Aquarium

As mentioned before we got a membership to the Tennessee Aquarium as a Christmas gift from my parents so we have been spending a lot of time there.  I have been meaning to post some pictures of our adventures there but since we have been at least once each week since Christmas it seems that just as I am ready to post I get new pictures and hold off until I get the stuff added hence the reason it has taken a month at least to get this up.  Sometimes I wonder why I feel the need to take my camera every time, but then each time we're there I see something new I hadn't seen before.  There are two buildings - Ocean Journey and River Journey.  We typically begin in the Ocean Journey and the first stop there is the touching tanks that have the sting rays, guitar fish and some small sharks.  We could spend a good hour or more here if I let them (I'm not sure why don't, actually I do, the butterflies are next and that's one of my favorite places).  On a couple of occasions I have gotten to feed the sting rays which was pretty cool.  Anyway, here is a video of the girls "petting" the sting rays.

The pictures below are in order of how we normally spend our time there.  As you will be able to tell I LOVE the butterfly cove!  I'll warn you now that some of the captions are a big lengthy so you might want to be ready to click the pause button if you're a big caption reader.  It also might be worth clicking on the "Aquarium" link there in the bottom left corner so you can go to the web album and view the slide show a bit bigger.

Here is another video clip of some of our favorite animals in motion:

Madeline the Model

I mentioned in the last post that there were some great pictures of Madeline from our visit to Rock City - Enchanted Garden of Lights that would be posted later.  So here they are in a little video.  For the record, all of these were done by her own accord with no coaching or prompting by either Brett or myself, in fact we have no idea where it came from.  And you will notice that Ella joined in on the fun in a couple of these.  The second to last picture is obviously from a different event - the aquarium this week.   When asked where she learned it, she responded, "Oh I just learned it myself."  Enjoy!

Post Christmas Fun

One of the things I loved most about this Christmas was all the family time we had.  Not like the typical weekend family time but the go and do something different kind of family fun.  One of our favorite gifts this year was a membership to the Tennessee Aquarium from my parents so the day after Christmas we went to check it out.  It was so fun!  We had been the first summer we moved here and then when Ella was one but hadn't been since.  The girls had a blast and loved checking everything out with the magnifying glasses they got in their stockings.  We have been a total of 3 times since and as I type, am waiting for Ella to wake from her nap so we can go again this afternoon (because we didn't get to go all the way through yesterday before my parking meter expired so I promised we could go back today).  One of the things I'm loving most is that it's an indoor activity (great for freezing winter days and scalding summer afternoons) where they are learning so much and getting lots of exercise - it's a lot of walking and they are surprisingly good about it.

That night we went to watch Brad and Dennis play tennis where we sat with Sidni, Valerie, Grandpa and Grandma.  Then afterwards went to eat with Brad and Valerie at Steak 'n Shake.

The next day we went to the Creative Discover Museum (we still have a month left on that membership from Christmas last year).  Another place the girls never get tired of going and where they can go and get lots of learning and playing done.  That night we went back to Dennis and Sid's to just play and relax!

Sunday was back to Dennis and Sid's to have one last dinner with Grandma and Grandpa before they left the next day.

Monday was kind of a downer day because daddy had to go back to work but we knew we only had a few days before he would be off again so we didn't pout too much!

Tuesday night we went up Lookout Mountain to go to Rock City's Enchanted Lights.  We had intended to go last year but the one time we drove up there to go there were so many cars in line to just park that we decided it wasn't worth it.  This year we went after Christmas and on a week night so it was pretty slow which was nice.  The girls loved all the lights and the Fairytale Cove.  There are some pretty hilarious pictures of Madeline from that night but that will be the next post and the post after that will be New Year's Eve!  I'm getting there!

So here are the pictures from all the above activities!

Christmas . . . FINALLY!

Okay so here it is finally, my blog for Christmas day.  We had such a great day and really it lasted all weekend even through to the following weekend.  This blog will be just of Christmas Day and the opening of our gifts from my family out in Wyoming which we did when the package got here the following Monday but be looking for pictures from more of our holiday weekend fun - there was lots of fun to be had!

