HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! Thanksgiving...Christmas...now almost New Year's Day---it sure does go by fast, huh?
We've had a good bit of fun over the last month, but it's been busy, busy, busy! I've really enjoyed seeing family and friends. It's always great to see the kids so excited also :)
Thanksgiving was pretty relaxing. I cooked a good bit this year, but I love cooking, so no stress there. The rest of the day consisted of eating (WAY TOO MUCH) and relaxing. We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year. It was a beautiful day so the kids were able to play outside for a while.
The weekend after Thanksgiving we helped my parents decorate their Christmas tree. 
The kids got a little distracted after a while...
...but I was completely devoted to the cause ;)
We made our annual trip to the Christmas parade. It was pretty cold, but fun anyway. Hannah was excited about the pirate she saw on one of the floats (it reminded her of the one on Spongebob) and Kobe liked the skateboard tricks! And of course...who could forget seeing Santa and watching him light the big Christmas tree at the end of the parade! 
We also went to the parade in Cedartown this year. The kids' favorite part about that was the hot chocolate that they got to drink! 
Kobe had a school Christmas program the following week, but I wasn't able to get any good pictures of that.
We finally got our Christmas trees put up by the middle of the month. Instead of putting up the big tree, we just went with Kobe and Hannah's small trees. 
After the presents were wrapped and placed around the trees, they weren't very visible, but it was a memory no matter what! (Hannah decided that Max needed to be wrapped up too. The silly cat enjoyed it more than she did!)
Kobe had a couple of birthday parties to go to that weekend and we weren't at church the following weekend because of traveling, so Hannah is the only one that I have a picture of in a Christmas outfit. Didn't she look so precious?!?!? (But remember...looks can be deceiving!)
The kids went to Albany to stay with Nana and Pops the weekend before Christmas while Curtis and I went to the beach. It was a little cold at the beach, but still beautiful weather. We did a lot of shopping and found some really great deals. I enjoyed walking on the beach. Don't you just love the little bird footprints in the sand?!?!? (Easily amused, I know!)
Then.......CHRISTMAS!!!
Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' house. We had a family gathering and then opened presents from my parents and brother after that. Kobe has been wanting a guitar for a long time, so he was thrilled when Kevin gave him one. 
And once again---I was completely focused on everything!
I'm always getting caught!
We ended the night by preparing for Santa. Kobe wrote a letter for Santa and we baked some cookies (Hannah had already fallen asleep). We put everything out on the table (including carrots for the Santa's Reindeer) and Kobe got ready to go to sleep. Max found Santa's milk while I was putting Kobe to bed---Oops! He got on the table and drank Santa's milk...that's a double offense, so he didn't get any presents!
Christmas was lots of fun. We had breakfast at Grandmama's house and lunch at Poppa and Mawmaw's house. The kids got more presents than they needed and we ate way more than we should have. By mid-afternoon, we were exhausted.
So...
(are you noticing a trend here?!?!?)
Now we're looking forward to 2010. Hopefully the upcoming year will be full of love, happy moments, and dreams that come true :) HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Wow...where does time go?!?!? Over a month since the last post :( I really should do better.
We've had a good bit of fun lately. Kobe and I went on a field trip with his Kaleidoscope class in October. It was "Ghana Day" at Shorter College. The kids learned some African songs, made a mask, and did some other fun things. We really enjoyed it!
Kobe had more fun trying to wear the instruments on his head than he did playing them!!!
The kids and I finally carved our pumpkin the night before Halloween, which was cutting it close, but Kobe had been sick for the entire week leading up to it. Hannah didn't seem to have too much interest in carving the pumpkin. She dug out some of the insides, but had more fun taking pictures. Kobe drew the design and I did the cutting. I am an extremely talented pumpkin cutter---ha, ha! Just kidding!!! The kids didn't seem to mind my lack of talent though ;)
On Halloween, we started off the day by going to the Fall Festival at Kobe's school. We worked some and played some, and each of us had our grumpy moments, but we had a pretty good time over all. Kobe enjoyed getting his hair painted silver and Hannah liked the sand art.
