A girls day!!

Once I bought the American Girl doll for Callie months ago, I started getting ALL of their emails!  When I heard about the unveiling of the new "girl of the year" doll at their Atlanta store, I thought it would be the perfect thing for us girls to take a day trip to see!  I didn't tell her where we were going - I LOVE surprises - we just got up that morning and went!  We had fun conversation in the car...pretty much nonstop :).

When we pulled up to the mall, I thought "I don't even know where the store is!".  No fear - they have a big old sign out front just like Sears, Macy's, etc - The American Girl Store! Callie was so excited when she figured out that's where we were going!

I told my Mom that I was going to be in a world of trouble if the doll of the year was named "Callie"!  Luckily, her name is Isabelle :)  She is a dancer, so they had a special program of different ballet groups which was so fun!

 Callie, of course, informed me that she wants to take ballet now.

Callie, Marie Grace,and Isabelle!

They gave us a paper doll craft to take home with us too!

I had made reservations for us in the cafe to have lunch there, which is SO fun! They have little high chairs for your dolls, and the napkin rings are hair bows that you can take home  It is quite the experience!

 Marie Grace LOVED her lunch too!

We had such a great time, just walking around and looking at all the dolls and doll things!  Callie LOVED having her doll to walk around with this time!  (We've been to an AG store once before in Washington DC, but that was when she was still dreaming of having her own doll!)  She got a duplicate book for Christmas that she exchanged for a hairbrush (because you are only supposed to brush their hair with an AG hairbrush!) and I got her one shirt.  Super fun day with this precious little girl!

A New Park!

Found this awesome new park today, thanks to a friend's recommendation!  Has a cool, different playground (you know how sometimes all the playgrounds seem the same?  This one ISN'T!!) and has a BMX track that you can watch and horse fields and lots of baseball fields - with a huge track that goes all around it!  Perfect for bikes, skateboards, scooters, etc.  I see lots of time here in our future!  :)

Finished Products

 I'm thinking I never showed the finished products?  Here they are - the two houses!!

 Wonder if you can guess which one my mathematician husband worked on...

Yep.  he is totally that cute!

Working on someone's birthday cake :) (Carrot cake - from scratch!)

Oh, I am so blessed and oh so grateful.

Hi-Wire Family Night!

 We've been anxiously awaiting the opening of our new trampoline park here in town.  They run a special "family night" on Monday nights where the whole family can jump for an hour at a discounted price.  That was right up our alley - however, when we got there (and it's CLEAR across town), it was super crowded and we had to wait 1.5 hours for an available time slot.  So we went across the street and walked around a sporting goods store.  This crew could totally burn some money in a store like that!

When we finally DID get to jump, everyone had a BLAST!!  All these pictures are blurry - my little phone just isn't cut out to take action shots like this!

Made me a LITTLE nervous for Caleb to be running around a place like this with a CAST on his arm!!

We were a tired, sweaty crew when we were done!

These two...

We were making a few returns at the mall and stopped to have some lunch after all our hard work.  These two found this adorable little table in the food court and were happy as clams to have some time by themselves.  They are SO close and I know Caleb is happy to have her home for break!  :)

Happy Birthday Cole!

 Caleb's buddy Cole turned 4 and had his party at Chuck E Cheese!  Caleb was THRILLED to get to celebrate with him!!

 Cole was a little freaked out about this "birthday ticket chamber" thing, but Caleb was MORE than happy to take his spot and collect tickets for him!  :)

Happy Birthday Cole!  We love you!!

Fun Zoo Day with Friends!

There's nothing more fun than bringing friends with us to the zoo!  Jack & Emmeline's mom came along so that we could chat as well - double bonus!!

The birds were happy to see us this morning!

I was shocked that Judah was as calm as he was to feed this big old giraffe!

Jack and Emmeline mustered up enough courage to attempt the rope course with the kids!  :)  Success!

David was a HUGE help for the girls :)

 The girls brought their "girls", and had SO many comments!  We saw several other little girls their with their dolls as well..I'm guessing Christmas presents :)

Super fun day with our friends!

Christmas Vacation in SC

The wonderful thing about living in SC is that we are OUTSIDE for so much of the year - notice Caleb's shorts?? Aahhh...so nice to be able to just take a little walk down to the park and get some fresh air!

Sleepover with friends - just what Christmas Break is for!!  Jack came over with his new Coke pillow :)

And Emmeline came with her new American Doll Sadie :)