New Year's Eve

We had a fun afternoon at the Atlanta Children's Museum "Noon Year's Eve" party. It's a New Year's party for kids that counts down to 12 noon instead of 12 midnight. They had a dance party, visit from a Disney princess and prince and of course plenty of play time in the museum. We met the Kellys down there and had lunch at the CNN Center afterwards. Then we rode the new Atlanta streetcar! 

Lego Designer

Shelby got a Lego set and the Lego Movie for Christmas and ever since she has been obsessed with building things and designing her own Lego kit instructions. So cute!

Day Trip

After Christmas, we took a fun day trip to the North Georgia mountains. We visited Unicoi State Park, Anna Ruby Falls and Helen. The weather was nice and we had a great time getting outside after being lazy at home for a couple of days!

Christmas!

We had a nice Christmas, even though Shelby was recovering from illness and it was slightly more low-key than usual. Santa was good to her this year! 

Snuggling with her new "stuffies"... she was still not feeling 100 percent. 

Wall decals from Grandma! 

Checking out her new Star Wars picture books. This year, she was into Frozen, My Little Pony, Rapunzel, Littlest Pet Shop and Star Wars. Lots of interests!  

Gingerbread House Making

Shelby and I made a gingerbread house!

Shelby Star Wars

This is what happens when your daddy is a video geek! Shelby is obsessed with the old Star Wars movies and the other day when she and Scott were at the playground, she just spontaneously started quoting lines. So Scott made a little video with her as Luke Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back.

How the Flu Grinch (Almost) Stole Christmas!

All the excitement over the last week or so finally caught up to us... Shelby came down with a 48 hour flu bug on Friday. Poor girl, she ended up missing her class party, another party on Saturday and I stayed home from my neighborhood party Friday night. And then I started feeling sick today. She's feeling better now so hopefully we will all be well by Christmas. I read that the flu rate is the highest in Georgia out of anywhere in the nation and that a school district in Georgia had to close two days before Christmas break because so many kids and teachers were out sick. Something is definitely going around! 

School Concert

Busy week! Shelby also had her holiday concert at school. It was so cute! All the grades performed a couple of songs. Pre-K, Kindergarten and first grade all performed the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas Song and Jingle Bells together. Then, the entire school performed We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Adorable!

Here's a video:

Ballet/Tap Class

Last week was parent observation night at Shelby's ballet and tap class. We got to see all the great things they are learning. I was impressed! Shelby would pipe up with answers every time her teacher asked the class something. My favorite was when she asked what a "sashay" was and Shelby answered "when the feet chase each other but the one foot never catches up." Ha! 

Christmas Happenings

Lots going on lately! Last Saturday, we saw Madeline's Christmas at the Horizon Theatre. This children's musical based the classic Madeline books was so cute! Shelby loved it and the little girls playing the "12 little girls in two straight lines" were so talented. Our friend Hannah was in the show and she was awesome! If you get a chance, check out this show! 

Afterwards we tried out the new Jeni's  Splendid Ice Cream in downtown Decatur. It was delish! 

Playing on the gazebo in the square! What a fun day we had! 

Santa Treats

Our decorated tree! 

I made these Praline Toffee treats last night and they were so good I might have to make them again for Santa! Recipe from this blog is below: 

Ingredients

• 28 graham cracker squares
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Line a large ungreased baking pan with sides (jelly roll pan) with graham crackers, breaking in half if necessary to line the pan.
3. Melt butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Allow it to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in salt and vanilla. Pour mixture over top of the graham crackers evenly, spreading to coat.
4. Sprinkle pecans on top and bake in oven for 10-12 minutes until bubbly all over. If you prefer it a little crunchier, bake for 2 more minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cut into squares. Store at room temperature in airtight container for up to 3 days.

Tree Farm Pictures

A few more pictures from our tree farm visit. The entire farm is covered in these giant wooden cut outs of popular characters from kid's movies... it's hilarious! Don't tell the copyright lawyers about this place!

Bouncy slide! Wheee! 

This place had a giant bouncy pillow thing that was really fun. I even got on to bounce!

Tire swings, play houses, giant metal chickens... this place has it all. 

An "unauthorized" Elsa and Anna from Frozen. Disney World won't mind...

Shelby checks out the feeding frenzy at the petting zoo. 

Shelby directs the tree cutting. 

Helping dad push the cart! 

Tree Farm Visit

We made another visit to the cut your own tree farm in Stockbridge we found a couple of years ago. This year, it was not rainy or cloudy on our visit so it was actually much more fun! They have a couple of bouncy attractions, a hay ride and a petting zoo, all included for free when you buy a tree. It's definitely worth a visit, although this year we noticed the trees were smaller than normal... maybe it was just an off year for tree growing? Hopefully next year the trees that were too small this year will be a good size to cut down!

Santa Visit

Shelby's Santa visit picture! She was a brave girl this year and went up there to talk to him all by herself. It was so cute! 

Tucker Tree Lighting

Last Saturday evening was downtown Tucker's annual tree lighting celebration. Like last year, the weather was a little chilly and rainy but we still had a good time roasting marshmallows for s'mores, welcoming Santa, doing a craft and then retreating into one of the restaurants on Main Street to warm up and get dinner! It's a cute little event and we always enjoy it. 

Pink Pig

Last weekend we made our annual visit to ride the Pink Pig at Macy's. As far as Christmas traditions go, this one is definitely the longest wait for the smallest payoff, but we do it anyway since we are in prime Christmas magic years!