The Third Week of Christmas

Dear Abigail,

And you just thought we were busy the last two weeks.  This week has nothing on them!!  Sunday started off with a fantastic Clark family tradition that you got to do for the first time - see the Rockettes!!  We decided (Aunt Steph and Mommy) that you and Ellie were now at a good age to see them.  I knew you'd love them, but in the past had been a bit nervous about you sitting still that long, but this year I knew you had it in you.  So, we met ALL the Clark girlies (and Nona, too!) for such a fun, fun, fun evening!  You were super excited to see Princess Alexis and even when I was naming everyone that would be there and said "Alexis" you said "You mean PRINCESS Alexis Moooooooom."  Yes, my bad, Princess Alexis.  You didn't want to leave her lap! 

You loved the show too and were particularly stoked about seeing Santa!  After the show, we all went to dinner at Maggiano's and filled our bellies WAY too full.  It was such a fun family tradition that I am happy you can be a part of now!
When we got home from the show, Mimi was at our house waiting on you!  Daddy unfortunately got that yucky stomach bug and Mimi came to help him out with Kate while we went to our show.  She's pretty awesome like that.  She was going to come up on Monday because you had your Christmas program on Tuesday, but she saw a crisis and lent a hand :)
On Monday, you pulled the card from the calendar and guess what it said???? It said "Get dinner in the car and drive around and look at Christmas lights!!"  Oh this is one of Mommy's favorite Christmas time activities and, again, a first for you, or at least a planned 'let's go look at lights' kind of first.  And, to make it even more special, Ellie and Uncle Jaybee and Aunt Steph joined us (and Mimi and Daddy). We left the babies (Kate and Kipper) with Miss Lauren and piled up in our car.  We ran through Chick-fil-a drive through and started on our tour.  We kind of messed up and went to the best thing first, but it was still awesome.  There is an amazing house just right down the street from us that has it's house lights set to a radio station, so you just tune your car radio and watch the lights flash and flash and flash.  We could have sat there all night, but more cars started coming around, so we moved on and just drove through several  other neighborhoods.  I think the adults were a little more thrilled than you and Ellie.  Ellie asked about 10 times if we could just go home now!  Overall, it was fun and I think as time goes on, you will learn to love it, too!
On Tuesday, you had your school Christmas program.  You have been SOOO excited about the songs you were singing and would not tell Mommy any of them.  Mimi was able to make it to the show and thought you did such a good job. Mommy did not do such a good job of getting pictures (or a good seat), but I still could see you singing away!!  You sang lots and lots of songs and even did hand motion with a few of them.  Here's the best I could get without blocking people behind me...

And your sister was very proud of you, too!

After the show, your school had a wonderful luncheon for everyone, including your favorite school buddy, Chloe!  

After your recital, we ran a few errand with Mimi including going to Costco where you somehow ripped that pretty little dress right up the back.  Destructive.  I'll say it again.  Destructive...

Wednesday's activity ended up being two activities because A) Mimi was in town and B) Daddy had to work.  See, we were supposed to go see Santa on Friday, but Daddy already warned me that he would be super busy with work and would not be able to go, and since Mimi WAS in town, we decided to just change it from Friday to Wednesday!  So, Wednesday morning, we got all cutesy up to see the big guy!  He just so happened to be at the mall, which Mommy was a little leery about, but man alive, that Santa was so awesome!  I don't know what I was thinking...

I also was a little leery on how excited you would be, seeing as the last 4 Christmas' you screamed while sitting in his lap, or worse, wouldn't go near his lap, but this year you were super excited so I waited patiently in line, hoping for the best.  Low and behold, you rocked it!!!  You were a little apprehensive at first, taking it slow, rubbing your eyes to make sure this was the real deal and not just a dream...

You kept a little distance while getting the basic meet and greets out of the way...

It looks like you are making a hard decision here, deciding whether this is legit, whether he's worth you in his lap...

And it looks like a decision was made...

And look how perfect the two of you are!!!!  What a great picture! 

I was SOOOO proud of you, and so was Mimi.  I couldn't believe it and just sat amazed with a big grin on my face, I was so proud.  You continued to sit in his lap and tell him the 3 things you wanted - a drum set, a doll that looks like you, and a dog that bark.  

Now, I can't say too much about your sister and Santa's relationship, other than she's just not too thrilled to be sitting in his lap...

Soon after Santa, Mimi headed back to Munford and we headed home for a nap.  That nap we had to do our originally planned calendar event - Go to Opryland Hotel!  So looking at lights is in my top 5 favorite things, but Opryland Hotel is probably #1, well, other than the actual week of Christmas stuff, but you know what I mean!  I LOVE that hotel at Christmas and every year I say we're going to stay the night there the next year so we can REALLY enjoy all of it.  It never fails, we always have to limit what we do and there is sooooo much fun stuff to do!  We still had a blast, don't get me wrong, but we just need to go and stay a day or two!  

