Christmas Day 2011

After everyone left for Christmas Eve, it was time to get serious about Santa coming. Several weeks ago, Ella made stockings for all her stuffed animals at home. She brought them to Dallas with us and hung them on with all of our stockings by the fireplace. Here you can see them laying beneath rest before we got the tape to hang them up.

Then we got the treats for Santa ready. Yes it is weird that we left chicken, pancakes and pound cake for Santa when there were plenty of pretty Christmas cookies around for him but there is a reason for this spread. A couple of days before, Santa made unexpected phone call to the kids. When he talked to Ella he asked to her to leave him a cake...hence the pound cake (Ella wanted to make a chocolate cake for him but I thought one slice would be sufficient). When he talked to Luke, he asked for chicken and waffles hence the chicken and pancakes (kind of like waffles right?). I have no idea why Santa asked for those items but the kids were not going to disappoint him!

Here is what they woke up to Christmas morning:

 I wish I could share with you the sounds they made when they walked in and saw all the presents and stuff left in their stockings! It was so funny! They dove right in. Ella of course created "her" area where she would stack each of her presents after they were opened. Luke just threw stuff everywhere. They immediately spotted the stuffed pony and shark. They are still the biggest hits!
Here is what is what the after math looked like:

Here are a few pics of them playing with their toys:

Ella's dippin dots

 Luke's golf clubs

Them in their new coats and hats out in the soccer field waiting for dad to find stars with Ella's new telescope

Once again, we had a great Christmas and feel so lucky to have been with our family.

Christmas Eve 2011

 We spent Christmas with our Dallas family this year. Although Amber and Logan couldn't make it in this year because of a giant snow storm that dumped about 4 feet of snow on Denver, the rest of the family was still able to get together and enjoy a long Christmas Eve together.
Here's the run down on the day:
We got up slowly that morning and the kids danced around in the PJs enjoying some quality time with Mims and Pa. They were very surprise to see Herman the Elf had traveled to Mims and Pa's from the North Pole to check on them. They spent the morning trying to find him in the house. He had moved from the wreath over the fireplace to the top of the kitchen cabinets during the night. He's a tricky elf! I snapped a quick pic of Lyle and the kids. I think this was actually the night before.

Here they are in front of the tree before they went to bed.

Then the cousins arrived and the excitement was at an all time high! Christmas was officially here!!

Here they are waiting patiently for their first present. We couldn't make them wait any longer!!

Ready...set...open!

The girls! They had a blast together! You should have heard the squeals when they both opened the same Ken doll with the same set of clothes!

Mims got her granddaughters very special pandora bracelets that they can add to as they get older. It was sweet and Ella has put hers in a safe spot in her room.

We got Brooks and Blake a big giga ball for Christmas. Here are some pics of the boys playing in it in the backyard.

And here's a picture of the adults deflating the ball because it popped not long after they started playing in it and I wanted to take it back to the store so they could get a new one. I was very disappointed.

It was a fantastic Christmas Eve. We ended the day with a visit from our Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy and cousins Derek and Kari with their kids Hannah and Mason. It was really nice of them to stop by and great to see them.
We love all you guys and were so happy to spend Christmas Eve with you!!

Merry Christmas!!

On our way to Dallas for Christmas!!

Hope everyone travels safely!

Christmas lights

I didn't take any good pics of the house this year but I wanted to share with you what the house looked like for Christmas. We put lights around the top and around the windows. Then we hung a snowflake in each window. It really looks cute and I love how the lights in the windows look at night time from the inside. We will definitely be doing this again next year.

These are terrible pictures, but I wanted to show what my parents did at their house this year. My mom had gotten a little playhouse for the kids a while back so this year, her and dad decided to decorate it for Christmas. They put lights all over it with a spotlight inside. They also put little singing Christmas bears that would play as soon as the lights kicked on. The kids thought it was soooo beautiful and loved playing in it!

2011 Christmas Fancy Feast Celebration

 This year the Christmas Fancy Feast Celebration got started early Saturday morning. Lyle kicked off the day by helping the kids put together the gingerbread house they have been pining to do ever since St. Nick dropped it off at their door a couple of days back. They did a very nice job and I have to say Lyle had lots of patience with them. He helped with the construction and let the kids take over the decorating. 

