Santa Came!

 Trying out the chocolate from her stocking.

 Santa brought a Strawberry Shortcake Bike.

 So excited about her LeapPad!

 She has played with her LeapPad ever since!

Cookies for Santa (& Kate!)

Saying goodbye to Ellie as she goes back to the North Pole with our other elf, Buddy, on Christmas Eve with Santa. See you next year Ellie & Buddy!

Cookies for Santa and carrots for Rudolph & Co.

Christmas Eve in Moulton

We managed to make it up to Moulton, only to learn that Uncle Dan was sick and not going to make the trip, followed by Sam getting sick while we were there and didn't make it to Christmas Eve dinner with the McWhorters. Fortunately, the kids were not fazed by all of the germs being passed around!

Hello Kitty Karaoke Machine & Head Phones!

 She didn't take her Merida dress off for almost two days.

 Before Christmas Eve dinner at MawMaw & PawPaw McWhorter's house

 The great grandkids opening their gifts from their secret Santas.

Christmas Cookies

We scrambled to get Christmas cookies made before we left for Christmas Eve in Moulton since Kate had been sick most of the weekend. She's always such a helper with the cookie cutters and sampling the cookie dough!

 Post cookie-making jam/dance session with Daddy.

Get Well Surprise!

Kate started running a fever and was all around puny the weekend before Christmas. So much so, that we were wondering if we were gong to make it to Moulton for Christmas Eve. Luckily, it turned out to be some sort of 24 hour virus and we were able to make all of the Christmas festivities. However, Papa surprised Kate with a Get Well Gift Basket. Papa didn't realize he sent Kate a huge basket of candy! She went bonkers over it and the teddy bear that came with it! Thanks for the surprise Papa.

 

Let the Festivities Begin!

When I returned from my second week of training in Chicago, Grandpa & Linda came in town to celebrate Christmas with us followed by Christmas with Grandmama the next Saturday. Lots of fun & lots of presents for this little 4 year old!

 

Christmas with Grandpa & Linda

 Loves her Leapfrog Tag Reader!

 Christmas with Grandmama & Aunt Haley

 Making her first GingerBread House with Grandmama

 She loved it! The fininshed product.

Christmas Program

Since I was in Chicago for work, I was unable to make Kate's Christmas program at school. There was lots of tears about missing this event, however, they were mostly from mommy! So, Sam had to pull double duty videoing and taking pictures simultaneously the event.

 

 



Lighting on the Green

Our neighborhood held its annual Lighting on the Green where there were singers/dancers, bouncy castles, sleigh rides with Clydesdale horses, Ferris wheels, etc. However, when I came home from my first week of training in Chicago, all of my pictures from this event were mysteriously deleted off my camera.....hmmm. Oh well, this was the only picture on  my camera from the event, but it was lots of fun!

Silly Little Elves

Our elf, Buddy, didn't get into too much trouble during his visit this year. I think he knew that I was starting a new job and I didn't have a lot of extra time to clean up any elf messes. :) However, he did manage to do a few sweet things this year. Unfortunatey, I only remembered to capture one on camera.

Polar Express

Visit with Santa

Christmas Card Outtakes

Here's a few pictures that didn't make the Christmas card. Unfortunately, adding a dog to the mix wasn't as easy as I thought it might be. When Kate was looking at the camera, Mattie wasn't and vice versa. It was a long 15 minutes trying to get just one or two decent ones! :)

 And a few from Gran's Christmas card that we took over Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

We headed to Moulton to spend Thanksgiving with Sam's extended family. We enjoyed lunch with the Comptons with all of the Compton great grandkids playing football in the backyard. (I have no idea why these are the only two pictures on my camera from Thanksgiving??)

 We then had a great dinner at the McWhorters with the other side of the family. Here's a picture of all of the great grandkids on the McWhorter side.



Fall Pictures

I had already made Kate do pictures for my Christmas cards a few weekends ago, so dragging her out again for more of my harrassment from behind the camera didn't sound too appealing to her this morning. Thankfully, I had a few hidden bribes in the form of Halloween candy to get through my torture.

 

 

Disney on Ice

One mesmerized little girl with a huge Tinkerbell sno cone.

Happy Halloween

 

Kate's trick or treating buddy, Currin