Merry Christmas 2012!!

As you can see, both Hannah and Drew were good this year, and Santa
definitely came through.  Drew got himself a police car, or as he would say " a real one"!   He was so excited, and got to drive it on Christmas day outside, it was really cute. Came  suited up and hand cuffs, and police hat and jacket!

Hannah got even more polly pockets, which is really the only thing she asked for this year!!   She was in heaven and played with them most of the day.

Just what everyone needed, and 5 ft indoor remote control shamu. Who knew this was on  someone's list?

I love this picture! I got Todd and guitar for Christmas, that was the only thing he asked for. Drew got himself one from Santa too!  They started jammin' together. It was pretty cute!

Drew took his car for a spin outside.. and wouldn't you know it..

Hannah got arrested!!! He kept taking her to jail. They were cute and had such a great day. Christmas was a lot of fun this year!!   And the sweetest part, at the end of the night, I asked Hannah was her favorite part of Christmas was and she replied " just spending time with everyone". Made me proud she is starting to get the point of Christmas. She loved having Grandma and Grandpa here!

Christmas Eve 2012

We had an action packed Christmas Eve this year. It started with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Dice arriving on Sunday. On Christmas Even morning, we got up and went to a kids church service in Buckhead with some friends where they have a live nativity scene, even a donkey and a camel walked down the aisle, you don't see that everyday!

I just thought this was a cute picture of the kids, filled with excitement over the next 48 hours!

The kids at church, Ansley, Hannah, Lily, Drew, Connor and Maddie.

Family photo!

After church and lunch, we let the kids open the family gifts from the Steinemann side of the family. Hannah was over the moon with her new polly pockets.

And Drew's "shoot guns" as he calls them has been a big hit in the house. I think this might be the most he has ever played with any toy in his whole little 3 years of life.   Drew and Hannah have had a ton of fun with these.   Thank you Aunt Andrea and Uncle Cash!!

In the evening, we headed to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which was really quite beautiful and I think we had the perfect weather, we really lucked out. It was a perfect fall/ winter night in the mid 50's and very pleasant. We got to see all the gorgeous lights, trains, and even roasted marshmallows and made smores!

unfortunately, pictures don't capture how awesome the botanical garden looked, but we tried.

After that, the kids went to bed, and the elves started to get to work. Hannah had asked for a big stuffed animal puppy!  I think the kids had an incredible christmas with a lot of fun things!! Kept them busy all day and night long!

Santa left them a little note after he ate their cookies they left out. Santa made sure to let Drew know he is always watching him :)

In the St Nick of time!

Today we finally made out way to see old St Nick. I love the picture above, as Drew is deep into telling Santa all the toys he wants and Hannah is getting such a kick out of it. Drew told Santa he wants a "real" monster truck, a bulldozer and a big teddy bear like grandma and grandpas. Hannah told Santa she wanted a stuff animal dog, polly pockets and a new iphone case ( she has my old iphone and uses it for games and music). They were super excited to see Santa, and we didn't have any tears like last year.

Here is little Drew posing in front of the tree at Lennox Mall.

My little cuties before we went.

And my sweet little Hannah.

We had a great day. Drew and Mom did some christmas shopping while Dad and Hannah went shopping too. Hannah managed to come home and tell me exactly what Todd got me :) No keeping secrets with a 5 year old.

We are looking forward to a fun Christmas morning with the kids, can't wait!

Adventures of Elflie

It's been a little while since I posted anything. This holiday season is keeping us beyond busy. Our elf on the shelf named "elfie" has visited every day, and every few days he has gotten pretty silly. The picture above is when he put the little Hershey kisses in the advent calendar, he also wrote a little letter to remind Hannah and Drew to be extra nice.

Another day Elfie got into the baking cabinet where all the sweet and baking items were. He made a total mess!

And last night, we he flew in and toilet papered our chandelier in the kitchen! The elf, the kids get a big kick out of him. He has also cut out paper snow flakes, rode in Barbie's pink convertible, among other things.

We are looking forward to Christmas, just a few days away! Grandma and Grandpa arrive tomorrow, the kids are so excited!!

Jingle Jog 2012

Hannah completed her first 1 mile race, the Jingle Jog. Her elementary school had their annual Jingle Jog run for kids and parents on Saturday morning. Hannah was so excited about it and talked about it for weeks. She did great, and I was SO proud of her. I admit, I was a little skeptical thinking Hannah would last the whole mile, but she did great, and it was a hilly route too and she finished under 11 minutes!  Hannah and a little friend held hands the whole time while another mom and myself ran  ( chased ) them as they were running really fast. Since they didn't quite know how to pace themselves, they would go on a full sprint, catch their breathe for a millasecond, then spring a again. I was not used to interval training :)

Maybe we will have a little track star on our hands, as Hannah more definitely out ran a lot of the other little kids.   She was cute, and had a great time, that is all that matters!!

Downtown Girls!

I am a little behind on updates, but last weekend Holly and I took Hannah and Maddie downtown to see Beauty and the Beast broadway show at the Fox Theatre. The girls were their adorable selves, and truly enjoyed the show. Holly and I enjoyed our second annual holiday girls outing bringing the girls to a holiday show, special just for the 4 of us.   The Fox Theatre was beautiful, and hopefully I will be lucky enough to see another show there some time. We had a great night getting out of the burbs and hitting the town :)

Thanksgiving 2012!

