(This photo was taken at our church’s Home For the Holidays celebration in December.)

Over the summer our oldest daughter, Macey, learned the truth about Santa Claus. The way this came about was that little miss detective figured out the Tooth Fairy deal and then that lead to a conversation that involved everyone’s favorite jolly ole elf.  You see, in our house, the Tooth Fairy leaves glitter quarters. I got this idea from a friend several years ago and loved it. You simply paint quarters with glitter nail polish and leave them from the Tooth Fairy. Easy and cute, right? This worked like a charm for the first several teeth Macey lost. She got her glitter quarters and some cash. Win/win and fun. Last summer, Macey had to have a tooth pulled at the dentist. So, out came the glitter quarters that evening. Only, I left the glitter nail polish out on my vanity. Didn’t occur to me that Nancy Drew was in the house. The next day, Macey saw the glitter nail polish out and noticed that it was the same color as her glitter quarters from the TF. When she asked me about it, I will admit, I tried to dodge the question at first, but when it was clear that she wanted a real answer, I told the truth. Instead of redirecting her with questions such as “Well, what do YOU think?” I was up front and honest with her. I told her that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real, but it’s something fun for parents to do for their kids to celebrate losing teeth. She was perfectly fine with that. No tears, no drama – just an understanding. I couldn’t have asked for a better revealing.

Once that conversation started, my wheels started turning and I really wanted to address Santa. I have long wrestled with the Santa dilemma. (See my post from November 2008.) I conferred with Mickey and we decided that the time was right to talk to Macey about SC. So, once we talked about the TF and she was obviously more than fine with that, I segued into the Santa conversation. I asked her if she had any other questions about real vs fun/fantasy and, sure enough, HoHo came into question. So, again, I was just honest. I told her that Santa Claus aka Saint Nicholas was a wonderful legend that had been told and enacted for many years. I told her it’s about giving and how the legend showed that Saint Nicholas was always happier to give than to receive. I emphasized how much fun it is for kids AND for their families. And, once again, she was perfectly fine with it. No drama whatsoever. What a relief!! In fact, she was happy to know the truth. She and I talked about what is real (God) vs fantasy (Santa) and she had a very clear understanding about all of  it. She was also happy to keep the magic alive for her sister and be in on “the secret” with us.

I know some people think that innocence is somehow lost when children no longer believe in Santa, but I’m here to say that isn’t the case. Macey enjoyed a wonderfully “magical” Christmas this year. Not one ounce of joy was diminished for her. In our home, we emphasize the birth of Jesus as the main celebration of Christmas, but we also include secular traditions like Santa, of course, and Elf on the Shelf. This year, Macey helped Mariana (our youngest) write her Santa letter. Once the letter was done, Macey took it to the mailbox to mail and sneaked it back into the house so we’d know what was on the list. When our elf  ”arrived”, Macey was there cheering about it and getting her sister all excited about it too. Macey then went to a laptop and printed out a letter from the elf and got excited when it magically appeared on the printer. She never once let on anything to her sister. She loved being in on it  all. So, there was no loss of innocence or fun. It’s simply a new phase in her life and one that she fully embraces with happiness.

We aren’t yet sure when we’ll tell Mariana about SC, but I’m sure the truth will reveal itself in the right time, just like it did with Macey. I always had a fear in the back of my mind that finding out the truth about Santa would cause Macey to have doubts about God, somehow, but that has not been the case. I can’t take any credit for that, but I’m hopeful that our keeping Christ at the center of Christmas was what helped her when she found out about SC. I worry less about Mariana finding out now since her sister has done so well with it all. After all, we are teaching our girls the truth of the Lord and that’s the main thing. We always said that when they came to us for the truth, we’d tell it and that’s what we did. I don’t mind redirecting their questions back to them at a young age, but when they are old enough to know, then it’s time to cease the redirects and come out with the truth. We always want our girls to know that we’ll tell them the truth, even if it’s not always what they want to hear.

