Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a laid back day.  We hung around the house and basically did nothing but play until that evening.  We got ready for Christmas Eve church service at 5pm.  It was fabulous and our wonderful Pastor arranged a kid friendly service.  He had the kids in the foyer and lead us in with bells and streamers! They LOVED it! Instead of a sermon he read a Chrismas book to the kids and gave them candy canes.  It was fabulous. 

After church, we headed to dinner at my mom's house.  It was wonderful as always and we got to spend time as a family. 

Kayla has been having a very hard time with sickness and her CF.  She was miserable and looked it, so when I took this picture I told her not to look sick.  She did a pretty good job.  Hoping that she starts to feel better soon.  

We came home and Owen had to dump his reindeer food for Santa's reindeer.  It must have worked because.....

Santa came!!! :)  

Christmas Celebration with the Crossley and Higdon Family

We had a great Christmas with Dan's side of the family.  Ethan and Owen LOVE their cousins and every opportunity to play with them.  It's nice having other kids around as they are the only kids on my side of the family.  (that is until April has baby Avery in April!) 

Ethan singing Christmas songs.  Okay.. most likely he's just making a lot of noise.

Dean rolling around on the ground for some reason.

The boys. :)  Clark, Dean, and Ethan are inseperable once they are together.

Owen can't get enough of his Eve.  If only she lived closer... we'd have her babysit!

Opening presents! :)  The best part!

We got Dean and Clark this lego set for Christmas.  We got a great deal on it, it is normally $89 dollars, but I saw in a Walmart ad that it was going to be on sale for $39.  Of course, we went to Walmart and they were sold out.  So we headed to Target with the ad, and managed to ge the last one! They price matched for us and everything! :)  The Higdon boys LOVE legos, and were able to finish this big set in a weekend. 

The traditional Christmas story with Oma.

Winter Fun

We went and saw Santa.  :)  I was sick the entire Thanksgiving break and managed to muster enough energy to go with the boys to The Fantasy of Trees.  Barely.. but I made it.  We went when they first opened and that is the time to go.  No waiting in line for everything and they wanted to see Santa right away.

Ethan had a winter program at Dgowood.  :) He did a wonderful just singing.. or well... standing there. Ethan is not a big singer, but he was good and looked adorable. 

Owen had a program at Cokesbury and just like Owen's personality he made it bigger than life. :)  He did FABULOUS singing through the first three songs.  But, when they got all the kids up there together, he lost it.  He decided that dancing and spinning in circles was  more fun than just standing there.  It was hilarious and a bit mortifying.  But, I will forever cherish the video of my Owen spinning during his program.

Dan had a birthday and we had a party.  Everyone in our family was sick though, so just my mom joined us for dinner.  It was low key and fun.

The boys had a program at church also.  They both did a wonderful job. Ethan had two lines and he memorized them both, and said them at the perfect time.  He did such an amazing job saying his lines nice and loud. I am so proud of him!

Owen's part in the play was holding up the rainbow nice and high.  He did it perfectly. 

Ethan had another part a bit later on, he had to hold up the trumpet.  He did a great job of getting up when it was his turn.  

My church Peace Lutheran, threw a fundraiser to raise money for my parents for them to use when caring for Iva.  Iva has gotten worse and needs a lot of medical care.  My parents miss work quite often on doctor visits or trips to Duke.  

It was a wonderful fundraiser and the support of so many people really meant a lot to all of us.  Iva even came to the event. 

Some of my work friends. 

Fall Fun

We have had a fun fall.  I was supposed to watch my sister one weekend so my parents could go out of town.  So I took the day off work, and had sub plans ready.  They decided not to go b/c of some medical issues that have come up with Iva.  So since I already had the day off, Dan decided to take off and we took the boys to Dollywood.  They had never been and we had free tickets from a friend.  (Thanks Lisa!) 

Ethan driving me on the car ride.  It was hilarious. He was quite a bouncy driver.

On the Merry Go Round.  

Tea cup ride.  

This one was kinda lame, but funny b/c they did have fun on it.  

Bumble Bee ride! They loved this one! It went high in the sky.

On the train.  We had soot all over us when we got off.  Owen loves trains so this was a must!

Then we discovered Owen's Farm! I swear he thinks that it really is his farm.  He kept going on and on about how great his farm was.

Owen giving me a ride on the cars.  He was actually a better driver than Ethan was!

Look at that face! Makes everything worth it!

We carved pumpkins and Ethan for once actually helped me take out the pumpkin guts.  First time he's done that! Wow! Owen still wouldn't touch it.

Yep.. using technology.  Picked a face on the pumpkin carving app.  

Ethan's pumpkin.

Owen created his face and is waiting on Daddy to make it.

Owen's pumpkins.

Dogwood is a fabulous school.  We have dress up as a book character day, every Halloween.  Ethan and his friend Billy were Elephant and Piggie from the Elephant and Piggie books. If you havne't read them.. you are missing out b/c they are fabulous!

The fifth grade team was Where's Waldo! Each class was a different waldo book! We had a blast and we won the contest!

After the parade, my class was making our amber fossils.  So I became scientist Waldo.  LOL 

Time for some Trick Or Treating! We had Ironman and Thor.