It's CHRISTMAS time!

It's official.  I refused to get excited about Christmas until Thanksgiving was over, but it's over so let the fun begin!  We yanked out all our decorations today and put them up.  I hesitated to put up both trees (we have two big, artificial ones that I put in each living room), but I did it anyway.  Justin may attack them and destroy them, but I don't care!  It's fun to have two trees!  The kids were such big "helpers" that it took me two days to complete everything, but the inside of our house is ready for Christmas.  Now for the outside... (Jonathan is out of town much of December so I think that's going to be my job to get outside done too!  Wish me luck!)

Here is a closeup of the tree where Katelynn put ALL the decorations I gave her to hang.  Needless to say, Mommy did a little "rearranging" after bedtime.  :)

Turkey Bowling Tradition

So part of the tradition with spending Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle includes bowling that weekend.  This was our very first year where we had the kids bowling.  Last time we went Katelynn was only 6 weeks old.  In addition to all of us, we also had my friend and her family there with us (but I'm not posting any pictures of them since I haven't asked her).  We had two lanes- one with three kids 3 and under on.  It's a bit crazy with the little ones, but it was still so much fun!  Katelynn LOVED bowling (this was her first time).

Justin spent his time eating snacks and playing with those not bowling.

I love this picture- Justin was all over getting Uncle Rob's glasses

Letters to Santa

Stone Mountain also had a setup for the kids to write letters to Santa.  At first just Katelynn was making a letter, but Justin seemed interested so we let him give it a go.  He mostly ate his crayon, but he did do a little coloring!

Off to the North Pole they go!

Christmas at Stone Mountain

This year we skipped Black Friday shopping (shh.. don't tell me the deals I missed out on) and instead we took off that afternoon to Stone Mountain in Georgia.  It was a bit cold out, but we had a blast.  It was a great way to start the Christmas season since Thanksgiving was officially over!  They had a ton of really cute shows (dancing elves were Katelynn's favorite) for the kids, a parade with Santa, an interactive goat, lights, a train ride (another favorite), and of course the regular stuff like the sky ride up to the top of the mountain.  We didn't even get to do all the events and were there WAY past the kid's bedtime.  Justin crashed hours before we left and Katelynn fell asleep on the way to the car.  Since it was cold, I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few!

The whole group in front of the mountain.  Little did we know at the time, Aunt Debbie is afraid of heights!  She made it to the top though and did great!

This was our last event of the night- 4D Polar Express show (it was awesome!).  Can you tell it was late?  (Justin is passed out and Katelynn wasn't far behind!)

Turkey Day!

This year we spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house in Georgia.  Thanksgiving is the only big holiday that Jonathan and I are willing to travel with the kids so it's nice to get to go to my parent's since we force them to come here any other time.  My Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rob (mom's sister and her husband) came up from Miami to visit as well.  For years, it has been a tradition to spend Thanksgiving with them.  My parents go to Miami every other year and then they come up to Atlanta the opposite years.  It hasn't happened the past few years, but hopefully this was the startup of the tradition being continued.

This was Justin's first Thanksgiving and since he's eating solids, he got to have turkey his very first T-Day... not on the special china though.  We'll have to wait a few years for that!  :)

Standing and more!

It's big news at the Miller house- Justin is getting pretty darn close to walking!  My BABY is almost walking.  He has been crusing around furniture for a while now, but in the past week he has started standing all by himself.  It started by Justin becoming interested in holding something and not realizing that he was not holding on, then I started letting go of his hands and he would stand, and now as of TODAY he got up on his own from the floor!!  Here's the best I could get of him standing on his own so far!  Still a little unsteady, but he can stand for a minute or two without any trouble!

Katelynn's Dance Class

Katelynn's dance class had a "parent watch day" where parents could come into the dance studio and watch the last 15 minutes of class.  It was so cute watching them!  We get to see the girls on a small TV in the waiting area, but it switches between studios so we don't see them nonstop and it is much better to be right there anyway.  It was cute to see how some of the girls (Katelynn included) were a little shy performing in front of us at first.  Here are a few pictures and video of the day!

Here they each went across the floor one at a time so they were center of attention!

And the dance.  Katelynn and her partner were hilarious as they turned to face the audience instead of the mirror as they were supposed to.  This was only the second week the girls had been learning this dance, and they did so well for it being new to them!