1st Place Champions

There is nothing like having to go to the Opryland Hotel the weekend before Christmas for a cheerleading competition!  For once in my life I can thankfully say we had to be there at the crack of dawn, otherwise we would have spent hours in traffic.  Charley had quite the audience since Amma, Mamy and Pops were there to watch her.  The Grinches did awesome and are now Champions sporting 1st place jackets!  Carter loved watching Sister and all the other cheerleaders!  GO CHEERVILLE!

We ran into Lulu and Mollie.  I had an immediate flashback to another cheerleading competition 17 years ago!

Charley's Kindergarten Christmas Party

Charley's Kindergarten Christmas Party was so much fun!  I loved being in the classroom with her friends and teacher and other moms.  I managed a craft station, and it was so cute interacting with all of her friends!!

Back row (left to right) Kellum, Bentley, Armando, Brahm

Middle row (left to right) Donathan, Nanditha, Chivony, Charley, Brinley, Rebecca, Harper

Front row (left to right) Landon, Aiden, Braelyn, Matthew, Jacob, Naomi

Charley's "Engagement" Story

It was just a typical Monday afternoon in December.  Charley had gotten off the bus and we were enjoying a snack while watching a Christmas Hallmark movie.  Craig was out of town for work, so it was just us girls for a few days.  Mid-movie Charley said, "hey...Bentley gave me a present today...wanna see?  You're probably going to be mad."  (She meant mad that a boy gave her a gift, because we constantly joke with her that she is too little for boyfriends and stuff like that.)  I agreed to see whatever she was storing in her backpack.  The first "gift" she showed me was a couple of sparkly, fake finger nails.  I was not mad about that gift...I was grossed out...and almost completely lost interest in the whole conversation.  Then she said, "he also gave me this ring."  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the ring and immediately regained my focus.  I politely asked to see the ring to get a closer look.  (TRUTH...on the outside I was trying to stay calm, on the inside I was screaming a tiny four letter word that started with S!!!)  I'm not a jeweler, but I know nice things when I see them, and this ring was most definitely from the child's mother's jewelry box.

Panic mode started to set in when I realized that I had someone's very expensive possession being treated like another "treasure" that Charley had collected in the side pocket of her backpack and it rode home on the bus, and the fact that I didn't know the child's last name or have the teacher's phone number was almost more than I could handle.  So many scenarios flew through my head as I tried to track down Charley's teacher to get contact information for Bentley's family.  THREE hours later and lots of people helping me try to get in touch with her, I received a text from the teacher asking about Charley's engagement.  I'm so glad she saw humor in the issue, because I was a nervous wreck being responsible for such an expensive item.

Long story short, the ring was the mother's engagement ring, and I personally returned it to school the next day.  I shared the story on facebook and everyone was dying to hear what the mother said about the situation.  All I can report is that the teacher did the communicating, and the mother did not accept my fb friend request...I guess she wasn't ready to be future in-laws to our "engaged" children!

Alice the Elf

Alice landed from the North Pole over Thanksgiving Break!  She brought the girls and their babies adorable Christmas jammies and a note to remind them she is always watching.  I'm sad to report that this is the first year she needed to take a trip back to the North Pole while behavior was re-evaluated.  The little hiatus did the trick, and Charley got her act together!  Carter didn't really understand the purpose, but she loved looking for Alice and always laughed when they found her!

Charley 5 Years 9 Months

iPhone pics from September 9 to December 9

A Visit with Santa

Charley made her Santa list months ago.  She loved to write it and re-write it.  Her final draft included Carter's wish list, too.  I didn't get a picture of it, but I know exactly what it said...I've spelled those words about 1,000 times!  Oh, and they each had five things, because I guess that was an appropriate number decided by Charley...but notice five things was really more like five categories with lots of items when it was all said and done.

Charley
1. iPod
2. Fit Bit
3. American Girl Doll stuff, clothes and bed (she tacked the bed on after getting her hands on Laney's catalog at Thanksgiving...I told Santa to tell her he needed some time to work on this list and she couldn't add anymore!)
4. Legos
5. Books

Carter
1. Big Girl Bed
2. Baby Doll
3. Purses
4. Bitty Baby Stuff
5. Books

Carter didn't know what to think about Santa, so the four of us had to get our picture made with him.  Charley spent lots of time chatting him up and discussing her list.  The girls loved the new space ship experience with the Green Hill's Mall Santa.  Inside the snow globe, Charley went nuts.  I looked over at one point and she was on the ground making a snow angel!  That fake snow was everywhere.  I squatted to take pictures and she dumped a big, giant handful of that stuff on my head!  Amma and Craig thought she was hilarious!!!  I should have reminded her of the Naughty List, but it was too funny not to laugh!