Tryon Christmas Parade

We were lucky enough to be in town during the Tryon Christmas Parade. The Bells decided to come with us, and they definitely helped keep the girls (and us!) entertained.

Cassie and Addie

Playing in the fountain

 Addie and Aunt Liz waiting for the parade to start

Uncle Chris and Penny waiting.

Aunt Sam and Luke

Silly Penny.

Sweet Cousins

The parade wasn't too long, had enough things to watch that the Addie and Penny sat relatively still, and had a Santa yelling through the Fire Truck loudspeaker to the kids "Don't y'all let yer parents eat all yer candy!" I mean, perfect, right?!

Watching the Parade.

Watching for Candy.

Penny was intrigued!

Ha. No clue why Penny is smothering Addie. :)

These girls LOVE their Granddaddy.

After the parade was over, we headed across the street to the Fire Station. Santa was there waiting to visit with the kids, and to give them a little gift. We were attempting our best to talk the girls up and get them excited about Santa in attempts to get a cute picture of the two of them with the Big Guy in Red. They were SUPER excited while in line, and may or may not have been THOSE children. You know, the ones everyone running like little crazy people and making other parents VERY thankful that those aren't THEIR children. :)

Waiting in line. 

Penny's feet aren't even touching the ground. This was while they were supposed to be waiting to see Santa.

We were attempting to get them to come back in line.

Aunt Liz. Professional Toddler Wrangler.

Silly girls.

Then it was FINALLY our turn. Addie was prepared to ask for a Pink Tricycle, and Penny KNEW she wanted 4 Dragon Books. 

Obviously, Addie is thinking about whether she really wants to be up there or not. 

Penny clearly forgot about the Dragon Books she had practiced asking him for, and was not amused at all that she was put on Santa's lap. Here, the nice volunteer firemen are trying to bribe her with some Candy.

Penny is still not having it, but in the commotion, Addie did say she would like a pink bike.

Penny then thought maybe if she gave the candy back, they would let her get down. :)

I'm pretty sure Addie was eyeing the candy Penny handed back. Ha. Santa Picture Fail.

Luke, on the other hand, was a champ. Although he did NOT take our $5 bribe to tell Santa all that he wanted for Christmas was a family who loved him.

Personally, I like Santa's steel toed work boots. :)

Christmas Cookies

Although we don't see NEARLY enough of the Jewells now that they've moved, when we do see them, Addie is SO excited. She talked all week about getting to see them all. So to help his mama out while she and Alison did last minute party planning, Elias came over for a playdate/sleepover. The two of them had so much fun together, and they even dressed up Sassy for the occasion (she was thrilled.)

Keeping with their tradition of Holiday Cookie decorations, we played outside until it was dark, then came in to make cookies. This year was SO different than last year! They were careful, and very specific about how they wanted to do things, where as last year was basically just sprinkles flung from floor to ceiling.

I love Addie's concentration. Ha.

Elias was giving her tips.

Cookie Dough Cookies

Fresh out of the oven.

Ready to decorate.

Finished Products. Looks pretty good!

And just a quick comparison from last year. They look SO grown up now...

 Love these Two!

Letter to Santa

I took Addie to Macy's to mail her letter to Santa yesterday. She was VERY excited to get to send it to him, and worked very hard on her list before we left. (Her list included a pink Doll, a bike, a new car, toys, and Gigi. Ha) Macy's donates $1 to the Make a Wish Foundation for each stamped letter that you mail to Santa, so it's a win win!

Mailing her letter.

After we sent the letter off, we went down to ride the carousel. As usual, Addie loved it, but was very excited to see that all of the animals had been switched out and had been replaced by Reindeer.

She kept yelling "Yee Haw, ride 'em Cowboy". Silly girl.

She's been begging to go back and ride her Reindeer again. So, I suppose we'll be going back very soon...

Advent Calendars

To kick of the Advent season, Jingle Bells the Elf brought Addie a fun Advent "Calendar". She arrived from the North Pole last night with 24 Christmas Books all wrapped up for Addie.

So each night before bed, Addie gets to unwrap one present to read. She LOVES it!

I love her little painted toes. :)

She unwrapped her first one immediately. (On another note, if anyone else decides to do this, it's not a smart idea to give a 2 year old a stack of presents, and then tell them they can only open one. Just sayin...)

After we read the first book together, she told me she was going to read it to Sassy (who was lounging in the sun) to make her feel better. Such a sweet sister. :) 

We also have an actual Advent Calendar that GiGi got for Addie a couple of years ago, once again, I can't actually keep thing IN it (oh the joys of a curious 2 year old...ha), so I have to slip them in the correct day right before it's time for her to open in. I got Addie a tiny Christmas tree, and GiGi bought 24 ornaments for her to decorate it with. So now every day she can open up the correct number and get an ornament out for her tree. She thinks it's very fun, especially since she is not allowed to touch the ornaments on our tree.

Hanging her first ornament.

It looks pretty empty right now, but it will be fun to watch it fill up as we count down the days until Christmas.

Poor Sassy!

My sweet Sassy Louise had to go to the vet because she wasn't acting like her normal self for the last couple of days. Thank GOODNESS we took her in when we did, because it turns out she was much sicker than we suspected. Addie and I tried to play with her and get her to relax while we were waiting between tests for her, but she wasn't quite as amused as we were.

Addie was having a great time though...

Clearly, Sassy was not...

My two sweet babies...

Me and the Sassers

Love my two babies.

Sadly, after all the blood tests came back (and there were LOTS of blood tests), Sassy was diagnosed with Pancreatitis.  (MOST likely caused from eating a bit too much at Thanksgiving..) My poor girl! I didn't even know dogs could get that! She had to stay in the vet hospital overnight, and ALL day today to be treated with IV fluids, steroids, antibiotics, pain meds, the works. She was going to have to stay for a few days, but she is MISERABLE, and they know it. So, she's getting out early. I just went with Addie to go pick her up, and she was one HAPPY little dog to see us come through the door. Her levels are almost back to normal, and apart from her shaved front legs where they had IVs in her, she's doing great. She is going to be on a SUPER strict diet, which for Sassy will be hard, but now she's prone to this, so we will have to be very careful. They sent her home with special diet food, which she immediately scarfed down the second I gave her half a can of it.

I am so happy she's healthy and is back home. I couldn't imagine our family without our sweet Sassy Louise.

Santy Claus

I took Addie up to the Bass Pro Shop to visit the North Pole exhibit and see Santa, or as she calls him "Santy Claus". (We went to Bass Pro because they give you a free picture, so you're not wasting $20 at a mall to watch your little princess scream her head off) Being that she's a 2 year old, you never know how it's going to go with these things. I mean, you are putting her on a strange man's lap who is offering her candy... She, however, did much better than I expected. She walked right up to him and told him Merry Christmas. She then told him she would like a Pink Dolly for Christmas, and then said she needed a candy cane. He told her she could have one if she would take a quick picture with him, and she obliged. And, although she refused to smile, at least she wasn't screaming her tiny little head off, right? I totally count that as a success.