Happy Birthday, Dear Bennett...

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19TH IS BENNETT'S 34TH BIRTHDAY!

WHY NOT LEAVE A BIRTHDAY COMMENT FOR HIM TO ENJOY? HE'S SURE TO CHECK THIS TOMORROW...

No Room at the Inn...

Monday is Mary Claire's Christmas program at her Preschool (cameras were only permitted at the dress rehearsal). How cute are these 4 year olds in their capes and red bows? I bet these boys will cringe at these pictures when they are 14!! Mary Claire's dream in life is to be on stage, so she is fulfilling it by being front and center. The funniest part was that she kept yawning and not singing during most of the songs. When I asked her why she wasn't singing for some of them and yawning even, she replied, "Well...those are the songs that I don't like of course." Duh, mommy.

Over the falls...

I can't believe we have had 80 degree weather this week! We leave the house in long sleeves and we are sweating! I know that is hard for you folks up north getting hammered with snow storms...sorry! Please know that it is a little strange to come in from a bike ride or trip to the lake and hear Christmas music playing.

It has been said that my blog paints a picture of my two girls getting along perfectly day in and day out. So, I'm here today to say that they fought all morning; therefore, I became a lazy parent and took them across the street to Falls Lake Dam (1/2 mile away--why don't I do this more often?) We took a picnic lunch and then for nearly 2 hours the girls threw rocks into the lake (which is half dried up due to the drought), watched the dogs swim and collected clam shells.

PS--Those of you who know me best--I think I will buy the kids play clothes for Christmas (ha ha!). How adorable were they getting wet and muddy in their little dresses?

Decking the Halls...

Our little girls were so excited to decorate the house for Christmas! They were thrilled to open each little ornament box and to find the special ornaments they have collected over their few short years. It was so much fun.

Something interesting to note--Bennett tried out a beard for a couple of weeks. This is what he looked like.

Christmas Card Rejects...

I had fun while we decorated the Christmas tree taking some pictures of the girls. Dad Wise--I tried some one of the other settings for these pictures, can you tell? Anyway, Mary Claire just looked like she wanted to take a nap in all of them so I had to scrap the photo shoot. But Elle was full of personality so I thought you all might find them interesting!

Christmas tree farm????

Okay, first of all, KM and RM, yes the girls do own a pair of jeans!! And they actually wore them :-). Anyway...

After living in Raleigh for a year, we are slowly realizing that we spend a lot of time on the corner of Ravens Ridge Road and Falls of Neuse Road. Why, you may ask? This happens to be the small corner that has turned into our pumpkin patch for Halloween, Christmas tree farm, and fireworks stand. This year I decided that we needed to cut down our Christmas tree somewhere (missing Mayne's in Buckeystown!). I was finished with cropping out the cars whizzing by from our family pictures.

After a quick search on the internet for cut-your-own tree places, we headed out to Apex NC. Our Christmas tree farm turned out to be basically a dude's backyard in the country. Not much farm about it. But it was a bit cheaper and an adventure nonetheless.

On the way home, our tree nearly fell off the top and we had to make a pitstop to shove it into the back. Next year you'll see us...again...on the corner of Falls and Ravens Ridge.