They're BAAACK

Well, it happened. Cara came back yesterday, and she was NOT alone. I picked Sage up from school and told her to go wash her hands when she got home. Nothing out of the ordinary there. So, she did that. I started to wash some dishes. Sage asked if she could have some candy from the candy dish. I said that one piece was fine as I washed the dishes, and all of a sudden, she screamed (literally), "MOMMY! LOOK! My elf! She's here! She's here!" I said, "What??" I looked up and there on the deck was this. I seriously don't think I've ever seen Sage that excited.

These 2 were tied to balloons. Apparently, they flew all the way from the North Pole on them! And the boy..well, he had a card attached to him that said, "Hello, my name is Mickey." Mickey and Cara. Sage was beside herself. We saw a LOT of elves with their kids at dance on Monday, so we knew it was getting close, but we really didn't expect it to happen the next afternoon.

Jaggar didn't really get what was going on. He was honestly just thrilled to have a balloon.

But this girl? She is an old pro, and she knows EXACTLY what having the elves in our house means: messes and fun. She said, "Mommy! Cara has GROWN. Her feet are bigger!" So cute.

I told her to give her reaction about when she first saw them. I WISH I had been able to video that, but we just really weren't expecting it at all.

Here she is explaining to Jaggar: "Now Jaggar, this is a REAL elf from SANTA. He is REAL, and you have to take care of him, okay?"

I'm not sure if he got the point or not...He just wanted his balloon back.

Then Sage told him to give Mickey a hug, which he did.

and a kiss.

She was SO excited. Click here to hear her recap of it all. This is also proof for those that think that she is shy that that is UNtrue.

Meanwhile, it was back to Rudolph toys for him.

Sage did everything with those elves last night--even reading homework.

After watching Rudolph, it was time for bed for EVERYONE. So we left out the crackers (graham this time) and water and sprinkled the magic snow. Sage could barely go to sleep. "Mommy, what do you think they'll do???" We had no idea, especially since we had 2 in the house for the first time.

We didn't have to wait long. This morning, we came downstairs to THIS. A snowy racetrack they made and had races on!

Mickey apparently had a wipeout. Looks like they had a good time last night.

And she was thrilled. Jaggar was still asleep. It's that time of year! Who KNOWS what these elves will get into this year? If this is any indication, it's going to be a wild time.

Last but Not Least

Since Travis wasn't able to come to Kentucky, too, Mom sent his gifts home with me. He opened them when I got home. Jaggar's eyes look funky in all of these.

New Guess Jeans

New Guess shirt

And what was actually a surprise gift: a blender. Travis loves anything culinary. Unlike someone I know. :)

He was very pleased with this. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

Completely unrelated but cute.

Yet MORE presents

As if the spring horse and car weren't enough, Mom insisted that the kids have something to unwrap under the tree. They aren't at all spoiled. My dad could be right: Santa could have a hard time topping them. Months ago, in their mall, Mom found a bookstore going out of business, so she got the kids a lot of beautiful Christmas books and saved them for....Christmastime, of course. This wasn't their "unwrapping gift" though. Oh no. You're welcome for posting this picture, Mom. Sweet though.

Jaggar was waiting patiently in Mom's Ugg boots. :)

Ready to go. I was double fisting it between my iphone and my camera, which finally got new batteries after Jaggar soaked the others in the toilet.

Sage helping Jaggar open one of his.

A bath shaving kit. :) He already knows how to spray the foam, too.

It's not a great picture of his present, but he got several Charlie Brown figures from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." He loves little figures that he can hold in his hands. He will play with them for HOURS.

And Sage got 2 bath sets and one of Go Go's puppies. It is so cute, too. I'm sure I have more of her on my camera, and I'll try to upload those...eventually.

