Pre-Christmas Events

December was fairly crazy.  I had Bronchitis all month, I really needed to take a couple of vacation days to rest up and to do Christmas stuff, but work was just insane and I didn't even have time to leave work at lunch to run errands.  I had a much needed little Girls Night Out on the 15th.  We went to Eclipse di Luna (favorite restaurant) and as always had a great time catching up.  Bonus was when I got home Mike and the kids had decorated the tree.  I love it when Mike is home.  On Sunday we did Christmas shopping in shifts, I went out in the morning and he went in the afternoon.  This is year I tried to do as much as possible on-line (what would I do without Amazon?)  Working full-time I have come to realize anything I can purchase on-line just saves me so much time, it means less errands I have to run on the weekend. 

Last week before Christmas was just insane.  I had to get and wrap all the teachers gifts.  Between two kids there were about 10 different teachers to by various things for.  I really love their teachers and staff at the school, so I try to acknowledge them during the Holidays.  I had Tessa's Parent Teacher Conference Friday morning.  She is dong really well and well on her way to learning to read!!!!  Although she's a busy body that can't sit still, it does not hinder her absorption of class material or affect her learning.  She just amazes me.  Due to the Friday Parent Teacher Conference Ga Pre-K was closed, so Tessa got to spend a fun filled day with Omi and Opa. 

Big News............we found a babysitter.  She's awesome and the only down side is that she's in college in Athens (aka she's a Bulldog - barf) so she's only in Atlanta on weekends occasionally.  But it's close enough where she comes home frequently.  She's awesome and the kids love her.  Even Ellis, my Momma's Boy, totally sold me out for her.  Saturday night before Christmas, my parents had a Christmas/Birthday Party for Mike and Bessy.  We had Peyton come and watch the kids and had a wonderful adult time at the party.  I actually had time to talk to people.  What a nice change.

We had Peyton come back Sunday night and Mike and I did some shopping together and had a really nice dinner (Eclipse di Luna again - heehee) just the two of us.  It was perfect.  Very relaxing and nice to just spend time together with just the two of us.  We so rarely get down time like that.

Mountain Weekend (December 8th)

A much over due post from me.  I had a very busy December between work and family life.  I had bronchitis the entire month and finally went to the doctor the week before Christmas to confirm and get some medications.  I'm going to back-track a little and get caught up.

The 1st weekend in December, we went up the Mountains for the Cashier Christmas parade and to cut down our Christmas Tree.  The kids had a blast at the parade.  Tessa figured out very quickly that if she smiled and waved and said Merry Christmas people would throw that sweet little angelic looking girl some candy.  She would then put it in her bag and say 'Yes!' (kind of like 'Sucker').  Ellis went more for the instant gratification.  He would get one piece of candy, then go sit down eat it and then get back up for another.  Eventually he realized Tessa would bring him some candy, so there really was no point in getting up.  At one point, he actually fell asleep in my arms, with cars and firetrucks honking and everything.  Must be that good Mountain air.

The Tree Farm that we really like is called Ty-Lin and is this great little family owned place.  They converted this old fire-truck into a wagon of sorts you ride out into the farm to pick your tree.  And then you can cut down yourself or have one of the boyos cut it down for you.  They'll also come pick it up in a gator and take it back to the truck for you.  Sorry the tree picture is sideways - for some reason I haven't been able to figure out how to get the pictures flipped around on blogger.