Christmas Festivities

The Wood family loves a Christmas festivity, so we are always looking for something fun to go do. The first weekend in December we went to the Opelika Christmas parade. 

I promise they were having fun, but it was COLD!

Payton's class had a super sweet Christmas program that I was able to sneak away to. I didn't get any great pictures because they had already changed clothes by the time we picked them up in their classrooms, but she sure was a precious angel! This girl loves some Christmas carols and was so excited to sing on the big stage in the sanctuary. Of course, if she saw me taking a picture she would turn the other way. I think her favorite was "Go Tell it on the Mountain" complete with motions.

That night we went to the Rockybrook Reindeer Express at Monkey Park in Opelika. There has been a lot of rain for December so a lot of the events have been postponed, which has made the last few weeks crazy trying to fit it all in. Again, it was pretty chilly this night. We were waiting in line for the train when it started having engine problems. I was so afraid that we were going to have to break the news to the girls that we couldn't ride. A simple battery change and all was well!

We even made a stop by to see Santa. And...no one cried!!!! That's a first. Both of the girls kept saying that they wanted to see him, and of course started to shy away when the time came. I think it helped that Anderson was already in Santa's lap so they felt like they had to be the big girls then. Notice they weren't quite ready to sit in his lap, but they did stand next to him and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Harper's face is hysterical here. I've said before, she is my child who wants to assess the situation and take it all in before she is sure of it. That face says it all.

Anderson is just chilling.

No hugs, but we'll take high fives. As soon as we walked away Harper was getting upset. We finally realized that she was thoroughly confused where her presents were. All this time we've been telling her that she has to tell Santa what she wants for Christmas so he can give her a present. I guess we missed the minor detail that we have to wait for Christmas Day. Whoops! It was a quick recovery.

Sweet girls!

After being postponed due to the AU High School football game playing in the playoffs, its was finally time for the AU Christmas parade. Uncle Jeremy called the day of the parade and asked if the girls wanted to ride in the fire truck. It was very different watching the parade without them. At least we had Haisley, Presley, Lyndell, Benton, and of course Anderson to keep us company.

It was so cold this night. I didn't have a hat for little man so this was the best I could do.

Here they come!

Apparently Harper loved waving and saying Merry Christmas. Payton wasn't as much of a fan. I think she missed watching the parade. Other events this month included Christmas parties at school and December ballet demonstration for Payton. I wasn't able to make it to any of them so no pictures. :( Jonathan did video the ballet demonstration for me though!

Thanksgiving

The girls had sweet little parties and sang some songs for Thanksgiving. I took off half day so that I could enjoy the festivities. Of course I got to Harper's class about a second after they sang their songs, but apparently she didn't sing anyways. Or at least that's what they told me so I wouldn't get upset. :)

The sweetest little Indian. I loved her thankful turkey that she made. On the feathers her teachers wrote what she was thankful for. Harper's went like this:

1. baby brother

2. family

3. Anderson

Do you think she loves her brother?

Getting ready to say the blessing. She was pretty excited about their little feast.

And again...little man along for the ride. I promise he does get out of his car seat at times.

True Harper fashion.

We then headed down to Payton's class to listen to the four year olds sing a few songs.

The sweetest little pilgrim.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Bamama's house as usual and then enjoyed it with Jonathan's family at Jeremy and Beth's house this year.

I often fear that when I post pictures, I hardly have them of Harper smiling and don't want people to think she's not a happy girl. She's anything but that. But goodness this girl has some facial expressions.

Hilarious.

We visited with Granny the day after Thanksgiving and even got a shot with all the kiddos.

Anderson at 3 Months

Anderson turned 3 months on November 13, the day we came home from the mountains. 

Just like I mentioned in his 2 month post, these two little girls adore everything about him if you can't tell. He continues to be the sweetest little guy and such a good baby.

During his third month, his smiled continued but they became more of a constant than a rare smirk. If someone will talk to him, he will smile. I just love that big toothless grin. 

He was wearing mostly 3 month clothes, size 2 diapers, and we upped his bottles to 6 oz. right around his 3 month bday. Mostly because he started sleep consistently through the night! Insert Hallelujah chorus here! He is such a good sleeper. Around 3 months he started more consistently stretching 8 hours. He would sometimes wake when he was gassy, but I stopped feeding him in the night at this point because it was obvious he didn't need it anymore.

