Day of Silence

In loving memory of the lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14, 2012

Christmas in the Park

Like a true slacker mama I forgot my camera AND the diaper bag on the night of Christmas in the Park. So once again all of these pictures are stolen from Lisa's blog!! (THANKS FRIEND!)

We were meeting Lisa and Lauren, and we went straight from work. Paul ended up with the flu, so Devin opted not to come and let this be just a mama's event.

 We got to go on an extra long hayride, because she parked in the same lot as the tractors. A nice gentleman let us catch a ride over to the actual park, and then we continued onto the real route with other riders.

 We knew we weren't going to stay for Santa and the school aged kids singing because our kids were hungry, Chatham is scared of Santa, and Lisa and I are not fans of LARGE crowds. So we hit the new playground at the Post Office, snapped some pictures in front  of the light up Santa and went on our merry little way.

 Harper was in HEAVEN playing with the big kids! When we got home is when she took off walking and hasn't stopped since. She walks all over the house!! Time to put up some baby gates!

More Spirit Filled Fun

Saturday was Christmas date night with the Cadwalladers and Wades. It was also Suzy's birthday dinner that we didn't get to celebrate in November. We went to the Tap Room and had a GREAT glass of wine, chips with beer cheese, delicious entrees, and a cookie cake. Afterwards, we walked down the square and watched The Christmas Story play at Hickory Community Theater- it was SO funny! The narrator made it a great show! He was perfect for the part.

I didn't mention that the Alpine Village had SNOW this year!!!!

Alpine Village 2012

Every year we go to Lenoir for the Alpine Village. This year we brought the Mingus' along with us. Last year Lauren was staying with us for the weekend and came- but this year her Mommy and Daddy came too.

 It is the coolest, and prettiest set up. You decorate cookies, get a book, ornament, train, picture frame, and bag of candy. Harper held onto her candy for dear life!

 There is a manger scene, Santa, and puppet show where you sing Happy Birthday to Jesus!

 They set it up a little different each year and this year had a card shop as well as a place to write a letter to Santa. (All of these pictures were stolen from Lisa's blog- I will do another Alpine post with my pictures, but for some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload mine)

Our Elf, Tilman

Tilman is our Elf on a Shelf. He has made quite an impact on Chatham- he is very conscience of what he does that Tilman might not like. But Tilman has shown Chatham it's ok to be silly sometimes.

Every morning Chatham RUNS down stairs to fine where Tilman has landed after flying to the North Pole. One morning he was taking a bubble bath in a Marshmallow tub.

 Another night, Krispy (our year round elf) was reading him Elmo's 12 days of Christmas.

 We have three disco trees that are the center piece on the kitchen table and Tilman sits and watches the kids eat breakfast.

 Getting low on sugar, he stuck a straw right in the syrup bottle.

 Our elf has a creative side and thought I hadn't decorated enough- so he colored some ornaments and hung them from the light above the kitchen table (this was two weeks ago and they are still hanging there)

I have a pretty pewter nativity scene from my mom that we put out every year, and Chatham LOVES to play with it. We woke up one morning and Tilman had turned them all into rubber duckies

 On a more giving note- Tilman's Christmas Spirit came out and he left a dollar for Chatham with a note instructing him to put it in a salvation army bucket.

That silly little elf! What will he be up to next!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Chatham had fun playing with the wrapping- lots of bags and baskets and goodies were all over the playroom.

 Harper was walking around the Christmas tree and we tried to snap some pictures of her too.

Then we went to visit Santa at the mall. Although Chatham still hasn't sat on Santa's lap, he got a little closer this year- and even gave Santa a high five as we were leaving. We had cut out pictures from a magazine and handed it to Santa in case Chatham didn't want to talk to him, but as soon as Chatham handed him the paper he talked a mile a minute!!

Getting Slack

Wow- it's been a while since I last posted anything. I think depression has set in and the holidays are just making things gloomy.
I did want to document a few BIG things happening in the Donley home!
Harper is walking. She took her first few steps on Halloween; but now she is standing on her own and walking a long way (over 15 steps) There is video and I will post it soon.
Chatham's class is doing their Christmas Play a bit differently this year and there are speaking parts!!! Chatham gets to say "To Shield You From Harms Way" and then at the end of their song all the kids salute the audience! Their skit is a Christmas Salute to Our Soldiers!!

I have been doing lots of fun things with Tilman, our Elf on the Shelf, and if you follow me on Facebook you've seen his shenanigans. I will upload his fun at the end of December! Chatham has REALLY enjoyed the elf process this year!

I will work on posting more and getting the pictures and videos up!

More pictures

We ventured out to Geitner park, despite the chilly weather, to take a few more pictures for some Christmas card hopefuls.

 I think they turned out really good. I LOVE the fall colors, and the park was deserted so we went everywhere.

