A Dash Through December!

Lucy felt so lucky to have had Grandma and Grandpa Cardon fly in for her baptism, especially considering the fact that they probably spent about as much time in an airport (or on an airplane) as they did at our house, and we were all so sad to see them leave on Sunday evening! My Dad was able to stay an extra day however, and my mom was able to stay even longer-- until early Friday morning, so we had a few more days of fun and visitors to look forward to the following week. 

I started Monday off as usual, dropping Lucy and Zach off at school, but then detoured home to pick up the rest of the crew for breakfast at Waffle House, which is my Dad's absolute favorite. In fact, I'm not sure if he's figured out how he'll get his hashbrown and waffle-fix when we move, since this here is Waffle House Nation??

This picture is classic Leah! Jammies still on, crazy bed-head, and an expression on her face that is way beyond her two years of life. At least she's enjoying that waffle! Puhlease don't interrupt her!

My Dad decided he'd better get his golfing quota met for the day, since this is most likely his last visit to Golfer's Paradise before we move next June, so while he battled the bitter cold, my mom took this undercover picture of me teaching Body Pump, which is kinda embarrassing. But thanks for being my biggest fan, Mom! Ha ha!

 

After school the girls (minus Leah) headed to the nail salon for a pretty sweet pedicure. We ended up with some very beautiful (and sparkly) toenails just in time for Christmas! We met back up with Grandpa the Babysitter for dinner at Texas Longhorn and then had to bid him farewell as he left super early the next morning. 

We spent the rest of the week enjoying Grandma Joanie.  We made a Costco/ Trader Joe's run up to Raleigh, stopped for lunch at Jasmin's, read Christmas stories, went Christmas shopping around Pinehurst, had lunch at Panera, tried out a Body Step class, and just relaxed at home. It is so unbelievably nice to have another adult at home with me to break up the monotony of being stuck inside all day! 

We also took a couple of morning walks around the neighborhood with Leah in the stroller. Thursday morning was FREEZING, but Leah was a good sport and let us put on her kitty hat and gloves.

That afternoon we checked out one of our favorite local antique shops where I found me some cute shabby-chic shelves, and then we drove to Carthage to try the Pik N Pig, which was meant to be experienced with my Dad on Monday, but they were closed! Uggh! We had a yummy BBQ pork lunch in honor of Tom Tom in the car while Leah napped.

Of course now it's become a tradition to make Christmas sugar cookies with Grandma, and Thursday afternoon was our last chance. Zach literally flew off the bus after school ready to help Grandma, so while I took Lucy to piano lessons, Leah and Zach stayed home and "helped."

Not exactly sure how helpful this girl was, as there was a pretty sizable pile of cookies pushed to one side that had been licked by Leah, but she sure liked putting that frosting on! 

And don't worry, Lucy wasn't left out! They saved some cookies for Luce to frost and decorate when we got home. She is quite the sprinkle artiste!

Ta-Da! The finished product! This is my mom's recipe that I can remember all the way back to when I was a little kid at Christmas. I think it's from the 1970's Betty Crocker recipe book.

That night we got to attend Zach's Kindergarten Christmas concert at his school. The kids all caught the Chirstmas spirit and got dressed up in their holly-jolliest outfits! 

The concert was about Santa and Mrs. Claus picking out a Christmas tree, and was really cute. I was proud of Zach-- who was an elf, and knew just about all the words and actions to the songs. He's there on the second row from the top, second from the right side.

It was so fun to be Zach's fan club after the concert! Lucy looked so cute rocking her new shawl Grandma Cardon knitted for her. I love my little elf!

We had such a wonderful time with family this last week or so, and it's been really hard for my kids to say good-bye to everyone, one by one. Zach got VERY upset when he realized nobody would be staying with us until Christmas, but I have to consider how lucky we've been that this is the one and only Christmas we'll have to spend alone in North Carolina. As our time winds down, it's meant SO much to us to have family come and visit over these last four years-- especially for things like holidays and birthdays! We are so appreciative of the time and money sacrificed on our behalf. The only truly bad thing is that when family comes, it makes you realize what you've been missing all along, and when they go, it leaves a big hole that's hard to fill back in. Thanks for coming Grandma Joanie!