Christmas Day

It really blew Justin and I away how much more "aware" of things Hadley was this year.  She was just so excited about Santa and his reindeer and, of course, presents.  It was such a sweet moment watching her walk toward her presents, still slowly and hesitantly, unsure of just what she was about to see.  I'm sure she will be sprinting by next year even.  Hadley loves all things baby doll related.  Since Canaan arrived on the scene, she takes extra special care of her babies, feeding and even burping them.  She also loves playing doctor with her new Doc McStuffin's kit. 

Apparently, Santa saw it fitting to bring Hadley one thing from her wishlist, anyway.  Not the I-PAD or kitty kat, unfortunately.  Her bicycle...a Cinderella one at that.  Notice she had to put her babydoll in the basket first thing. 

Santa couldn't quite get that last cookie down, but he did take a bite from it.  It tore Hadley up, too, that he left that cookie.  We made that plate with her handprint, last Christmas season, at the Paint N' Place.  Guess we'll have to make a new one with brother's hand now!

After opening and playing with gifts for a bit, we headed over to Christmas with the Stinson's.  All dolled up in her Christmas outfit. 

She is really telling a story.  I've had a few people tell me this picture is me made over.  Too funny.

Canaan Dale with his namesake, Ronnie Dale, and his great-grandfather, Papa.  Four generations (needed Justin in a picture)...so special.

Sydnee and Hadley partaking of Ma's delicious Christmas breakfast.  The Stinson's are a very big family, with Ronnie being the second of five boys.  Yes, five boys.  I truly love Justin's sweet family.  When I say that I couldn't have married in to a better family, I mean it with all my heart.

For a baby's first Christmas at the Stinson's, everyone buys the newest bundle of joy a gift.  Everyone was way too generous, but we were so grateful for the goodies.  Hadley was thrilled with her gifts, as well.  We really had a magical Christmas.  How do kids make everything more special?  Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve is spent with my side of the family, in Auburn.  We start with lunch at the White's, and end with supper with the Hughes'.  And it's usually 11:00pm before we get home that night.  So if Santa was going to get any cookies at our house, we had to make them that morning before we left.

 Luckily, our friendly Elf, Rudolph, left us all the supplies we needed when he made our North Pole Breakfast earlier in the month.  Now came the baking!

Miss Hadley felt like quite the chef baking her cookies for Santa.  She felt so big!

I loved this adorable idea from Hadley's daycare...reindeer food.  We went ahead and sprinkled it on the lawn, that morning, before we left.

We sure hope this lures Santa to our house now ;)

I had so much fun dressing Hadley and Canaan in their first actual matching outfits.  This Christmas is just extra-special with BOTH of my sweet babies. 

Canaan got lots of love from family all day long.  He is such a happy baby and I am so thankful for that.

This picture blows my mind because I am the OLDEST grandchild in the family.  This is all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren on the White side.  So special!

After lunch, gift-opening for the little ones, and Dirty Santa for the adults, the kids had plenty of play time.  Nothing like good ole' cousin playtime....

of which Parker and Nathan epitomized for us.  There was a dirt pile in the front yard of the house next door, which is just being built.  After a very rainy few days, that dirt pile was very muddy.  They were so dirty that they even had mud in their teeth.  Yuck.  But I bet they never forget this Christmas.

Later that afternoon, we headed to Christmas with the Hughes'.  

 Nana and Grandaddy...the couple who started it all.  They always get the biggest presents....deservedly so!

We're glad Grandaddy built the sunroom onto their house several years ago.  Our ever-expanding family has needed the space.  Hadley and Amelia enjoyed doctoring Addison.

My cousin, Sara, got some practice holding baby Canaan.  Her sweet baby girl, Harper, is due in March.  After a wonderful time with our Hughes family, we packed up two very sleepy, but one very excited child and headed home to Glasgow.  Hadley talked about Santa Claus coming the entire.trip.home.  We kept telling her that he would only come if she was sleeping, but her excitement level was still through the roof.  This has definitely been the most fun Christmas with her, so far.

Christmas at Nana and Poppy's

For the past several years, we have had Christmas with my immediate family on Christmas Eve, between the White's and Hughes' getting together.  We feel very blessed that we still have so much family to visit around the Holidays.  We have to remind ourselves of that as we are driving around the country (quite literally) going from house to house ;)

The last few years have gotten especially more hurried, with my parents and siblings, as we have added 5 grandchildren to the mix in just 3 1/2 years.  Gift opening had turned in to, "Here...open this one...now this one.  No time to open or play with any toys now."  Quick thank you's and hugs and we jumped in cars and headed to our next extended family get together.  So, this year, my parents very graciously offered to move our Christmas to another time altogether.  Which, as it turns out, was just wonderful! 

 We went to our church and then headed to Nana and Poppy's house.  I do love taking pictures with my new family of four.  I'm just a little proud ;)

The table was beautifully decorated with my parent's finest china.