Later that afternoon, we went trick-or-treating. Everyone had fun, but Kobe got tired pretty fast because he still wasn't completely over being sick. He went home early to rest while my mom, Kobe's friend, Hannah and I finished roaming the neighborhood. Hannah's legs were apparently not working right, so we ended up carrying her everywhere. It became my turn to carry her once we got to the street with the hill---just my luck!!! :)
Kobe was Dracula and Hannah was an angel. Such similar characters, huh? A match made in Heaven! (ha, ha---I didn't think about the whole angel/Heaven connection until I just typed that!)
The little angel fell asleep on the way back home. She didn't seem to notice that her wings were still on. 
Another thing that we did recently was play in a gigantic pile of leaves. I only have a few of the pictures now, but I'll try to post more once I get them from my mom. Too much fun!!!
I'm sure I've missed some things, but it's getting late so I better wrap this up for tonight. I'll end with today's adventure...
Hannah got her first haircut today. Over the last month or two she has become more and more stubborn about letting anyone touch her hair. She screams when you try to dry it, brush it, or pull it up in a ponytail. So, I took that as the sign that it's time for it to be cut. She did pretty good for the most part. I had to let her sit in my lap and shove Smarties into her mouth the entire time, but it worked! She looks so grown up now (sniffle!) but it's really cute and she likes it.
Almost a month since the last post---shame on me!!! I really do need to do better. Seems that farming on Facebook has cut into my blog time. Pitiful, huh?!?!? :)
Well, there have been several great things in our little world since I last posted anything. Not too long after the last one, Kobe got an award for his CRCT test scores. He was so excited and couldn't wait to get all dressed up for the award ceremony. It ended up being very unorganized and extremely crowded, but I'm glad we went anyway. He was proud and I was too!
Hannah has continued being a tiny tornado. No matter how many times you pick up after her, pieces of her room still seem to be everywhere you look---living room, dining room, computer desk---you name it, you'll find evidence of her there! She's so sweet with her babies that you can't help but love it though :)
Kobe made Hannah a hat out of his poster a few weeks back. He put it on her and laughed, saying "Look Hannah, now you're an orphan!" I had to explain to him that it isn't called an "orphan hat". How funny!
I took the kids to Tana's birthday party the first weekend in October. It was at the park in Cave Spring. We had a great time. We'll have to go back for a picnic and to let them see the park another day because we ran out of time to do so that evening. They did get to play on the playground for a little while. I was just telling some people that Hannah's face was finally looking better, and wouldn't you know....I look up and she's dangling from the monkey bars all by herself (and can't get down!). Luckily, I was pretty close and got to her in time to keep her from falling.
The kids and I were home last Friday while Curtis was working. I had the day off and we were just being lazy. It started raining so I decided to let both of them go outside and play in the rain. They gave me the funniest looks when I opened the front door and said, "Go play". Kobe and Hannah both had a blast! I enjoyed watching them laugh, run around, and play in the little puddles on the walkway in front of the porch. I wanted to go out in it too, but I knew I'd miss out on the pictures if I did. It was worth it to capture their smiles and excitement (plus I had already stood in the rain for a minute one night that week when going from my car to the house---I couldn't resist!).
Last weekend was a lot of fun. My mom and I took the kids to the fair (where I learned that rides make you dizzy a lot faster as you get older) and then Kobe and Hannah got to spend the weekend with Nana and Pops at Lock and Dam. Curtis had to work all weekend, so I decided to have a girls day out with my mom on Saturday---so much fun! I haven't laughed that much in a while :) I ate more junk food than I needed, but I enjoyed it anyway. Shopping, Starbucks ice cream...absolute bliss!!!
We went to the pumpkin patch in Dawsonville this weekend. The kids always love seeing the huge pumpkins and stopping to get apples and other treats. It was pretty cold this year, so we weren't able to roam around too much. I think they were still glad to go anyway.
The weekend ended with going to a baby shower for my cousin Stephanie this afternoon. I didn't really get many pictures there because I forgot to charge my camera batteries before going. Grandad entertained the children for us while everyone else "oohed" and "ahhed" over the gifts. Baby things are so precious!!!
Speaking of precious...I ran across this picture of Hannah and me while looking through all of my dad's photos. It's from Christmas last year. My little accident-prone wild child actually seems calm and sweet in this one ;) I guess she can't do too much damage while sleeping! (She's fallen from a chair twice in the last couple of weeks and ran right into my parents' table with her face today!)
