Joy to the World!

When they saw the star, 

they rejoiced exceedingly with great JOY!!

Matthew 2:10

May your heart be filled with JOY this Christmas, as you celebrate the Saviors birth!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Riley turns SEVEN!

Saturday, we celebrated our sweet RiRi's birthday. He turned seven years old...yes...SEVEN!!! 

I can't believe it.

 I asked him if this could PLEASE be the LAST birthday we celebrate for him.

I mean... I'd really like it if he could just stay SEVEN...

FOREVER!

 Or at the very least... promise me that he'll ALWAYS be little enough to sing "Jingle Bells" at the TOP of his lungs while baking;)

 Unfortunately, he didn't like my idea;)

And even though Ri's birthday wasn't until Saturday, he had enjoyed quite a few celebrations already!

We had a little party at my mom's earlier in the week AND had snowman doughnuts at school with all of Ri's sweet friends.  

 Christmas birthdays can be a bit of a challenge, but I actually think Ri enjoys having his this time of year.

He even said so over breakfast yesterday. 

"Who else in our family gets special surprises from Sam (our elf) AND gets to eat Christmas pancakes for breakfast"

He makes a good point--

that's definitely a perk of having a Christmas birthday!;) 

The boys made a fort next to the Christmas tree a few days ago and have been sleeping in it the last couple of nights. 

On the eve of Ri's birthday (while the boys were sound asleep) our elf Sam filled the fort with balloons. He also brought a very special "Happy Birthday" balloon for Ri all the way from the North Pole;)

For the birthday boys special breakfast on Saturday morning, the kids all had fun decorating their own Christmas tree pancakes.  

Can you say "SUGAR OVERLOAD"

Yup, but that's what birthdays are for, right?!?!?

And, of course, what birthday is complete with out PRESENTS! 

Always the BEST part of ANY birthday!

We were supposed to continue celebrating Ri's special day with friends later in the day, BUT unfortunately one of their kiddo's came down with a sick tummy. Instead of going ahead with our plans, we decided to wait until they feel better and celebrate with them one day this coming week.
The birthday celebrations continues on and on and on...

So in lieu of our outing... an indoor snowball fight, a Christmas movie, AND a Chocolate Eclair cake were this birthday boys requests!

Yup...having a Christmas birthday definitely has it's perks;)

Christmas in Uptown

Friday morning, I decided to take the kids into uptown to visit the singing bears.

The Leonard Bearstein Symphony Orchestra -- or the Bearstein Bears as they're affectionately referred to-- is one of Charlotte's most beloved Christmas attractions.

An orchestra of computerized bears play favorite holiday classics and perform for free daily in a building right across the street from where Shane works. 

But before heading to see the bears, the kids and I spent an little time at Discovery Place. 

We LOVE Discovery Place and it's quickly becoming one of our ALL-TIME favorite spots to visit in town. 

 Each of the kids have a favorite exhibit picked out, so even on a quick trip, we try and hit up each of them.

Uptown Charlotte looks especially beautiful this time of year. 

Festive decor is on almost every corner and the kids enjoyed admiring all the fun decorations. 

And just like I had hoped, the bears were a HUGE hit with Miss AK. 

She LOVED watching them sing, and both her and Sophie enjoyed dancing to the music. 

Another fun Christmas tradition--made just a little "sweeter"-- as we watched it through our baby girls eyes for the very first time;)

                           

It's Cookie Time

 Sift the flour, mix the butter,
Roll the dough for the cookie cutter.

A white sugar star, a red Christmas bell,
A brown teddy bear with a gingery smell.

Christmas cookies taste so sweet.

They're fun to bake and good to eat.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 And not only did we have a BLAST baking and decorating sugar cookie's at Grammie's house yesterday, BUT we also had a very special boy to celebrate!  Riley's birthday is coming up THIS Saturday (the 22nd), so we made the baking party into a little birthday party too!

 Cookies, cupcakes and cousins...what birthday boy could ask for anything more;)

(and yes, just in case you're wondering...that's my mom underneath that dog pile of children!!!)

A Reindeer Party

You know...
 Dasher, and Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen, Comet, and Cupid, and Donner, and Blitzen.

BUT 

do you recall....

the most famous reindeer of all?!?!?!?!?! 

RUDOLPH the Red-Nose-Reindeer, 
of course! 

Wednesday afternoon marked the beginning of the BIG boys Christmas break from school!! YIPPEE!!!
And even though their last days there were filled with parties, movies,  games, and treats...they were still soooo excited to kiss school goodbye for a few weeks. So in order to kick-off our Christmas break just RIGHT, my sweet friend, Juli invited us over to her house to celebrate with a party.

Now, this was just not just ANY ole Christmas party, mind you...

 but a wonderfully festive,

REINDEER PARTY!!!

My friend Juli is one of the most creative people I know.
She is FILLED with so many amazing ideas that she could literally write a book (or at least A BLOG--hint hint, Juli).
 

With a plethora of reindeer activities planned, Juli kept our little "deers" busy the entire afternoon.

A little craftin'...

A little Reindeer Food makin'...

And a little snackin'!

What a perfect way to kick-start our Christmas break!
And in our opinion, just like Rudolph...this party "will go down in history";)

A walk down gingerbread lane

Another one of our favorite Christmas outings each year, is to visit to the Ballantyne Hotel and tour their AMAZING gingerbread house exhibit.

 Each "house" in incredibly unique, special and amazingly creative.  This year (in my opinion) was probably one of their BEST displays yet! The houses were AWESOME and the detail and handiwork put into each one was mouth dropping. 

The kids absolutely loved walking through the display and then had a BLAST picking out their very favorite entry.

 Of course the "sweetest" part of the night was spending time with family...especially COUSINS!

Yup...cousins are the BEST!

 After a walk through Gingerbread Lane, we took a little time to tour the hotel and admire all the beautiful Christmas decorations.

 And, of course, our visit wouldn't be complete with out a quick stop by the fountain to make a few Christmas wishes.

Dinner at Wendy's and frosty's for dessert always make THIS Christmas outing complete! 

Family, Frosty's and FUN...who could as for anything MORE;)

A visit to Christmas Town, USA

 Saturday night, we bundled up, loaded up, and then headed up to Christmas Town, USA (aka McAdenville, N.C.) 

 This was the second year in a row that our dear friends, the Robinson's joined us for a fun-filled and festive evening.

Sweet friends make EVERYTHING more fun!

This quiet little town is located only about thirty minutes from where
 we live and it is just BEAUTIFUL---
especially at Christmas time!
EVERY house and EVERY tree is dripping in lights and festive decor!

 I LOVE our annual visit here and it's always a "MUST DO" on our Christmas activity calendar every year. You can't help but leave this little town filled with incredible amounts of Christmas JOY!!

Addy-Kate was simply mesmerized by the beautiful, sparkling Christmas lights.

And all three little ones enjoyed singing with the lovely carolers.

Chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa made our evening complete...

 and we're already looking forward to our trip next year!