Christmas Night

On Christmas night, we headed over to Grandmama & Tim's house for the last round of presents and Christmas dinner. Grandmama cooked a great Christmas dinner and Kate enjoyed some M&M's courtesy of Sam. Kate got another baby doll, which she loved, as well as some blocks and a tea set. After all of the festivities over the past week, Kate made it through like a champ! However, Sam and I were pretty much delirious.

HoHo came!

We made it back to Birmingham on Christmas Eve just in time for a visit from HoHo. The highlight of Christmas morning was Kate's kitchen. She managed her time between cooking in the kitchen and tending to her babies. We all had a great Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve at MawMaw & PawPaw's

On Christmas Eve, we always go to Sam's grandparents' house to celebrate with the McWhorter family. It's always nice to see all of the extended family and Kate had a blast. Once again, Kate got a baby doll from her Secret Santa, Ruby. She could not put it down all night (See pictures below)!

Some worn out kiddos

All of the McWhorter Great Grandkids (Sutton, Ruby, Riley, Jackson, Mac, Kate, Daniel & Laura Ann)

Christmas with Gran & Papa

We loaded up the car Wednesday to Moulton for Christmas with Gran, Papa, Haley, Dan, Daniel & Laura Ann. Kate loves to play with Daniel & Laura Ann and did her best to keep up with them. Kate has a new found obsession....baby dolls. Gran gave both Kate & Laura Ann baby dolls & strollers from Christmas. However, Kate informed Laura Ann that both babies were, "Kate's dolls." Miss Priss had a ball playing with the babies and dragging the strollers all over the house. Notice in every posed picture, Kate is holding a baby doll of some kind! Thanks Gran & Papa for lots of fun!

Loves to swing at Gran & Papa's house

This is my favorite picture of Daniel from Gran & Papa's house. He LOVED his jersey & cleats!

Christmas Cookies!

This year I made my first attempt at making cut-out Christmas cookies. I have been meaning to do it all through the month of December, but the weekends have been so busy, so we made them Sunday after opening some Christmas presents with Grandpa & Linda. Kate's favorite part was the cookie dough. She kept sneaking bites of the dough. Kate had fun and the cookies turned out great!

Christmas Visit from Houston

Houston....we have a problem...Where are we going to put all of these toys? Grandpa and Linda were in town this weekend from Houston to have Christmas with Kate. Kate had so fun much and was overwhelmed by it all! She had so much fun seeing Grandpa & Linda. While they were here, we rode the Christmas carousel, went to Build-A-Bear, made Christmas cookies and opened presents! The biggest hit by far was her playhouse. The squeals that came out of that child were priceless! Lots of fun was had by all!

Christmas Carousel & Build-a-Bear

While Grandpa & Linda were in town, we decided to hit the Galleria to ride the Christmas Carousel & visit the Build-A-Bear store. Kate rode the carousel several times which she enjoyed then headed to Build-A-Bear. Kate had more fun rummaging through the stuffed animal bins than anything else. She got a cute little Frosty the Snowman that lights up and sings.

Sneak Preview

Kate got a package in the mail yesterday from Grandpa & Linda. They sent a Christmas Carol Singing Mickey Mouse and some ornaments for her tree. She opened the package with lots of squeals when she recognized Mickey. She played with Singing Mickey until bathtime, then it was the first thing she wanted this morning. After seeing her opening the present, she's going to have a blast in the coming weeks!

Couldn't put Mickey down.

A Visit with Ho-Ho

We took Kate to get her picture taken with Santa (a.k.a HoHo). We were afraid it was going to be like the Easter Bunny all over again, which was uncontrollable crying. However, she was quite curious of Ho Ho while she was sitting on this lap. She just kept checking him out, not quite sure what to think. Kate also loved her little reindeer ears she got afterwards. They lasted all of 2 minutes before they were shredded!

Three Little Monkeys...

Here's a few of the outtakes of Gran's Christmas card. Until I had a child, I never knew what a challenge it is to get one child to look at the camera and smile...let alone three! :)

Snow before Christmas!

We had an unusual thing happen last night....it snowed....in Birmingham....before Christmas! The first dusting of snow made it feel especially like Christmas is right around the corner. Kate talked about the snow all morning. Too bad it melted as quickly as it arrived.

Lighting of the Christmas Tree

Tonight was the annual Christmas Tree Lighting in our neighborhood. It was SO cold! Thank goodness for the heated tents that we would run into to warm up. Kate loved the performers on the stage so much that she kept running towards the stage to get a closer look. She was her usual busy-body self keeping Sam and I on our toes the entire time. We managed to get a few photos, but most of the time, she was just running through the crowds checking everything out.

TROUBLE!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!! We celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom and Tim tonight at their house and Kate is at that age where she's non-stop. Non-stop and into everything! Poor Mia (my mom's dog) was the victim of much love and attention from Kate. Wherever Mia was hiding, Kate was sure to find her!