I just had to share this story because I know that other people out there have children that are “of age” to find out about Santa too. And, you might have the same or similar worries as I did. My advice would simply be to tell the truth. The legend of Santa Claus is a fun one, so we enjoy including that in our Christmas. But, Jesus’ birth is first and foremost what we believe and celebrate. I’m so thankful that our big girl took the SC news as awesomely as she did and also thankful to know that she realizes and believes that Jesus really IS the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I look forward to blogging more in the new year.

Kelly

Mariana is a giggle girl. She loves to laugh and play. She has an imagination as big as the sky. She loves to pretend to teach a class which mainly consists of stuffed animals. She’s a fantastic little mommy to her dolls. She makes up songs and stories all day long. She got a doll house for her birthday and just about every mini LaLa Loopsy doll ever created, so she has already spent hours playing with those. She loves to sing and dance, but doesn’t so much like for us to think it’s cute when she does that. She reminds us to say the blessing before most of our meals — just in case we forget. She mostly says the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer at night, but sometimes she says her own prayer and she is always sweet and thankful when she prays. Mariana has a spark of mischief and a whole lot of curiosity. Ever since she’s been able to walk, we’ve said she’s an adventure waiting for a place to happen. She’s sweet, spunky, smart, sassy and such a delight. We are so thankful that five years ago, God entrusted a second beautiful baby girl to our care.

This is Mariana when she was one day wearing her going home outfit, but all swaddled up because it was chilly that day:

And, here she is before her “almost” sleepover birthday party on Friday evening:

It’s pretty hard to believe that that baby girl is already five, but…she sure is. She’s five and loving it!!

Thank you, God, for Mariana. Here’s to MANY more happy birthdays!

Blessings,

Kelly

Other Winkflash deals

I also just noticed that Winkflash is offering 40% off on gifts. If you already have an account and aren’t eligible for the free canvas print, the 40% off deal is a great way to save on prints and gift. The code for that is ILOVEMYMOM and it expires on April 28, 2011.

Another great deal they have going is flat rate on photo books up to 100 pages. This means you pay the base price for books up to 100 pages. I used this deal when I created a photo book from our first trip to Walt Disney World. I saved a bundle because I used all 100 pages and got the base rate. The code for that is ALLBOOKS and it ends April 28, 2011.

There are tons of deals to be found on WinkFlash! If you haven’t ever used them for prints, I recommend them. I have gotten Christmas cards, photo books and prints there. I’ve really been happy with the quality of prints from WinkFlash. There was one time that I ordered two sets of prints and in one the color was just a bit off. I sent it back with an explanation and not only did they reprint those for me, but they reprinted the whole order and expedited shipping back to me. I was impressed that they fixed their mistake (nobody’s perfect) in such a timely manner. I will admit that I rarely get prints made – digitals have spoiled me. However, if I do get them, I either go with WinkFlash or CostCo for my prints. You can’t go wrong for the price and quality.

Blessings,

Kelly

Here they are putting the finishing touches on the snowman:

Love this one – can you see Macey? She discovered that I had come out with the camera:

Posing with their TALL snowman:

Mickey shows just how tall their snowman really IS:

Snowman huggers:

An adorable Miss Macey having fun in the snow:

You might wonder where Mariana was during all the snow fun. She was inside. Somewhat surprisingly, she wasn’t interested in going out to play in the snow today. She’s a little like her mama that way. We already played in it once this season, after all.

Macey and Mickey had a ball building this big snow guy. When Macey came inside as I was uploading photos, I asked her the snowman’s name. She didn’t hesitate before she said “Ed.” So, he’s Ed…the tall snow guy. Hopefully he’ll still be standing tall in our front yard in the morning. I’ll keep y’all posted.

