Feliz Navidad!

Whew! Christmas was a whirlwind of family, fun, food, and.... Five million toys!! We had a really great visit from Nana and Grandpa. They spoiled the kiddos! We enjoyed after kiddo bedtime by the chiminea and gametime with Savannah. Ohhh and Savannah put stickers all over Grandpas head, she thought it was hilarious. Grandpa played right along. On christmas eve we made a feast, baked and decorated cookies for santa, and went to sleep so Santa could come! The next morning we werent dissapointed. Santa brought eveything that was on Savannahs list....and more. So far the cardboard candy house, and Cars movie toy garage with cars seem to be the favorites. She hasnt touched the Belle doll, our little tomboy! Little E likes his Elefun ball popper, workbench and new music toys. Kevin and i really enjoyed shopping for one another this year too! Thank You Tammy and Pinterest! I got new Reva Tory flats and some awesome jeans. Kevin got a bunch of Vineyard Vines clothes and some under armour gear. On christmas morning afterbslugging through all Santa brought we went over to Mimi and Grandads for breakfast and more presents. For dinner the whole Palmer fam came to our house! Yes all 16 people and it was Great! Savannah even enlisted helpers to color in her house. Check out our group shot on the porch (only place i coud ome up with to fit everyone)!!! This is for our Christmas 2011 frame.

Today is New Years eve and we are on our way to Augusta to celebrate with a bunch of new and old friends at Champions Retreat. We've rented a big cabin and there is a big event with live music, gambling, and food. The company will be great so i know the evening will be!

2011 has been an amazing year, i get all choked up thinking about it. God has blessed us with an amazing family, our two children are true gifts. I relish every moment with them. When i was making Savannahs breakfast this morning she said "mommy you dont have to work today?" i told her no but that Haydee was stillngoing to come over. She got a puzzled look on her face and she said "but why if you dont have to work?" i told her that daddy and i were going to spend the night away and that she was going to have Haydee to have a sleepover. She burst into tears saying she didnt wnat us to leave. I felt terrible, i realized she looks forward to our weekends together as much as we do. After some conversation i had her settled down. Shes still sad we are leaving i could see it in her eyes as we left although the sweet sole never whined or cried she just said she couldnt wait for us to come back. I swear i almost didnt leave, that was tough. I heard someone say once that today is your last day with your child this little...ugh so true. I dont like missing a moment although it is good for mommy and daddy to have time alone too. Such a delicate balance....but we are blessed to have the opportunity to have both. Cheers to 2012!!!!

I love a Christmas fire!

Cookies for Santa

Those stickers are memorizing!

Saying goodbye to Libby she goes back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve!

Walking down the stairs on Christmas morning with Nana

Twas the Night before Christmas tradition of reading the book!

Whoa Santa...WHOA

She loves the house!

The aftermath...

Christmas day dinner, Savannah has enlisted elves to color her house in

Fun fun fun!

The youngin table

The Palmer-Griffith-Jenks Family Christmas 2011!

Its the most wonderful time of the YEAR!!

Christmas this year has been fab. Not only are my mom and Ed here but the magic of Christmas through Savannah's eyes is unbelievable! I will post more pics later but here are a few from my phone. She loved Christmas this year and was so excited on Christmas it brought years to my eyes. Easton enjoyed the wrapping paper most but was a bubbly happy little guy as usual! Love my life!

For my Bestie Kendall

My Bestie Kendall is going to be a momma in a few short months! She's the TripleChinns blog you see on my Fave blog roll. Watching her go through her pregnancy has been so fun, from the fun decorating to the annoying ailments, and my fave the belly shots! It's been awesome to keep up with via the blog since we live across the country from one another. Well last week she posted about registering and she added photos of her favorite things and one is a towel we have (in boy fashion this time) so when I got Easton out of the bath last night I couldn't help but think of her blog and how she wants the bunny blanket in pink. My other Bestie Kyle got ours for us at Easton's shower and we love it! It's so nice that it's big enough that we can still use it! Here is our chunker after his bath.

Please excuse the overuse of the word Bestie this is my first blog post from my iPhone! Short and sweet!

Love, the Palmers

Do you see Marley in the background? Yes she has a sweater on, fashionable little lady isn't she?

Of course some kisses from Mars

Hard to get a giggle shot without it being blurry! 

ALL ABOARD the Polar Express!

