More Baking

I had one more batch of cookies to make for the holidays that I just hadn't gotten around to baking yet. So the day after Christmas, after dinner, Sam and I went to baking. They were soooo good! I just love Peanut Butter Cookies with Hersey Kisses on top. As you can see, Sam does too!

Soccer Girl

After opening all our gifts on Christmas morning, we headed outside to play for a while. Maggie had gotten a few new toys that she was just dying to play with. And Sam decided she wanted to play soccer. So here are a few pics of our Little Soccer Girl! She's really quite the little athlete.

Big Girl...Big Bed!

For me, the most exciting gift that we gave Sam for Christmas was her Big-Girl Bed! No more crib! My baby is no longer a baby - she's walking, talking, eating on her own, she's potty trained, and now she has that big bed to go along with it all! The whole Big Girl package! How cool! Here we are doing our bedtime routine in our new bed. And a little while later, here she is sound asleep!

Presents Galore!

After breakfast, we finally let Sam dig into the gifts that had been calling her name for quite some time. She opened her stocking first, and then when for all the boxes. I think her most favorite gift of all was the Disney Princess camara that cost us all of a buck! She took pictures the rest of the morning. Before she could open any gift, she first had to take a picture of it! It was so funny and a lot of fun. Other than the camara, she got crocs, puzzles, books, blocks, jewelry, beads, and much more. Can you say Mommy and Daddy went overboard?!?!?

Christmas Breakfast

On Christmas morning, Sam and Jodie made pancakes for us. She had the best time helping Daddy mix up the batter, and an even better time eating them! What a great morning!

Christmas Eve Dinner

We started a new tradition last year when we moved here - to be at home for Christmas. So, on Christmas Eve, Jodie's aunt and uncle, Dottie and Bruce, join us for Christmas Eve dinner. Here are a couple pics of that night. We had a lot of fun, and, as always, Jodie cooked a wonderful dinner.

Dancing With Daddy

I love this. It totally makes my day to see these two having fun together. How could I get any happier than to see my 2 favorite people loving each other! I love it. We were listening to Christmas music, getting ready for our Christmas Eve dinner and they just started dancing together. It was great - a real favorite moment!

A Trimble Christmas

The weekend before Christmas we always get together with my side of the family for our annual Christmas celebration, complete with good food, good fun, good people and of course good gifts. Every year it is more fun than the last, especially with the kids getting bigger and bigger. We also get together with my mom's entire family too (although I didn't get any pics of that part). This year, our cousin, Michelle, was a huge hero and kept the kids for us so that us adults could all go out. We went to the Panther's game. Well, the guys did and the girls joined them for tailgaiting and then left. It was a lot of fun for us, and you can see that the kids had a great time with Michelle, or My-chelle as Sam says it. Thanks Michelle! We Love you!



















Donna, Mom and I sporting our Vera Bradley sun hats that Donna got for us all:

















Thomas and Bennett playing with Sam's new baby (is this wedding day black-mail or what?):

















Dancing with My-Chelle:

Holiday Baking With Mommy

A few days ago, while I was supposed to be buying other people Christmas gifts, I bough Sam and me a set of cookie cutters! So we finally got to use them today. We baked Sugar cookies!!! Sam was so interested in the mixer and loved turnign it on all by herself - full speed of course. After making the doungh I rolled it out and let her use her Christmas Tree and Snowman cutters to make her cookies. She had so much fun with it and of couse the loved eatign the finished product!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Being the kid-at-heart that I am, I was so excited to take Sam to see Santa this year. It was a first for us, so we made sure to make a big deal out of it. So yesterday, Sam put on her Christmas dress and we went to pick Daddy up at work and to the mall we went. Fortunately, Santa was on his dinner break when we got there so the line to see him wasn't long at all. While we were waiting our turn, we let Sam watch all the other boys and girls sit on Santa's lap, which really helped I think. Even still, Mommy was the one sitting on Santa's lap and Sam on Mommy's. If you ask her if she sat on Santa's lap, she will say, "No! I sat on my mommy's lap!" It's so funny. Santa gave her a reindeer hat for being a good little girl, and Mommy and Daddy treated her to ice cream for being so brave and not crying for the picture. It was a lot of fun. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Tea "Potty" With Daddy

Sam has had this tea party set for quite some time now, but has just now started wanting to have tea parties. So last night after dinner, she begged Daddy to "Tea Potty wis me Daddy?" And of course, being the wonderful daddy that he is, Jodie did join her for a "Tea Potty" and even let me get a cute pic or 2.

Mini Family Dinner

I have 2 cousins in the area - 1 at Carolina (Boo Heels!) and one at State (GO PACK!!!). Tonight we got a real treat and they both joined us for dinner. Sam was so excited to see Michelle and by the end of the evening had a new friend in Matthew too. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to do it again. We've got to take advantage of it while we can, before everyone graduates and goes their separate ways. Who know, maybe there will be a couple more of us up this way in the next few years, at State of course.

Tricycle 101

Back in September, Aunt Pam gave Sam an old tricycle of Kate's. She's tried to ride it a couple of times, but has never really spent more than a few minutes on it. So today, being that it was in the mid 60's, we took Sam, the tricycle and Sam's bunny rabbit hat to the park for a real tricycle riding lesson. We tood a broom stick with us to push her along (a real back saver I must say) and worked a lot of steering. She did great and had a lot of fun. Later, we rode it again in the neighborhood and she managed to steer, ring her bell, and peddle all at the same time!

Christmas Parade

Today was the local Christmas Parade. So we took Sam and she loved it! Her favorite thing was all the marching bands. I think she is a music girl. We also saw The Statue of Liberty (though she needed a little more air because her arm was a little droopy), the fire department's dalmation, Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus, and of course Santa. It really was a good time.

Christmas Tree Lighting

Last week, our hometown lit their Christmas tree. It was a big to-do, with Santa and the local high school band leading a small parade down Main St. We took Sam and Maggie to watch all the fun. It was really fun and really cold. Sam saw Santa, but when he reached out to shake her hand she freaked out! There's no telling what she'll do when we try to take her to sit on his lap next week!

The Halls Are Decked!

Okay, so when we went to the Christmas tree farm, I kept telling everyone that we needed to find a tall, but skinny tree. Well, we succeeded in the tall part, but skinny, it is not! It takes up a good bit of our living room, but it is pretty. And it is only here for a few weeks, so why not?!?! Every year, we get a few new ornaments, to kind of tell the story of the previous year. So, the family ornament this year was 3 penguins - a mommy, daddy, and child, very cute. After taking inventory of all our ornaments I discovered that our tree is covered in yellow labs, a gray and white cat(Charlie), and a black and white dog (Cookie). So, I decided that Maggie needed an ornament too. Off to Target I went in search of a black lab puppy ornament. There were tons of yellow lab ones, but nothing for Maggie. But in my search, I did find one last yellow lab ornament that I had to buy - an angel, complete with a halo and wings! I eventually found one for Maggie a few days later at the mall.