December to the New Year

We had a FUN office Christmas party this year. One of our Dr.'s- Dr. Hempel planned the whole thing. For those that wanted to meet early to do some Christmas shopping--he had us meet at a cute shop in Brookhaven called "Davonshire Home & Garden"...then gave everyone a gift card for a nearby shop. I got $50 for Pottery Barn! YAY!!!

some of my coworkers--
Andy(Tiffany's husband), Tiffany, Tina, Dr. Hempel, Bri,
Cheryl, Sherrie, & Hilary
***Neat Christmas Idea*** Dr. Hempel and his neighbors all go together to the local Waffle House on Christmas morning and fill the whole restaurant-- then, each family leaves at least a $20 tip--so, the staff ends up with a big pocket of cash by the end!!! Makes having to work on Christmas Day not seem so bad!

Sherrie, Me, and Elizabeth
The Powell Family--- the sweet family that takes care of Milla on Tuesdays when I am at work.... Dan, Kara, Lindsey, & Lauren
After shopping, Dr. Hempel and his family hosted the party at their house. They had it catered by Maggiano's..yum...one of my favorite things was the Rigatoni D!!!! Delicious!
(Tiffany-Dixie-Me-Ashley)

Look how HAPPY Milla looks in her Dad's arms as we waited in line for our 2nd annual trip to "Bass Pro Shops" for our free picture with Santa!!!

Didn't feel quite as comfortable in Santa's arms as she did in her Dad's!! This picture is a little hard to see---but she SCREAMED and SCREAMED!!! She was in his lap for a total of 5 seconds!

after the traumatic experience of sitting on Santa's lap-- Milla wanted to take a look at the awesome fish tank they have at Bass Pro. She is doing her "fish face"!

Got to go to our small group Christmas Dinner at Chase & Tiffany's house...
here are the guys....back: Brad, Duran, Brandon, Austin front: Jake, Chase, Ben & Asher

The girls....Jessica, Anna, Lindsey, Audrey, Me, Elizabeth, and Tiffany. Tiffany made a wonderful ham....she said it was from Trader Joe's...it was already seasoned and cooked--you just warm and serve...and was 1/2 the price of Honey Baked Ham. I am going to try that next year!

The Benich's hosted a great Christmas party!!! It was definitely the fanciest that we got to attend...with valet parking and a wait staff!!! FUN!! Beau was a hit when he made his Santa appearance! (Mandy,Kriya, Santa, Me, Becky,& Liz)

One of Milla's many EXCITED faces as she opened her Christmas gifts!!! The hits were...we lucked out and 2 different people that I work with passed down really neat play houses....(one is an outdoor one that looks like a log cabin-and the other is for inside--a "Rose Petal Cottage") and she got a Radio Flyer Wagon that she LOVES to ride in. My mom got her a big stuffed Hippopotamus...from the song..."I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas--only a Hippopotamus will do!"
***Sometimes it Pays to Wait***One week before Christmas we STILL did not have our tree!! We went to Lowe's to just get a little tree--but, when we got there we saw a sign that said "CLEARANCE, all trees $10"... awesome!! We got a 9 ft tree that normally was $70!!! and, a wreath for $2.50!!!! What a deal!!!

Due to all of the Christmas activities we didn't get any time to play in the snow on Christmas day--so, we were ready by Sunday to get out there! We drove up a little north to just outside Helen, Ga. Here is Brandon pulling Milla on the sled.

Sweet little Milla in the snow

Got to spend New Year's Eve Eve with my High School girlfriends!! It was wonderful! We met at a delicious Italian restaurant in Alpharetta called Luciano's. We were going to eat dinner and then go to a movie---but we were at the restaurant for over 3 hours and ran out of time to catch a movie!!! (Allison, Brittany, Blakeley, Becky---we missed Carrie in Nashville!)

We enjoyed fondue at Tiffany and Andy's house on New Year's Eve. Since we both have kids--we did an "early party" and got back home in time to get everyone in bed by their bedtimes...including me!!!...This year was the first year that I can remember that we were asleep at midnight! I was kind of sad about it--but then woke up fully rested and ready to start 2011 the next day!!! One of my many new year's resolutions for this year is to not procrastinate... hopefully I will be able to put that into action and start to blog more frequently. Here's to a FABULOUS 2011! Happy New Year!