Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always spent with my brother, Jona, and his family. We joke that this is when Santa Grammy comes to town. My mom, who I think loves Christmas more than any of us, always goes way over board with making Christmas magical. Not just with gifts but with making the whole day special.

 

                                                            Santa Grammy and all of her babies.

 

And with my babies...

Seriously, that pile is as big as London!

 

Not only does she give lots of presents, she gives the perfect gifts.

Dylan had been wanting Under Armour boxers for months and I refused to buy them because I think its ridiculous to pay that much for kid boxers (or adult really). Well, of course Santa Grammy picked them up for him.  I wish I had been recording when he opened that present. He burst into a fit a giggles and then got so excited.

 

And Lou had been asking for this cake pop maker for months!

Okay, this is the funniest. The kids have been asking for TVs in their rooms for over a year now. I kept saying "no way", but on black Friday my mom and I came across an amazing deal on TVs. She begged me to let her get them for the kids. I gave in and let her do it. Of course they had no idea it was coming, but every time she asked them if there was one thing they really wanted they would say a TV. Dylan especially wanted one, and I'm pretty sure he corralled London into asking for one too, thinking maybe they could share it. London wanted one, but Dylan reeeeeeeaalllly wanted one. Little did they know they she got them each one.

 

So, when they were opening their gifts, I put London's TV at the bottom of her pile and didn't put Dylan's into his pile at all. She was of course thrilled when she opened it. Dylan asked if it was supposed to be a shared gift and was so confused when we said no. He stayed so polite about it and said something like "Yay, London! We can watch movies in your room!" He was trying so, so hard to be happy for her.

We only carried that shenanigan for about 30 seconds before giving him his last present to open. I've never seen a kid more excited about a gift in my life!

After presents came the best gift of all... time with our family. I'm laughing so hard at the cheesiness of that sentence, but its really true.

 

Santa 2013

Out of all of our Christmas traditions, seeing Santa is at the top of the kids favorite list.

We always go with some of our favorite friends and make a big day out of it.

 

On kind of a side note... for the first time ever, Dylan did not want to wear anything Christmas themed at all this year. I know its part of growing up, but it makes me so sad! I miss the days of Santa rompers and reindeer onsies! At least London still lets me dress her how ever I want. 

 

Back to Santa...

 

 The kids were  super excited to see the jolly 'ole guy. They both decided to only tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and not me. I'm pretty sure this was to test out whether or not Santa's magic is real. They ended up getting exactly what they wished for, so I guess it is!

 

 

 

After visiting with Santa, we headed to candy store. Part of our Santa tradition is to take the kids to the candy store and give them each a set amount of time to pick out whatever they want. We change the rules up from year to year. I think this year they could pick out any 4 things in 60 seconds. Its actually a lot harder that it looks! I'm pretty sure its the only time all year long that they even step foot into a candy store, so you can imagine how overwhelming it is for them!

 

After that we let them play in the play place. Its basically the most fun day of the year for them!

 

 

Christmas is my favorite time of the year because its full of moments that are bursting with the magic of childhood and Santa is a big part of that. I love watching their eyes light up the whole month of December long at the sight or mention of him. I love writing letters addressed to the North Pole. I love making cookies to leave by the fire place... I cherish every single second of Christmas magic with my sweet little family!

Snow Days

One of my favorite things about living in the north Texas is that we usually get a few snow days a year. I'm not really a snow person but I am a sentimental sap and there is something about the fireplace crackling and watching the snow fall outside the window that makes my heart pitter patter. Plus living in the deep South means that everything closes down with the lightest dusting of snow. And I love any excuse to cancel all activities, throw on my favorite pajamas and veg on the couch with my family for a day or two.  Plus my kids get so excited, like snow is an extra day of Christmas, that its a little contagious.

 

This was our second time to get snow this winter.  It was the perfect visitor and only stayed for a day. (I'm just kidding.. mostly!)

 

 

 

 

School Christmas Program and Parties

Christmas pageants and programs are on of my favorite things ever. And this year London Lou had got to sing a little trio with two of her best friends. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. She was not shy and she sang beautifully!  

There was even a special guest in attendance. 

Next up Christmas parties (sorry, I couldn't thing of a good segway). 

Grammy made this adorable outfit for London and 3 of her friends. They were the cutest thing ever in their matching outfits. I wish I could share a picture but I try to not post picture of other peoples kids on here. 

Preschool parties are pretty low key. They always have pizza and special dessert. I appreciate how easy going London's school is about parties. There is so much stuff going on during the holidays that its nice to keep is simple and not make a big fuss. The kids love it too. 

Dylan's school only has two parties each year, Christmas and end of the year. So for those two parties we go pretty big. We always have some sort of fun food, a game or two and a craft. I'm the room mom for his classroom again this year (I have been his room mom since he was in preschool) so I got to plan the plan the party. I made Santa pancakes for his class and then we had a breakfast buffet. 

Another mom supplied the craft. They made really cute picture frames. 

To top of an already fun day, Dylan was named Good Citizen for that 9 weeks! Good Citizen is basically a Teacher's recognition and award for being a good student and peer. 

Ice Ice Baby

We had the craziest ice storm in December. We got about 3 inches of pure ice and it last for DAYS. It looked like snow but it was really ice. On the first day the kids desperately wanted to go play in it. They didn't believe me when I said it wasn't snow. So we bundled them up and sent them out. 

At first they thought it was great. Then they tried make snow angels and snow balls and figured out what I meant when I said it wasn't snow. Turns out ice balls hurt and you have to work really hard to get an ice angel. 

But ice is good for sliding around on! 

 They lasted for about 10 minutes before deciding it was time to go sit inside by the fire. 

Again, this lasted for days because the temperature wouldn't get above freezing. In those 5 days, we baked every thing in the pantry. We made brownies, cookies, fudge, and cake. We showered just to change into a new pair of pajamas. We played lots of board games and watched tons of movies. It was kind of nice to be stuck inside doing nothing for a few days.

 By day four I was ready to bust out of there. Luckily my friend and next door neighbor is from the North and knows how to drive in that white stuff that causes us southerner's to be housebound and she volunteered to take me and the kids out for lunch and quick trip to walmart. That was just the boost we needed to get us through the rest of the "storm". 

We survived icepocalyspe 2013, and we even enjoyed most of it!  

Happy Thanksgiving

I do not know what has happened to me but I only have one single picture of our entire Thanksgiving week. I really don't know what was wrong with me. I have not been nearly as attached to my camera this year as I have in the past, but to have NO pictures of thanksgiving.. I am so mad at myself. I'll do better next year. 

London and Dylan both had thanksgiving feast at their schools. Daniel had to work, so this was the first year he didn't come. The kids were fine with it though because they knew he was going to be off the whole week of thanksgiving to make up for it.  I did bring my camera that day, but only got a couple of pictures of London's feast and none at Dylan's. 

We had a super relaxing week and enjoyed lots of family time. We hosted Thanksgiving lunch again this year. My brother and his family, my mom, and Daniel's brother and his girl friend all came. We had more food than we could have ever eaten and more leftovers than I could fit in the fridge. Lee, Daniel's brother, and his girlfriend, Annie, stayed with us for a couple of nights after. 

Its not nearly as fun to write about with pictures, but we really did have a great week enjoying our family. And don't worry, I did take pictures of Christmas. :)