Happy Thanksgiving to all a few days late. This year we had the joy of the Renick family visiting us for thanksgiving on their way back from a NC mountain vacation. Unfortunately, Todd ended up with a bad case of the flu during their visit. We made the best of it though. We still enjoyed a wonderful smoked turkey thanks to the green egg, some yummy sides and desserts.   Friday Amanda and I were able to get away for a little while to do some black friday shopping, then we came back and entertained the kids for the afternoon.

As always, Gracie, Hannah and Lauren all had a great time together. Hannah had been counting down the days for their arrival, and it was a big surprise for Gracie and Lauren until they pulled into our driveway!! So fun!!!

Gracie was like a big sister to Drew all weekend. She entertained him and was Drew's buddy. We are thankful for Gracie keeping Drew out of trouble this weekend!!

Thanks Renick's for a fun visit. Now we just hope everyone stays healthy while Todd is quarantined in our basement until he is better.

Fall Clean up and festivities!

I am getting behind on updates again, which I guess goes to show how chaotic our lives have been. Sunday night, I finally sit down to relax with peace and quite for the first time all weekend. We have been busy around here. Cleaning on leaves, a lot of leaves that just keep on falling. Drew loves being daddy's helper, and does a decent job of it too!

Drew went to Home Depot with Todd to pick out a new rake. Was that ever a big hit?!?

While the boys were cleaning outside, Hannah and I went to work inside. She spent a long time organizing all her art supplies which were a huge mess. I was proud of her for coming to terms with the fact it was time to say good-bye to some of her drawings, scrap pieces of paper, broken pencils etc.  I felt good to clean up and she did the good majority of it!

And this last week, Todd and I went to Hannah's school to see her Thanksgiving program. There were pilgrims and indians, and Hannah was an indian, and a cute one. The kids sang songs while the parents watched.

I got a picture with my little kindergartner

Then all the pilgrims and indians got to eat popcorn, pumpkin pie and raisins for their little treates. They were cute and excited!


And finally, we are getting ready for Thanksgiving this week. We are having somewhat last minute vistors, the Renick family which we couldn't be more thrilled about. Beats spending Thanksgiving by ourselves. We are excited to see them and Hannah is counting the days until she sees Gracie and Lauren. It should be fun.Wish Todd luck this Thanksgiving as he smokes his first turkey on the egg!

Weekend Fun

After a Halloween party and post candy consumption recovery, we had ourselves a quiet weekend. Friday night Todd and I got a babysitter and went out to dinner withe some friends, which was so nice to get away for a little while. The kids had our next door neighbor babysit, and we think it was a hit as they keep asking when she is coming back.   Drew was full of his silly self playing with his Marty the Zebra afro wig from Madagascar movie.

He kept himself full of silly as I tried to get pictures of my two little Buckeyes yesterday. The angel and the devil aka, Hannah and Drew.

And today, Hannah had her little friend Maddie over to play. I love when Hannah has playdates as they seem to go in her room and play dolls and barbies, you don't really hear a peep from them. Todd took Drew with him to run errands, we so we had a pretty quiet house today. Hannah and Maddie played outside for a little while emjoying every moment of the infamous Barbie jeep that our entire neighborhood has come to enjoy.   Who knew a little jeep that goes 2 mph could be such fun.

They are just the cutest little friends, Hannah and Maddie. We had a great time with them today.

And this week, poor Todd gets left again, I am off the CA later this week for work, and some big presentations at work this week to go along with it. I am already looking forward to next weekend when I can put this week ahead behind me!

Happy Halloween 2012!

Happy Halloween everyone!  Hannah and Drew went as Batman and Batgirl this year! I think they made quite the cute little pair. You can't see it well in this picture, but I think Hannah's favorite part was the pink hair spray in her hair:)

Family Photo before all the Ashebrooke Neighborhood activities begun! We started out at one of the 3 fire pit parties happening in the neighborhood. There was one each end, and one in the middle where everyone gets together for a potluck dinner before hand, brings some yummy adult drinks and all the kids play for a little while and eat dinner.

Here are Hannah and her little friends. Kate, Camden, Hannah and Alexandra

here are the kids at party #1  They were so excited to go and get their candy. They were a cut bunch and Drew had fun playing football with the big kids while Hannah did cartwheels in the yard with the little girls. Moms and Dad, we just drank :)

And the next party we hit... Tons of fun and good times this Halloween. Hannah and Drew had a blast, as we did too. Our family and two other families walked around together all night while the kids ran/ sprinted from house to house from party to party. The loved every minute of it. We got back to the house around 9:30pm where Hannah crashed pretty hard and Drew was all hyped up full of sugar.   It was a bit of a long night with Drew :)

Can't wait to see what next Halloween will bring as this one might be hard to top. At the end of the night I asked Hannah what her favorite part of Halloween was and she said " just hanging out with all my new friends" and Drew's response, " I like running after the girls" :)

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!