride!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year for Thanksgiving we went to Nathan's parents house. This was very different from years past when the trip to their house only took an hour, this time we spent about 9 hours in the car. It should have only been seven, but their was road construction through the moutains before entering Tennessee and we literally sat in traffic FOREVER! We had a great time visiting with Nathan's family. We did our Thanksgiving on Friday because Nathan's dad had to work on the actual turkey day. On Friday we drove to Nathan's sister's house in Murray, KY and my parents met us there so they could spend the holiday with us as well. It was so good to see them and I am glad they made the trip. It was sad not having my brother there, but I am thankful that he is safe and we will see him next year.

The holiday did not go without a few memorable moments. While sitting at the dinner table, the girls were playing with a musical snow globe, so it took us about a minute to realize the fire alarm was going off! Sanna looked in the kitchen and noticed her kitchen table centerpiece was on fire!!! Glad we finally stopped stuffing our faces long enough to check it out or the turkey may not have been the only thing that was smoked! Fortunately, the fire was put out with little damage done. Never a dull moment.

A princess and a Ladybug!

Claire and her first "loot" of the night-cookies from the neighbors.
My beautiful Cinderella-much prettier then the orginal Cindrella I do believe!

My miserable ladybug and one excited Cinderella.

Get this hat off my head!

Halloween morning...pitiful! (If you know my Keeley you know how rare this is she never sits still for more than a minute or two.

This year for Halloween Claire dressed up as Cinderella and Keeley was a ladybug! I was really excited about Halloween and seeing the girls dressed up until that morning when Keeley woke up with a fever. (Keeley seems to have started a tradition I really hope she breaks. She spent her first Christmas sick, her first birthday sick, and now she has spent her second Halloween sick. I really hope the cycle ends here!) The poor thing looked just miserable all day. I felt so bad for her. Because she was sick I really didn't want her to be outside in the cool air aggravating her sore throat, cough and runny nose, but I didn't want Claire to miss the traditional trick or treating either. We were torn as to what to do, go to a fall carnival or trick or treat at just a few places. We decided to go eat at Chick-fil-A in the mall first and then make our decision based on how cool it had gotten after we ate. When we arrived at the mall we realized the mall was hosting trick or treaters! All the stores (it isn't a really big mall) were handing out candy to trick or treaters! We had our solution. Claire got to trick or treat and we were able to keep Keeley indoors. I will say it didn't take Keeley long to figure out they were putting something good in her basket. She seemed to perk up after the first few stores and then she got really excited with each stopped we made. (Too bad she is too little to eat candy...I guess mom and dad will have to sacrifice and eat it for her :))

Fall in Asheville

I have always loved and enjoyed fall, but nothing compares to a fall in Asheville! It has been absolutely beautiful here. Last weekend we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mt. Pisgah so we could really enjoy the view of the moutains in the fall. The pictures don't even begin to do it justice. Little jealous aren't ya?