Celebrating the Season- Our Weekend

We had a lot of fun this weekend doing Christmas related things.  I just want to bottle up this time with Anniston because she is at such a fun age right now.  It's just so fun getting in the holiday spirit with her and seeing everything through her little 2 year old eyes. 

We spent most of Saturday doing things around the house.  I've been working on decorating our master bedroom so Anniston and I took a trip to Target to get a few things.  I also slipped in a few more Christmas presents while we were there.  You see, that is the problem with finishing your shopping early- I keep buying stuff! 

All ready to go to Target.  As you can see, Bella still goes everywhere with her!

After nap, we met our good friends Emily and Frank, and their two girls, Ava and Olivia at the Pink Palace for the Enchanted Forest.  We went last year (twice) but Anniston doesn't remember, so I was excited for her to experience everything again now that she is older.   It was an added bonus that Ava and Olivia were there for her to play with and she ended up having a great time.  We all did, actually.  It's not very big and doesn't take long to go through it, but seeing Anniston's eyes light up at all the figurines and trains was so much fun.  Once again, she absolutely did NOT want to go near Santa, so we waved again from a distance. 

The lighting was horrible and all I took was my iphone- this is the best I got!

 



Afterwards, we all went to eat at one of mine a Brandon's all time favorite restaurants, Bosco's.  We used to eat there regularly when we lived in East Memphis, so it was nice going to one of our old hang out spots.  The girls were so good even though we had to wait almost 30 minutes for a table.  It was worth the wait, though and they entertained each other.



Sunday morning my parents came in town for a bit to help with a little squirrel issue we were having in our attic.  Anniston was so excited to see her Poppy and Kay Kay and even Aunt Allie visited for a little bit before she had to go to work. 

Later that evening, we got all dressed up and headed to Germantown Baptist church for the Christmas program with Brandon's family.  It was only supposed to last an hour, so I was hoping the music and singing would entertain Anniston for that long.  She loved it!  She danced, pretend played the drums, and clapped so enthusiastically after each performance.  And when it was time to pray, she bowed her head and put her hands together.  It melted my heart:)

 

Anniston's First Perfermance- Christmas Program + Build A Bear

I have been looking forward to Anniston's school Christmas program since the beginning of the school year.  Something about seeing my sweet little 2 year old singing Christmas songs and talking about baby Jesus brings tears to my eyes!

Anniston's class (being the youngest) were all dressed up as different animals.  Anniston was a donkey and apparently she picked what she wanted to be.  I would have thought she would have picked the cow, but hey, whatever!  She was the cutest little donkey!  The program was mostly songs, with a few short lines in between and Anniston's class pretty much sat on the floor in the front and just looked cute while the older kids stood behind them and sang.  I will say that Anniston did do a lot of singing and hand gestures with them though.  We lost two of the other kids in her class about halfway through the program due to stage fright but Anniston stood strong the entire time! 

She would smile really big when she caught mine or Allie's eye (Brandon was up in the balcony trying to film.)  I was really surprised that she knew a lot of the words to the songs and most of the hand gestures- I think her class was really just expected to (hopefully) sit there.  I was so proud!

Afterwards, Allie and I took Anniston to Build A Bear so she could pick out her Christmas present from Aunt Allie.  We did this last year and it was a big hit.  She had so much fun.  She picked out a dog, named her Bella, and insisted on taking her for a walk on her leash all over the store!  It was so cute! 

 

Anniston LOVES her new dog.  This is a fun tradition that Aunt Allie has started!  We had a super busy but fun day!

Vacation Days and Christmas Festivities

Last week I used the last of my paid time off and got 5 days off in a row.  I was so excited to get some down time around the house with Anniston.  We also had planned a few Christmas activities to do over the long weekend.  Thursday night Anniston started to not feel well.  She was cranky and moody and was just not being herself.  Sure enough, she woke up Friday morning running a fever and pretty much felt bad all day long.  Since we were in the middle of an ice storm scare, it worked well for us just to stay at home all day and take it easy.

