Pre-Christmas Fun

During the few days before Christmas we:

Celebrated Advent each night.....

Played matching games with Uncle Mark and Aunt Georgie.....

Ben, Katie, and baby Oliver stopped in for a visit. This was Georgie's first time meeting little Ollie face-to-face.....He is TOO CUTE!!

eeeeeekkkkk!! love him :)

 The Strout fam.....love you guys :)

OH.MY.GOODNESS.  Look at this face!

SO, Shane and I have lived in Mobile for a really long time and we have never made it to Ruth's Chris. It's definitely not because we didn't WANT to go....it's just a "tad" bit above our normal date night budget :) Well, Shane came home one night from work a few days before Christmas and told us that one of his client's had given him a gift card to Ruth's Chris!!!! A really large gift card!! WOW. So awesome. We found a sitter for the girls for the next night and we headed down to Ruth's Chris.....

We were all a tad bit excited....

They gave us Christmas bells to wear.....kind of made me feel like I was a wearing a cow bell....but, whatever :)

The best pomegranate martini I have ever had. 

We were actually celebrating our 10 years of knowing Mark and Georgie (we met them both on a missions trip to New Zealand that we took during the summer of 2002) as well as Mark & Georgie's 2-year anniversary. Pretty cool place to be celebrating :)

Just one of Georgie's signature faces.... :)

Calamari appetizer. OH.MY.DELICIOUSNESS.

I ordered the stuffed chicken (recommended by my friend, Annie) and it did not disappoint.

Georgie went with filet mignon....medium-RARE (eeeewwwwww) and a small side of creamed spinach.........or rather GIGANTOR side! You actually order sides there and share it with the whole table. Pretty cool....

Mark went with the lamb chops, naturally :)

And we all know that Shane got the largest piece of steak he could get :)

Mark & Georgie got a complimentary chocolate mousse desert for their anniversary. It was DIVINE.

The only thing Shane could eat on the desert menu was the bread pudding (it was the only choice without nuts or chocolate). I'm pretty sure it was the best thing I have ever tasted. NO.JOKE.

What a FABULOUS first time Ruth's Chris experience with some of our very bestest friends ever!! Thank you Mr. Unknown Client for your incredible generosity and thoughtfulness! :))))

Well it was FINALLY Christmas Eve! (The girls had been asking for weeks, "Is it Christmas today yet???"). They had been waiting for Christmas Eve so that they could put out the "Reindeer Food" that one of their classmates had given them at their Christmas party at school. They were SO pumped....

yes, one of my children only has her underwear on....she said she was HOT. I mean, we do live in Mobile and it was pretty warm and humid that night.....Well, ok....

Getting the last little bit of food out of the bag....

After they got done spreading the reindeer food all over the yard and driveway and porch and our neighbors yard, etc....we came inside and Gabbie said, "We need to leave Santa something to eat and drink!" We said sure and then she went to the counter and got a muffin I had made for breakfast that morning and the entire gallon of milk and sat it on the side table in the living room and said, "I got him a muffin because that's better for him than a cookie"....which was really funny. Then Shane asked if she wanted him to get a glass to pour some milk in and she said, "NO, daddy! He needs the whole big milk because I'm sure he is going to be reeeeeeaaaaallly thirsty after all his hard work!".  That was pretty funny, too. So, here she is with her healthy muffin and half a gallon of milk she sat out for Santa. :)