 I can't believe how big the kiddos are getting. Chatham is in this really fun stage where we are a super hero family. He is Batman, I am Spiderman, Devin is Captain America, and Harper is Wonderwoman. No one can answer to any other name.

Chatham no longer sleeps in his bedroom, it is his Bat Cave- today I am wearing blue and he insisted on wearing black to fit our characters. We had to drive SUPER FAST to school because the bat mobile doesn't have a slow speed. It is so neat to see how his mind works. We also went to the library yesterday and he wanted books on "workers". So I found some construction themed books and some Thanksgiving books for him. Now I am spending a lot of time explaining what Pilgrims are and "How did the turkey get from the woods to the plate mommy?"

Left, Right, Left

I think I can do this- 

Lets just check the stability first-

Here I go!

YAY I DID IT!!!!!

Veteran's Weekend

We had a nice long weekend- thanks to our brave soldiers and veterans!

We went to the Science Center with Suzy, Cara, Tina and Hannah on Saturday. Everyone had a ball!!

Harper was right there with the big kids!

We splurged and paid the $2 to experience a tornado. It was SO funny watching the kids. Chatham was laughing so hard he had his hand over his mouth most of the time. This picture reminds me of the "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil".

The current "special" exhibit is out of this world- it's about asteroids, comets, and the moon. They had a cool movie theater to sit in and learn about how stars come to be.

I think Chatham's favorite this is still the ride in the aquarium. Even the adults  hopped in for a ride.

Monday my school system was closed, and I had lots of plans to get the house cleaned, laundry caught up, and the playroom organized. But Monday morning Harper woke up with watery eyes and a cough- and Chatham WAS NOT going to school if Harper was.....

So we laid around in our jamas.

Then Lisa and Lauren came over to hang out. Lisa is AMAZING and entertained Harper while I got the laundry done and some food cooked for the week.

We made cookies and the kids LOVED using frosting and sprinkles to decorate (coincidentally the frosting I had was red, white, and blue). Also, we cut out their hand prints and made thankful trees! I LOVE when Lauren is over because she likes to do crafts, and Chatham will only do them if she is there.

Christmas Card Sneak Peek

Politics in the Donley House

Our dinner conversation Tuesday evening was more of a Q&A session.

Us: Do you know what today is?
Chatham: Tuesday.
Us: Yes, but does anything special happen tonight?
C: I get to play in my jamas?
Us: True, but what are we going to watch on TV?
C: Cam Newton!!
Us: No- the election.
C: Why not Cam?
Us: He's not running for president.
C:Well he should.

A few minutes later......

Us: Chatham, do you know who the President is?
C: Yes.
Us: Who?
C: Mario and Luigi and they're good at it.
Us: Do you know where the President lives?
C: Yes.
Us: Where?
C: Where the Pope lives, far, far way.


I love his innocence! He has been learning about Italy at school; and Luigi and Mario are the plumbers they talked about last week! (NOT the cartoon characters)

Treak or Treating 2012

We had our annual Halloween Get Together and hayride around the neighborhood. So far I have only stolen pictures from Suzy- but have SO many more to come! (And I know I still haven't posted the pumpkin decorating pictures....)

Chatham decided that his vampire teeth made him a more appropriate "scary chef"

 We tried to get a group shot at the end of the night....

 A Second try....

Feeling Festive

 We started out the weekend with a 5K, nice and early Saturday morning. I ran with Tina, Ashley, and Don (aka our trainer).

 The Susan G. Koman race for a cure was at Lenior-Rhyne University and we made cute shirts that said WE RUN FOR THE WOMEN THAT WON and had a list of 7 survivors!!!!! I thought the feathered hair clips would make us stand out, but there were grown men in BIG pink tutus and pink afro wings everywhere- we did not stand out AT ALL! But we still had fun! Tina and I shaved another 2 minutes off our time and finished out 3.1 miles in 32 minutes!! Our next race is November 19th at the Hickory YMCA.

 Chatham was feeling festive too and pulled out his vampire teeth. Chatham isn't into masks, but thinks that wearing his hoodie makes him scary. HA!

Saturday after the race we have the Wades, Martins, and Mingus' over to paint pumpkins (I will post those pictures tonight since I used the actual camera for that event) then we went with the Mingus' to Dr. Highland's haunted barn before heading Downton for the Spooktacular.

 It was set up a bit differently this year and instead of just walking around the square and getting candy at the stores, this year there were games and big blow up decorations. So we snapped a few pictures and headed over to the firetrucks before settling on a few of the "shorter" lines to play a game or two. We hit the jack pot though- the man handing out candy was a Tarheel fan, so after one game the kids bags were already half full!!!!

Shrek wasn't so scary once Chatham saw some other kids knock him over. So he held his hand to "help him back up". Harper was there but fell asleep in the stroller and didn't get any pictures taken. The Stiver's, at Two Pink Magnolia's, did stick some candy in her bag anyway since she was dressed up.