Since we didn't get tickets to take all the boys (my own + nephews) to the Polar Express in Bryson City, Mimi and Papa decided to take us all to a cabin in Pigeon Forge for the weekend. What a nice early Christmas present! Just what we needed during this hectic, crazy, sometimes stressful time of year. Really nice little "break" from reality.
On the way up the mountains, Charlie experienced his first time in a highchair (at McDonalds). Mad he didn't have a Big Mac, but he was so proud he was sitting up like a big boy!
We got to the cabin and the big boys went wild. Charlie was taking it ALL in...
We were also celebrating Carter's birthday a little early. He will be FIVE on the 22nd so I brought him a present to open (Twister!) so they could have a fun game. It was fun(ny) alright.
After Twister, playing pool downstairs, and air hockey, the boys wanted to test out the hot tub!
They went from 8, 4, and 3 to 18, 14, and 13. Grown.
Since it was still around 60 degrees and the hot tub was 105, they didn't last long. They came back in and I made them some "refreshing" "Grinch Juice" (milk + green food coloring + Redi whip + a fun straw. Trust me, I don't do anything difficult) and watched The Grinch (or the "Brinch" as Cade says) on ABC Family!
The next morning we woke up to the gorgeous views of the Great Smoky Mountains (and a big ol' cup of coffee...)
Charlie enjoyed his breakfast, fed to him by his big brother...and Maddox...and Carter...and Jackson supervising. I mean, it does take a village...
They were surprised to see that their elves Jasper and Skip got into the cards and created their own card game! Peppermints as poker chips. Sneaky little elves.
Charlie is teething and EVERYTHING goes into his mouth. Oh and look at that 9 month onesie. He's about to pop right out. We are basically 12 month sleepers from here on out. Eesh.
Saturday we really had zero plans and lounged around until after lunch. We thought about taking the boys to Dollywood, but after we rode by and saw how freakin' packed the parking lots all were (and the lines just to get on the trams to get in) we kept driving right on to Gatlinburg. It was packed too but not packed like Dollywood. We had fun walking around seeing what we could get into...
We did a little shopping and hit up Mellow Mushroom for a late lunch. We all kiss these sweet cheeks a million times a day...
Of course we found some music...
then the boys wanted to do the Sky Lift. I gave in...then quickly remembered how much I dislike heights. The pics are blurry because my phone is still cracked and I've yet to have time to get it fixed. yep, I am that person.
We made it to the top (tube socks and all. funny story: we did not really expect it to be 73 degrees in the mountains second weekend in Dec but it definitely was. We did not pack well (because we packed Friday morning before we left, throwing things in a bag since that's how we roll this time of year) and so these outfit combos we are all wearing were quite the concoctions.
no matter what they wear, these sweet smiles are always too cute...
and we loved just riding them around to see all of the Christmas lights! Cade was in awe + the mild temps meant rolling the windows down and blaring Christmas music. He kept waving at everyone. I swear he thought we were in a parade.
That night we attempted decorating sugar cookies, which I didn't get pics of but it was a big ol' fail. Oh well, we had fun trying and we nearly got sick on cookie dough, soooooo that was fun.
The next morning somehow lots of sweetness found it's way to our bed...
...and Jasper and Skip found a boat in the cabin and went fishing!
So we've always taken Cade to Bass Pro Shop to have his pic made with Santa. Chad and I both usually always take a random weekday off work and take him to Bass Pro in Atlanta, then we finish up some Christmas shopping. Since we knew we were going to the mountains, we didn't do the ATL trip thinking we would just get them done at the Bass Pro near Pigeon Forge.
Well, we got there around 11am and the earliest time for a Santa pic was 3.5 hours later...
Um, no. We were not waiting that long because we had to get home so we decided to find Santa somewhere else. Again, roll with it.
We stopped at the Asheville Mall and snuck in real quick, the last ones in line before Santa went on break. Whew. This is a pic of me and Cade last year (I was about 11 weeks pregnant and no one even knew, not even my friend Kenzie in this pic with me) then here's one year later on the right holding my chunky monkey of a blessing! How things change within ONE short year. It's just unreal. What a year full of blessings this has been and looking back we had no idea just how sweet our surprise blessing would actually be.
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Charlie was actually sleeping while we were in line... |
then we woke him up and BOOM!
This...
Happiest. baby. ever.
seriously can't believe they both smiled with just the very first pic she took!
Now back to reality this week. I guess I should finish Christmas shopping and begin wrapping, but then I'm working every day until Christmas day so yeah. About that.
Tis the season!!!! :) :)
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