where the green grass grows: 2010

"Twas the Night Before Christmas when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds...SCREECH!"

The children were not nestled all snug in their beds! This is what I walked into when I went upstairs on Christmas Eve.....

They were all piled into Sunshine's room! If you look closely, you'll see blue tape on the floor that they used to section off each person's "space".

Uh-Oh! Looks like Sunshine is trespassing on someone else's space...

Somehow King Tut over here managed to have the bed all to himself.

There's a kid in there somewhere...trust me.

And here's the princess herself, under a tent of bed sheets.

The next morning, I asked Kit Kat why she was in AAA's space. She replied with a smile while shaking her head, "Cause there was a snowglobe on the table and it was supposed to be holding up my tent and it kept falling." Smart girl . I don't think I'd sleep under s falling snow globe either!

Kat and I spent a few days in The Big Apple with my sister and her little boy (who just so happens to also be in first grade and gets along really well with KitKat!).

A few years ago, I took AAA to NYC with a couple of friends and their little girls. This year I took "just Kat", so apparently it's a tradition now because Sunshine is already planning our trip together with "just Sunshine."

We crammed about as much as we possibly could into a 4day/3 night trip! I'm exhausted just remembering this trip! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

This incredible gingerbread house is a replica of our hotel and was just inside the lobby of the hotel. The windows are fruit roll-ups. Pretty clever!

This is Kat with her American Girl doll, "Julie". We've had Julie for a couple of years, but Kat had never played with her before this trip, and she hasn't played with her since. But Julie went all over NYC with us!

We arrived in NYC in the afternoon. Checked in to the hotel then made our way to Times Square. We put our name on the waiting list at Carmines then dashed off to Toys R US while we were supposed to be waiting at Carmine's. We rode the Ferris Wheel inside Toys R Us and had the kids picture taken and displayed on Times Square. That was pretty cool!

Here they are standing under the billboard while their pic is displayed above. Their picture was only up there for 30 seconds so I just grabbed my cell phone to take a picture. It's so blurry!

The next morning, we headed to Build A Bear then made our way to the American Girl Doll Place. Kat had Julie's hair styled while we waited for our lunch reservation.

Julie and Kat at lunch! Lunch at AG was a blast! Kat was in a great mood and in rare form. She entertained the rest of us!

After lunch, we headed next door to Saks Fifth Avenue, where Kat modeled this thousand dollar hat. Priceless! (I'm not sure you could PAY ME a thousand dollars to wear this hat, but she sure is a cutie in it!)

That afternoon, we headed to Radio City to see The Rockettes! This was one of Kat's favorite parts of the trip.

Kat (and Julie) and Durham right after the show.

Kat (and Julie) and Mommy - and Kat with her adorable muff. The bad part about going to NYC with your sister is that you revert back to childhood. Holley and I could barely contain ourselves every time Kat said "muff".!

Holley and Durham.

I love this picture below!! It reminds me of one of my favorite lines that Kat said while we were there...."Since I've been in New York City, everyone keeps making comments about my hair and my coat." In other words, "Since I've been in NYC, I'm finally getting the attention I deserve." :) (Y'all know by now how humble she is!)

Holley and I drinking/eating a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity's. Right before we walked in to this " super quaint little special place of a restaurant", it started snowing! I was in Heaven!

After dinner, we headed a few doors down to Dylan's Candy Bar. So cute and so fun and so New York.

Because it was still snowing and so B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L, we took a horse and buggy ride through Central Park.

The next morning, we walked to the ice skating rink in Central Park. The kids loved playing on the rocks in the park almost as much as they loved ice skating.

Ice skating with Kat in Central Park was the hi-light of my trip! And to think that I almost tried to talk Kat out of going! I've seen enough kids cry and pout and get mad (at the ice skating rink in Montgomery Mall!) that I just had a feeling that Kat would be a little bit like that. Boy was I wrong!! She was awesome and she LOVED it! It was exhilarating got both of us!!

In order to finally drag her cute little self off the ice, I had to promise to take her ice skating in Montgomery! And Aunt Holley surprised her with a purple velvet backless (with rhinestones!)
ice skating outfit. Watch out, Montgomery...here comes Kat! :)

Here's a cool view of our hotel from Central Park.

After ice skating, we headed to the Statue of Liberty. Our plan was to take the ferry, but it was TOO COLD! So we enjoyed a cupcake and looked at Lady Liberty from the enclosed ferry waiting area.

If you look really closely, you'll see her in all of her glory right behind/above Kat's head.

Then I suppose we headed to the M & M store since this is next on my camera.

A three story M & M store is kind of magical to a little kid, especially when the M&M dudes are there!

That night, Kat and I headed to see Mary Poppins while Holley and Durham headed to see "Elf". When I took AA to see Mary Poppins, she was bored to tears and even took a nap. I was certain that Kat would love it since she's so much more dramatic than AA. But after the first song, she looked at me and said, "Are they gonna sing through the whole thing?" I knew I was in for a long night!