A Busy Day

I don't have time to write much. I'm busy with Christmas preparations, but I want to post these pics before I take a million more over the next few days.
We had a busy day last Saturday....
First, the girls and I went to the Angel Breakfast at our church.

Then, we had lunch at Chuck E. Cheese's with Tizzie, Grandpa, Mommasissy, RamboReed, and Smith.

Anne Parks won her first Pop Rocks and loved them!

Next, we surprised Anne Parks by going to see a movie.

We ended the day at the Phillips' (my dad's mom's family) Christmas family reunion where AP got this great headband.

What a fun day!

Applesauce

Nora loves to eat rice cereal or oatmeal, but I've run into some resistance when it comes to vegetables and fruit. As you can see in the picture, she acts like there couldn't be anything worse! I snapped these when I was trying to get her to eat applesauce. Poor thing! I've read that some babies need to try something 7 or 8 times before they'll like it. I'm not sure I can do this to her that many times!

Snow!

I'm a little late with these pics. These were taken just after the snow started falling. Jason's dad got a lot of pics of the girls playing in the snow the next morning, but I only have these. I just love the first one. Anne Parks and Maggie had so much fun.

Fun Fact: Anne Parks has seen snow three years in a row- every time at the McQueens' in Hattiesburg.

A Message from Santa

Jason's mom sent this for Anne Parks. It's too cute!

Click here to watch.

An Anniversary Treat

You may have read my post back in May where it talked about these fabulous sihouettes at Craftsbury Kids. You may not remeber it, but Jason did! He surprised me with these two silhouettes of our girls for our anniversary. I just love them! Isn't he sweet?

dress up

Dentist

Anne Parks had been to the dentist once before, but only for an emergency visit. So she had her first real trip - teeth cleaning and all, a few weeks ago. She absolutely loved it!

in the waiting room

having her teeth counted and cleaned

with Dr. Jones

choosing treats from the treasure chest

Sleeping Beauties

Jason snapped this photo one morning before school. The girls had been brought down to our room for the "waking-up process" (which for Anne Parks can take a while). This is how she fell back to sleep.
Sometimes I could just eat them up!

JA Express to the North Pole

The slogan for the K3 program at JA is "Train up a child..." with a train as the "mascot", so it was only natural that a train be incorporated into their Christmas Open House. It was just too cute!Anne Parks received a ticket in the mail and was told to come in her pj's. I wasn't able to go because I was recovering from hernia surgery, but Tizzie and Anne Parks had a great time. Tizzie even took my camera and got some shots, so I didn't feel too left out.

They had chairs set up, so the kids could have their picture next to the manger, but AP wanted to be right next to Baby Jesus.

I've been very careful about not using the b-word, (i.e., boyfriend) with Anne Parks. I just don't want her to think that she has to have one as she grows up, but as soon as she got to JA, she talked about this little fellow non-stop. He's a cutie!

Anne Parks and her teacher Mrs. Brandon

Anne Parks wouldn't sing karaoke, but she did play the bells.

L.A.

A couple of weeks ago, Emily and I went to visit Andrew in L.A. It was a great trip, and Andrew was a really good tour guide and host.

Santa Monica Pier

City Walk

the "view" of the Hollywood sign form Andrew's apartment (it's below that tower on the other side of the mountain)

We had breakfast at a great little place called "The Griddle". It came highly recommended as a place were Justin Timberlake can be seen. We didn't see JT, but they did sit us in the VIP room.

We ordered the "Creme de la Creme" - french toast rolled in graham cracker crumbs and covered in cream cheese. Yum!

and, my favorite, the "Teacher's Pet" - pancakes with cinnamon apples between them. (Notice how the pancake is bigger than the plate!)

Andrew "flew" in a skydiving simulator.

We mingled with the "stars" at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

One of Andrew's friends who works at Disney studios took us on a tour, and Emily got to see part of the set of one of her favorite shows, Brothers and Sisters.

Andrew's new favorite is In-n-Out burger, so being a good sport, I put aside my "no fast food" policy -just for a day.

Warner Bros. Studios, right down the street from Andrew's apartment

The last night of our visit, we gave Andrew some much-needed cooking lessons. No more living on frozen dinners and cookie dough!

Thanks, Drew! We had a great time!