Lunch at Big School

I took Laura Ann to 'big school' for lunch with her brother today. She thought she was big stuff going through the line by herself (with a little help from Daniel). Daniel was excited that we got to sit with his friend, Anderson.

Laura Ann Starts Gymnastics!

Laura Ann decided to give gymnastics a shot this semester & she has been SO EXCITED about going! She did a little routine in the driveway before we left.......I'm not so sure she understood exactly what gymnastics were at that point, but she caught on fast once her class started!! :-)

Celebrating #14!!!!

Dan & Uncle Matt got a Christmas surprise from their friend, Boyd.......tickets to the National Championship game!  Dan left Sunday morning & they all met in New Orleans Sunday afternoon for a few days of fun.   Daniel's 5:00 basketball practice & a very late kick off on a school night made it hard for me, Daniel & Laura Ann to make big plans for the game, but we didn't let that stop us.  Laura Ann worked all day on Monday making decorations for our National Championship 'party'.  When we picked Daniel up from school, we headed straight to the grocery store and bought party food and balloons.   We partied until time for basketball practice & then some more when we got home.   I let Laura Ann stay up until the end of the first quarter & then got her in bed.  I decided to let Daniel stay up with me.  HE HAD A BALL!!  He is finally understanding most of the game & was all into it!   It was a great win for the Tide, so of course, Daniel was pumped!  Dan was welcomed home this afternoon as if he played in the game himself.......banner and all!  Ha!   What can I say, we like to celebrate here in the James' house and our team bringing home #14 is a pretty good reason!  Roll Tide Roll!!!

More Bike Riding

Laura Ann wanted to show off her bike riding skills to Jeb & Daniel this afternoon. She still hasn't mastered the brakes, which makes me a little nervous on the pavement!!

Daniel's First Upward Game of 2012

Laura Ann Rides a Bike!

Dan took the training wheels off Laura Ann's bike months ago & they practiced some in the yard. She did great, but still needed more practice & we just haven't done it. Dan decided today to take her to the mall so she could practice on the grass. She did great. She has no problem pedaling, it's the starting & stopping the she just can't get. We still have some work to do! We went to lunch after our practice session. Dan & I are going to make the most of this last semester having our baby girl at home before she goes to big school!

Stary Eyes!!!

Daniel does great in all areas at school except handwriting. Every report card, conference, etc. this is what we hear from his teachers. He gets three grades on his spelling test every week.....one for spelling, one for the dictation sentence & one for handwriting. He usually gets 100 on spelling & dictation & straight face on handwriting. He brought home his test folder today & guess what!?!? He had a starry eyes for HANDWRITING!!! Woo Hoo!! I had no idea he could write this neatly. I have to give full credit to Mrs. Johnson. She has worked wonders with this kid! And I don't expect him to write like this on a regular basis, but it is nice to know that he can do it for test purposes!

Oh, and I should note that he did this back in November......I only get his test folder at the end of the grading period so I'm just now seeing it.

Fun at McWane

We spent their last day of Christmas break at the McWane center with the Greenhaws. Daniel and Laura Ann had a super fun day with Morgan & Griffin. And I had a super fun day catching up with Leigh!!! We have come a long way since our baby days & adult communication is much easier with these BIG kids!

A Zoo & A Book

Laura Ann has been busy! She called me up to her room last night & told me to bring my camera. She had made a zoo in her room with her stuffed animals. Today she wrote a book. She actually drew step by step illustrations of a story & scribbled some lines at the top of each page. It would have taken way too long for me to help her with all of the spelling. She can read it perfectly, though!

Happy New Year!!

Daniel and Laura Ann enjoyed some fun at Big Daddy and Nanna's on New Year's Eve while Dan and I enjoyed dinner out with friends. We had our traditional New Year's Day lunch on the 2nd when Daniel & Laura Ann got home. YUM! We are looking forward to a fabulous 2012!!!

The Week After Christmas

We spent the week after Christmas RELAXING & playing!!!

Our Christmas Whirlwind

Christmas in Moulton

We spent the 2 days before Christmas in Moulton & had a great time eating, playing, and opening gifts. Daniel and Laura Ann had a blast with Kate and all of the McWhorter cousins too. We got home Christmas Eve night just in time to put some cookies out for Santa & jump in the bed!

