Izzy & the Christmas Tree

Every year since Izzy was born I have taken a picture of her in front of the Christmas Tree in her Christmas dress (mind you her first Christmas she had like five dresses!). I thought I would share this year's picture and the progression of the past few years.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had a WONDERFUL, AMAZING, GREAT, SUPER, EXCELLENT, AWESOME, BODACIOUS (need I add more adjectives) CHRISTMAS! It took us 2 1/2 hours to open presents this morning (all of course mostly for Izzy), plus the presents she got yesterday from my mom's family, the ones she got last night from Clark's mom's family and those she got from YaYa & Mike, and those from Pap & Nanny this evening (you can see the Dora bike below). After the year our family has had, Christmas was a much needed and very appreciated blessing. I think my Aunt "Stinker" said it best in her prayer yesterday when she thanked the Lord for our family and the closeness we all share. That we don't fight or bicker, we have been there for each other this year and done things we never dreamed we would be doing, but we've done it all together. We got enough money to buy a new dishwasher (a nice one at that) and several wonderful gift cards for some much needed date nights ;) Izzy (major things) got some clothes/pjs, a kitchen set, grocery cart & cash register, pots/pans/appliances, chefs apron/hat/potholders, baking set, five babydolls, baby crib, baby highchair, baby carrier/diaper-bag, Princess Vanity, Dr's Kit, Baby doll Dr bed, crayons, coloring books, tons of books, Art Easel, Dora Bike, DVDs, two games for her Clickstart Computer (and that's just the big stuff or stuff she got a lot of). She is a very blessed little girl to have family and friends that love her so much that want to buy her the moon! I hope everyone else had as wonderful a Christmas as we did!
Merry Christmas!

Our First Family Craft Day!

Each year at Christmas Izzy's Pre-School organizes a Family Craft Day. The classes gathered together as a group first and sang a cute song about Santa and then they dispersed to their "families". Each child must have someone there to help them with their craft. We decorated super cute Gingerbread Men & Christmas Tree cookies. Then we had punch & snacks and we even got to visit with Santa a while! I really appreciated the opportunity to spend this very special time with Izzy! It was a much needed little break from reality!

Holiday Hoopla!

This weekend certainly started Christmas off with a bang! Friday was the Asheboro Christmas Parade, which the Y always has a float in and you guessed it, I'm in charge of heading that up. It was a total disaster. Not because of anything I had done per say, just the progression of events.

1. The trailer arrived an hour late, way smaller than expected and no sides.
2. Robin had to leave to pick-up her grandson, so only Joe and I were left to decorate.
3. It was freezing outside.
4. I am sick.
5. Lori forgot the power source for the lights and we had to go to Wal-Mart and buy a new one.
6. We arrived 1/2 hour late due to buying the power source.
7. We left the power source in the van (two blocks up from the trailer)
   
8. The garland on the float was broken and half of it missing
9. Half the lights wouldn't light.
10. We have three times the number of people the float will hold.
11. We get the lights to work, they start the truck and they all go out and will not come back on.
12. The speaker/music player was dead (lost its charge).
13. The truck started in line with the rest of parade without several of our people on it.
14. It rained on us a couple of times.
15. and for the grand finale...the trailer (with all of us on it) got stuck on the railroad tracks!

Yea, so then on Saturday we had Parents Night Out. This is where we provide an evening of childcare for 5-11 year olds with swimming, a pizza supper, games in the gym and a yummy treat at the end of the night and parents can have an evening to themselves. Last month we started providing nursery care for 6weeks to 5 years old. We had 42 children combined on Saturday night! 31 with K and I and 11 in the nursery. We had a really great time and good kids, at least Friday night's bad luck didn't rub off on Sat.

On Sunday I tried out an event I heard about from another YMCA; "Sundaes with Santa". Obviously, Santa came and we had yummy ice cream sundaes for parents and of course children who are members of the Y. We had somewhere around 75 people who attended. It was a HUGE success! Everyone loved it and were very appreciative. We will definitely be doing it again next year!

So, of course Izzy and Clark came. Izzy was very excited to see Santa and she spoke to him as soon as she came in. Granted she was in her Daddy's arms and that's where she was going to stay as long as she was remotely close to Santa. However, as she spent some time with him and Clark, K and I showed her that Santa was a super nice guy, she got a little more comfortable as you can tell by the progression of photos below...

She is such a mess and even bigger cutie!