Our trip was this past weekend! It was the first time either of us have ever been to New York City. It was a lot of fun! We arrived on a Friday and traffic was a nightmare, but we got the whole NYC cab experience that way, I guess. We got to our hotel and found out that our room would be ready in an hour, so we took that opportunity to go out for lunch. We asked the concierge for a recommendation and he suggested Thalia, so we went there. It was fantastic! We really enjoyed it! After lunch, we got settled into our hotel room and then decided to go walk around and explore. Here are some photos from our first exploration around the Times Square area:

Radio City Music Hall

Mickey in Manhattan

The skating rink at Rockefeller Center

We took MANY self portraits on this trip. Here is one of Mickey and me at Rockefeller:

We visited Top of the Rock which is the top observation deck at Rockefeller. Here are some shots from there:

Another self portrait

In this photo you can see the Met Life building

The Empire State building is shown in these photos:

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral

That evening, had dinner at Rosie O’Grady’s and then we went back out to the Times Square area. Here is a couple of shots of Times Square (not the best quality – sorry):

Yet another self portrait:

Times Square is really cool. SOOOO much going on at all times. It was fun to hang out in the area on Friday and just take in the sights. We didn’t stay out long because we were pretty tired from traveling, etc. So, we went back to the hotel and chilled while watching the Olympics. Okay, so it wasn’t the most “happening” way to spend a Friday evening in NYC, but we enjoyed just having some nice down time.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at Route 66 Cafe which was recommended by the concierge on duty at the hotel. It was SO good!! I had the Challah French Toast and it was delicious! We really enjoyed Route 66!

After breakfast, we decided to take a bus tour. Since we only had Saturday to tour, we decided to just take the downtown loop tour.

Here is our first tour bus:

And, here we are on the bus – yes, another of our self portraits:

The tour was really fun! A friend had given me the tip about taking the tour as a good way to really see some sights and she was right. It was great! Our first tour guide was really witty and knowledgeable. We really enjoyed his tour narrative. I wanted to go shopping at Century 21, so we got off the bus at a stop near that store. Century 21 is crazy! It is HUGE and just full of clothes, shoes, etc. at discounted prices. Mickey was truly a good sport about me shopping there. I have to give him all the credit in the world because he is NOT a shopper at all. The store was a little bit overwhelming, but it was fun! I walked out of there with some great stuff at even better prices. Yes!!

After C21, we walked by Ground Zero and saw the construction sight there. It’s still surreal, even more than eight years later, to see where the Twin Towers once stood.

We got onto another tour bus to complete our downtown tour and this time we had a guide that was politically motivated and cynical. We didn’t enjoy his tour guiding as much. We saw some cool NYC sites, but could have done without his rants. We had considered getting off at Central Park, but by that point in the tour we were starving and ready for lunch, so we decided to finish the tour out back around Times Square and get lunch in that vicinity so we could get back to hotel and relax. We went to Ray’s Pizza and it was VERY good. I had a cheese calzone and Mickey got pizza by the slice. YUM! That really hit the spot!! As we were walking back to the hotel, we decided we wanted something sweet. We were heading towards Europa Cafe which we had been into the day before when I got a nice cafe au lait, but on the way there we saw Crumbs, so we stopped in for cupcakes. Their selection of cupcakes is amazing! We wound up getting a four pack – brownie, Oreo, chocolate chip cookie and Reese’s. We split the brownie cupcake back at the hotel and it was delicious! We brought the other three home with us. What a fun and yummy treat!!

We relaxed in our room for awhile on Saturday late afternoon. I actually took a nap which was NICE!! That evening, we went to Azalea for dinner before going to our first ever Broadway show. Azalea was also recommended by the hotel concierge. (See a pattern here? Always talk to the concierge.) Our food there was very good! I had the Pollo con Carciofi which is a chicken breast with artichokes and tomatoes in a white wine sauce. My dish was very simple and very tasty. I really enjoyed it. Mickey had a great steak there as well. It was a nice meal to have prior to a show and very convenient to the Gershwin Theatre where we saw Wicked.