We walked all through the hotel and you found your horses that you get a picture with every single year! 

And found a street lamp to climb...

And finally made it to the kids zone where you enjoyed being a kid, including being a conductor of a train...

And driving some fun little cars...

But probably the most exciting for you (AND ME!!!) was that you saw AND WAVED to Puss N'Boots and Shrek!!! Like the real live dressed up in costume Puss and Shrek!  I couldn't believe it.  You didn't want to hug them, but you were totally fine running up to them and waving at them and wanting to go back to wave again.  Why am I so excited you ask??? Because I now see Disney World in our near future!!!!  Woo-woo!!! First Santa, then Shrek.  I mean, come on, Mickey is just around the corner, right?!  

Anyway, we had a lot of fun wondering the halls of Opryland and enjoyed some "Mexican" for dinner.  I put that in quotes because we ate at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel but you were thoroughly disappointed when they did not have white cheese dip! 

On Thursday, we relaxed at home trying to get a few things together for a trip to Munford.  Again, I can't quite remember what we did, but the calendar said "Christmas craft" and, well, I'm sure we did something along those lines.  Or maybe we just took a much needed break to prepare ourselves for the upcoming days!  I do know that on Thursday morning you got to go to Kate's gymnastics class and were SOOO excited about it.  Usually you have school, but since school was closed for Christmas break, you got to go!  You were shocked (and excited) that Miss Christy was also Kate's coach and ran up to her with a big ole hug.  You did pretty good with listening although I had to tell you a couple times that those were for the babies or get down from there, or you know, the usual.  Thankfully, not a lot of folks were there so Miss Christy let you play a lot.  And Kate's other teacher, Miss Courtney, was  super impressed with your talent.  She had never seen such an energetic girl :) Here's a pic I was able to get of you two together, a VERY hard task at gymnastics!

Thursday night/Friday morning, you woke to tell me you had thrown up in your bed.  I ran upstairs and sure enough, you did BUT the good news is you were big girl enough to throw up on the floor rather than your pretty white bed spread :)  I cleaned it up, cleaned you up, and put you back in bed with the garbage pail beside you.  You preceded to throw up one more time and back to sleep you went.  Mommy slept in the bed beside you, just in case you needed me, but you were fine the next morning.  I was very hesitant on our activity that day - drive to Munford for baking day, but Mimi was determined you were fine and would not make anyone else sick.  She just would NOT let you miss the annual baking day!!  SO... we got ready for the drive.  And, to make things more stressful for Mommy, I mean, more fun, we asked Ellie to go with us!  Uncle Jaybee dropped Ellie off (knowing you threw up the night before!) and Daddy met us at noonish to head that way.  We were there in no time and you and Ellie, in no time, were having a blast playing dress up and 'house.'  

Friday night Mommy and Mimi and Daddy went to Sarah's "End of the World" party (no worries, it didn't end, I felt confident it wasn't, so that's why we went) and so Bebe came and stayed with you and Ellie AND Clara Lee, oh and Kate!  Seriously, all 4 of you.  And she is 13.  I mean, seriously, only Bebe could do that. AND, she got you and Ellie asleep in the bed together, while Clara Lee sat downstairs WITHOUT tv!  We were all super impressed, and your sister even woke up at one point and she got her back to sleep, all with Clara Lee right by her side.  She is our champion babysitter, no doubt, and you girls love her.
Saturday was our big day, though.  It was our annual Baking Day at Mimi's house! We've done this a couple years now and I must say, Mimi is got this thing down to a T and it gets more and more fun with each year!  Here are some pictures to highlight the events.  As you can imagine, it's lots of decorating and baking and TONS of playing with friends and family!!!

Everyone decorated cookies and ice cream cones and their faces! and afterwards we turned on the Elf on the Shelf movie and everyone ate lunch!

All you kiddos wanted to play in the playroom for a bit, so the mommies/aunts/grammommies/great grandmommies enjoyed some hanging out time!

After playtime was over, we hopped right back into baking, making some yummy mini pecan pies!  Sydney did NOT like the Pam with Flour spray!

You and Clara worked as a team, and while I'm sure your dessert would have turned out great, we actually had to throw it away because it didn't have any eggs in it, as we ran out...

I don't think y'all cared...

Ellie and Anna Beth teamed up and made some delicious pies! 

Last on the list to do was make a craft.  Mimi helped all you kiddos make a cute little snowman to hang on the Christmas tree!

And last, but not least, was the group shot!  

What a FUN FUN FUN time all you had.  We love Mimi's annual bake day and are already making plans for next years!  A fun Christmas tradition that everyone enjoys.
Another great week comes to an end with baking day and that just means we are SOOOO close to Christmas Abs!!!!  Love you and all your excitement!!