We did find time to do a little painting:

 
I worked on painting a small chalkboard wall in our kitchen during nap time:

 

Then we baked cookies after nap in hopes of cheering her up a bit:

 

 

Aunt Allie and Uncle Brandon came over and brought dinner Friday night.  Anniston and Allie had fun seeing what the days' advent calendar would bring (a huge peppermint pop ring that Anniston LOVED!)  We read a Christmas book and all sang Christmas carols together.  It was a festive little Friday night, despite the fever!

 

 

But at the end of the night, my sweet little girl was tired, sick, and ready for bed.  Poor baby!

 

 

 

Saturday morning she woke up with a slight fever and was still a little fussy- I'll let the picture do the talking on that:

 



 

After a bit of medicine and a good long nap, she was feeling much better.  She didn't run fever the rest of the day, so we decided that getting out of the house for a little while would do her some good.  We met up with our old neighbor (who just happens to be one of Brandon's good friends and old fraternity brothers) and his fiancé at Bosco's in midtown.  Annie had a good time and getting out of the house seemed to help!

 

 

We met up with Allie Sunday morning for our Christmas card photo shoot.  It was freezing and icy and Anniston was still a little fussy, so we basically got a few quick shots and were done! 

 

That night we went with Allie and Brandon to see Starry Nights at Shelby Farms.  She loved the lights last year, and she really liked them again this year but her favorite part by far was the animals at the petting zoo!  They had camels that you could ride, fake snow, and Santa.  She kept wanting to go back and forth between the camels and Santa.  She didn't want to get too close to Santa, though, so we just waved at him from a distance.  Doesn't look like we will get any pictures with Santa this year unless I want to traumatize a 2 year old!

 

 

 

Allie and I took her into the petting zoo while the boys waited outside.  She loved all the animals and had so much fun making all the animal sounds as we went around to each one.  She was much braver with the animals than she was at Cedar Hill Farms when we went to the pumpkin patch.  She actually stuck her hand out for the animals several times- which made me very nervous!  I was scared some of those donkeys were going to take a finger off! 

 

 

It was really fun and she talked all night long about all the animals she saw!  She's feeling much better and I'm glad I had the time off to spend with her when she wasn't feeling well.  Even though we spent most of the weekend indoors fighting off a fever, it was still a really great weekend!!!











Thanksgiving + Black Friday Shopping + The Weekend

My Thanksgiving schedule at work was not so great this year, but that's ok because I have a really awesome schedule this coming week- I work Monday and Tuesday and that's all for the rest of the week!  We have some really fun Christmas activities planned and I can't wait!

We packed up and headed to Jackson for Thanksgiving at my aunt's on Thursday morning.  It was fun and relaxing and Anniston had fun spending the day with some of her favorite people.

We drove back to Memphis late that afternoon, and after I got Anniston settled in for the night, Allie and I hit up a couple of Black Friday sales.  We arrived at Target about 10 min. before they opened and the line was wrapped around the building.  We were totally not prepared to stand in line in the cold (neither of us were wearing any cold weather gear) so we decided to chill out in the car until the doors were open.  They handed out maps as we walked in.  Seriously?  We weaved in and out of the crowds of people piling TVs and such into their carts.  It was kind of crazy.  I ended up buying a few toys for Anniston, a flannel sheet set (for $16!), and a cordless vacuum.  The line was crazy long, but Target was so organized that we ended up being in and out of there in about an hour.  Success! 

We hit up Old Navy next.  I was really wanting to buy Anniston a few things from there since they were having 50% off the entire store.  We racked up on stuff, but after standing in line for almost 45 min. and still not being even close to the register, we decided to take our chances with the online sale the next day.  It was fun, but I sure can't go all night long like some people!  I ended up buying A LOT online the next day from various places that were having awesome online deals.  That's the way to shop, my friends!

I worked all weekend long, but Anniston was well entertained while I was gone.  Friday night, Brandon took her to the Germantown tree lighting ceremony.  Lights, singing, refreshments, and Santa = one happy little girl.  And Brandon had so much fun taking her by himself.  He doesn't get to do stuff like this very often and I think he had just as much fun as she did.  They looked at all the lights, ate cookies, and saw Santa.  Brandon said Anniston hid behind his leg when she saw him, so all they did was wave at him from afar:)  Brandon even took the camera and got some pictures!  What a good Daddy!