Savannah just loves the Polar Express movie that Nana gave her last year. In fact we watch it year round. We had been on a santa train before in Blue Ridge when Savannah was almost 2 but Brooke told us about the Polar Express train in Bryson City, NC. We made the hike on Saturday up to the beautiful mountains. The road was windy but the views were breathtaking of the Nantahala river. People were kayaking in that freezing water...insanity. Savannah was so excited, she chanted "im so happy, im so happy" for the drive...but only when she wasn't watching the Polar Express movie on my iPad. 

The train ride was great, from the delicious sweets, to the hot chocolate, to the caroling, it was such a fun Christmas activity. The town of Bryson City is quaint and fun to walk around in. Lots of touristy shops with overpriced wares. Just what you'd expect from a tiny mountain town.We will repeat this next year but perhaps next time we'll rent a cabin a little closer to the train so we can enjoy our day. 

Here are some photos from our day!

Savannah and Easton all ready to get dressed in their jammies for the Polar Express train!

Those eyebrows say so much. Love my little boy.

And we are off!

Dancing with the waiters! Yes this lady that we don't know grabbed Easton from Darlene's arms...no I was not comfortable so I got up and followed them...protective momma on the prowl!

Savannah was more into her petite four than she was the photo op

My love bug

HOT CHOCOLATE!

The waiters serving our warm cookies YUM

He got sleepy and cuddled with daddy

Reading along with Mimi to the story.

The North Pole- Look its Santa

Passing out carol song books to the other passengers

Santa gave her a sleigh bell!

Happy girl

Train museum just outside the train, super cool

Until next week!

The Palmers

Wintery Fun, Twinkle toes, and SANTA!

 We have had a really mild winter so far this year. We've had many days where the high gets into the mid 60s which is really nice! The weather man said yesterday that the same day last year the high was 34 and the low was 14...WHOA. Thats cold! This past weekend when Savannah woke up from her nap she was dying to play outside (hence the pajamas), So we threw her coat on and went to play. She had a ball running around and playing on her scooter.

We had friends over on Saturday night to decorate Christmas cookies and let the girls play. Marianna the middle girl is in Savannahs school class. It was a fun time the kids had a ball. And they are from San Diego too, how random!

Sarah snagged a marshmallow when no one was looking...or maybe it was two...or three...

Savannahs Tap and Ballet school doesn't let the parents normally watch the class practice. Yesterday they had a holiday party and we were able to come see their progress so far this year. It was hilarious and really cool to watch!

She's flexible!

Telling Santa what she wants for Christmas

Tappity Tap Tap

Ballet shoes...so cute

Listening to Mrs Lorei

Splits!

Little girls in ballet outfits are precious!

Our work does something really neat at Christmas. Santa comes in from the North Pole and we get to have a nice private meeting with him. A lady at work and her husband are photographers and they do an amazing job taking pics of all the kids with Santa. When we got in the car Savannah said "Mommy, Santa was really nice." We drove home singing out loud to Christmas music looking for Christmas lights! 

Sweetest little nuggets! She loves her little brother!

My new iPhone case! My babies! LOVE IT!

Little chunkster E is 8 months old today! Boy oh Boy does that boy like to eat now. We had our diffculty in the beginning but we sure don't now. Everytime you give him a bite he swallows fast and then opens his little mouth like a bird and he yells "ahhh!" for more. He loves it! He likes squash, apples, bananas, zucchini, sweet potatoes, broccoli, all sorts of new foods. We started him on yogurt this week but he threw up like he did with the regular formula. So apparently we need to get him some soy yogurt. Poor guy! He sleeps like a dream most nights and can thankfully find his own paci when he loses it. He's sitting up, rolling all over, and pushing himself around...mostly backwards. He gets up on all fours but hasn't made the move to crawling yet, I dont think it's going to be long!

Last week at work we had a team building excersize after work. It was a canvas painting class so I was more than apprehensive. I'm not an artist, not even close. Turns out the way the instructor shows you how to take it step by step made it easier and we were pretty proud with our results. I made a pink background one for Savvy and Kevin made a blue background one for Easton. When we showed them to Savannah she wanted the blue one, because thats her FAVORITE color according to her. Then she didnt want to hurt my feeling so she asked if she could have them both in her room...she's so cute.

KPs masterpiece

mine.

And lastly the Calhoun Yellow Jackets played for the State Title at the Dome. It came down to OT, and Adam clinched it with a field goal!!! This was a very happy moment for our fam. Go Adam #99! You make us so proud!

Until next week,
Love The Palmers