I've already posted about a lot of our December activities in other posts, but here are the activities that we spent the rest of our December doing!
The first weekend of December we did our newer Christmas tradition of going to the Junior Service League's Breakfast with Santa with Lolly. The kids were really, really excited to see Santa. Then they saw these elves and reindeer and were pretty excited too!
That afternoon we continued the Christmas-y activities and went to the Christmas party at John's work. This is always a lot of fun and geared toward kids. Santa was there! They also had crafts, a photo booth, and an inflatable (inside) which were all hits!
Then while they were all still in their Christmas-y clothes, I snapped a few pictures!
Nora Kate loved all of our nutcrackers this year. She called them dolls.
After our super-busy Saturday, Sunday we went to church and then after Sunday afternoon naps we built a gingerbread house. All three kids loved this activity this year.
The finished product!
Uncle Logan graduated from the University of Tennessee in December. His graduation was on a Friday morning, so I sent Dawson on to school. John had to work, but Carter, Nora Kate and I met Lolly and Pop there for his graduation. The ceremony was 3 hours long so the kids were worn out by the time we were done (see the picture!), but really they did great to sit still that long! Congratulations to Uncle Logan on his college graduation!
The next morning we woke up and surprised the kids by telling them we were going to Dollywood and staying in Gatlinburg for the weekend. They were thrilled. The weather was crazy-it was so warm! We wore short sleeves and pants, but got hot in that! Every previous year for Christmas at Dollywood we have had to REALLY bundle up so this was odd!
Before Dollywood the boys played putt putt in Pigeon Forge while Nora Kate and I did a little outlet shopping! Nora Kate loves shopping and looking at things. She LOVES Claire's. There she's holding up a bracelet in Claires!
John and the kids in the snow globe! This was a hit!
We always have to make a stop at the Dollywood Sweet Shop!
Eating (apparently really chewy) Dollywood candy!
Coloring on the Christmas wall was a hit again this year!
Playing games and winning!
Rides!
We stayed until it got dark so we could enjoy all the Christmas lights! Here's Dawson with the prize he won in front of some of the lights!
When we got to the hotel, we told the kids they could watch an episode of Curious George on John's phone. They looked so cute cuddled together!
After leaving Dollywood, we drove to Gatlinburg and looked at all the Christmas lights on the strip. The kids really enjoyed this...especially looking at the space needle (Carter's favorite thing to talk about). The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the pancake house next to our hotel. Then we rode a golf cart down the strip to the aquarium. The kids have talked and talked about this golf cart ride...possibly more than the aquarium! Haha!
Here we are outside the aquarium.
The kids on the porch at the pancake house.
Piranhas!
You can tell Dawson is smiling by looking at his profile here!
Leafy Sea Dragons!
SHARK LAGOON
The kids loved the tunnel!
You know you're tired when you sit on the moving sidewalk...hah!
Touching the horseshoe crabs.
These fish nibble the dead skin off you hands..yuck!
Carter was loving every minute of the aquarium. I managed to capture his "lightening leg" on camera in front of the sting ray tank!
Of course, they loved the penguins!
The last day of school before Christmas break was pajama day for kindergarten! Dawson wore his Christmas snoopy pajamas. They had special snacks and watched the Polar Express. His school made this such a special day. The principal dressed up (and looked the part) of the conductor and punched each kids special polar express ticket as they went to the room to watch the movie!
Getting his ticket punched by the conductor!
The weekend before Christmas we followed our tradition of baking Christmas sugar cookies and decorating them for ourselves and to share with our neighbors and friends. Dawson had fun helping me bake, and then everyone helped decorate!
I stepped out of the room to grab my camera. When I came back Nora Kate was enjoying the frosting on the table! That girl! Thankfully we had already made all of the ones we planned to share at this point!
Our Tree!
We did our usual tradition of driving to the Court House to check out all the Christmas trees on the lawn. This was the only picture I managed to get there though. The kids standing on the courthouse steps!
Another picture of our tree!
UGH why are these out of order?! The weekend after Thanksgiving we kicked off the Christmas season by going to the Fantasy of Trees...another tradition. Our friends, the Gibsons, met us there for some fun!
