Holiday Happenings

Now that the holidays are behind us, I'll do a little recap of our many holiday celebrations!

It started with Addy's Thanksgiving party at school :)

They gave each of the kids little Indian names, and Addy's was Dancing Addy :)

The kids made cute little laminated place mats with pictures of their family and each name that they were thankful for :)

True to her Indian name, after snack time Addy got right out there and started the dance party!

Picture fun with Mommy!

I tried so hard to get a cute picture of Addy in that hat, but she was not cooperating ;)  She is NOT a fan of head wear.

I had such a fun day hanging out with Addy at school!  I love seeing her in that environment, watching her interactions with teachers and friends.  (I also had the opportunity to witness her sneaky stealing of classmates snacks.  Her Indian name should have been Snack Fiend.)

This holiday season, we were given the chance to ride on a float in Raleigh's Christmas parade!  Our friend Taylor works for the convention center and asked us if we'd want to take the girls on their float.  Of course we jumped on the opportunity!  We had never even been to Raleigh's Christmas parade (and it's one of the country's largest!), much less been a part of it!

Ready to go!

We dressed the part :)

Addy had the "parade wave" down pat!

Emma spent the entire time looking like this... despite the crazy amount of noise that accompanies any parade (sirens, drums, music, yelling, clapping, etc.).  This girl sleeps through anything!

After awhile Addy started losing patience and the "Snack Fiend" was back.  Snacks were the only thing that kept her happy.

A few snacks in, and our happy Addy was back!

There we are on our float!

Close up of us 

We were on the float with our friend Dan and his adorable daughter Aubrey.  How cute is she???  She and Addy had matching outfits and we didn't even plan it!  Ha ha!

Our little elves just hanging out after the parade.

Family photo :)

Being a part of Raleigh's Christmas parade was so much fun!  I'm glad that we went through the inevitable hassle that it always takes to get us anywhere on time.  It may have been a harried, rushed morning, but we made it just in the St. Nick of time, hopped on that float, and had a blast!

Stumbled across this little gem in my December photos:

Addy adores her baby sister :)  She always wants to lay in the crib with her, and immediately starts sucking her thumb whenever she's close to Emma.  Look at Addy's gentle touch of Emma's face.  Love <3

Here is a little video of Emma in December:

Miraculously, we got Addy to sit on Santa's lap.  We couldn't get a smile, but she did sit there for the requisite few seconds it took to snap a photo.  It was more than either Mike or I expected, I must say ;)  How good is that Santa, by the way???

All set up for Christmas!

Our pal Christopher is back!

New Christmas tree!  Yup, I finally relented and we went artificial this year.  And I must say, I love it!

Our little elf!  This hat was the only one that fit her head, so she wore it daily in the month of December :)

We took the girls to Raleigh's Holiday Express as well.  It was fun; lights, a carousel, a train ride, etc.  However, it was SUPER crowded and therefore we will not do it again until Addy is old enough to ask to go, ha ha!

Addy on the carousel. 

She was all about it until it started moving.  Then our little scaredy cat demanded that Mike take her off that horsey and hold her, ha ha!

Emma slept through it all.

 Next up was Addy's big Christmas performance at school!  Her class sang Jingle Bells and it was hilarious because I don't think any of them actually sang, and even if they did, you wouldn't be able to hear it above Addy yelling "DADDY! DADDY!" the whole time ;)  Yup, she spotted him right away in the audience (even though I was the one up front and Mike was towards the back with Emma).  I thought I was videotaping it, but I guess my video camera was on but not recording, grrrr.  I was so mad!  But then Mike reminded me that I didn't miss much, ha ha.  They were on the stage for maybe one minute total and there was virtually no singing involved ;)  Here are some pics at least:

Ready to go in her Christmas best!

Emma slept through the whole performance. (Are you noticing a trend here?)

Here comes Addy...getting carried on stage ;)

Our daughter was the only one in her class that refused to wear her reindeer antlers.  It's hard to tell in this pic, but every other kid has them on and Addy is holding hers.

"Mom, if you needed help figuring out the video camera, you should have just asked me."

At the end of the performance Emma woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, like always :)

Addy was so proud of herself :)

A little post-show snack.  Posing and everything.  And I promise, I did not tell her to do that!  Ha ha!

Mike, Taylor, and I took the girls to Hillridge Farms (same place we go for pumpkins) to see what their Christmas scene was all about.

Down the big slide with Daddy (multiple times!)  How a carousel scares her but this thing doesn't is beyond me.

Hay tunnel

Tractor ride through the Christmas lights.  Yup, you guessed it.  Emma slept through it all.

One of my all time favorite pictures of Addy :)

On a play date one of my friends told me about this neighborhood near us that has a walking trail through it, and all of the neighbors along the trail put tons of lights up for Christmas.  So we took out the new double jogger (thanks Dad and Beth!!) and checked it out.

It was awesome!  A nice little (free) Christmas activity, and Addy loved it.  You can guess what Emma was up to.

Had to include this next one because it cracks me up every time.  Look at Emma's face!  She is bracing herself for Addy's next move ;)

We went to church on Christmas Eve :)

Followed by Christmas Eve dinner at Pipers...

...during which, Emma actually managed to stay awake!

And we came home to some Christmas packages on our doorstep, which made Addy super excited!

How adorable does she look all dressed up?

A little Christmas Eve video: (Warning: I tried to trim it, but the software wouldn't let me, so you'll have to endure the entire minute and a half.)

We woke up Christmas morning and opened up stockings :)

Of course, Addy loved the candy cane full of M & M's

Then we indulged in some Christmasy waffles before digging into the other gifts :)

Per the toddler way, Addy loved the boxes more than the gifts ;)

Emma sat back and took it all in.  Such a smiley little lady :)

Christmas afternoon was exceptionally warm, so we headed out to the neighbor's swing set for awhile.

Yup, she's scared of this tiny thing, but not scared of that gigantic slide at Hillridge Farms.  Baffles me.

Addy rockin' her new jewels from Aunt Erin...

...while Emma rocked her new sweatsuit.

Addy got a cool little bike from Pap and Grandma Hetrick, which she proceeded to tip over one time.... and now is 100% terrified of it.  We'll keep trying and one day I know she'll love it!

 As always, this post is about 100 times longer than I ever thought it would be.  But we had a very eventful holiday season, and since we live so far away from everyone, this is our way to share it with you all.  (Plus, my memory is absolutely terrible, so blogging is my way of ensuring that the memories of these precious days don't fade away with time.)  Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season!  I know we did!

Merry Christmas from the Hetrick girls!