Ice Ice Baby

Thursday afternoon the kiddos and I met up with some friends to go through ICE. We were sure to bundle up in lots of layers.

When we got there the kiddos were complaining that they were cold waiting outside for our friends. They had no idea that it was MUCH colder inside.

We had quite a crew of frozen noses :) This year's theme was A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you have never been through the ICE display at Opryland, it is a winding trail decorated with all things made completely of ice. It is between 8 and 9 degrees inside!


The ice slide was the crowd favorite. I even went down myself :)

Right after the slide AP decided that she had been cold long enough and cried the rest of the time :(

We can see warmth at the end of the tunnel!

We went home and warmed up with our own hot chocolate. We could have paid $5 a cup at the ICE gift shop, but we opted out of that :)

(These are the kiddos' $3 pj's by the way. Totally worth going to Wal-Mart at 5am on Black Friday!)

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

I Go Out Walking

Tuesday the kiddos and I headed to downtown Nashville to get AP's sixth postplacement report certified and authenticated. We had found out several trips ago that if you go to the 28th floor of the building where the Secretary of State is located that it is an all glassed in walking track and observatory. The kiddos love going up there and looking down at the city. We spotted our car below. Do you see it? It's a white Pilot.

Then we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and take a walk around downtown. We walked to the capitol first and checked out their Christmas tree. It seemed to be a little skimpy.

Here are the kiddos on the steps of the capitol building.

Then we walked to the War Memorial Building.

I contemplated not letting them walk around the fountains at Legislative Plaza. There was a very high probability that one would fall in, but we threw caution to the wind :)

From there we walked down by the Tennessee Performing Arts Center then over to the Hermitage Hotel. They thought it was cool to see where Hubs and I were married.

The nice doorman/bellhop/concierge (what is the right word?) offered to take our picture. After talking with him we realized that his family goes to our church (in our little town 40 minutes away). It's a small world.

I had so much fun sharing these sights with the kiddos for the first time. That night when we got home we put up our other Christmas trees. I'll share pics of our decked halls soon!

Family, Fritos, and Fabulous Views

On our way home from NC, we stopped in to visit Hubs' sister and family at their cabin in the mountains. And I always thought that one day I wanted a condo on the beach, but now I'm thinking I'd like to have a cabin in the mountains :) The weather was beautiful. They had just finished mounting new swings as we pulled up so the kiddos got to be the first the try them out.
We had a great time catching up with family. Hubs' sister's husband (my brother-in-law?) made an awesome chili, which we couldn't resist eating over Fritos. Mmmmm. I'll let the pictures speak about the gorgeous scenery.

The kiddos always have so much fun with their cousins. We really wish we lived closer!

Move What Your Momma Gave You

Friday after Thanksgiving I braved the sleepy shopping crowds at 5am. I was most motivated by the $3 pj's at Wal-Mart :) I was able to finish up about half of our shopping that morning, but I get up mainly for the experience. There is a crazy rush of shopping excitement and some intense shoppers out there!

The kiddos, of course, slept through it all. Later in the day we took them to the little mall near Hubs' parents house to see the jolly old guy himself. C froze and said "I don't know" when Santa asked what he wanted! AP, on the other hand, rattled off a long list. I thought it was funny when she was telling Santa that she wanted a baby that poopoos, Santa replied "oh you mean Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo". Santa has been doing his research!! Here are the kiddos with their antlers from Santa.


Later that night we unloaded all of the presents that we brought with us to give to our family there. We had planned on leaving them to open on Christmas. But, on a whim, we decided to just go ahead and have Christmas right then so we could all be together while everyone was opening gifts!

AP got a Bear that reads Twas The Night Before Christmas. I was surprised by how much she loved it. She has carried it with her every day since then. We only let her push the button to read the story a few times a day, though :) I think we could all recite it from memory now.

The hit of the night was Rocky the Talking Robot Dump Truck that C got. He had actually told us that he wanted it and we did not relay the information to the grandparents. They must know him well!

This gift is hilarious. I recommend it if you have a 3-6 age boy to buy for. He dances, dumps, rolls, and much more. My favorite line that he says is "move what your momma gave you". C loves it when he "cleans out his tailpipe" and it sounds like a familiar boy bodily function :)

Sadly, the next morning it was time to pack up to head back home. Our visit went by very quickly! I snapped a quick pic of all the sleepy family members that got up to bid us farewell.