Addison, Hadley, and Levi partaking of the delicious food.  My mom actually made an entire Christmas meal, complete with traditional dishes from the White's and Hughes'. 

In keeping with a longtime family tradition, Poppy read some Christmas books to the grandchildren.  These were the only two we could corale long enough to sit down and listen.  Tiffany, Bradley, and I always looked forward to our Christmas Eve readings right before bedtime.

Sweet Canaan even listened to Poppy's stories.

We have been so excited about my parent's surprise gift, that we had to let them open it first.  A picture with all their grandbabies.  They were so proud that they even wiped some tears away.

Angie, Bradley, and Levi got Hadley the cutest Boots hat. 

Addison and Hadley both got a LeapPad Explorer 2 and their very first American Girl Doll, a Bitty Baby.  And, yes, Bitty has blonde hair and blue eyes just like Hadley.  Nana and Poppy were way too gracious to us.



The girls had so much fun "exploring" on their new LeapPads the rest of the afternoon.  We were so thankful for such a relaxing day to just enjoy one another's company and let the kiddos play with their new toys.  Thankful for sweet family time!

And so it begins....

As if December weren't already an insanely busy month, it also marks the beginning of basketball season.  Justin is the head coach of the Lady Scotties basketball team, at Glasgow High School.  The time commitment is huge, but Justin is passionate about coaching.  And for that reason, I am passionate about it, too.  Sometimes I get bewildered looks from people who cannot believe I attend basically every ballgame, with two small children in tow.  Justin's parents come to all the games, though, so I always have help.  I couldn't and wouldn't do it without them.  But it's so important to me that our kids understand what it means to support and stand behind one another in whatever we do.  Yes, it's busy and long, but I wouldn't trade our situation for the world.

After a three day Christmas tournament near Louisville, Justin gave the girls a small break.  So we took full advantage of a few days off to make some Christmas family memories.  Although I had taken the kids to see Santa and Mrs. Claus at my school's annual "Deck the Halls" event, I wanted Justin to get to be with us and we had to see our super-cheesy mall Santa, anyway.  Before we left, Justin and I opened the present Hadley made for us, from daycare.  She was very excited to give it to us. 

She is practicing her "H's" a lot these days, so she decorated her bag with them.  So proud of her!

She also made us an ornament and when her teachers asked her how she wanted to decorate her ornament she said, "A 'G' for Daddy's school....and polka dots"  Royal blue and white are the school colors.  So special!

She also made us a Christmas card with what she wanted for Christmas written on the inside.  An I-Pad?  Seriously?  Justin and I are the two most non-technological people on the planet, so that makes her "wish" even funnier!

Hadley also made a Christmas tree out of her handprints, which I will probably frame and bring out as decoration each and every year.  Love those sweet handprints!

Sweet girl waiting in line to see Santa.  She's practicing what she's going to ask him to bring her.  She pretty much had the I-Pad, bicycle, and kitty cat down pat by this point.

So sad at how dark this is, but I just had to include our first Santa pic with both of our kiddos.

 Hadley with Santa at age 1 & 2.

After our Santa visit, we headed to Chic-fil-A.  Canaan is the.best.baby.in.the.world.  I adore him.  I could eat him up with a spoon, seriously. 

Chic-fil-A is Hadley's favorite restaurant.  She loves to play in the play area, but gets really scared when bigger kids come in.  That's usually our cue to go.  Our mantra during basketball season is definitely quality over quantity when it comes to family time.  But I will gladly take these sweet times whenever I can get them!



North Pole Breakfast 2012

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He's baaaaaack!  Rudolph the Elf, that is.  Hadley has been asking about him for the past several days.  After some Pinterest-inspiration, I decided exactly how he needed to come back to our house every year.  Our friendly elf showed up bright and early Sunday morning and even prepared an extra-special North Pole Breakfast for our little missy.

Snow-covered (aka "powdered") donuts, pecan sweet rolls, cinnamon streusel muffins, and Sweetheart Bakery (ahem.....North Pole Bakery) cookies were the kid-friendly goodies that Rudolph brought us.  Santa mugs with packets of hot chocolate were at each of our table settings.  Needless to say, we were in sugar-shock by the end of breakfast.

Rudolph left personalized letters for Hadley and Canaan.  Hadley didn't know quite what to think about her letter.  She seemed almost a little scared....kinda like, this is getting too strange.

 But the small gift she found at her seat made her forget that.  She loved her sparkly pink ornament for the tree in her room, and the Hello Kitty Christmas socks.

Next year baby C can eat some of the goodies, too.  He did get a basketball ornament for his tree, though.

We are so excited that Rudolph made his way back to our house this year.  We have already used him as behavior incentive and he worked like a charm ;)  Looking forward to some fun adventures, this Christmas season, with our crazy elf!