Merry Christmas EVE!

Merry Christmas Eve! We celebrated with the Schroeder side this year and as always, tradition is to open presents and celebrate on Christmas Eve! We had a wonderful time with family. We watched movies, visited, the guys played a little pool and the kids played. We had lots of yummy food to eat and Santa even stopped by! We were wiped out by the end of the night.

Madeleine was very excited this year to open presents and wasn't shy about sitting on Santa's lap at all. At the beginning of the evening, she was excited and shocked each time a present was given to her but by the end of the night, she was asking for more presents! She got the hang of it real quick. Needless to say, we will be working on the joy of giving gifts, not just receiving, in the next year :-) She did say a lot of "thank-you's" though!

Raymont, Kathryn, Madeleine before Santa arrived!

Mommy & Madeleine in front of the Christmas tree

Family photo!

Santa has arrived!

Madeleine was SO excited for Santa to arrive! She hopped right up and talked to him. She loved Santa!

Love this look!

The present opening started...

New PJ's

Madeleine helped Daddy open all his presents!

Whoa!!! A new SCOOTER!

Couldn't wait to try it out!

Seattle Christmas Lights & Carousel Ride!

Madeleine & I picked Jeff up from work and stayed in Seattle for dinner and a carousel ride! We had lots of fun walking around the city and seeing all the holiday lights! Madeleine loved her ride on the "horsey" and we had a yummy dinner!

Holiday Crafts

We've been doing a lot of holiday crafts around here! Tonight Jeff & Madeleine made a sticker gingerbread house. So fun and keeps Madeleine busy! She is getting pretty good at these little crafts!

The Nutcracker

Madeleine & I got dressed up and went on a mommy-daughter date to see a mini production of The Nutcracker! A friend's daughter performed with her dance academy and it was so much fun! The show was the perfect length of time, about 45 minutes. Madeleine did very well. She watched very intently the entire time! It was cute to watch her take it all in and clap after each act.

Madeleine with Avery the ballerina and little sis Addison!

Bella also came to watch. The girls had fun playing together!

Holiday Dinner & Book Exchange!

We got together with friends for a Holiday dinner and the kids did a book exchange! Madeleine loved unwrapping her new book and playing with her buddies!

The kids were treated to ice-cream cake for dessert! Yum!

This is the best I could get :-) Lauren, Audrey, JD, Taylor, Madeleine, Lexie

Holiday Cookies!

Madeleine helped me make thumbprint cookies for Jeff's Holiday party and the cookies turned out great! I discovered this was the PERFECT recipe to do with a toddler...unlike sugar cookies. Madeleine helped add each ingredient, roll the dough, dip it in sugar and place the Hershey Kisses in the middle! She LOVED it! Our sugar cookie adventure a few weeks ago turned into quite a mess...literally.

Enjoying her creation!

Snowflake Lane!

We headed into Bellevue for dinner and to watch the show at Snowflake Lane this evening. Madeleine had a BLAST! It was one of those evenings that you just can't re-create. The look on her face when all the characters came out with the snow falling and the music playing was priceless. She was in awe of the Prince & Princess and could not get enough of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. She was very excited to show Rudolph that she had a reindeer on her dress :-)

The best part was that we ran into my cousin and her family there! Madeleine had never met her little girls so it was a really fun surprise to see them there!

Outside Maggiano's in front of one of the many decorated trees.

The Prince & Princess...Madeleine was in HEAVEN!

She ran to Rudolph and gave him a hug!

Reece, Hadley & Madeleine! They were all so cute to watch!

So excited about the snow falling!

This video does not come close to capturing the joy Madeleine had while dancing with Rudolph. She danced with him FOREVER! She couldn't get enough! People came up to us and commented on how fun it was to watch her dance with him. One lady said it just right, "everything is so wonderful and just right in her little world right now". It was really fun to watch!