Wicked was absolutely amazing!! We had seen it when a touring production came to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta in October 2008. Seeing it on Broadway was definitely a hit for us! It was beautifully done. And, now that we have had a taste of seeing a show on Broadway, we definitely want to see more in the future!

On Sunday, we got up bright and early. Our concierge had suggested leaving the hotel via cab by 7:30 in order to get to the airport and through security in plenty of time for our 10am flight back home. So, we got up with the chickens – except that there obviously aren’t any chickens in NYC. We went to Junior’s for breakfast. We were the first ones to arrive. Our waitress was super sweet. Being a good Southern girl, I had to ask her how their grits are because I was surprised to see grits on a menu in New York City! She said that for New Yorkers, the grits are good, but a Southern girl like me (I told her I am from Georgia) wouldn’t like them. I had to laugh. So, I ordered their griddle cakes and turkey sausage while Mickey got an omelet. Our breakfast portions were really big and the food was delicious! It was definitely the right place to go for a nice filling breakfast before leaving the city. We also got a cheesecake to bring home because we had been given the advice that their cheesecakes are amazing.

Here we are in front of Junior’s:

We left our hotel right around 7:30 on Sunday morning. Traffic was really easy and we got to the airport and through security by just after 8am! When we got to the gate, another flight was finishing boarding for Atlanta. Mickey asked if they had room on that flight for us and, sure enough, they did. A really nice man changed seats so that we could sit together and we were on our way home earlier than anticipated. (Better than sitting in the airport for two hours any day!)

This was the view from my airplane window when we were on the runway:

A few aerial shots of the city from the plane:

We had a very easy flight home. My ears hate flying, so they were popping and achy, but the flight itself could not have been more smooth. Here are some shots I took from the window.

A partially frozen river – I have NO clue where this is actually located:

Our Creator is such a beautiful artist! I am awed by how different and yet beautiful things look from the air. Check out these mountains:

We arrived home and were greeted at the airport by Mickey’s parents and our girls. It was a VERY happy reunion after a wonderful weekend! We all had lunch together and then we came home while Mickey’s parents stayed at the airport to await their flight home.

NYC is definitely a world unto itself. I really enjoyed our visit there and I had a lot of fun. I’m enough of a country girl at heart to know I couldn’t even begin to think of living there. However, I’d love to visit again. I’d like to see more of the sites, take in some more shows and show our girls around the city. I’m so thankful to have had this travel opportunity and thankful that Mickey put together such a fantastic surprise for me!

• I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that loved me enough to rescue me from myself. I am thankful for His grace, mercy, redemption and love. Without Him, there is nothing.
• I am thankful for Mickey being the best husband and daddy the girls and I could ever pray for. When I see Mickey and the girls have their special moments, it melts my heart with happiness. He takes them on “dates”, he loves to cuddle with them, he plays with them, they make up fun games together and so much more. These girls adore their Daddy and he gives that right back to them tenfold. We are some blessed ladies!
• I am thankful for my dad, Jimmy. He calls me “Sis” and always has. It’s been his name for me for as long as I can remember. He was there for the birth of both of our girls even if he did have to stand behind a blue curtain. (During Macey’s birth, he sat on a big “birthing” ball.) He has taken to “Papahood” beautifully. He calls to check on us and see how we’re doing. We are definitely blessed to have Papa in our lives.
• I am thankful for “Mr.” John. He’s been in our lives since I was in 5th grade although I won’t come right out and say exactly how long ago that way, let’s just say it’s been a VERY long time. We haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but we’ve always had an open communication. And, we definitely agree on a lot more than we used to. We share a fondness for good coffee and banana nut bread. We don’t agree on the consistency of good biscuits, but we can both appreciate them in our own way. We also have a fun little rivalry going between us for the University of Georgia (GO DAWGS) and Georgia Tech. The girls also adore their Poppie and it’s reciprocal.
• I am thankful to have a great father-in-law, Scott – aka PePaw. He’s the kind of dad that takes time out of his life and schedule to come down and work on our house for a week at a time. He did this when we first moved in – he painted, re-wired, moved furniture, etc. His help was immeasurably helpful to us!! And, then this past summer he came down again and built an amazing bed for Macey. It’s a play house bed that he built from scratch! (I’ll have to share pictures one day, it’s amazing) He does this out of love and it’s just obvious how much he cares about his family. He’s quite a skilled cook, I might add. And, he’s the kind of PePaw that will always have time to play.
• I am thankful that my brother is a daddy now. Charlie and Liz have a son Jackson who will turn two in just a few weeks. It’s been just incredible to see my brother come into his own with fatherhood. He absolutely adores Jackson and Jackson is pretty sure that his DaDa hung the moon as well.

