Archer Christmas

Saturday we celebrated Christmas with the Archer part of our family. Nana and Pop-O, Granny and Grandaddy came up for the day. We ate a yummy bar-b-que lunch and then opened gifts. I know our five had a great time, and I think everyone else did as well. Here are a few pics from the day.

digging in

Jonathan had just finished his morning nap when everyone arrived, so we moved his highchair into the living room and he ate his snack while he watched the chaos.


The boys love their head lamps!

And the football helmets were a huge hit!

And this has got to be one of the best pictures of the whole day.

Preschool Parties

The day their classes got out for Christmas break, we had Andrew and Coleman's Christmas parties. I somewhat-accidentally signed up to be the party mom for both boys' classes. Everything turned out fine, and it was really a good idea to do the same party twice. It just might have been a better idea to do them on different days. Andrew's party started at 11:15. We had the tables decorated and ready to eat when the class came in. There was pizza for lunch, followed by a craft, decorating cookies, and then a book exchange. Coleman's class did exactly the same thing starting at 12:15. When we got home, we all took a good nap! Here are some pictures of the fun.

When I walked in to Coleman's class, they were all dressed as reindeer!

The cookie decorating was a little more "hands-on" in Coleman's class.

The Pink Pig 2010

Tuesday morning we broke our chain link for that day to find out we were headed to The Pink Pig! The boys were super excited, so we scurried around and got out the door around 9:00. On the way, Jon Jon grabbed a little nap in the car.


We got to Lenox around 10:00 and found no one in line! We bought our tickets and loaded up!
Andrew is always amazed that we rode in that tiny little pig car when we were little.

Waiting in line with their tickets. I don't know how we always manage to pick the coldest day of the year to go do this.

Jonathan was so cute in his little hat. He didn't try to take it off once.

Here we are all loaded and ready to go!

I hope we will get to do this for many more years. Going on a Tuesday morning before schools were out was perfect. When we finished the ride, we walked inside Lenox and looked at the decorations and Santa until it was closer to lunch time. We found the food court and a good old Chick-fil-A. Brent and I had so much fun with our boys, but the funniest part of the day was when we were finishing lunch. The food court was almost empty (thank goodness) and there was music playing. We had enjoyed lots of Christmas music while we were eating, but then "Hammer Time" came on. We looked at each other in disbelief and Brent said, "Is that MC Hammer?!" We were laughing about that and then turned around to get our yahoos ready to go. Imagine our surprise when we saw both Andrew and Coleman bustin' their moves all over the food court! And I don't mean they were dancing calmly next to their seats. Andrew was all over the place, arms and legs just a goin'. Coleman was shaking his little booty and bobbing his head.

They get their moves from their daddy.

Family Fun

Our other new tradition this year has been really fun for us all. At the beginning of December, I made a paper chain with 25 links. Each day we tear off one link and find a surprise, fun activity inside. Some days we open the link after supper, and some days it is after breakfast. It all depends on what the activity is for the day. If it's a nighttime activity, we do it after we do the Jesse Tree for that day. Here are some pictures of our first two weeks of activities.

Instead of doing the gingerbread house this year, we made the gingerbread train one night.

One night the chain read, "Enjoy a Grinchy surprise!" We watched "The Grinch" together and the boys got these bedtime buddies.

One Saturday morning we had Christmas pancakes.

One day they were to find a surprise inside their lunchboxes at school. Another night we went to see the Lights at Lanier.

Our trip to Santa was one day. We've done a couple of crafts also. Here they are painting some ornaments.

Another craft was making foam gingerbread houses.

We've also watched a new Veggie Tales Christmas DVDmade molasses sugar cookies, made gifts for their teachers, and yesterday we had a surprise visitor after naptime. Stay tuned to see who that might have been. . .

The Jesse Tree

We have started two new traditions this year. Last year, the MOPS group I was part of made a Jesse Tree for our families. It is like an advent calendar in that we do one lesson each night leading up to Christmas. There are passages from the Old Testament to read, then a narrative about that particular person or event. It started with creation, and we are currently on Moses and the Burning Bush. Each day after we read the lesson, the boys add an ornament to our tree. Some of them are a little difficult to see in the picture, so I think that when I get some extra time I'll make them a little bigger. I guess that will be about the time Jonathan goes to college.

We are really enjoying this activity each night. The boys listen carefully, mostly, and Andrew often knows the next part of the story. He has asked some really good questions too during our family time. Coleman has enjoyed taking the ornaments off repeatedly and rearranging them. I try to get him to tell me about them as he redecorates each time. He is beginning to remember the characters and events too. This activity has been a great reminder to me that all of scripture points to the coming of Jesus.

I'll share our other new tradition tomorrow, hopefully. I'm thinking that we may be about to reach our tradition capacity around here. . .

A Visit with Santa

Last week we went to the Mall of Georgia to see Santa. This was Jonathan's first trip to the mall for Santa. Last year we saw him at our neighborhood party. We ate supper at Chick-fil-A, did a little looking and shopping, and then got in line for Santa. We were the first in line for him after he and the reindeer ate supper. Santa himself came and opened the gate for us, and we were so excited!

Jonathan and Brent waiting in line


Andrew and Coleman watching Santa walk back from supper

The visit went exactly as we thought it would. Andrew and Coleman were very excited and talked a lot to Santa. Jonathan hated it.

After the pictures were snapped, I picked Jonathan back up and let the boys visit with Santa. They each asked for lightsabers, red for Andrew and blue for Coleman, and a few surprises.

Jonathan's Party - Part 2

After the cake and ice cream, it was time to open the gifts! We were all wondering what in the world that big red one could be.


Jonathan got a tool set from Aunt Mer Mer and Uncle Roger. He has hardly gotten to play with it though, because Coleman loves it. Granny and Grandaddy sent a fun helicopter. Grandma and Uncle Hugh sent some spending money. Nana and Pop-O gave him a garage and car set. Gigi and Papack gave him a cute outfit and a riding toy.


The mysterious red present turned out to be his very own anywhere chair! We also gave him a new Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and a little train activity center.

Here he is trying to get to play with some of his new toys. You can see we're working on sharing.

And here he is with his new tractor. When we opened it, he said, "Wah-ooooooww!"

It was a fun celebration of our sweet boy.