My beautiful niece Kayleigh

The very best part of our trip to Maine was getting to see my niece Kayleigh. Kayleigh is the only daughter of my sister Shonna, and I have not seen her since last Christmas. I was so excited to see her, hold her and watch her play with Tre and Julienne. She is such a doll, a little mini Brian in appearance. Kayleigh is 20 months old, and she has just recently started to walk. She is so careful, and focused on her task at hand. She would play for such a long time with objects, or coloring pictures. I cannot believe her fine motor skills at 20 months old. Kayleigh was so funny and would show you her teeth, or her muscles. Kayliehg had the best time playing with the kids and on Christmas day she ran up and down the hall with Julienne, Tre and cousin Sabrina. It was adorable! When Shonna got her into her pajamas on Christmas Day, I suggested that she leave Kayleigh's diaper off and let her run in the buff. She laughed and ran down the hallway until she stopped to pee all over my Aunt Lori's floor. It was hilarious!

Off to Maine

We left home for Maine on December 20th, immediately after school. It had been a long, hectic day at school, as the day before Christmas break always is, and we had to look forward to a 7 hour drive to Connecticut. In our older, wiser years, we have decided that driving the 12-14 hours to Maine in one stretch is just too much! So, in lieu of an abundance of "family time" in the car, we stop midway for the night. It is wonderful, and we get a good night's sleep, a free breakfast and then we start fresh on the remaining seven hours to Maine.

So this year, we packed up the car with two huge suitcases, two travel bags, a pile of presents for family members, a car topper in case it was needed for extra storage, a bucket of kid activities, a portable DVD player with 13 movies, and last but not least, Uncle David and his suitcase. We were packed tight with stuff, and full of anticipation for the trip. At 5:00, we left Harrisonburg at 55 degrees.

As we drove to Pennsylvania, we watched the temperature plummet, and the snow/rain begin to fall. It was really icy, so our normal speed of 70 mph, crawled to a mere 40mph. Not good for traveling quickly! But we trudged on and arrived at our destination, Danbury, Connecticut around 12:30am. It was snowing like crazy in Connecticut, which definitely helped get us into the Christmas spirit. And it was COLD! No more 55 degree weather for us.

When we woke in the morning, there was about four inches of snow on the ground, and the kids were sooo excited. It was strange to have to clean off the car, since we have been so spoiled by our garage. But I remember many days of having to scrape snow or ice off the car prior to departing to go anywhere in the morning. So after warming the car, and scraping by TJ, we left Connecticut around 10am. We arrived in Maine around 4:30. Home again, home again!

Julienne's Dance Performance

My beautiful ballerina had her first dance performance on Saturday. All of the parents of the dancers were invited to come and watch our baies perform everything they have learned in dance class. It was so precious and my daughter LOVES an audience!

Juju stuck in a tutu!

Fun with the hula hoops!

Shake those hips baby girl!

Giving her Grandma some lovin'.

Christmas Day in Virginia

We travel every year for Christmas. The driving stinks, but we have tried twice to stay here in Virginia for Christmas, but it just isn't the same. We felt lonely, and it just didn't feel like Christmas! So, we travel 14 hours to celebrate Christmas with my family in Maine. It takes a lot of work to get ready prior to leaving, and a little "fudging" on our part to explain why Santa comes to Virginia way early, but we do it every year.

So this weekend was designated as our Christmas in Virginia. Our Santa counted down the days...5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and Friday was our "Christmas Eve". So, after school on Friday, Tre and I went to do some last minute shopping, ordered pizza for dinner, and then we made a gingerbread train as a family.After the train was finished, we needed to make some peanut butter cookies to leave for Santa.

Once the cookies were baking in the oven, we got ready to go spread our reindeer food on the front lawn. Three years ago, we began making reindeer food, to lure Santa's reindeer to our house on "Christmas Eve". Last year at the Christmas parade, we were given bags of reindeer food, so we didn't need to make our own. This year, we were again given reindeer food. TJ decided that the reindeer food needed a little extra spice, and thought to put cinnamon in the bags. However, instead of cinnamon, he grabbed cumin! I hope the reindeer enjoy a little Mexican flair in their food!

After spreading the reindeer food, Tre made a sign directing Santa to the peanut butter cookies.

Finally, after all of the evening's festivities, the kids settled into bed to dream of Santa's sleigh and eight reindeer. They went right to sleep, which was surprising, given their excitement of what would happen that night. Sure enough Santa came, eager to test run the reindeer before the real Christmas Eve, and set up all of the toys, and filled four lovely stockings hung with care.

The next morning I woke up early to shower because I knew we had a long day ahead of us. We had invited our neighbors over for a breakfast of pancakes and waffles cooked by TJ. Then at 10:30, Julienne was having her last dance class and performance for parents. The alarm went off at 6:00, I got up and showered, and then went to wake everyone else up to see Santa's surprises. Everyone was sleepy and reluctant to leave their warm beds, even for presents!

During Santa's visit, he made quite a mess! He spilled milk on the counter, and left cookie crumbs on the floor. Santa always leaves us a mess on Christmas morning, because he is in such a hurry. The kids did not ask to leave Santa coffee this year!

The kids were super excited to see the gifts that Santa left. Julienne had a new cottage to play in, and Tre had a whole big tub of new art supplies, including clay, googly eyes, glitter and lots of other fun art stuff.

We opened all of our gifts, and tried to clean up and organize before our guests came. Not only were our neighbors coming, but Grandad and Grandma were coming with gifts for the kids. They arrived with huge 4-foot tall stockings filled with presents! We all enjoyed delicious pancakes and waffles that TJ made with his new waffle maker. After breakfast, the kids opened their gifts from Grandad and Grandma. Each of the kids received a new digital camera, new games, clothes, and other fun stuff that Grandparents give. TJ and I received a wonderful gift, which is a night away for Valentine's Day, childcare included. That has to be the best gift ever!

After all of the gifts had been opened, we left for Julienne's dance performance. Grandad and Grandma came with us, and Julienne really enjoyed her audience. She was all smiles and was the perfect ballerina. The performance was one of the cutest things I have ever seen, all the little ballerinas, performing for their parents. They were so proud of all the new things we had learned.

It was a great faux Christmas weekend. Now we can focus on packing and getting ready for Christmas #2 in Maine!

Oh Christmas Tree

The house is finally decorated and ready for us to celebrate our VA Christmas next Saturday. I have been feeling really pressured this year, since we will be leaving for Maine on the 20th. That pushed us to plan our Christmas on the 13th, and that does not leave a lot of time to get ready! So, we had marathon Saturday:
7:30am- Tanya wakes up entirely too early for a Saturday!
8:30am- Dr. appointment with both children because TJ had to drive.
10:30am- Julienne's 2nd to last dance class. Next week she will "perform" for us at the last class.
12:00pm- Off to cut down the tree in the 29 degree frigidness.
1:30pm- Tucker came over for a couple of hours, and satisfied my baby longing for a while.
2:00pm- The kids and I decorated the tree, while TJ was searching for a last minute gift for Tre.
4:30pm- Off to Lisa's house for scrapbooking, baked ziti and lots of fun.
10:00pm- Back home to relieve Tommy from his babysitting duty.
11:00pm- Off to bed!

Ahhhh, the joys of getting ready for Christmas. Today has been a restful day spent at home watching football.