Pre-Christmas activities

Cookies for Santa

We diligently worked on cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. A teacher at Chad's school gave him these cool cookie cutters because she thought we would enjoy making them with Lawton. They were labor-intensive, but fun and memorable!

"Let's go to the Movies"
Chad and I took Lawton for a special afternoon treat to see Madagascar 2 at the theater. This is only the second movie he has been to (the first was the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything). We let him choose between Madagascar and The Tale of Despereaux - the music and colors on the trailers of M2 won out. . . Chad stashed a few snacks from home into my purse right before we walked out the door. Lawton caught a glimpse and asked Chad what he had. When Chad told him they were snacks for the movie, he said, no, you have to eat popcorn at the movies! How he knew or thought that, I'm not sure, since the only movie he had been to over a year before and we never eat popcorn at home. So, since it was a special "Lawton" afternoon, we got popcorn. And boy, did he chow down! :)

Desperately needed haircuts!
In case you didn't know, I am the resident barber. Chad's hair is not hard to cut, he just needs a buzz every two weeks or so. :) I started cutting Lawton's hair when he was a baby and haven't quit yet. I know most of you are thinking that it is past time for him to go to the barber. . .because I realize I'm not that good. I just can't quite get the fade. . . but it does save some money so I am still cutting it. However, next time he needs a hair cut we might be getting in the car! Lawton wanted to get in on the action and cut Chad's hair. Chad was a trooper - Lawton kept on buzzing the same patch over and over again! :)

Lawton got a little rough - caught in the moment!
Our Anniversary Celebration

Noni and Dandy came over and watched the kids while we celebrated our anniversary. Chad surprised me by taking me to see Amy Grant and Vince Gill perform their Christmas concert at the Ryman. It was fantastic and wonderful to just go on a date. We had a great night out! He was so prepared- he bought the tickets back in October the day they went on sale! Sadly, I don't have a picture of the two of us, but I do have this picture of Lawton waiting in his Spiderman costume, looking out the window so he could "scare" Noni and Dandy. They played along and were "terrified".
Painting at Brushfire

For Lawton's first Christmas, we went to a pottery place and made a "cookies for Santa" plate with his footprint and hand prints (making a reindeer). So of course, Carolina had to have her own plate, too! Here she is getting her foot painted. . . I didn't get a picture of the finished product - and haven't picked them up yet.

Lawton picked out a motorcycle to paint. The finished product was quite interesting . . .
Here is a classic, horrendous, mischievous, fake, "I'm a stinker" smile from Lawton to leave you with. We love this boy! Enjoy!