Katherine's Christmas Party at School

Katherine's class had a Christmas party with a gift exchange and everything (which I thought was a bit unnecessary). Anyway, the kids chowed down on junk food, the moms took pictures, and they opened their presents. Katherine ended up with a book. So sweet. Katherine had her 18 month check-up this month. She is still in the 25th percentile for height and weight. She's older than everyone else in the class, and you can see here that she's smaller. She is talking like crazy, loves to do puzzles, read and entertain everyone she's around.

Lori's 30th Birthday

I have the most caring and romantic husband! Andrew went all out to celebrate my 30th birthday:

• Surprise night for two at The Simpson's house / barn
• Lunch & manicure/pedicure with Amber
• Arranged for Judy & Jim to come from Tennessee for Sunday lunch at Hokkaido
• Got 30 friends from all over the country to send birthday cards

AND it's not over yet!

Andrew arranged a girl's weekend in Atlanta for me and 3 friends in January.

Here are some pictures from lunch at Hokkaido.

No one else had eaten there before - they all thought it was delicious.

Katherine loves broccoli!

December

December was a very busy month for us like it is for many people! The first Friday was the Music Department Christmas Party. Amber took the day off work to help me shop and set everything up at the Simpson's house. She also made a guest appearance as Oprah, and we played a few fun Christmas games. People seemed to really enjoy themselves.We had some delicious food! We got it from places all over town: Wing Zone, Publix, Peterbrook Chocolate, Celebrations Bakery, Sams. 70 people had signed up for the party, but only about 50 showed up. We had a TON of extra food left over. Here is Jeffrey bringing in the fried mushrooms from Zaxbys. Yum!I was not going to put up any Christmas decorations because of everything going on but got inspired one night to put up a little cheap tree we got from Target last year. I'm glad I did, because Katherine really enjoyed helping. She stayed entertained the entire time. December was a big month musically at church. There were two choir specials each week, including the youth and children's choir. We also did special Christmas worship music. I headed up an all-church Christmas caroling event and was in charge of the Christmas Eve service. My birthday was in the middle of all of that (see the other birthday post). Exhausting! I did find time for a little fun with friends. We went to My Monet downtown and painted a tree.

Every one's turned out differently: Martha, Brandon, Amber, Lori, Nancy & Ashley.

Thanksgiving Videos

Here are a couple of videos from our Thanksgiving trip.

Piano lessons with Bob.

Katherine having fun with Rose & Grace.

Thanksgiving 2008

We left the Friday before Thanksgiving when Andrew got out of school and drove over to see Bob & Gail in South Carolina. All of us were really tired, so we just mainly hung around the house, ate good food, played cards and talked. It was exactly what we needed.Picture time before church. Big smiles.Monday, we drove to Florida to visit Andrew's sister and family. It was a LONG 12 hour day of travel. Katherine had a great time with her cousins, Rose & Grace. Here she is playing on the swing set. Look at the beautiful sky - the weather was great in Florida.Fun at the mall on Wednesday. Andrew entertained the girls while I shopped for a couple of hours.We went to the beach on Thanksgiving morning to take some pictures. Katherine finally decided that the sand was okay to walk on. It was too cool to dip her toes in the water. Maybe by next summer, she'll like the beach. She enjoyed picking up shells and did not want to leave.

The highlight of Andrew's trip was that Tim & Becky's rooster did not like me. I had two unpleasant encounters with the thing while I tried to get some stuff out of our van. The first time, it attacked my leg, so I ran back in the house. When I thought it was all clear a couple of hours later, he cornered me behind the van and then chased me back into the house. Andrew thought it was hilarious.

We left Florida early Friday morning and drove to Atlanta to visit with the rest of Andrew's family for a couple of hours. We left there around 6pm to drive the rest of the way home. After 16 hours of traveling, we were all glad to be home!

Katherine's First Slumber Party

Katherine spent her first night away from home without us last Friday night at The Howard's house. She was not at all sad to see us leave, and actually didn't want to be bothered for hugs and kisses. She said, "Bye, y'all!" and returned to playing. The report is that she did well. Amber saved her from getting her nails painted black and her hair sprayed white like Beetle Juice. And, there were a couple of hours in the middle of the night when some non-mothers allowed her to wake completely up and play. She ended up sleeping the last half of the night in the bed with Sara. Andrew & I were glad for the night alone and both got about 12 hours of sleep! I think the slumber parties will have to be a regular thing.

Halloween 2008

Katherine was the cutest little butterfly this year for Halloween.On Wednesday night, we went to our church's Fall Festival. It was late in the day for Katherine, so she looks a little dazed and tired. I think her Mama was more tired than her, though! Here she is with Kendall. There were a couple of toddler rooms. Katherine liked the balloons but was still a little small for the bouncers and games. Next year she'll love it.
Walking through the choir room to the festival with Julia Davis. I love this picture. This video is crazy. It's of Andrew & Katherine going down the big slide at the Fall Festival. First of all, it's with my camera, so the quality is poor. Second, I forgot that if you hold the camera sideways, the video will be sideways, and you can't turn it. Third, it's kind of far away, so you can't see it very well. But, the sound is great. Lauren is talking about how it would be hilarious if Katherine's wings caught the air and she flew away. Amber is yelling at Katherine and laughing. Andrew is bouncing up and down at the top of the slide trying to get going. Katherine really doesn't know what in the world is going on. Catch her face at the very end. So...turn your head sideways and enjoy!

Friday morning, Katherine's class at school had a little party. This picture cracks me up - the wings and her costume were a little bulky for the seats.

They enjoyed unhealthy snacks and juice while the moms stood around taking pictures. Katherine is the oldest in her class, and she knows every one's name. When we were looking at these pictures, she pointed everyone out to me and said all of their names well enough that I knew she was saying the right name for the right child. Stuffing their faces.