Christmas Caroling

It's that time of year when there is lots of singing in the air! Last night we enjoyed Christmas Caroling with our friends and neighbors. There were about 50 kiddos and at least one parent for each. We had three trailers full of kids and we sang loud for everyone to hear. This year some of the big boys (9-10 yr old) were the ding dong dashers--which means they rang door bells and ran to get people out of their houses so we could share our glorious sounds with them. OK so not really so glorious but fun and screechy. The girls trailer was the best by far. They were so loud and they knew their stuff. I was with the little kid trailer--and about the only mouths moving were the parents. My singing voice isn't so great, but I am loud so that helps a little. Gates knew a few words to Jingle Bells and We Wish You and Merry Christmas, we sang those a lot. After the caroling we went back to another neighbors house for hot coco and cookies. A hot coco explosion occurred right as we got there--UGH! Something happened with the coco maker and it literally exploded. Poor lady, I felt really bad for her. It's a new couple in the neighborhood that hosted--they have 3 little boys, we met them at the pool this summer. She was a brave soul to host, honestly I think she had any idea what she was getting herself into. The coco got cleaned up and night ended with Santa stopping by for a visit. He was very very believable!! Gates sat in his lap and told him exactly what he wanted -- a ROCKET! I sure hope Santa comes through. Until next time......

Let the Parties Begin

Saturday night Todd and I went to our first party of many for this Christmas season. Todd's boss Mark always has a party at his house, with lots of yummy food and fun friends to catch up with. Myself and Liz are the people watchers of the group--we sit and analyze what everyone was thinking when they put on their outfit for the night--jeez some people just don't get it. You have to remember there is quite an array of people there--ranging from 20 to ??80, people with lots of money and people with no money(me and Todd)HEHEHE, people that work at NC State and people that don't work at all, bosses and well, yes their slaves, retired folks and NC state students, and the list goes on and on. Some of the people I literally see once at year at this party. It's always fun to see what is going on in every ones lives. Yes, I'm nosey and always have been---right mom? My parents always use to tell me they were going to buy me a jacket with a great big nose on the back and make me wear it. I guess I haven't grown out of it. I try to think of it as being interested in peoples life not prying, but call it what you will.. Our next party is Tuesday--NC State Athletic Dept. Until next time.....

Disney On Ice

Friday night we took the kids to see Disney on Ice. Gates was mesmerized!! His little eyes lit up and he watched speechlessly. His favorite part was from Cars(the movie).. I think I kinda liked that part the best too. It was really cute. This was Gates first time seeing anything like this. Gunnar loved it too, but her favorite part was the SNOWCONE!!!! Go figure. I must brag a bit and tell why Gunnar was even able to get a $10 snowcone in a most beautiful tinkerbell cup---she got 20 out of 20 on her spelling test!!!YEAH! She is doing so great and we are trying to reward her progress. She was so excited, she got to pick out anything she wanted and thankfully she only picked the $10 item instead of the $100 one. I would have bought that one too because we did have a deal, anything she wanted:) Even though I had to listen to Todd moan a bit about being there, I think he enjoyed watching the kids as much as I did. He likes to pretend to be all tough but I'm starting to think it's all for show. Knowing him he's dreaming about being out there on the ice toooooo!

Did you say he lost his marbles??

So my wonderful hubby, I don't often call him that so he must have done something really good, or something really dumb. If you had your guesses which would it be? If you guessed the second one (really dumb) you were right. Well, he was trying to be nice, but somehow that always ends up with more work for me. He put up the lights on Saturday and oh my my. Poor guy I think he missed class the day they taught problem solving. So he put up our new Santa, which he did well, but he attatched it and about 7 extension cords to two sets of net lights which he threw(literally) over two dead bushes. One of the bushes came completely out of the ground roots and all, but my dear husband took two rock and stood the tree back up and left the lights on it..... UGH!!!! Soooooo, today I went back out, unattatched everything and restrung the lights, put up our reindeer and took that poor dead tree to the trash. Now, my house looks so lovely, not GHETTO!! Do I really expect to much?? Oh and by the way now I'm only using TWO extension cords instead of 7....

APEX PARADE

Saturday evening we endured the freezing weather to go downtown to a Christmas parade. Gunnar had some friends in the parade and wanted to see them. We had a great time, however we forgot our hot chocolate. And let me tell you we were bundled pretty tightly but I was still cold, but of course you know who was the only one complaining--no not Gunnar, no not Gates, yup you got it TODD!!! He is such a WIMP.. Gunnar finally gave up her Santa hat so Todd could wear it and warm up. We watched til the end because we had to see Santa come by, but then we made a mad dash to the car to thaw out.. It was home to a warm bath and hot tea!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Saturday December 6th.

This is going to be a SPECTACULAR Christmas, I can feel it. Gates really understands what's going on this year and is just having a ball singing Christmas songs, and looking for the Elf on the Shelf every morning.(she came back Thanksgiving weekend). That is the first thing both kids do when they wake up--they go in a frantic search for Ruby(our elf). The first thing I do when I wake up is ask Todd "did you move the elf?" Some days I'm making a mad dash down the stairs to make a quick position change!! She's gotten pretty tricky this year with some of her hiding spots. I tell ya that Elf is a clever little thing.