Christmas Morning at Home

Dan & I were shocked that Daniel actually slept until 6:15. We decided to go ahead & wake Laura Ann up then so that they could come downstairs together. As in years past, the top of the steps pick is my favorite. Daniel is bursting with excitement & Laura Ann is in a total daze! Daniel came flying down the steps to check things out & I ended up having to carry Laura Ann down the steps. She woke up quickly & was super excited with what Santa had left, as was Daniel. After checking out Santa's gifts & their stockings, they opened their gifts from us. We had a quick breakfast and started packing for Douglasville. It was a little harder getting out the door this year because they were all into their new toys. Especially Daniel......who didn't get to ride his new bike before we left because it was raining. After lots of coaxing that we would be home soon to play our hearts out, we took off for the last leg of our whirlwind!

Christmas in Douglasville

We continued our celebration of Jesus' birthday with more eating, playing & opening gifts. We enjoyed visiting with lots of family and Daniel and Laura Ann had so much fun with Caroline. We spent lots of time talking about this time next year when our new cousin, baby Sarah will be with us.....so exciting!!

Christmas with our Fur Babies

Gotta love a real 'action' shot!!! Please excuse Laura Ann's wet head.....she had just finished her bath.....

Since we are out of town 2 days before Christmas in Moulton and the 2 days after Christmas in Douglasville and our dogsitter is all grown up & married.....we have to board our dogs for Christmas. It's not ideal, but it is what it is. We did Christmas with them before we left to go to Moulton. As always, it was totally chaotic, which is why I've yet to ever get a good pic of all of the kids & the dogs. Champ, Ruthie & Molly were thrilled with part of the contents of their stockings.....treats, which they immediately ate. The other thing in their stockings, they weren't too excited about....spa gift cards! While at the vet, they are getting treated with baths & a mani/pedi. Maybe, just maybe, Santa will put a Spa gift card in my stocking (and Santa, before you get any cute ideas, I don't mean the spa at the vet)!!

The Week Before Christmas......

We packed A LOT into this week......

CAROLERS!!!


The Bowden family came to our house caroling & this year they added the Pates & Ann Hill to the group.   Seriously, does it get any better??    Lance Pate & Kristen Sharp in the same group!!!    We lived it up.....sat on the porch listening to them all the way down the street.    Max, Jack, Rose & Sam were so sweet to hand out cookies & Mrs. Ann had candy canes.    Daniel & Laura Ann thought it was the grandest thing ever.   And Laura Ann was thrilled to get a hug from Mrs. Kristen.    I was really proud that we actually had on pajamas this year & weren't on the porch in our underwear!! :-)


BUSY ELVES!



CHRISTMAS FUN in the KITCHEN!



THE TRUTH IN THE TINSEL

I found a blog with the best advent devotional for kids and had the best of intentions to follow along all month.   We did do the scripture reading each day & lit our advent candles, but I totally dropped the ball on all of the cute crafts that went along with it.....maybe next year.    I picked out a Christmas song to go with each devotional too & we would watch a youtube video of the song.    Laura Ann's favorite was Selah's Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanual.    It became a regular......I'm sure we watched it no less than 20 times!    Her favorite part was the close up of Mary looking at baby Jesus.    She would always say at that part, "That's my favorite!".



SPREADING CHRISTMAS CHEER

One morning, we found our elves with my bible & a note that asked us to read I John 3:17-18.

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or in tongue but with actions and in truth."

The note suggested a good way to do this was to visit the nursing home.   We found out that there is an angel tree there for the residents who have no family, so we adopted one!   After a visit to the dollar store to pick up some decorations, we headed to the nursing home to decorate her room for Christmas. We also got her the items on her wish list and she will get those at their party on Christmas Day.  Our angel was sleeping while we were there, but we prayed for her & hoped that the decorations we left in her room would make her smile when she woke up.   Then we passed out jingle bells to the residents in the hallway.    It was a really sweet time.    Our only melt down occurred when Daniel's reindeer antlers were broken before we ever got out of the car.   After a few minutes of tears & Laura Ann's offer to  have her antlers, he decided he could accomplish the mission antler-less!!  :-)


WE LOVE MAIL!
They both were thrilled to get singing Christmas cards from the Coueys!    And Daniel was super thrilled to get a letter from Santa himself!!   His class wrote letters to Santa earlier in the month & apparently, Santa writes back!   So fun!



LOTS OF PLAYTIME
.....and for Jeb & Daniel, most of it was outside......



It has been a fun filled week & we are super excited about our Christmas Whirlwind Weekend with family!!!

Christmas Candlelight Service

 
We had our Christmas Candlelight service at FBCT tonight & it was absolutely beautiful!!! After the service, we walked next door to the Methodist Church's live Nativity. We actually went last night, but since they added the camel tonight, we went back again. The camel was a great addition, but boy was he stinky!!! Daniel & Laura Ann can never get enough of the baby goats.....they are so, so cute!