New Hair

Terefech went to the hair salon this past Sunday and got her hair done.  After a consultation the previous Friday night, she had been convinced that she could have something done to her hair.  She hasn't wanted to sit for me to try anything and mostly she has just wanted it straight (which I am not for).  This salon was recommended by her yoga teacher who has hair just like hers.  Kelly was wonderful and I have titled her "new best friend."  I am afraid I won't be let to do Terefech's hair ever again.  She loves it and loves the fact that we don't have to do anything to it.  Terefech is doubly excited about taking it out and seeing how long it is when it is stretched out (me too!). 

Pajama Da

The kids had pajama day at school and decided to dress alike.  I think Declan might have been still asleep in this picture.  Like the fact that they like each other enough to dress alike...hopefully that will last awhile longer!

Gingerbread Houses

We love making gingerbread houses at our house.  As the first picture points out, Declan does too.  I often have to remind him to decorate, not eat.  They have a blast figuring out what to put on.  This year, one of our houses was plastic and snap together.  This goes against conventional gingerbread house wisdom but wow, that was easy!  We will be buying another one next year.  No, holding the house together, waiting for the sides to stick, falling over while decorating.  And we can use it for all holidays and we buy all of our own candy (Rich thought that was great and bought way too much candy!).  Terefech had made a gingerbread house at school this day...unfortunately we have no pictures.  While the kids were at yoga and Rich was upstairs, our dog decided to have a holiday snack.  Tears flowed for awhile and then we regaled Terefech with all of the dog eating things stories we could think of.  As we giggled through dinner, she realized it happens to all of us (apparantly cause she ate parts of Christmas presents last night!).

Giveaway!!!

Check out my friend Tracy's giveaway.  She is raising money for Project 320, a group of women who gotten together to raise money to build wells.  Tracy has some great prizes she is giving away.  Check it out!  Here is the link!

The Nutcracker

The kids have wanted to go to the Nutcracker since last year.  My dad gave Terefech the book for Christmas (her first book gift....with her name in it...from Grandpa....a really big deal to her!) and they just fell in love.  Declan, of course, really loves the music and Terefech just wanted to see it.  So off we went this past Sunday.  There aren't any pictures of the performance but here we are getting ready to see it!

T and D in front of the giant Bank of American Christmas tree.  Another fine family photo!

Santa returns

 We attended the Christmas party for our development and the kids got to see Santa once more.  I always tell them it is good to remind Santa what you are asking for as he is very busy this time of year.  Santa spent a few minutes talking to each child and had a great jolly laugh.  He told them one of his favorite stories and they sang Christmas songs together.  Santa also explained that whenever anyone asks what to get him for Christmas he always says songs.  He loves to hear children sing.  So anytime you are thinking of him, sing loud and clear and he is sure to hear!

Lights at the speedway

We live very close to the Charlotte Motor Speedway so we zipped over for their light show one weekday night.  Weekday being important because when we went on a weekend last year we waited for 2 hours to see the lights.  This year, no wait!

In my humble opinion, it is okay.  Last year, you were able to drive turn 1 and 2 on the speedway when you finished seeing the lights.  Not this year (I understand it was a bad idea but it was fun and the kids loved it!).  Declan was so disappointed.  Guess we won't be going back again but there are so many other cool things to do!

Holiday decorations

 Our giant penguin moved to the side of the house and the snowman took his place.  The kids love it!  Heard today on the radio that someone thought blow ups were the lazy man's way to decorate.  Who are they kidding?  They just add to the beauty of it all!

 Enjoy Rich's crazy pictures...

Finding the perfect tree

We set out to find the perfect tree at our local farm, Hodges.  We finally got rid of our cheap, fake tree last year and had been researching what was the most earth friendly way to have a tree.  We finally decided buying a tree from NC (you have to get them from the mountains so that is as local as we can get) and at a local farm was our greenest move.  We all looked around for our favorites and narrowed it down to 2, mine and Declan's.  I was lobbying hard for mine and then realized that I live in a small house!  Declan's choice was perfect!

 We loved these funky trees, couldn't bring ourselves to buy one.  The cats followed us all over the place while they weren't trying to pounce on us.

Fierce Knights

One of the many things I love about my children is how creative they are.  Declan has never needed a specific toy to play something and Terefech has learned to create whatever she wants to play with.  Somehow knights and dragons were the name of the game...