Last year, as mentioned before, was our first Christmas here in Chattanooga which wasn't a big of a deal except that it was my first Christmas spent without my immediate family.  I wasn't sure what it would be like, and while it was different it was such a neat experience.  Christmas as "the mom" of the house is an almost magical experience.  Even though I had experienced Christmas as a mom, I wasn't THE mom.  We still went to my mommy's home where she prepared all the meals and did all the little things that you never realize she does to make Christmas such a wonderful day.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be as magical this year but it was indeed.  I again woke-up bright and early to get the cinnamon rolls started because who doesn't love to wake-up Christmas morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls baking?  And while those were baking I got the biscuits (cut-out in Christmas shapes) and gravy cooking.  I had some redeeming to do after last year's Christmas breakfast.  Last year I tried this overnight omelet thing that my mom usually makes (and is wonderful) and let's just say we didn't even attempt to eat it because it looked so gooey and soggy - gives me the heeby geebies just thinking about it.  And that was followed by a cinnamon strudel thing that was too sweet even for me (and believe me that is sweet)!  But rest assured this year's Christmas morning breakfast was great!  And the cinnamon rolls were fantastic if I do so say so myself!  Much of the rest of the morning is told in the pictures below so I'll let it do most of the talking.

But one of my favorite new things we did this year was a Nativity Scene scavenger hunt.  A couple weeks before Christmas my mom sent the girls a Nativity set that they could touch and play with (because my Willow Tree Nativity is off-limits!)  But I intentionally did not leave the baby Jesus in the cradle/manger because Jesus wouldn't have been around until Christmas Day so He was hidden and we told the girls we would be playing a game Christmas morning to find Him.  A couple days before Christmas the girls found where I hid him (in the kitchen cabinet with the canned goods) and figured Jesus had been found - game off, though we left Jesus in the cabinet.  But Christmas morning they discovered that ALL the nativity figurines were missing except the manger - what would be going on?  After we ate breakfast we started the hunt.  I won't go through the whole thing but it consisted of reading passages of scripture about each of the "characters" of the Christmas story and then having to find that character.  We started with Mary, then Joseph and then the donkey they would have rode to Bethlehem.  They took those three figurines to the manger and then found the shepherds (outside) and when they brought the shepherds to the stable Jesus was magically in the cradle.  Madeline was mind-blown how Jesus could have possibly gotten from the kitchen cabinet to the stable - it was a Christmas Miracle!  I loved this activity because we read through the whole Christmas story and got us focused on Jesus!  We ended with "Happy Birthday to Jesus" and a prayer of thanks.

Well I suppose that's enough talking with no pictures because I know what you really want is to just see the pictures so here they are:

Christmas Eve and other cute December pics

I'm finally getting some Christmas pictures up!  Yay! 

So first though is a cute picture from earlier in December.  I came downstairs one chilly morning and found the girls cuddled-up watching TV.  Thought it was too cute!

Christmas Eve was spent with Brett's family at his parents' house.  We had the extra pleasure of having Grandma and Grandpa Wheatcroft in town as well, we are always so thankful for the time we get to spend with them, plus we always know Grandpa is good for a lot of laughs and believe me he did not disappoint!  Dennis made super yummy ham, potato, corn chowder which was followed by cookies.  The girls helped me make cookies that spelled everyone's name and then told me how they wanted them decorated, they had bad coughs so they didn't get to touch the cookies, but they gave great artistic direction.  Grandpa and Grandma got special cookies though, Grandpa got a flag and a gingerbread boy and Grandma got a tulip and gingerbread girl. 

Grandpa and Grandma hadn't seen the girls for a little over a year and couldn't believe how big they had gotten.  Grandpa all but pushed Brett out of the way to follow the girls into the living room to watch them play when we first got over there, this of course after we had told the girls in the car to not get too close for fear that they would cough all over them and get them sick.

After dinner and cookies we opened gifts.  We usually do $5 gag gifts with Brett's family which is always a lot of fun to see the creative things everyone comes up with that usually end up being pretty handy little gifts.  One of my favorite parts of the evening was when Grandpa opened a picture that Rob and Jeminah gave them from their wedding and after he and Grandma oohed and aahed over it Grandpa said, "That'll be great in the bathroom."  Which of course led to the discussion of how you should surround yourself with the things you love in the places you spend most of your time.  Anyway, it was a good laugh for sure!

So here are some pictures of the night.  Hope you enjoy and stay tuned for Christmas Day, the day after, the day after that, the next Monday, Tuesday and New Year's Eve - I've got a lot of work to do!