A good daddy is a blessing and I am thankful to know so many wonderful men who are not just fathers, but are amazing daddies!!

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him…
Psalm 103:13 (NIV)

We recently got prints of Mariana’s preschool pictures from them and we are overall very pleased with WinkFlash. They offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee which is also nice.

It’s surreal to think that it’s already time to plan for Christmas cards, but with an offer this good, it’s worth doing now so we’ll be prepared!

Happy shopping,
Kelly

This weekend has been really nice for our family. Yesterday the girls and I got to take our friend Alexis out on a girls day out. First we had brunch which was SO yummy! Then we  went to Build-a-Bear and the three girls had a ball! Each got something different – Macey got a horse, Mariana got a leopard and Alexis got a cool blue peace sign bear. After the mall, Alexis and I brought the girls home and Alexis got to meet our puppy, Daisy-Belle. And, then Alexis and I got to visit while I drove her home. It was just a great morning/early afternoon for us.  On Saturday afternoon, our sweet friend Donna met us at the church and took family photos for us. I am so excited about this because, honestly, in the three and a half years since we have become a family of four, we have never gotten a really great family portrait. (No kidding) I know that Donna captured some great ones for us. She’s a great photographer and such a dear church family member and friend!! We had a nice little dinner at Willy’s last night and a quiet evening at home. Perfect! Today, Mickey and Mariana are going to church while Macey and I stay home. Macey has been a little under the weather lately and yesterday wiped her out, so we’re going to have a laid back day at home for her today. It hasn’t been a very eventful weekend, but it’s been wonderful just the same. AND…next weekend we’re heading to Disney, so we are very excited about that already!!

I’m going to close this post with a few fall pictures from our October trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch. Have a blessed day!!

This coming weekend, my good friend Christie and I are going to the small town of Gay,Georgia to the Cotton Pickin’ Fair. The CP Fair is a huge craft fair that is held twice a year and is so much fun! Christie and I are going to leave early on Saturday morning and head on down to the CPF. Can’t wait!!

Mickey is running in our church’s annual road race that benefits Habitat for Humanity this weekend. He’s going to do the 5K race and then he and Macey are going to participate in the 1 mile fun run. I’m sure they’ll have a blast!!

In BIG Mariana news, she has finally given up the pacifier. Yes, she turned three in May, but she was still taking the paci at sleep times. Well, she’s been talking lately about giving it up, so we followed her cues and, sure enough, she’s all done with the pacifier. WOO HOO!! It’s been almost a week and she’s been such a champ about it all. GO MARIANA GO!!

Last week, Macey participated in the Boosterthon Fun Run and Roll at her school. It’s a great fundraiser in which the students collect pledges and then run laps around the “Boosterthon Speedway” to collect money for the school. The track is about 1/16 of a mile and they cap the laps at 35. So, Macey’s goal this year was to do 35 laps. And…she did it! She also did a couple of cool down laps. She was SOOOO proud of herself! Her pledges are still coming in and are due at school tomorrow. She’s thrilled that she not only set her goal, but met and exceeded it!

Mickey is doing well with transitioning to working at home full time. It’s really been a blessing to have him here. We’re gradually figuring how how flexible his hours can be, etc. It’s a process, but it’s all going beautifully thus far.

