Merry Christmas!

Another great Christmas is on the books. Other than Sammie having a horrible stomach bug on Christmas Eve, we had a great holiday this year. We just stayed home and family came and celebrated with us. We had fun opening presents ALL day:) We hope you all enjoyed the day...and are recovering from all of the excitement!


Early morning loot.

It was a sporty Christmas for Cole.

Aunt Tracy, Cole and Grammie cookin.

The fam.

Let Christmas begin...

Grammie and Grandpa arrived yesterday and had early a very fun early Christmas presents. 2 tents that are connected with a giant tunnel!
It's a big hit. The kids went crazy playing in the tents last night and poor Grammie was trapped in the tent with Sammie for hours.
Thanks Grammie and Grandpa for the awesome new toy:)

The Souths Go North

Today was a fun day. We went for a hike up North mountain, which is all UP! Peter was a rock star pushing Cole in the stroller, Sammie walked up almost the whole way-about a mile! It was a tough hike but great-especially at the top. The view was great. Sammie said she could see the whole world!


At the top.

Ready to run.

Having a rest.

Sammer with her Daddy.

Then it was off to the North Pole...

We went to Bass ProShop to see Santa. I highly recommend it! The Santa was great, real beard-super nice. We got a free 4X6 and the digital photo was only 2$! Quite a steal.

Sammie and Cole both did great. Sammie was so excited and brought her letter for the big guy. She just gazed into Santa's eyes and said, "Santa, I've been good".

Cole was good, sort of. He just kept looking at him like, "Hmmmm, I think I like you but this isn't right."

It was really sweet. Great memories!

Then on the ride home Sammie asked me, "Mommy, was that Santa the one from the North Pole because he didn't sound the same as the Santa from last year"!!!!!! Oh my gosh, if she really remembers that we are in trouble!

Dress Up

Maura and Maggie came over the other morning to play and the kids had a great time. As per usual, Maura and Sammie disappeared to Sammie's room to play and Maggie and Cole snacked together. It wasn't long before the big girls came out asking to dress up. Sammie was Cinderella, Maura was Sleeping Beauty, Maggie was a little Cinderella and Cole-the mailman of course. He was delivering invitations to the ball. In reality he HATED wearing the mailman shirt and was pulling at it yelling. He only wore it long enough for me to snap these pics.
It was a fun and entertaining morning:)


Maggie and Cole enjoying some Cheerios together.

Hey hey hey hey Mr. Postman.

Maggie, Sammie and Maura-the royal princesses.

Sammie's preschool put on a little Christmas program for the parents on Thursday. It was adorable. Hopefully there will be video to follow...

Sammie enjoyed singing for all of the parents...even Daddy who went in to work late so he could be there to clap for her! It was hilarious, Sammie and the little girl next to her were basically having a singing contest. The didnt' really even look out in to the crowd-mostly just at each other. It was a hoot!

After the performance her class had their Christmas party. I was one of the "volunteer Moms" for the party so I got to stay. It was fun! They did crafts, games, decorated cookies and had a book exchange. Sammie was so excited to get a new princess book. And Mommy and Daddy are happy to have a new book to read as well!

It was a great way to kick off Christmas break.

Gingerbread Houses

This morning in Sammie's preschool class it was Gingerbread house day! Moms and Dads were invited to come help so I got to go with her! At first she wasn't sure about getting all messy, but once she tasted what was making her messy, she was in! It was really fun watching all the kids build. They all have such great, and different, ideas!
Sammie's house has a wall of teddy grahams guarding the house, a lake with bears swimming (complete with beach ball), a tree and bushes with holly berries!
It was such a fun morning.

A Morning with Friends

This morning we went over to Mary's for a playdate. We bundled the kiddos and went for a long walk, played, did a craft, had breakfast and did a book exchange. Sammie and Cole made out with a Dora book and a Bernstein Bears book...2 of our favorites!!!
This kids had such a great morning. It's so fun to watch them all, with their little personalities:) And we must have really worn them out because I am getting the double nap today-wah hoo!
Thanks Mary and Tyler for letting us have your house for the morning:)


The whole gang eating breakfast.

Cole and BFF Tyler.

My pretty girl.

How cool is this hat???

3 amigas by the tree.

Opening books.

Chandler Light Parade

Last night we packed it up and went to the Chandler Light Parade. It was pretty fun. Sammie loved watching all of the floats, bands and charactars. Cole just wanted to run around. He could not seem to just hold still long enough to "watch" anything! Except at the very end of the parade Santa was on the back of a very large fire truck and he liked that!!!
All in all it was a fun night:)


There were even pony rides!!!

Cole loves it when his big sis holds his hand.

Taking Cole for a walk around.

Wouldn't be complete without glowsticks!