2nd Half of December

We did our Random Acts of Christmas Kindness again this year and it was so much fun! Caycen got to be involved this time and we loved seeing him give to others during this time of year.

First act of kindness was sticking a little gift in the mailbox for our mail carrier. She was SO grateful :)

Next we baked cookies for the workers at Urgent One (who were working on a Saturday), the Fire Department, Caycen's teachers, Gracie June's teachers, and the staff at the local Nursing home.

Dropping off at Urgent One and  we took lots of books and donated them to Pediatric Associates for their waiting area and patient rooms (not pictured):

Dropping off Christmas Cards to the patients at the nursing home and cookies for the staff:

Random cute pictures from this month:

Caycen's Christmas gift to us from school:

 Caycen was Joseph in the Christmas Program at school:

Caycen's Christmas Party at school after the program:

We took Caycen to the Journey for the first time at church and he loved it!

We had the annual black tie event and went with some great friends. It was a lot of fun!

 My poor little Gracie June got sick this month. She went to the dr. with a fever of 101 and by the time we got to the pediatrician, her temp had gone up to 104. She had some tylenol and before we could leave, her temp rose to 105.3. The pediatrician wanted her to be monitored, so she was admitted to the hospital. She was so dehydrated and just pitiful. She had an ear infection, but tested negative for the flu and RSV. The doctor said, even though she tested negative, it could still have been the flu. They said that an ear infection wouldn't spike her fever to 105. After a night at the hospital and having fluids pumped into her, the fever got under control and she was feeling much better. We got to take her home that afternoon. She was so excited to be back home!

 The next day, we had to take Gracie June back to her doctor for a check-up. It was too funny because she got to read some of the books that we donated for our Random Acts of Kindess, while we were waiting in the waiting area. She got checked out and everything looked much better.

Gracie June loves the soft blankets!!

Me and Caycen making our "Sven faces" (from Frozen) haha, he totally came up with this on his own:

For Christmas with my side of the family, we went to Warner Robins the weekend before Christmas. We did dinner at my sister's house and my Mom and stepdad came over to do Christmas with all the kids. They decorated a gingerbread house, a little tradition, and then we opened presents. The kids just LOVE playing together!!! There's nothing like the the love between cousins.

Here's a little video of the fun followed by pictures :)

That night we went to my Dad's house to stay. The next morning we opened presents with my Dad and stepmom and then went to breakfast. It was a quick weekend, but the kids enjoyed every bit of it!

That next week, we had Christmas break! One of my favorite times of the school year :)
We went to the mall and did some last minute Christmas shopping, rode the train, the carousel, and played in the play area at the mall. It was lots of fun!

The next day, we finally went to see Santa and have pictures. Gracie June wasn't too excited... but Caycen did good (since we bribed him with a candy cane!!! haha).

waiting in line for pictures and Caycen loved the reindeer!

happy when we left!

And then it was finally Christmas Eve! We went to church for the Christmas Eve service, came home, baked cookies for Santa, and then opened up one present from under the tree. The kids got pajamas, bell necklaces, The Polar Express, and some popcorn. We put on their jammies, popped some popcorn, and watched the movie together. It was a nice relaxing night.

Christmas morning was so.much.fun!!!! Getting to see my kids so excited on Christmas is so awesome! They got all kinds of goodies and were loved every single thing that they got!

Caycen's ride with Gracie June:

After doing Christmas morning at our house, we headed over to Nona and Papa Ray's house to do Christmas dinner. We ate dinner and then dug into all the presents. The kids were definitely spoiled rotten!

A few days after Christmas, we decided to turn our office into a playroom for the kids. It's definitely not done being decorated, but it's so nice to have all of the toys out of the living room! And, it stays pretty clean in there because all of their toys have a spot!!!

We had lots more fun during our Christmas break...

We built marshmallow snowmen:

We went to the new play area at the Oglethorpe Mall and the kids loved it! It was so much more clean!!!!

Gracie June rode the carousel for the first time:

Gracie June wore Caycen's silly antlers!

Gracie June had a blast walking her doggy around while singing the ABC's:

Caycen got his Wii back... he loves his swords game!

And then it was New Year's Eve... we went to Savannah Quarters with Amanda, Brandon, and Ella Kate for dinner, then just came back to our house to play. Gracie June was asleep by 8:00 (which is actually late for her).  None of us actually stayed up to see 12:00... but we were definitely in and out of sleep with all the fireworks going off right outside our window!!!!

2014 was such a wonderful year! We were blessed way more than we deserved, with great friends, family, and LOTS AND LOTS of beautiful memories.  I will cherish every single year that I have with my family.  God is SO GOOD!!!! I pray that you all had many blessings as well. I can't wait to see what's in store for our family in 2015!