December 31

"I am ready to go! Am I forgetting something?"

I have been wanting to take the kids to the zoo for awhile. There's a new polar bear cub that we haven't seen yet. And since the girls' Christmas break is almost over, we went today. It was around 55 degrees and crowds were low, so it was pretty nice.

Clay hung out with his family and watched the UK vs UofL basketball game. It's kind of a big game around here.... UK won! We have a few small surprises planned for the kids tonight for New Year's Eve. I will share those tomorrow.

December 30

Julia pulled out another tooth last night. This one is right next to the 2 front teeth. That's 3 teeth missing in a row! The funny thing is that the tooth in the middle is starting to come in, so she's going to have a snaggletooth smile for awhile (gap, tooth, gap).

Clay and the girls made a fort for the girls to sleep in last night.

December 29

HaPpY BiRtHdAy NoNnA!

December 28

Nonna went home yesterday. Clay thought it would be fun to all go to the grocery store together (he must have been ready to get out of the house?). We looked pretty silly with 2 carts and 4 kids. I also got all the Christmas decorations taken down. It's nice to have the house back to normal. I love to put up the decorations, but by the time Christmas is over, I am ready to get them down ASAP.

This morning I took the kids to the library for story time. We had a New Year's Eve Dance Party. This is probably the only New Year's Eve celebration we will have this year. I plan to ring in 2012 asleep (unless I am up feeding Lucy).

December 27

Last night we took Nonna out for pizza and then came home and had lemon pudding (her request) to celebrate her birthday.

December 26

It was warm enough outside yesterday afternoon that the girls played in their new playhouse. Uncle Bob and his 2 best friends delivered it to our house on Christmas Eve night. How nice is that?

Last night we had Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts at Mamaw and Bapaw's house. It was fun, but by the end of the night, the kids were overstimulated, exhausted, and whiny (I think the adults were too. Okay, so I am speaking for myself). Kat asked to go to bed when we got home - without a snack!

This morning Lucy had her 2 week checkup. She is now 7lbs and 19 1/2 inches long (she was 6lbs, 8oz and 17 1/2 inches at birth).

December 25

Merry Christmas!

December 24

At 6am I was up feeding Lucy. At 6:35am I sent Nonna a text asking what time she thought she would be arriving. She replied back 2 minutes later to look out the front window! She was in such a hurry to meet Lucy, she drove all night long to get here!

At 11am everyone came over to our house for our annual Christmas Eve Cookie Party. We followed it up with "Crazy Christmas" (Papaw G buys a bunch of stuff/junk) at a bargain store in town and we open/steal each others gifts. After that we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. Elliott sat through the service great. He was mesmerized by the instruments (mostly the drums).

December 23

Clay was working yesterday, and it was raining outside, so I took the kids to Art Sparks for awhile. The girls have been fighting so much lately that it's easier to take them somewhere than it is to stay home and hear all the whining, arguing, etc.

Rudolph impressions

Lucy got to meet Aunt Susie yesterday

December 22

Clay went to work yesterday. I took all four kids to story time at the library (my first time out with all four by myself). It was a success (nobody got hurt and I didn't lose anyone).

We made Holiday Kiss Pretzels yesterday afternoon. This is one of the first crafts/snacks that Elliott was really able to make. It was easy and fun. If you like Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, you would like these.

December 21

Julia has been begging for us to take her to IHOP for a long time. Yesterday morning we surprised the kids by taking the whole family (in our pajamas) as soon as we got out of bed. When we walked in, Julia was a little embarrassed when she realized that nobody else was in their pajamas. It's the first of many times we will embarrass the poor child! Breakfast was yummy, the kids were well-behaved, and our waitress's name was Lucy. Fun morning.

Making chocolate chip cookies with Daddy