Moving to a new blog...

So some of my loyal readers...who have probably stopped being loyal readers since I haven't posted anything since before Christmas of 2010...may be wondering what we've been up to.

I've decided to finish out the posting for 2010 on this blog, and start anew for 2011 (which i'm already quite behind on I guess).

Our new blog is http://livingthegouldlife.blogspot.com

I've made the site private for the time being, so if you are interested in following along with us on our adventures, send me a message and i'll add your email address to the authorized reader list! :)

Christmas Gatherings

As usual, we had several different Christmas gatherings this year.  We began on Christmas Eve at my brother Bill's house for a casual evening and cookout.  Then it was back to our house to set-up for Santa and his reindeer!

It was so fun to see Charlotte's reactions on Christmas morning!  She got LOTS of stuff and we had to take breaks for breakfast and just to chill in between opening sessions as she was getting a bit overwhelmed.  

Christmas afternoon and evening brought another gathering, and more presents, at Nana and Grandaddy's house!  We had a yummy Italian themed dinner.  We were all pretty exhausted by the end of such a fun day.  

Preschool Christmas Party

I love that Charlotte is in school and so we get to participate in all of these fun events!  The Christmas party at her school consisted of the kiddos singing a cute song, decorating (and of course eating) cookies, and giving the parents their special handprint ornaments.  As you can see, Charlotte had a great time.  

Christmas on the Farm

On a very cold day in December we ventured to Frying Pan Farm for a special event called Christmas on the Farm.  We were able to take a hayride around the farm, driven by Santa himself!  There were also activities for the kids to participate in - writing letters to Santa, decorating cookies, coloring cards and a puppet show.  Charlotte was able to relay her request for a big girl dollhouse to Santa, who asked, "one story or two."  She didn't quite get it :)  

Santa

Charlotte had an excellent experience with Santa this year!  She was excited to sit on his lap and tell him just what she wanted for Christmas - a pink big girl doll house.

We had a very short wait in line...

Then it was time to meet the big man!  She was all smiles... and of course her lovey Neigh Neigh was along for the adventure!

Decorating for Christmas

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we decided to get ourselves in gear and get the Christmas decorations out.  We have pre-lit artificial tree, so all we (aka Steve) have to do is bring it up from the basement, click it together and plug it in.  Brilliant!  

I dressed Charlotte up for the occasion and she was super excited to get started!

Posing with the tree pre-ornaments

And now, with ornaments!

We also have the Advent Calendar up, and it is already driving Charlotte a little crazy.  We have the Fisher Price plush Nativity version, so it is pretty cute and very tempting to want to put all of the characters on at once.  As the days have passed, she's come to understand the process more and more, so now she just gets excited to put one character on each morning before breakfast.  

It's so fun to see her excitement growing each day.  This year is going to be so much fun with her!!

School Pictures

Charlotte is only in a Mother's Day Out program, but she still gets school pictures taken!  How fun!!  I sent her to school in a cute dress and leggings.  After polling friends and family on Facebook, I also decided to do the pigtails.  The pictures turned out so cute!

I couldn't pass up any of the pictures, so I paid the full price to keep all of the sheets...no big surprise there considering my past experiences with photo studios :)