Christmas Tree Festival

On the evening of November 12, I got a call from my good friend Heather. She told me about the Christmas tree festival that was going on in town. I guess a bunch of businesses decorate a tree to auction off and make money for charity. They had all of the beautiful themed trees lined up and had an elementary choir school singing, hot chocolate, cookies, Christmas crafts, face painting, and SANTA! We all hopped in the car and spent our Family Home Evening out at the festival. What better way to kick off the Christmas season. On November 12. :) I am embracing my Canadian right to celebrate/decorate for Christmas after Remembrance Day.


Luckily we got in line pretty quickly after the choir finished. If not, that line would have been BRUTAL! They were pretty excited to see Santa. I love how squished together they were standing. :)

"Smile!"

Heather and her family showed up. Here are Aubrey and Lainey, 2 of my kids best buddies. Lainey and Zach are in the same Kindergarten class!


Trying to get Addie to look up! :) 

 

Pretty excited to be on Santa's lap!

Too many kids for one lap! Even Santa is looking away, unsure about all of this. Addie looks a bit confused too!

Zach got his own turn on the lap.

I love that he whispered into Santa's ear. I wonder what the secret was?

They had this cool idea of using coffee filters as snowflakes. It was awesome because you didn't have to cut the paper into a square that way, just fold and fold! And it was thin enough to easily cut through. Genius!

The face painting was incredible there! REAL artists, awesome fading colors...we said no because it was late and the line was long and all we would do was wash it right off when we got home, but then we caved because they REALLY wanted to do it, it was cool, and it was free. They were pretty amazing!

I tried and tried to get Kate to choose one of the Christmas themed ones, but once she heard about the snake she had to get it! She cracks me up. It was pretty sweet!

Kara let mommy choose. It was so cute and sparkly! Holiday Holly.

And Zach got the same as Kate. Just like last year at our ward Fall Festival they both got Spiderman! Here they are in front of their favorite tree.Hello Kitty! I liked the cookie tree to the right. It was festive and bright.

And just a random good idea...cornstarch and water is really fun to play with! 1 cup cornstarch to 2 cups water (I think??) And it may seem messy, but when it dries it just turns back to powder so it is really easy clean up! And you can save it for days, just keep adding water. Zach played with this for 1 1/2 hrs! Unheard of for him to do it so long. He kept it for a week and played everyday for a substantial amount of time. So if you are stuck inside...cornstarch and water!!

 

 

snow day

Justin had a post call day (makes call day ALMOST worth it) and it had snowed quite a bit and then warmed up so we had perfect snowman/snowball snow. While I folded laundry (in peace...ahhhhh) Justin built a snowman with the kids. What a good daddy. :)
 

Final product! :) A mini man. The kids had all kinds of names for him; Ted, O'Hare... Most originated from The Lorax for some reason. The next few days as it continued to get warmer, they would get worried and run to check on him.

We got out the baby sleds and introduced Adaleigh to snow! Her first time out in it. 

She's a fan. 

Little snow angel. So helpless. I. Can't. Move. Mom. 

Our Polar Bear. 

  

Taste testing it out.

Delicious!! 

Then we put Zach to work!

I love this picture. :)

They had fun...at least Kara did...

Aha! We are rid of her!

So Snow isn't so bad when you don't have to go anywhere!
(If they will keep their stinking mitts on. Oh look. Surprise. Kate's are off. Again.)
P.S. Mom, I was wearing my new adorable white winter hat. Thanks again! I love it!

Last Days with Papa and Mer Mer

Miss Adaleigh sitting up. Almost 6 months old here!

Zach playing his new favorite game...GO FISH! :) Our kids are getting pretty suspicious of each other and learning how to hide their cards so no one cheats!

 

Like Papa...

 

Like Grandaughter! :)
Zach's favorite thing is to show off his pets and share them. My favorite thing is hauling the mound of "pets" back downstairs with him every day after he gets bored of it and is done playing with them and continually telling him that only 2 pets can come upstairs. 2! Including blankies!

Mom and dad brought a gingerbread house kit that we did Sunday before church. Saturday was the girls "fake birthday" (At show and share, Kate even told her preschool class she got her horse and princess for her fake birthday...ha ha!!)

Hard at work. 

Lookin' good! Gramma's girls. 

The finished product! Pretty nice! All about the kits.

Even Addie likes it!

The last thing we did with Papa and MerMer is our fake Christmas! Addie was excited! :) Then we told her Santa wasn't really coming yet.

My parents surprised me with that cute little marching band decoration. It was one of my favorites growing up! It (loudly) plays Christmas carols on the bells. It is pretty cute! And much louder than I remember! It is now hanging on our tree. We now have a fun, animated, LOUD tree.

Glad I captured this spontaneous dance of joy. :) Jumping up and down singing and smiling and laughing. Pretty cute. And rare.

 

Addie had to join in.

They got them these snuggly animal blankies. They are so soft and cute! Even have curly tails on them! And paw holes to put your hands in and wrap yourself up.

And MerMer gave the give of love and cuteness by making these jammies for the kids! I love them! Addie even got one. Each pair took HOURS to make. Thank you Mer Mer!!!! I love this picture of you 4.

My Christmas Angels. :) 

And Papa earned the money and sacrifice time with his wife as she feverishly sewed into the wee hours of the night. :) Thanks dad. And thanks for getting my MagicJack to work again so I can call my sisters all day long!!! :)

Mer Mer makes all of our stockings and she made Adaleigh's while she was here. A very cute addition to our stocking collection.
Justin, why do you look like you are 14 here?

Early Birthdays!!!

While my parents were here we celebrated my Dad's early birthday (it was the next week...) and the girls' birthday (only a month and a half early!). They all loved it of course. And I was happy to give them gifts early because their birthday is 2 days before Christmas! We planned for 1 January baby, but got 2 Christmas angels instead. What can you do?!
 

 

 

 

I love the excitement on their faces. Remember that feeling?

They were pretty excited about their princess/horse toys! Doesn't get much better!