Christmas Eve

We had a pretty low-key Christmas Eve.  I headed to the grocery store first thing in the morning (along with everyone else and their brother) to ensure we had some yummy holiday goodies on hand.  Despite having no other plans, we still somehow managed to have a hectic time getting out of the house for the 2 pm church service.  3 of the 4 of us were dressed nicely (not worth arguing with Nolan), but of course we didn't get a single picture of that.

After church, we had carry-out Thai/Chinese food for dinner, with sparkling Apple Cider to drink (big hit with Karly, not so much with Nolan).  Actually, he wouldn't eat the food either (c'mon, white rice and chicken?  his usual favs?), so I ended up making a bowl of mac and cheese for him (*roll eyes*).

Christmas PJs

Love that grin!

He will proudly tell you that his pjs say, "I've been good all year.  Just ask my mom."

The kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve present of pjs and we finally got around to making cookies with the dough that had been sitting in the refrigerator for over a week.  The kids went to bed reasonably well (for them), and I was very proud and relieved that nearly all the presents were actually wrapped already, as compared with a previous year when I was desperately trying to buy tape at 9 pm on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Shopping With Karly

Karly wanted to buy Christmas presents for Nolan and Megan, so she asked me to take her shopping.  First stop: Toys R Us.  She didn't waste any time telling me about all the presents she wanted, like this pogo stick.

She found a zombie-killing nerf gun for Nolan and we both thought it was the perfect gift for him since he likes to play zombie video games and is always running around pretending to kill zombies with his imaginary weapons.

Karly looking at random toys while we waited in line.

We were there for a while.

The never ending line.

Then we headed to Springfield Mall to look for Megan's present. The nice thing about Springfield Mall is that nobody shops there anymore.

Shooting from the hip. I almost got Karly in the picture.

Bench by Macy's. My attempt at artsy photography.

Karly is such a great model.  I never have to ask her twice to pose for a picture.

We found this great glass wall on the way out, so we had to stop and take some more pictures.

It was a fun morning.

Piano Recital

Karly has been taking piano lessons and on December 4th she had her first recital.  Each of her teacher's students played a different song. Karly didn't seem nervous and had a great performance -- even though there were thousands of people in the audience. She played Jingle Bells.

The Venue

We got there early so she and Nolan got to play a little.

One last practice before the big show.

The actual performance

Her teacher Rachel

Her friend Lizzie from school came to support Karly.

Posing for all the newspaper photographers.

Karly's Ear Piercing

Karly has wanted to get her ears pierced for years now, and would always say things like, on my birthday, I want to get my ears pierced.  Then the day would come and she would be scared and she'd push it back another year.  So I never really set a firm deadline as it seemed like she was never really going to want to go through with it.  Then a few weeks ago, her friend had it done for her 9th birthday and apparently she convinced Karly that it wasn't that painful and suddenly she was determined to have hers pierced.

Nolan and Kallie

Our friends Paul and Victoria, and their dog Kallie came to visit us last month (11/11/11) from North Carolina.  Nolan is fascinated by Kallie. Luckily she is the most patient dog in the world.  When Kallie is around, that is all he talks about. He loves to feed her and take her for walks. Here is Nolan taking care of Kallie while Paul and Victoria were out.

Halloween

This year Karly did her trick-or-treating with her friend/neighbor Carly and another 8-year old girl.  Nolan went out with his latest best friend Bailey -- a 6-year old neighbor.

Nolan was very proud of his dinosaur suit.  But nobody was scared.

Nolan's Birthday

He turned 5 in October.  Here is his big party.