ALWAYS UP TO SOMETHING

Scott has been home from work with Kate and me for the holidays and we have had such a good time sleeping in and not having anywhere we had to go everyday. On Friday, Kate and I picked up our friends Dawn, Sara Kennedy and Cooper and went to our friend Sharea's house to play with Jett and Stone. Our good friends Emily and Maddox were here for the holidays and we were so glad to get to see them too. Emily, Dawn, Sharea and I taught together about 7 years ago at Madison Station and have stayed friends. They are all stay home moms and Emily lives in Augusta, Georgia. I am so thankful for all of them and their friendship. I wish I could post pictures of the kids, but I dropped my lens to my camera when we got ready for the big picture and a button moved and I didn't realize it until after I had taken the few pictures the kids would sit still for. My lens had switched from auto to manual focus so all of the pictures were blurry. Maybe one of my sweet friends will email me a copy of their pictures and I can post them later!!

Today, Kate and Scott and I went to Keifer's for lunch (YUM!) and then I spent the afternoon until the State game came on (GO DAWGS!!!!!) painting our bedroom. It was the most hideous shade of green! While I was painting, Kate decided she would watch TV and keep an eye on me from the ladder. She LOVES to climb and would climb to the top of the ladder if I'd let her. I took some pictures of her and she was quite happy to pose. When she got tired of climbing, she took her usual "break" on our bed.

CHRISTMAS IS FOR KIDS

I have to say that this was my best Christmas to date. It wasn't Kate's first Christmas, but it was the first time she really enjoyed her presents. Scott and I praise God for the most special gift that we were blessed with on Feb. 21, 2006. We look forward to a lifetime of Merry Christmases with her!

We spent Christmas Eve night with some of the best friends we could ever be blessed with -- Terry, Lee and Perry Powell. We got to watch 2 little girls open their Hanna Montana concert tickets which was a scream (literally!) and the Powells gave Kate the cutest cleaning set that you can see in the slide show. She has barely put the broom down since then!!

On Christmas Day, we spent the whole morning at home, just the 3 of us, opening presents and playing. It was so wonderful not to have anywhere to dash off to. Kate was tickled with her new 4 wheeler, Blue's Clues and WonderPets DVDs, food for her play kitchen, a toy drum, and best of all her very own "space jump". She is not the best jumper in the world but you can find her piled up in the middle of it with as many toys as she can.

On Christmas afternoon, we headed to Crystal Springs to eat and exchange gifts with Kate's Granna and Papa D. They gave her a table and chair set and a pink baby grand piano. She was tickled pink for sure!!! Needless to say with a slide, a kitchen, tooooo many toys and now a jumping thing, table and chairs and a piano, our bonus rooms is PACKED!!! No more toys for Kate for a while. With a birthday coming up in February, we can't imagine what else to get her!!

We hope you and your families all had a blessed and joyful Christmas.

FUN TIMES

Kate has 3 new obsessions these days: sitting on our bed watching "Shape Detectives", feeding her piggy bank and playing with her piano (or any other toy) on top of the garbage can in our pantry!!! Her piggy bank plays "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as she puts coins into it. The only problem is that she doesn't understand why she can get the money out! At the rate she's going at feeding that thing, she will be able to buy a car soon! Don't ask about the garbage can obsession. Scott and I are just as grossed out and confused, but she seems to think it is a fantastic table for sitting things on!

STAY BACK SANTA!

As I said in an earlier post, Kate is quite frightened by Santa. We had tried having her picture made with him once over Thanksgiving, but she wanted no part of it. So one Saturday, I decided to take the risk with a different Santa. Before getting Kate out of the car, I asked Santa if he would mind if Kate sat in his chair and he could just peek over at her. After all, all I wanted was a picture of HER with him in it ~ preferrably without any crying!! She thought that she was big stuff sitting in his chair. The pictures I got with my camera weren't great because I was standing off to the side and trying to snap a picture and make sure she didn't see him out of the corner of her eye and jump down.

CHRISTMAS FUN

We are looking forward to a very special Christmas with Kate. She has just -- after 2 and a half weeks -- "discovered" that the ornaments will come off the tree if you pull them hard enough! We took her last Saturday and stood in line to have her picture made with Santa. I don't think that we will have one to put on the blog this year. She wants NO part of the jolly old man!! I don't think that she has figured out that he is the one that brings the presents. Attached is a picture she let me take of her in front of the tree. I just got a new camera and am so obsessed with it and Kate just wants to run instead of sit still for a picture!