White (Day After) Christmas

Unfortunately for Wells, the snow didn't start coming down in Charlotte until he was already in bed on Christmas night.  But he made the most of it the next morning...

Making snowballs with Daddy

Cooper gets in on the action

Back inside - having some hot chocolate by the fire (Band-Aid due to snowball "accident" - every incident involving a boo-boo requires a Band-Aid)

Merry Christmas!

Waking up to see what Santa had left on Christmas morning was definitely the highlight of our day!  Wells was very proud of his preparations he'd left out on Christmas Eve, and woke up asking if Santa Claus and the reindeer had come and eaten his treats...

So he was thrilled to come out to an empty plate and exactly what he had asked Santa for:  Lots of trains (Gordon, Toby, Duncan, & Rusty to name a few).

Then we had Christmas Brunch with the Gordon side of the family and opened more presents.

Big gift:  a new tricycle from GG!

Opening gifts

New chair for his big boy room

More fun gifts that Bubbie sent

Aunt Ann & Uncle Pat (note GG and Wells in the background laughing at Pat's hat)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We had such a fun Christmas Eve with the Harvey crew!

Wells loves his aunts & uncles.  Here he is with Chip and Pluto the dog (in her Christmas tutu & hat).

Instead of going to church, the Harvey tradition is to do their own Christmas program at home with Charlotte on piano and Chip doing the "reading".  Here is Wells practicing piano (Aunt Charlotte would probably LOVE it if he would relieve her of this duty one day).

Program with Grandaddy, Gummy & Daddy.  Then on to present time...

A wooden horse from Kacky & Grandaddy



And he loved all his other gifts - trains, trucks, and cars!  Here he is with Aunt Laurel after opening his remote controlled Thomas.

 With Charlotte playing with his new gear!

And then, of course, all the preparations for Santa:

Sprinkling the reindeer food in the front yard...

And treats left right by the chimney - cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and broccoli (broccoli was his idea) for the reindeer.

More pics from Christmas Day soon to come!
~Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Fun with Friends

School is out this week - but Wells has been having so much fun enjoying the Christmas spirit with friends all around town.

On Monday we went to his friend Hank Hamlin's for a cookie decorating playdate with some Christ Church friends.

This morning we went uptown with Carson to see the singing bears in Founders Hall and check out the giant gingerbread house at the Ritz Carlton.

We also had sweet Will Hartzog over to exchange Christmas presents. 

And then tonight some caroling with neighbors (and of course looking at blow ups along the way):

We are on the countdown now - Christmas is almost here!!

Big Boy Bed

With a little time before baby sister arrives, we wanted Wells to move out of the nursery and into his big boy room so he didn't feel as though he was being "kicked out".  He got very excited about this new room, new bed (with car sheets), and being a big boy.  He is slightly obsessed with his friend Carter, so on the big day we went over to Carter's and saw his bed and talked about how he stays in his bed all night and does NOT get out.  Not to mention we also bribed him with a new train when he went to bed and the promise of another one if he stayed in all night...

All tucked in with the necessities surrounding him (milk, blankie, truck sticker book, and an entire basket of trains)

And so far, so good!!  He got in the very first night - excited as he could be - and slept through the night.  We'll see how it goes, but so far we've had 4 successful nights and 3 successful naps.

Yayy Wells!!  We are so proud of our big boy!!

Fa La La La La...

Wells had his last Christmas music class on Thursday.  Here's an attempted pic at the whole crew:

W and his lady friends (L to R): Neely, Mary Brooks, Tyler, Sophia, Carson, Harper.  He was not the only boy - his friend Charlie was also in this class - but did not make the picture.

After music we stopped by the newest addtion to our neighborhood, Monkey Joes.  It finally opened!  Wells went again today with GG.  This place arrived just in time  - we really needed a way to burn off some energy for the rest of the winter.

And the biggest update at our house this weekend is a move to the big boy bed.  Too nervous to say much more for fear I'll jinx what seems to be going well so far.  Pics soon to come...

MPCC Santa Supper

Aunt Ann invited us to the MPCC Santa Supper - and it was CHAOS but so much fun!!   Santa arrived via helicopter on the golf course (and then 3 Santa decoys were planted throughout the club).  Mad dash to one of the Santa lines still left us with at least an hour wait to get to the big guy.  Wells in a line for an hour was not going to happen - so we had fun running around, looking at the Christmas trees, sampling juice from the bar, and checking out the helicopter and fire truck.  By that time, the Santa line had died down and we got right through.

Being silly with Aunt Ann

Santa's grand entrance

Checking out the Christmas tree...

and the helicopter!

With Santa...

and one of the "shelves"

Class Christmas Party

W's class had a little Christmas party and they all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, presented the moms the Christmas gifts they made, and put on a performance of their favorite circle time songs.

Eating cupcakes for Jesus' birthday

Performing "Jump Up and Down"

His gift to us - this sweet handpainted frame

Visit with Bubbie

Wells' Bubbie came to town and they had so much fun playing together.

He loved the surprises she brought - here he is modeling his Christmas silly bands.

And Wells had gifts for Bubbie too!

After presents, Daddy and Bubbie took W to ride around and look at 'blow ups'.  He LOVES riding around in his PJ's before bed and looking at all the Christmas lights and decorations.  He can seriously tell you which streets in our neighborhood have which blow ups (I'll be driving and hear "Nooo Mommy - go dat way -  there's a snowman over der!!!").  We are especially thankful for our neighbors at the end of our street, the DelCarmens, for their collection.  His favorite is the Santa in the airplane on the roof!

Santa Sunday!

We started off our Sunday visiting Grandaddy and Kacky at the Santa Brunch at GCC.  Wells was nervous at first but eventually warmed up and told Santa what he wanted for Christmas (again, trains are the only thing on the list).

First shot (note the lip)

A little happier - this Santa gave out stuffed reindeer and candy candys

Playing after lunch with Grandaddy

Then after nap, we went to the 3rd Annual Milk & Cookies party at Tyler & Harper's house (their mom is very busy during the month of December). 

Amazing cookie spread

Tyler & Harper have a special family member who comes to their party as Santa and is a great sport!

Round 1, watching Tyler with Santa but not wanting to get too close.  He did show Santa his Percy train that he brought along as an example just in case Santa wasn't sure exactly what he was referring to when he said he wanted more Thomas the Trains.  I have to give him credit on thinking ahead and being very thorough in that respect...



Round 2, loosened up after some milk & cookies