His head control and desire to look around certainly increased this month. There's always something exciting to see when you have 2 wild sisters running around, so he would much rather be sitting up to check out the action.

Sweet, sweet boy!

Mountain Trip

Veteran's Day weekend we headed to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg for a long weekend getaway. Looking at these pictures a month later reminds me just how much fun we had. My sweet parents offered to take all three kids up with them early in the day Friday, so that when we got off work around 3:30, we could hit the road quickly and hopefully get there before sunrise the next morning. :) Thankfully I think they all did great only the ride up, and we arrived later that night. That Saturday was the AU/TN game so there were AU fans everywhere. We got up that morning and headed to the outlet mall, with plans to come back and watch the game while the kids napped. We had been debating what we would do for entertainment, and finally decided on Dollywood. I wasn't too sure of it since my impression was just a bunch of old people shows...sorry Mom and Dad. However, it FAR exceeded my expectations. The Christmas lights were absolutely beautiful and there is something fun for everyone. There were so many rides and fun things for the kids to do and see. If you bought tickets after 6pm you got free admission for the next day. Our plan was to try and see the parade and lights at night so that the next day we could come back and do the rides. We had an absolute blast!

This snowman was at the entrance. At first Harper wasn't so sure about it. She wouldn't turn her back to it for me to take a picture. She then decided it was safe and thought it was quite fascinating.

They had a fun little night parade. Just a little side note, Harper was quite the humor on the trip. When we asked her where we were going days before the trip she would say "water fountain!" instead of "mountains." Jonathan also bought her some mittens that night and she kept telling us she wanted to wear her "kittens."  All  of the kids were really SO well behaved the entire trip....something you don't take for granted when traveling with three children under the age of 5! It could go downhill at any given moment.

We even got to wave to Santa! Another Harper story: the next morning we went to Santa's workshop to try and make a quick visit. Instantly when Harper saw him she started backing away saying, "Get me outta here!" I then explained to her that we had to tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas so that he could bring her presents. As we started walking out of the workshop she starting crying hysterically again, "I not wanna leave!" When I asked her why, she said she wanted a present from Santa. I then proceeded to ask her if she was going to tell Santa what she wanted and she quickly responded, "no, mommy tell him." Clever girl.

My precious angels.

The carousel was the top choice ride of the trip (as it was also at Disney World...go figure!) I didn't keep count, but they rode quite a few times!

Little man stayed bundled up in his car seat most of the time, but he got out for a minute to take a bottle. Did I mention that he was an ANGEL baby on the trip?

Daddy's girl!

Another favorite was the ferris wheel. You can see we rode it Saturday and Sunday!

Like I said before, there were so many different rides that even the little could do. So fun!

Having fun!

Again, brother just being sweet.

We saw a sweet short show about the Christmas story. Payton of course loved it, as she is obsessed with all things Christmas, especially baby Jesus. Harper instantly starting saying, "that my Bible" when the people came out dressed as Wise Men.

Daddy told the girls he would buy them a prize before riding the train. These were their treasures. I think it only took about 15 minutes for a piece to get broken. 

Waiting to ride the train on a COLD Sunday night.

On our way out of the park, we happened to see Santa sitting on the bench. Anderson and Harper were OUT since we had been there about 6 hours. We pulled the strollers over there and tried to convince Payton to go see him. Fail.

Monday morning we drove up through Gatlinburg and walked around. We stopped at the visitor's center and rode up the mountain.

Payton decided she wanted to have a picnic on the mountain, so that's just what we did!

I just love this big girl.

Harper loves her some pizza!

Proof we did actually go to the mountains.

We had an absolute blast on this trip. Seeing that it was mid November at this point, we came home in the Christmas spirit after seeing all of the lights and listening to music. The kids were so well behaved and we made some great memories. We headed home Tuesday morning and only stopped 1 time to feed brother. That's right, we made it home in 5.5 hours with 3 kids and didn't turn the DVD on until this side of Atlanta. Now that's an accomplishment. :)