Happy faces

Opening a few more. Click here. We thought this would be a HUGE hit. You know how he feels about Rudolph, particularly the monster. Well, mom found this and it was too cute. Except it stopped working a few minutes after he got it. We replaced the batteries, but apparently there was a short in it because the sound wouldn't work anymore. And Jaggar had heard it once, so he was not accepting the fact that it was broken. We returned it, and he chose the Snowman from Rudolph and a Caillou car.

Christmas with Mema

On Saturday, we (me, the kids, Mom and Mema) went to see "Arthur Christmas." Unless you want to waste money and 2 hours of your life, don't go see it, but at least we did get out and attempt to have fun. The kids liked it okay. Anyway, before that, Mema gave the kids their gifts from her. I hate that it has to be such a rush to do Thanksgiving and Christmas in one week, but what can we do?

LOOK at Jaggar's face when he sees "Thomas." How CUTE is that? Obviously, he loves Thomas. He threw a screaming fit for him when we went to Khols last time.

Sage's turn

I didn't get a great picture of it, but she got a silver sequin purse, which just LOOKED like her. Matches her boots, too.

And because we enjoy nothing more than eating, we couldn't think of anything better to give than a gift card to one of Mema's favorite restaurants--Cheddar's.

Black Friday

I had my first ever black Friday experience (as a willing adult, not being drug out by my mother as a child) this year. I have NEVER had the desire or even the need to do it, but with many of the sales starting at midnight this year rather than 4 am, Target was enticing to me. There was nothing so important to me that I wanted to get out 3 hours before the opening, but I thought I'd give it a go about 20 minutes beforehand. The kids were in bed (of course), and my dad was there, so mom and I headed out. The parking lot was completely full, and surrounding lots were becoming the same very quickly. It was COLD. The line was insane already. Mom, a regular black Friday shopper, said she had never seen it that bad. But we did it. We waited over 30 minutes just to get inside the door. They had police officers everywhere making sure no one cut line or caused a mad rush. It was organized and calm, and I'm pleased to say that I got everything and then some that I went for.


Ready to go!

We so ca-ra-zy. I wanted to be like the Target lady in the commercials. I didn't have to try.

If you look to the right past the cars, that is part of the line.

Going towards the door is the back of the line. I'm in the curve of that line, which went all the way up past the back of the store and then in another U back towards the front door, up the sidewalk, and into the front door. We conquered that. And it was kind of fun! I didn't even want to kill anyone, so it was a success.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year was a bit different for us. Travis didn't even get to come because he was setting up for the Iron Bowl. This was our first Thanksgiving without Papa. So I guess what you should be most thankful for is the moment because it is forever changing. That's not to say that it wasn't a good day because that's not true at all. It was a pretty day. The food was wonderful, and it was good to see family. We have a lot to be thankful for.

Me and my most precious blessings on Thanksgiving. Apparently, Jaggar combined Thanksgiving with Mardi Gras.

You have to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Both kids were ecstatic to see Santa AND Mrs. Claus that morning.

Some of the yummy food. It was SO good.

Sage and Mikayla are always thrilled to be reunited and played really well together.

Tyler is getting a LITTLE bigger to hang with Jaggar. They were watching the girls play outside.

Jaggar and Mema

Me and Amber

Mom and Me

Kevin and Mema. You can see how short she is here.

Bryan and Kevin

These two were inseparable. We are always the last to leave, so Mom asked Lindsay if Mikayla could stay and play. We took her home later. They had so much fun together.

A blurry Tyler and Mr. Mardi Gras again

My aunt, Rosie, and cousin, Jason

Family shot. Look at Jaggar's face.

Random crowd shot

Mema and her 2 daughters, Mom and Robin

The kids beating up Danny, which if you knew him, you'd know was appropriate. He loves to aggravate, so to provoke them to this made his day. Notice Jaggar even took his shirt off to use as a weapon.

At the end of the day, Jaggar and Duke had just had enough. Ha, I think that this is so funny.

My pretty girl

When we took Mikayla home, Jaggar got to hold one of Robin's puppies. Look how it made his day.