Christmas Fun

Our holiday season has been a busy one thus far! With tree decorating, crafts, a light tour and the ever so entertaining Elfie, we have been on the go!
The trees, as usual, frustrated me this year.  Prelit trees are NOT worth the hassle.  After the first tree had some issues, the 2nd tree didn’t stand a chance.  Mom and I cut all 1250 lights off our downstairs tree because over half of them weren’t working.  It was an easy decision to do because I really wanted colored lights on that tree, but in the end, it may have been easier to buy a new tree.  Oh well, lessons learned and I now have 2 beautiful trees up!
I have found a new love in my life called Pinterest.  It is a website that has all sorts of ideas, from crafts to recipes to dream houses.  I found the above craft and our beautiful handprint tree canvas is now proudly displayed over our fireplace.  I know this is something that I will enjoy pulling out year after year. 

We took a Christmas Light Tour via bus last Saturday night with Nana, Papa, Gaga, Meggy and the cousins.  Two hours on a super cool bus seeing some pretty amazing displays.  The kids loved how the colors of  the lights inside the bus changed as much as they loved seeing the Christmas lights!
And lastly, we have been entertained daily by our little Elfie’s antics.  What a crazy little elf he is!  Elfie has colored pictures at night, played Barbies, given Ribby lots of treats, hid in the Christmas tree, and he even at a piece of chocolate we left out for him.  He is a messy eater though, got chocolate all over his face!  One morning, while fixing breakfast, we discovered Elfie in the freezer.  We decided he missed the north pole and wanted to feel closer to home.  Elfie also zip lined through the family room too!  Who knows what this little elf is going to do in the next few days leading up to Christmas!

Some other highlights have included the girls spending the evening at Lucy’s school’s Polar Express Night.  They got to eat dinner, do games and crafts and watch a movie, all while Kevin and I enjoyed a quiet evening at home!  This week includes fun at school Christmas parties!
Lucy and Laney have decided that they don’t need to go see Santa Claus, because they have told Elfie what they want for Christmas and he can tell Santa.  As Laney put it, Santa can just drop the presents at the door! 

A few of Elfie's other antics included eating waffles and chocolate, and hanging out with Barbie!

Catch up

It seems like Thanksgiving came too soon and went way too fast. We enjoyed a quick to Lawrence to visit with grandparents and lots of cousins, and then enjoyed a short week of school followed by family time with Lisa and Bob (my mom's sister) and of course, lots of playtime with Claire and Landon.

The girls went bowling for the first time for friend Klara's birthday party and loved it. Lucy did great throwing the ball down, while Laney pushed it from the ramp. While I don't find bowling shoes particulary stylish, the little velcro ones were SO cute on their feet!

One tree is up and decorated; I have yet to find motivation to get the other one up. We have done one Christmas craft and our beloved Elfie has arrived. Elfie must have thought our kids were very good all year because he even showed up yesterday with a new wii game!!!

Our Christmas Hand Print Tree

Laney's preschool also sang at Breakfast with Santa this past Saturday. Poor baby was up late the night before and was getting a cold, but she still went and sang. She looked comatose standing up there with her friends, and yawned a lot, but it was so cute!