AJ's Baptism,Gingerbread Houses, Christmas, Charleston, Savannah, Audrey's Early Birthday ~ December 21st to 31st 2012




Grammy, Papa and Kathy came to Charlotte on December 21st and stayed for 10 fun filled days. The kids and I have been preparing, cleaning and anticipating there arrival and it is finally here. Kathy stayed in Audrey's room and Audrey stayed in AJ's room. Everyone was cozy and happy to be together. Grammy brought a bunch of Christmas crafts and ornaments for everyone to make and enjoy throughout their stay. 


Saturday night I took Grammy, Papa and Kathy to Cirque Dreams Holidaze. It was an amazing show to watch. The performers astounded us with their talents and stunned us with their death defying stunts. It was a great time! We took some fun pictures even though everyone was freezing cold. We didn't want to forget this special night together. I plan on giving Grammy, Papa and Kathy a frame with pictures from the places we will visit while they are here. The picture above with us under the statue will definitely be one of them.




Grammy and Papa introduced AJ and Audrey to Shrink Art.  They colored and cut out their pictures, watched with great enthusiasm as their big pictures shrunk and hardened in the oven.  Then they made ornaments out of them and hung them on a little tree. Lots of fun memories made every day.




This is the program we designed for AJ's baptism as you can read. AJ called each person and asked them to  be apart of his baptism. It was very sweet and we have great friends who supported us and said yes to AJ. It was a wonderful program with Grammy and Papa speaking. It meant a lot to AJ and all of us to have them and Kathy there with us.  Our ward friends who participated did a great job and added to the spirit of the evening.  Aaron and AJ were both very cold in the water but it went by very quickly and soon the evening was over and we were all enjoying cupcakes and visiting. I love the bear that the bishop gives to all the kids at their baptism.  It is a great reminder to them of what they need to do now that they are baptized. 







Once we got home we had a little birthday party for AJ since it was his official birthday.  Kathy surprised AJ with 2 cards with 8 dollars in each one! Wow what a great gift for an 8 year old! Grammy and Papa got AJ his first set of scriptures with his full name on the front cover and a black case to carry them. Definitely a gift that will be used for years to come!




Monday Grammy showed great patience teaching Audrey how to play Candy Land. Then we went to see a real candy land at an gingerbread house exhibition at the Ballantyne Hotel. We loved many of the houses and AJ wanted me to take a picture of almost every house. I only included a few here but my favorite were the Salt Lake Temple and the Eiffel Tower. Audrey and AJ loved the candy poles at the entrance and wanted to eat them! Who wouldn't!







Christmas Eve night the kids were really riled up but we managed to read the Christmas story in Luke and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. The kids were then able to open one present each which was a new pair of pajamas that they are wearing in the picture below.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We actually didn't get up exceptionally early which was great. But around 7:30 Grammy had everyone up, even Aaron! The kids had "snowmen" for breakfast from daddy, aka powdered sugar donuts. Next we all were excited to see what Santa left us in our stockings. I will admit that Santa totally spoiled me this year with the best stocking presents EVER. After that it was just plain fun opening presents and enjoying just being together!  








AJ picked out a special present that he could play with his daddy. He couldn't wait for daddy to open his present, and start playing with him.




 AJ picked out these earrings all by himself. He couldn't wait for me to open them.


Audrey made daddy a present in pre-school and it was cute to see how excited she was to give it to him.






The Roome Christmas breakfast tradition that started way before I became a Roome is Papa's famous Eggs Benedict! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without them.



The serious fun started when the Power Wheels came out of the shed. Aaron and I spent a few hours building them under our neighbors car port since it was raining and we don't have a garage. Luckily we have a shed. The kids were stunned and couldn't wait to start riding.  We were a little nervous with Audrey, but daddy helped her and she caught on quickly.  I love her open mouth smiles and AJ just wanted to ride all over the place.  They chased each other and found some great places to explore in the yard. Audrey's Power Wheel can go 2 miles per hour and AJ's can go 5mph. I had always dreamed of owning my own Power Wheels when I was young and it is fun to be able to provide them for my kids. Christmas night Aaron and I went to see the opening night of the movie Le Miserable. So good!






















Since Audrey couldn't catch AJ on her Power Wheel she got off of it and chased him instead. Then they were amazed at how big the box was that AJ's PW came in. They were nice to help daddy drag it to the recycling bin.




 Hello Charleston! We love to visit Charleston and since Kathy has never been here we planned a visit. We spent our first day walking along the battery enjoying the homes and views along the water. It was windy but we saw many beautiful sites and an amazing sunset.







Grammy, Kathy, Aaron and the kids ran around a park nearby and took some fun pictures.  Then we went to the Christmas Festival of Lights with a few million lights that we drove through. We stopped and roasted some marshmallows even though we were freezing cold.  We also went on a long train ride that took us all over the park area and froze our noses. After warming up a bit in one of the gift shops we headed to the hotel for some card games. AJ had a blast driving Papa's scooter around the hotel hallways. He insisted on giving us rides and it was pretty cute. Luckily he didn't crash or run anyone over.




Hello Beautiful Savannah!! We drove 1.5 hrs to Savannah Georgia.  We spent part of the day walking around and then enjoyed a trolley tour of the city. The trees with Spanish moss covering them in most of the 24 squares (parks) around the city were enchanting. We found one of several that had a pretty fountain in it that was perfect for picture taking.




Dinner at the Chart House was a perfect way to end our day trip to Savannah.  We had a delicious meal and then headed back to Charleston for one more day of fun.




Our last day in Charleston was mostly spent at the City Market. It took us over 2 hours to browse through and look at all the items, crafts, food and clothes from the different venders.  Slaves used to come here on the weekends and sell their hand made goods and baskets. We all became fascinated with several candy stores and the Moon pie store nearby.  Lots of nuts, cookies and candy to make us happy and sick.



Back at home Grammy kept Audrey busy making Play-doe cupcakes and sweets. The boys brought out the train and spend hours watching it and loved just being together.



For our last day I bought a few gingerbread houses for us to decorate.  Grammy and Audrey worked together on one and although Audrey ate a lot of the candy, they made a very yummy looking gingerbread house! Kathy and I also had a great time decorating her first gingerbread house. I'm sad I only got one picture of it, but its enough to remind me of how much fun we had together.








Aaron and Kathy found a favorite energy drink over the vacation, Rock Star Lemonade. It even helped Kathy stay up to see a late showing of Breaking Dawn II with Aaron and me.


While our family was still in town we had an early birthday party for Audrey. Her birthday is officially on January 8th so it was only a week early.  Audrey had fun opening presents again, since Christmas was just a few days earlier.






.We had so much food and treats already in the house so I decided to use a Christmas Cake that Grandma Sorensen sent Audrey instead of making a birthday cake.  I knew I'd be making cupcakes for her preschool class on her actual birthday. Our favorite neighbor Shirley also gave the kids books and a gift card to the books store for Christmas.  She is a sweet friend and we love her.






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