Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year brings you love, friendship & good health!

We saw family and friends over the Holiday. We started off on Christmas Eve seeing my family. Jeff & I opened a very special ornament from Madeleine to start off the night. She made it at school!

All the kids had so much fun opening new toys! Thank you to everyone for the special gifts!

Santa made a special stop!

The next morning, the kids woke up excited to see what Santa brought! We ate some yummy cinnamon rolls and opened gifts!

Madeleine & Braden were spoiled again by Jeff's family - thank you! The kids love everything!

Jeff reading the directions to the Barbie House...his greatest engineering project yet ;)

December Fun!

We've been having some fun this month getting ready for the Holidays!

The kids love to make daddy give horse rides!

We headed to PF Chang's and Snowflake lane with family to celebrate! Always a good time!

Poor Miss Madeleine sprained her finger. She got the royal treatment at school though and in a few days, she was all better!

Little cookie monsters making cookies!

It snowed! Madeleine still had school but Braden & I got to stay home and play - hooray!

On Friday night, we ventured downtown and had THE BEST TIME! We went on the Holiday carousel, ate at a yummy restaurant and then saw the gingerbread houses. AMAZING!

 For our last adventure to get in the spirit of Christmas, Madeleine & I saw our family friend perform in a mini production of the Nutcracker. It was an hour long...perfect for both Madeleine & I. The real Nutracker performance is just too long and boring for me...and this performace was appropriately titled "Nutcracker Highlights" :)

A Christmas Carol

Over the weekend, Madeleine & I went to see A Christmas Carol with some friends at a local children's theater. Madeleine wore my little red coat that I used to wear when I was her age.

We had dinner at Pallino where all the girls sat at their very own table! We then saw the play and it was under an hour - perfect for their age. Madeleine was very sad and concerned at the end that Tiny Tim died but I explained that he didn't and that Scrooge changed. I look forward to sharing this story with her more as she grows older.

Audrey, Madeleine, Lexie & Chloe get a picture with the cast after the show.

Yummy treat afterwards!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

We've started some of our Holiday traditions to get in the Spirit of Christmas! Right after Thanksgiving, we headed to our favorite tree farm to pick out our tree. Santa was there again and the kids were able to chat with him. Madeleine asked for a pogo stick and Braden asked for a rocket ship!

The kids helped decorate the tree :)

We decorated sugar cookies!

We went to get our Santa pictures!

Snowflake the elf flew in and landed on our tree just a few days after Thanksgiving. He was up to his old silly tricks...he gathered some of Madeleine & Braden's smallest animals and dolls and told them all about elf life!

We joined the Wagar family for dinner and a trip to the botanical garden...it was beautiful again this year! One of my favorite things to do!