Christmas at Nana's 2011

It is hard to believe that Christmas is here! Since Christmas fell on Sunday this year, we did some rearranging of our usual scheduled get-togethers.  Here is Christmas at Nana's.

So much to eat!  Mills is sure to turn into a ham if he keeps eating so much of it.  The kid loves ham!

 Ready for gifts!

Mills makes himself a pile

Gladly taking another present from Nana

 Here, Mills gets a Mickey Mouse song book and music player.  He loves it!

Bullseye!  This is such a cute toy.  Hoping that Santa will bring Sheriff Woody to ride him.

Dirty Santa 2011

Our first of many family Christmas gatherings started today.  The annual dirty Santa kicked off to a great start!

I, once again, stuffed myself full of food, and Mills ate good too, as usual. 

Mills and Dawson visit with Roscoe at the back door

and again, Mills offers his ususal high five

Checking out his new globe that Justin got him.  I have never seen one of these before today.  Before we know it, Mills will be geographically sound. Justin, thanks for helping out with the hopes of a future academic scholarship! ha!

Since the little ones cannot play dirty Santa, they were given gifts to open before we started.

Mills opening up his surprise.  It was like pulling stamps off of a box.  He took forever.

Aunt Morgan comes to the rescue.  Thank goodness!

Boots!!!  Mills' first pair of Ariat boots.  The kid loves boots!  In two seconds flat, he ripped off his shoes, and hopped right in.  We didn't take them off until bedtime.

Unfortunately, we will not get to see Aunt Kimmie and Uncle Cameron on Christmas morning this year.  Since Christmas falls on Sunday, we, and they, will be going to church, and that is how it should be.  Church on Christmas!  Shouldn't we be in church on Christmas any way?  Why, I believe so.  Any who, they brought Mills his Christmas presents tonight.  You should have seen and heard him when he saw the packages.  "Ooooh wow!" he said. 
Here he is opening up a Toy Story potato head set.  It comes with two potato heads, a Woody and a Buzz, that can be transformed to Jessie and the original Mr. Potato Head.  He loves it!  He also unwrapped a Disney MeReader set that came with seven books.  I showed Mills how to use it tonight and by bedtime, we were through all seven books.  It is awesome!

Quick picture with Justin.  Is this not the funniest "cheeeeeeese" ever?  ha!

Kissho

Here is our little guy, trying out chopsticks for the very first time.  Before Mills was born, we swore that we would train him to love Japanese hibachi and sushi.  We are huge Benihana fans, and compare every other hibachi steakhouse to it.  So far, there have been no other hibachi steakhouses that compare to it.  Shogun, no thank you.  We don't want peas in our rice or our food drowned in soy sauce.

I used to tease Erik, that if we were rich, I would hire a few Japanese hibachi chefs and open up a local restaurant here.  Erik's comment:  "Ha!  Yeah right.  A Japanese and sushi restaurant here?!"  Well, guess what.  We've got one!  I have been stalking the parking lot waiting on it to open. It opened Thursday and we went for lunch.  Talk about first customer guinea pigs!  Tonight went for hibachi.  You can't get any closer to Benihana than that.  Now, the atmosphere is not the same, but who cares when its 5 minutes away, and the food is great!  Kissho, we give you two thumbs up!

Our Mills at 2 years, 4 months

It has been 4 months, since I last did a post on Mills.  He was two and has now reached the 28 month mark.  Wow!  Our baby, is a full fledged little boy now.
Here is what our little man is up to.

• Mills loves to say his prayers, especially at bedtime.  He always commands that I prepare my hands before prayer, and is starting to say them on his own for the most part.  I still have to coach him along at times, but he is doing great.
• He is great about saying please, thank you, and I'm sorry if he misbehaves.
• He LOVES church!  Mills asks to go to church every day, and every time we pass our church, he commands to stop.
• He is still a pretty good eater.  He eats if he wants, but if he doesn't want to eat, we try to make him eat what he will and don't force the situation.
• Mills is still a good sleeper and napper.  He loves his favorite blanket, demands to be tucked in, and HAS TO HAVE his Buzz (Thanks Kate!) and his George with him.
• His favorite show:  Bubble Guppies.  We are still waiting on the DVDs to come out, but so far they have not been located.  I am guessing it is because the show is still fairly new.  Thank you DVR.
• His favorite foods:  Mac n' cheese, pizza, green beans, any fish or chicken dish.  He loves pancakes and bacon for breakfast and is in love with fruity pebbles.  Yes, that's right.  He'll eat two bowls of them.(and three if I would let him) ha!
• Mills is so independent, just as most two year olds are.  He loves to soap himself up in the tub, attempts to blow dry his own hair, and loves putting his shoes on by himself.  Most of the time, he even gets them on the correct foot.
• He can sing his ABC's (although he skips a few and mixes things around), count to 20, knows his colors (most of them) and is great with shapes.  He even surprised me the other day when he yelled "octagon" when we got to a stop sign...hmmm. 
• Mills loves animals.  He knows their names and the sounds the make.  You should see him waddle like a penguin and pretend to spit like a camel.  ha!  Yes, he does that.  Why?  I have no clue.  It is rather comical.

It is amazing to see all our Mills is learning, accomplishing, and how much he is growing.  He is such a delight.  Hearing him say, "Mama, kiss!" or "Hug, daddy!"  melts our hearts, and he has finally started saying "Love you." 