 Luke's technique was to pile all the candy up in once place. Ella was so frustrated with his side of the roof that she didn't want him to help with her side. I wonder who she gets that from:)

After running around doing Christmas shopping and stopping at the grocery store, it was finally time to get started on the fancy feast. This year we had white lasagna with spinach and chicken. We also had our traditional eggnog that Lyle takes great pride in "spicing" up!

Along with our beautiful place mats, Ella came up with a special idea for her contribution to the fancy feast. She decided to "make" cupcakes for everyone. She put them in a special box to be delivered to the party and even made cute wrappers for each one with our names on them. It was a good day!!

Christmas lights!

Daddy had to work late one night so in order to keep my sanity stay in the Christmas spirit, I packed the kids up for a drive around town looking at Christmas lights. I got them each some warm hot chocolate (Luke actually got two cups because he drank all of his first one before I could get out of the driveway) and wrapped them up nice and cozy in a blanket. We sang Christmas songs and had a great time trying to decide who's house was the best.

Notice Luke put his shoes on by himself in this picture:) Hey, if it doesn't bother him to have them on the wrong feet, it doesn't bother me!!

St. Nicholas Day

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day. One of the stories of the St. Nicholas is that he would leave gold coins and special treats in the shoes of those who would leave them at their doorstep. So, in honor of him every year, we have a tradition in our family that goes back many generations that if you left your shoes on your doorstep along with your Christmas list St. Nick would come pick them up and leave you something special. The kids love this day as I did when I was little. They wrote their lists and picked out the shoes they wanted to leave out front. 

(Not for sure why Ella doesn't have clothes on in these pics...hmmm)

 

 

We yelled to Santa that the lists were out and then went back inside...a couple minutes later there was a loud knock on the door and the kids FROZE! Luke laughed so hard! He jumped up and down saying. "It's Santa! It's Santa!" Ella was more than willing to let Luke be the first one out the door to check for the surprise.

They tore into the goodies which were new Christmas PJs, candy, apples, and a ginger bread house. They were very very happy!

Our geocaching adventure

We have been meaning to do this with the kids for awhile now so when today was free we decided it would be a perfect time! We found 3 out of 4 caches but I only got pics of our first find. Lyle got annoyed with my picture taking:)
The first one was way back in the woods. The kids loved walking through the trees...except for the stickers!
It took us a little while to spy this one but we finally did at the top of the tree! We brought an apple ornament to put in the cache (since the title of the cache was "Christmas tree farm") but it wouldn't fit so Lyle just left it at the top of the tree. It was loads of fun and we ended the night with some good pizza! Definitely have to do this again soon!

First snow of the year!

I was at work late Tuesday night and when I walked out to go home it was pouring snow! What a surprise! I didn't even know snow was in the forecast. I couldn't wait to tell the kids but of course they were fast asleep. So the next morning when they woke up I asked them if they could get something for me I left outside. When they opened the door Ella said, "Oh my goodness! There is snow out there!" Luke pushed his way passed her to check it out! Needless to say it took us a little longer to get dressed that morning.
Later, I took Luke to chickfila to waste some time and was able to snap a few pics of the first snow of the season!

Kicking off the Christmas Season

To get us in the Christmas spirit around here (I really need help this year for some reason. Just too busy!) I took the kids to a neighborhood tree lighting festival. I wasn't really sure to expect because we haven't been before but it was fantastic!!
The kids were excited to see all the lights and hear the band playing some of their favorite Christmas carols.

 There were several people with big baskets full of cookies, fudge and different breads. The kids quickly spotted these people.

 We then grabbed some hot chocolate and apple cider and took a seat while we waited for Santa to arrive!

 Santa and Mrs. Claus along with Frosty and Rudolph showed up soon after and gave out coloring books and candy canes to all the kids. Luke said, "Mommy, I LOVE Santa!"

The both got some one on one time with Santa. I asked Luke what he said to Santa and he said, " I just showed him my candy cane. I didn't know what else to do." Haha! Ella told him she wanted a stuffed pony..no surprise.

Luke was determined to talk to Rudolph but it was a little hard to get his attention.

 Then the tree lighting. This is not a good picture but the tree really could have used some more lights!
Hope all of you are finding ways to get in the spirit this year!!