Lights of Life

Tonight I took Alex to see a bunch of holiday lights at Life University in Marietta, GA.  Alex loved all the lights and wants to go back tomorrow to see how the lights are able to move and stay upright.  Click below for the pictures we took:

Lights of Life

Snow Storm in Atlanta

Snow storm?  Hardly!  If they think this is a snow storm then I wonder what they would say of all the snow on the ground in Minnesota. 

I was also surprised to see that so many churches we're closed today.
http://www.wsbtv.com/closings/index.html#D

Christmas in Atlanta

This year we were not able to go back to Minnesota, but luckily we were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with friends.  Christmas Eve we went to see the children's service where Alex got to see her friend, Castlin, be a sheep in the Christmas play.  Afterwords, we went to Castlin's parents house, Jen and Shannon, for dinner.  It was a great night and the girls had so much fun playing together. 

Alex was so excited open all her gifts as Grandpa and Nanna watched from Skype.  She and I spent the whole day playing her toys until we left to spend Christmas Day with friends we had met while living on the island.

Alex is now in bed after a fun filled day.  Click below for pictures:

Christmas in Atlanta

Alex and Bentley

We are watching a little dog named Bentley for a few days while the owner flies home to visit family for Christmas.  Alex has been so excited about this dog coming to stay with us.  She is constantly following him around and trying to get him to do what she wants to do.  She is putting a santa hat on his as we speak.  Poor dog!  

Ice Skating on Alex's Birthday

Today Alex turns 5!  I can't believe she is already 5!  She already had a birthday at Build A Bear Workshop and a little party at school, so today we went ice skating with a few of her friends from school.  This was Alex's first time ice skating.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go so I'm glad they let Alex in free for her birthday.  After getting our skates on we went on the rink and Alex did pretty good.  She slipped of course but I didn't let her fall.  She wanted off right away and started to cry.  So we went to sit down and ate some crackers.  She was adamant about not going back out there but after a little prodding we went back out and things got a little better.  She was a real trooper for her first time.

Christmas Caroling with Alex

Christmas Caroling with Alex and Castlin

Tonight we went Christmas caroling with Dunwoody Baptist Church.  We only went to three places but could of gone to more because we really had a fun time.  Alex especially had fun with her friend, Castlin.  We went to three places and everyone really enjoyed having us come to sing carols.  I took a short video from the second place we went:

The third place we went we we're invited in for cookies and hot apple cider.  The kids just loved it!

Tomorrow we plan to go ice skating with some of her friends from preschool.  This should be interesting!

Alex and her Finger Puppets

Here is Alex putting on a puppet show for us with her new new finger puppets she got from her cousin, Alex.  She loves it and they are so cute.

Last night we had an ice storm here in Atlanta.  They aren't really prepared for that sort of thing down here.  In Minnesota, they would of started salting the roads before the storm, but not here.  There we're hundreds of accidents and a friend of mine who came to visit got stuck in traffic on the way home.  It took her three hours to go 10 miles!  AT 10:30 pm there we're still traffic jams.  I heard one news station say that if you have been in an accident with no injuries please do not call 911 until tomorrow morning as the police are only responding to injuries. 

Alex had her Christmas party at school today and she really didn't want it to be canceled.  Luckily, they didn't close but opened late and she went in at 10am. 

Snow

On Sunday and Monday of this week we saw snowflakes in Atlanta! Alex was more than excited! As soon as she saw them she rushed to get her shoes on to go outside and touch them. Unfortunately for her, we didn't get enough snow to stick.

Build a Bear Workshop

Alex met up with a few of her friends today at the Build a Bear Workshop to celebrate her upcoming 5Th birthday. She turns five on Dec. 20th, which is so close to Christmas and usually a busy time for people so we celebrated a little early and Alex didn't mind at all! She LOVES the Build a Bear Workshop. She picked out the softest little dog and named it "Rudolph the Red Nosed Dog", even though it doesn't have a red nose! She picked out a safari type shirt for it to wear and tighty whitey underwear! That underwear is so cute! She also got a little backpack to carry around her new dog from her friend, Castlin, and a Lalaloopsy doll from Kara and Kaya. Alex was really excited about that because she wanted one so bad. That lalaloopsy doll is soooo cute! I want one! She also opened some gifts from Grandpa and Nanna, she got some more Littlest Pet Shop, cute little pandas, a new outfit, new pj's, and a few art project kits.

All these toys kept her pretty busy the rest of the day and night. And now it's time for bed! Good Night. :)

More of Brook Run Hospital

Here we are walking around the abandoned building. You can see the door is clearly open so of course we go inside, but we really can't see anything because we don't have a flashlight! It appears it's a building with a bunch of bedrooms, because every room has a closet. There's also a bunch of graffiti all over the place. We'll have to go back again but with a flashlight!

Sunday with Alex

I had some leftover cookie dough in the fridge so this morning we decided to make dinosaur cookies. I didn't have any dino cookie cutters so I did my best cutting them out with a knife. I think I did a pretty good job on Apatosaurus! Since we we're talking about dinosaurs, Alex and I decided to have an herbivore lunch! :) I can't believe how excited she was about that!

Later in the evening we we're invited by some friends to watch a Christmas concert at Dunwoody Baptist. We saw Alex's little friend, Castlin, sing some Christmas carols with a bunch of other kids, and then we heard Larnelle Harris sing! Wow, is he a good singer! I posted Oh Holy Night on youtube! I wish I had a better camera because the footage isn't really that great, but the music is!

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

The last two Thanksgivings we we're in Dominica and celebrated with friends there and this Thanksgiving we celebrated here in Atlanta with friends we met while liking in Dominica. Devin and her husband made a delicious turkey with some awesome stuffing and mac and cheese. Lily and her family made some awesome green beans and cranberries and we brought the pies and cranberry bread. We had such a fun time, especially Alex because she did not want to leave! Here she is with Kaya, Kara's older sister.