Week After Christmas in Buffalo

Highlight pictures from our visit to Buffalo

We woke up the day after Christmas to 5 inches of snow in Fayetteville.  This meant we were in a state of emergency and our flight to Charlotte was cancelled.  We decided to drive to Charlotte since their airport was still open and we managed to make our flight to Buffalo.  We spend 6 days visiting family and friends.  Tori also played in the snow with Chickie and Mike.  She made snow angels, sledding and built a "princess" snowman (notice the tiera.)

  

Christmas Day

The kids woke up around seven to see if Santa came.  Santa brought Tori a Barbie Bike and Barbie guitar, the two big items she was hoping for.  Both were a big hit.  Nick got a video camera and Xbox gear and Ashley got a few Disney Jim Shore pieces for her collection.  I got an Ipad!  I was hoping for one...Mike has one and Tori loves to play on "her pad" as she calls his.  So now, I will share my pad with her as well.  Mike got some books and cookies gadgets.  He has become a wonderful breakfast chef and he always talks about having the right tools.  Now, he does.

Later in the day, our family came over and we exchanged gifts differently this year.  We did a dirty Santa exchange.  It was a lot of fun and surprised you on what some people decided to take.  Micah and Tori gave us a jam concert with their new guitars.  That was very cool!  Max's is getting bigger and enjoyed his first Christmas with the family.

Christmas Eve

What a wonderful Christmas Eve.  Every one was home again to keep the traditions going.  

On Christmas Eve the kids open their gifts from Mike and I and each other.  Tori was so funny...she insisted on opening every gift...not just hers, but everyones.  She would give the presents to the person one she unwrapped the gift.  It was a hoot.  She also made sure every single piece of wrapping paper and tape was removed from the gift before she would look at it to see what it was.  Unwrapping therefore lasted a long time this year.  The big surprise this year was a two man 13 foot two man Kayak for Mike.  Trying to sneak it in the house was funny as we distracted him with a task upstairs.  He definitely was surprised when he came downstairs!

Ready for Christmas...

Piece by piece she unwrapped Christmas and all it had to offer.

This was Mike's surprise.

Mike seeing his Kayak...what a surprise!

Looking for Santa and his reindeer

Reading Twas the Night Before Christmas

 A Christmas Eve Sleep Over

Getting Ready for Christmas

To help Tori count down the days until Christmas, we got her an advent Gingerbread House which she loved opening the doors and getting her little treats.  When it came time to decorate the tree, she put the tree topper on.  Then when Ashley came, they made a Gingerbread house together and baked cookies together too.  Tori sure loves when Ashley comes home to visit and so do we!

Charleston, SC

We have been talking about visiting Charleston, SC for a while now and we finally did.   We spent the weekend at our condo and did a day trip to Charleston.  We had a great day.  First we visited a outdoor weekend festival where Tori rode a horse, we had wonderful crepes for lunch and spent some time just browsing the different vendors.  We also took a carriage ride tour of Charleston where we saw many historic houses.  Then we visited the market square looking at the different vendor goods.  There were wonderful sea grass baskets that I loved, but where like baskets of gold due to how expensive they were.  Then we walked down to the waterfront area where the famous pineapple statue is housed and we could see Fort Sumter from a distance.  Tori had fun playing around near the fountains in the plaza area.

Visit with Santa

Tori visited Santa at Bass Pro at Concord Mills.  She asked Santa for a Barbie Guitar.

Photos Shoot with Nick in downtown Fayetteville

Nick and I had a fun time playing with my camera to take some pictures of him his senior year.  We went to the train station in downtown Fayetteville and the park near the Main Library.  We had a lot of fun and laughter.  Here are the more serious photos we took.  There were many funny ones too.