They always love the carousel.
They liked the Tennessee trees!
This drive through Knoxville area was a hit again this year!
The boys really enjoyed looking at all the Gingerbread Houses. A lot of them featured Snoopy this year, so they REALLY liked those!
And our kids have never met a person in costume they didn't love! The same held true for this guy at the Fantasy of Trees!
So random amidst all our Christmas-y posts, but Carter LOVES LOVES LOVES monster trucks. Lolly and John had the boys in the van when this monster truck pulled in one day. They HAD to get their picture with it. They are still talking about this!
Two days before Dawson got out of school for Christmas break, kindergarten had their celebrations! I went to party with them. They started by decorating reindeer cookies, had Christmas song time, made bead candy cane ornaments, and then finished by making a fun party hat! It was cute, and I love watching Dawson and his friends interact!
Dawson gave all his school friends this wooden snowman ornament they could color or paint, this foam picture frame gingerbread house they could make, and these M&Ms! He was excited to share these gifts.
Carter and Nora Kate asked if they could watch a show one morning. I said yes, and I walked back in the room to find Nora Kate watching tv on Carter's back. Haha these two
Have you ever moved three carseats into a van to test drive it?! I did! Haha! We ended up getting the van-YAY! Here are the kids in the car ready for the test drive.
We had a few flurries over Christmas break. Dawson insisted I take his picture "in the snow" so here it is...can't see the snow?! It was blowing around, but that was about it!
Nora Kate loves dressing up in costumes.
We had some great (and unseasonable) weather in December! We took full advantage of the warm temperatures. The pictures below were taken a day or two after Christmas at the park. We went to Sandy Springs to fly the drone and so the boys could have a big open space to drive their monster truck/jeep in! Everyone loved it! Crazy how warm it was-shorts weather!
The Sunday after Christmas John and I had planned a special outing with just the boys. Having three kids I am always surprised at how different each one acts when just one on one or when just two of them are together-odd, I know, but it's like it totally changes the dynamic and they act differently! Carter and Dawson both seemed so big just having these two with us. Our special outing was the DIXIE STAMPEDE! John had been before (but never to the Christmas show), and the boys and I had never been before!
It was a lot of fun! The boys LOVED it, and are STILL talking about it! They keep telling Nora Kate that next year she will be big to go like them when she's three (they came up with this on their own, so I guess we are going back next year?) Haha!
They had fun checking out the giant Christmas tree outside the Dixie Stampede.
Their souvenir boot cups were a hit, and they're still asking to drink out of them every day!
The very end of December brought a big change for our sweet baby girl! She moved from her toddler bed into a twin bed! The pictures below are from her first night in her big girl bed (which she proudly proclaimed, "is just like Carter's bed! And Dawson's bed!"), and you can tell she was all smiles. She is so awesome--she has never once gotten out of her bed without us in her room. When she wakes up she knocks on her headboard or just yells for us, then when we come in the room we tell her she can get up. So good! ALSO, she was adamant that she did NOT want bed rails (even though we had 2 rails ready to put on her bed), but she didn't want them because "it wasn't like the boys." With the boys I would have never given in and let them try to sleep without rails at age 2 because they moved ALL OVER the bed, but Nora Kate never moves around in her sleep. I gave in but told her if she fell out we would put the rails on. Here we are almost a month later, and she has fallen out ZERO times! So proud! She's really proud of her bed. When we have had company (the grandparents or Harper) over she has had everyone come see her "big girl bed" because it's such a big deal!
Including weekend days, Dawson's Christmas break from school was 18 days long. The even better part was all the time that John had off during Dawson's break...he only had to work 6 of the days that Dawson was off! It was GREAT! This meant we got to do lots and lots of fun family activities and just play at home. But one outing we went on was bowling! The boys LOVED it! Nora Kate wasn't so into it, so she spent most of her time reading a book and watching. Carter even bowled a strike-we had the gutter guards up. Carter has been begging to go back!
just catching up on her reading at the bowling alley
That wraps up December!