Christmas this year is going to be a treat, and we are on the count down.  He has been singing Happy Birthday to Jesus the last couple of weeks, and I have been showing him our nativity set and explaining what it means.  At age two, I am not quite sure of what he understands, but I am not going to pass up any chance to tell him about the birth of Jesus, or "Cesus" as Mills calls Him.

Christmas Parade

We have not been to our Christmas parade in two years.  In '09  Mills was 4 months old, and last year, it was rainy and cold.  So, needless to say, this was Mills' first Christmas parade.

Tonight the weather was perfect.  It was cold enough for hats and coats, but not freezing.  We were unsure as to how Mills would react to being so close to the lights and sirens.  Our predictions were wrong.  He LOVED them and every thing else.  I think he was in awe of all of the people, lights, and noise that was going on.

We always meet all of the Beasleys on the square, and this year was no different. Uncle Keith's truck served as a stadium for Mills to get the perfect view, and stay out of the street. 

You can't tell here, but he was jumping up and down with excitement screaming "cheeeeeese!"

Mills and the girls

Giving Dee Kisses

Kayson and Mills pose for a quick picture

Mills could see the firetrucks coming. 

We saw Thomas the train

Mr. Chad with Lane and Bo in his super awesome cart!

Munford Methodist (and I wish I would have had a better picture) had an awesome float with a puppet show. 

Wow!  This float by Garland Baptist was beautiful too.

Waving at the parade participants

Here comes Santa Claus!

We ended the night with a trip to Mama and Daddy B's house for hot chocolate and snacks.  It is a yearly tradition, and we didn't want to miss out.  Mills is not yet "wild" about warm drinks, so he declined the hot chocolate and settled for popcorn.

Dickens Christmas on the Square

Today, I saw first hand, what a small town can do, when it's spirit is revived.  Wow!...is all I have to say.  We have been hearing of our "first" annual Dickens Christmas on the Square for several months now.  I have been looking forward to it, but had no idea that it would have such a blast.

Our square has been revamped over the last few years.  It is gorgeous!  Today's/Tonight's event was nothing but complimentary to the beautiful streets of downtown.  

It was a very cold day.  Mills and I arrived this afternoon, post nap just in time to catch the "Punch and Judy" puppet show.  It was just like old times, and Mills loved it.  There, we also learned the story behind the Christmas tree. 

As we strolled the streets, carolers, horse drawn carriage rides, and characters from a "Christmas Carol" were making the scene just perfect!   Shop owners and other spectators also dressed the part.

Our next stop was the Chamber of Commerce where Ms. Kyle read "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  Mills was tired by this point, and did not sit for the whole thing, but I still enjoyed every minute of it.
We rushed home to dive in to some chicken and dumplings (thanks Emily Cook!) that a friend of mine had posted on her blog, and they were fantastic.

Tonight, our choir was scheduled to sing at the Dickens Christmas at 6:00.  So, after bundling up and getting myself fed, I left Mills and E at home to hurry back to the big event.  It was way too cold for Mills to be out and about, and I knew that there was no way he would stand and watch mama sing.  The streets were even more beautiful at night.  Carolers still singing and lights galore.  I cannot tell you how perfect it was.  As we walked across the square, candles and choir books in hand, I was looking around at how everything looked just like something out of a movie.  I was glad to be a part of the festivities tonight, and cannot wait until next year. 

Great job to those who worked so hard to make our first Dickens Christmas on the Square a huge success.  I can only imagine what it will be like in the years to come.  It couldn't have been more amazing!

A few ladies from our church were dressed out full Dickens style

Adorable stockings adorned the light posts.  Every time we would see one, Mills would say, "Sock!"

This sweet girl and boy were nice enough to stop for a picture.  The little boy was actually selling old fashioned copies of The Covington Leader for 5 cents.

We ran into Jilly, Aunt Ginger, and Mama B.

Mills is checking out Ms. Kyle's large collection of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" books

Ms. Kyle after her book reading.

Christmas City

After our candy creating afternoon, we headed out to Christmas City.  Actually this was Mills' 100th third time to go this year.  He has been with his daddy a few times, while I have been busy with choir rehearsals etc. etc. etc.  Why would we go again, you ask?  Well, I haven't been this year, and since we were without plans tonight, Mills kept saying, "Wights, Mama!"  So, I knew where he wanted to go.  Why not take him?  It is something that he loves and I can remember begging to go almost every night when I was a child.

If you are reading from out of town, and are wondering what Christmas City is, it is a huge light display set up at a church campground out in the boonies country about 12 or so miles west of our town. It has a gazillion lights, displays the birth of Christ through his crucifixion, and has a lot of cartoon characters for the little ones to enjoy. They have a train ride, concessions, and you can see Santa, as well. We did neither of those, but enjoyed our two-time trip around.

Mills was thrilled to see Manny

Peppermint Bark

Today, we officially started round one of our Christmas "baking." We didn't "bake," but you get my drift. My plan for today, was to make, chocolate-caramel potato chips, peppermint bark, and peanut butter balls. We never got to the peanut butter balls, but will hopefully get them done by the end of the weekend. Mills always wants to help, so I let him dive right in.

Stirring the bark

crushing the peppermint

spreading the goods

adding a little more peppermint

and he's done!