Saturday my parents came in town to spend some time with her.  They took her to the bookstore (which she LOVES) and let her play and walk around in the little kiddo area.  They have a really awesome kid's section and Anniston has so much fun going around looking at all the toys and books.

 

I didn't have to go into work until noon on Sunday, so we had the entire morning to hang out and play!  Our elf, Alice, made her debut the night before.  Anniston didn't quite know what to think about her.  She smiled and giggled at her and then we read the little letter that Santa sent.  We attempted to read the book, but that didn't hold her attention very long.

Anniston has been really into tap dancing lately (YAY!) so I busted out my tap shoes and did a little performance for her.  She was amazed and immediately wanted to try on my shoes and do it herself.  Of course they were too big for her and she could barely walk in them, let alone tap, but she had fun trying.  I told her Santa might bring her a pair of dancing shoes!  When we were talking later about what all Santa was going to bring her she stated, "A lion, an elephant, and dancing shoes!"  We are still stuck on the lion and elephant it seems.  Looks like I will be frantically trying to find a little stuffed lion and elephant before Christmas!

She even busted out mama's pointe shoes!!

 



That about sums up our Thanksgiving weekend! I'm looking forward to all the fun things we have planned this week!

'Tis the Season

We are already in the Christmas spirit over here in the Medling household.  Last year, Anniston didn't really understand the whole "Santa" thing so it's been a lot of fun telling her about him this year and asking her what she wants him to bring her. 

So far, she hasn't been scared of the mention of Santa.  She loves to climb up in my lap and look at pictures of Santa from the internet on my phone.  I explained how he comes down the chimney and brings toys and presents to all the children in the world.  Now she will point to the fireplace and say "Santa!  Chimney! Ho ho ho!"  We sat and talked about what Santa was going to bring everyone.  When I asked her what she wanted she replied "A lion.  And an elephant."  Ok then.  I suggested maybe a doll but she didn't really look too thrilled about it.  I've asked her a couple more times thinking it would probably change, but no, she's sticking to the lion and elephant.  Ok then.  May have to rethink her Christmas list...

When I asked her what Allie wants from Santa, she says, "A camera."  And Poppy- a guitar.  We asked Daddy what he wanted from Santa and he told Anniston that he wanted a refrigerator for his upstairs office.  I videoed her the other day and asked her all these things- her telling me that Daddy wants a refrigerator is just too funny!  And she still wants a lion and an elephant.  As of recently (as in last night) she did add that she wanted some shoes in addition to the lion and elephant.  That I can definitely do, kiddo.

So far, Frosty the Snowman is her favorite Christmas show- a close runner up is the Grinch, though.  She loves to sing Frosty and Santa Clause is Coming to Town.  She also loves reindeer and singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Christmas is going to be so fun with a 2 year old in the house!

I started Anniston's advent calendar today.  I really didn't want to spend a ton of money on one this year, so I cheaped out and bought this one for $9.99 at Home Goods. 

It's a little too country looking for my taste, but maybe if we get really into it this year I might buy one on sale after Christmas for next year.

I gathered up ideas from Pinterest on fun activities to do and sat down and planned out the month based on our schedules.  For instance, on the days I work late, I might have a small gift for her (like a coloring book, a piece of candy, festive stickers, etc) or have us read a Christmas book.  I have a couple of Christmas books all wrapped up, so when she pulls a card out that says, "read a Christmas book" she gets to pick one out and unwrap it.  On the other days, when I have more time off, I have some really fun activities planned.  We are going to bake Christmas cookies, make reindeer food, ride around to look at Christmas lights, write a letter to Santa, and go see the lights at Shelby Farms.  I also have several little simple crafts for us to do.  I bought a foam ornament kit and a little Christmas tree kit at Hobby Lobby so that she can decorate them herself.  I'm really excited about this and I hope she likes it too. 

Since we are pretty much done decorating, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of my Christmas décor around the house!

 My Christmas "Forrest" in the den

 

 

 

the den

 

 

the mantle

sofa table behind the couch

 

 



front living room

 

 And lastly- our outside lights!  This pic was the best I could get- probably because I took it with my iphone because I was too lazy to break out the real camera:)

 

 

We are ready- bring on the holidays!