Anyway, about the Christmas tree. We waited patiently all morning for Gunnar to get home from her sleepover with Lindsey. She walked in and saw our tree and she couldn't wait to start the decorating FUN. Gates thought stockings were to be worn on your feet and had lots of fun slip sliding all around the house. Gunnar was over joyed with all the ornaments as she remembered special things about each of them. Funny how much thought she puts into every ornament she touches. Todd and I had a blast watching them and listening to Gunnar explain things to Gates. She was telling him all about the ornaments she had made over the years, and what the pickle means on the tree and how she gets to put the Angel on the top of the tree because she's the oldest!! So cute when they are being nice to one another. Gates put every ornament on one branch--and me being very much like my dad had to move them and spread them out... NO WAY could I leave them like he had put them. I explained that it made the branch toooo heavy and they would fall. He bought it and was fine with my adjustments:) I love this time of year. I love seeing my kids faces light up and threatening them with Elves listening and Santa watching, but really I love the Holiday Spirit, everyone is happy and cheerful and bright. I love the stories of Christmas, and holiday traditions. I love my kids anticipation and antsiness. I love our Christmas tree it is beautiful and my sweet little bugs helped make it that way... 16 days and counting ---- have you been naughty or nice? Only Santa knows!!!

Beachy Thanksgiving

Here are the pictures I promised from our beach trip... Only a few but better than none! Love to you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who's the Real Santa?

Christmas is definitely in the air at the Henry house! Ruby(our elf on the shelf) came back the night we got back from Thanksgiving and you better believe we are on count down. We are going to get our tree on Friday, if the rain holds off. Suppose to get really cold and rainy here. The Christmas list are growing by the minute, and the attitudes are looking up! Whew, if only it could be Christmas all year. All I have to say is --"ruby is watching you" and I immediately get "sorry mom I'll be better". My new threat is for every time someone is ugly Santa takes a toy away. That makes Gates cry, but it works! He is being really good. Gunnar needs a few reminders here and there too. But overall they are both behaving remarkably well. I have been ask by Gunnar if their really is a Santa--didn't want to deal with that quite yet, but we just told her in this house if you don't believe you don't receive! I think that's a great motto. HOHOHO- -only 21 days to go.....

Preschool Christmas Fun

Gates had his first big show today! So cute he was. He got up this morning not feeling like a star but by the end of the day he was beaming from ear to ear. He was tired and grumpy and very upset with me for putting him in an under shirt. He said "these R jammies I'm NOT wearing this to school!!!". I tried to explain it was an under shirt as he crawled back in bed, but he wasn't buying it. Finally, after I told him he was wearing his "work" shirt over it he decided it would be ok. We put his dress shoes on him for the big show and he informed me they were his "dancin" shoes. Don't know where that came from, but OK. Then I asked him to sing his song for me to practice one last time---Jingle Bells never sounded soooo funny. According to Gates as Santa is riding in his sleigh he is also going PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Thankfully it didn't come out that way on stage. Actually nothing came out at all, from any of them. They just shook their bells and smiled. His class went last and even without voices they stole the show. They waved and yelled "hey mom", and just did their own thing. Got to just love those sweet little faces. Gates spotted Gunnar and stood up and said "hey Gunna" and showed his muscles! Of course we all chuckled and that made him act out more. He was shooting spider man webs and giving everyone a thumbs up. I love that little guy. He makes us laugh all the time, his peronality is almost always uplifting:) Notice I say almost--we all have our moments! I'm going to try to add a video we will see how that goes--

A Beachy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving at the beach is well, what more could you ask for, besides all of the family to be there of course. It was awesome though. The weather was a little cool but no one seemed to mind. The kids were in the ocean and didn't even notice how coooolllldddd it was. I stuck my feet in and instantly they were numb. Maybe that's why the kids stay in so long, their bodies go numb and they just don't feel it anymore.

We took 30 pounds of crab legs with us, yes, you read that right 30 pounds! And you better believe that all 30 pounds were gone, and quickly. We actually did have a little left and had planned to make crab legs on Friday night, but some crazy men decided after eating a huge Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, they would just finish off the crab meat too. That was after a nice cigar on the beach--must give you the munchies, because I can say that I could not fit another bite in my mouth after our huge turkey feast. (and all the women had gone to bed, so they snuck it only to leave us blind sighted on Friday when it came crab time):) MEN!!
I cooked the turkey and let me give myself a little kudos---it was fabulous!! Yummo!! We had enough food to feed an army, so we had left overs for days, which is always my favorite. I won't even get into the long list of goodies we ate, just trust me when I say it was a lot and it was great.
We had football wars on the beach. Family against family. The Hen's didn't score so well---YUP we are 7 and 0. Have you seen the size of the Walters!!!! We have little people on our side and those guys are Giants!! And their legs, well Shayne can walk over me without me bending down, and Tiff she's got the ghetto boodie which equivalates to POWER!! OK so really we aren't great ball players but we sure can do some flips.. Gunnar did back handsprings(by herself) all day long down the beach. She's good, yes I'm bragging. And Gates well he's just down right crazy!! They are both great at everything they attempt.
We didn't shop on Friday, just too far to go and really nothing on sale that we wanted, but on our way home Saturday we did stop by the outlets and grab a few goodies. The men grumbled because we left them to deal with the kids, it was only fair seeing that we did put them to bed every night so they could have MAN time which means cigar smoking...
It was a great trip, so much fun, so many great memories. The kids love the beach and well, so do we. There is just nothing like playing outside, being completely carefree for five days during November. We played games, saw dolphins, ran races, told stories around the fire, made smores and just enjoyed one anothers company. That just doesn't happen all the time, so you gotta take it when you can.