I should get going so I can get myself and Mariana ready to head out this morning. I’m going to work out at the Y while she plays with her BFF William.

Happy Thursday!

This is a photo I took in North Georgia last Autumn. We were on a hayride at the time.

Our first adventure was dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Here are Mickey and the girls heading in:

Here are the girls in front of the sign:

The girls LOVED Rainforest Cafe. They loved all the animals and decor of the restaurant. It was a lot of fun!! After dinner we hit Build-a-Bear Workshop and each girl got to create a stuffed animal. Macey chose a frog which she named Freddy. Mariana chose a HSM bear which she named Gabriella. We walked around Opry Mills a bit and then called it a night. Our first evening in Nashville was quite fun!

On Friday we got ready to head out to the Nashville Zoo . We stopped at a Shoney’s near our hotel and had their breakfast buffet and then went right out to the zoo so we could be there when they opened. That was a wise plan because it was already HOT first thing in the morning.

We really enjoyed the Nashville Zoo. It was beautifully laid out and had so much to see and do! Here are some highlights from our visit:

Hyacinth Macaws:

Mariana looking cool in the play area:

Macey in the snake tunnel:

Macey talked her sister into coming into the snake tunnel too:

How cool is this play structure?!

There were flowers and plants all over the place. So pretty!

There was also beautiful scenery such as this wagon near the old plantation home and barn:

We got to see so many animals. I won’t post pictures of all of them, but here are a few.

We all thought the girafffes were cool and, of course, we thought of Grammie (Mickey’s mom) when we saw them. She loves giraffes!

The elephants were so pretty too:

Alligator Cove had quite a few gators in a pond. The girls were very fascinated with them.

I thought this stump was pretty cool looking:

Macey pointing up at the gator that was floating “above her head”

The girls got a souvenir cup with fun straws. What is better than a cool drink on a hot day?!

Loved the lamps in the Asian section of the zoo:

The photos don’t cover nearly all of what we saw and did at the zoo. Our visit there was SO much fun and I’d highly recommend the Nashville Zoo to anyone visiting or living in that area. We would love to go back and may visit again in the fall when it’s a touch cooler.

On Saturday evening, we went to Aquarium for dinner. Another hit with them – they loved it!! The atmosphere there is what really makes it. The food is okay (somewhat spendy), but it’s a lot of fun to see all the fish, etc. My camera battery went kaput when we got there, so these are the best photos I have from my phone.

The view from our table:

The girls thought it was VERY cool when the SCUBA diver swam by our table:

Here are Mickey and the girls as we were getting ready to leave after dinner:

After dinner, we went to Stingray Reef to feed the stingrays and ride the carousel. The girls weren’t altogether too sure about feeding stingrays, but they liked it when other people did it. The stingrays literally come right up to the edge of the tank to be fed shrimp. It’s cool to see! The carousel was a hit with the girls too – they always love carousels. Our second night in Nashville was a lot of fun!!

On Saturday morning we went to breakfast at the “famous” Pancake Pantry in Nashville. Our friend Christie had recommended it and said that we’d probably have to wait in line, but that it was worth it. So, we tried to get there early in an attempt to beat the crowd. I have to say that we did NOT beat the crowd, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes and we did beat the “big” rush. The lines was super long just after we got there and was even longer when we left. The food was fantastic! I asked our waitress about the sweet potato pancakes and she recommended them highly, so I got those with some traditional buttermilk pancakes too. DELISH!!

Here is my plate before:

And…after:

What can I say?! Those were some DELICIOUS pancakes! If you’re ever in Nashville for breakfast, definitely give the Pancake Pantry a try. Get there early, but still expect a line.

After breakfast, we went back to the hotel for a bit. Mickey took the girls to the pool while I got us packed up to leave. Our next stop was Chattanooga. And, that will be tomorrow’s update.

In case it wasn’t clear by the pictures, we had a ball in Nashville. There is so much to see and do there. We hope to go back in the fall, as I said above. Great city!!

Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow…