Blogging Our Blessings: December 2010

This is gonna be a long one with lots of pictures! And I think I'll do a seperate Christmas one. December was super busy for us as I'm sure it is for most people. It is my most favorite month though! December started with celebrating Elly's "Papaw's" Birthday. This night was also Elly's very first pigtails!! She still doesn't have as much hair as most girls her age but it is finally starting to grow a litlle and I'm so excited!

Also this month, Casey and several others were honored at a Crab Orchard basketball game and were officially inducted into the 1000 point club. It was a nice presentation and nice to go back and watch a game. We definitely don't get to do that enough.

Next up, Santa Train! We heard about this and thought Elly would enjoy it so we gave it a try. Elly did love it, but it didn't live up to my expectations. Oh well, it was for her and she did have a good time.

This was us before getting on!

Elly wating with Grammy to give her wish list to Santa. She was so cute waiting patiently and this is my favorite picture of that day. It really is amazing to watch the excitement through a child's eyes. I know the coming years are just going to be great!

Her first Candy Cane! Compliments of Santa!

A couple weeks before Christmas, we went to my Dad's in Kentucky for the weekend to do our Christmas with each other. SIU happened to be playing in a game near my dad's house so it worked out well.

Look what Mommy (& Daddy) got!! A new camera! Just what I..uhh...I mean we wanted!

And Elly got a new horse! She loves it!

Look at this cutie! This was before going to dinner and I was playing with the new camera.

Us at Dinner...too bad Elly's not looking. We had such a good time that weekend!

The following weekend, we spent all day Saturday baking and baking some more!
Elly's got a close eye on those turtles!

Some of the finished project! I had never baked so much on my own before and it was so much fun! Hopefully this can become a tradition!

We did take a break to go to Jayden's birthday party. Jayden is our neighbor and we are so thankful his family moved in across from us! This was Elly's second birthday party at Extreme Sports this month and she had so much fun we decided to sign her up for their toddler gymnastics class! We started in February and she is loving it! I love watching her learn...and I think she's doing a pretty good job! I'm a proud momma!

I think this picture is hilarious! I look more scared than she does!

After the party, it was back home to finish the baking and make up all the plates! I thought they turned out good! Hope everybody liked them! Casey and I both took them to our coworkers and gave them to neighbors and some other special people!

The next day, we went to Walker's Bluff, which is a somewhat newer winery by us with Joe, Debbie, and my mom. They have awesome Christmas decorations and have a Sunday brunch every weekend through the holidays. Santa is there, and they have a workshop with crafts for kids, and an ice skating rink. Probably lots of other stuff too. We just ate brunch and visited with Santa. It was free and they even let me just take my own pictures instead of buying theirs. Elly was super friendly and said hi to both Santa and Mrs. Claus but would not get too close or sit on his lap!

The next week, we got together with Lindsay, Carter, & Fisher to exchange our Christmas gifts. We got Carter this pillow pet and to say he loved it would be an understatement! Not sure if he's still loving it, but that day, that boy LOVED it and that's what it's all about! Well not really, but it's a pretty great part!