Santa came!

Emma really got into Santa more this year.  We had an Elf on the Shelf that reported to Santa about our behavior and sometimes came back from the North Pole with little gifts from Santa.  For about a month before Christmas if a commercial came on TV or she saw something at a store she would say you would like to ask Santa for that.  I told her that we would go see Santa and she could tell him but really I doubted she would agree to sit on his lap, considering she has never agreed to this before!  

She had told me that she wanted a Lalaloopsy doll and also a puppet theater and the arrangements had been made!  Well then Santa came to her school party.  She didn't sit on his lap but did stand beside him and told him that she wanted a barbie doll-no problem!  She kept asking about going to see Santa so we went to the mall on Tuesday before Christmas.  Well she jumped right up on his lap and after pictures continued to sit and tell him what she wanted which had changed.  Her list now included a Disney Princess Castle!  I was kind of afraid this was going to happen-she had mentioned the castle multiple times to me but I thought she would forget about it.  Guess I was wrong.  I talked to Bradley later that night and well you can see what happened...

 There was some switching of some presents, Santa had to work on that castle into the wee hours of Christmas Eve, and some late night wrapping took place.  In the end it was all worth it on Christmas morning!

 I loved that Emma was so excited about everything you got.  It is so special to see that excitement through a child's eyes.

 So I like this picture of Bradley unwrapping one of his gifts-not because of what he is about to see but because of what Anna Claire is doing in the background.  She is gathering up all of the food that she got in her stocking!  This describes her perfectly right now.  She is constantly eating and constantly moving.  When we eat meals she is definitely the better eater out of our two girls.

Christmas Eve

Since Christmas Eve fell on Saturday it gave me plenty of time to get things done during the day.  I needed the make dishes for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day get togethers, so I spent most of the morning in the kitchen.  These cookies are my new go to.  They are easy and super yummy.  Hot cocoa cookies-I found the recipe on Pinterest but then saw it in the Rachel Ray magazine this month.  I also made a pecan pie in a cast iron skillet for Christmas Day.  This pecan pie takes about 5 hours to make but it is worth every minute!    If you are making this pie be prepared to serve it in the skillet-there is not really a way to get it out before slicing.

 I had this cute little helper with me in the kitchen!

 We went to church at 4 and then came home for a little while before heading out to family stuff.  Emma needed to go ahead and put out her Reindeer food so the reindeer could find their way!

 By the time it was ready to leave for our family event all the kids in our house were fast asleep.  I hate waking up a sleeping kid but we didn't have a choice on this one.  I have to say that both girls behaved very well considering we had to wake them up.  We got home just in time for Emma to put cookies out for Santa and jump into bed.

Good thing those girls went to bed early because Santa had a pretty big project to work on...

Christmas Program

Better late than never to catch up on the blog.  I am working back all the way to December 13th when Emma had her school Christmas program.  It was her class and the four year old class.  We had a pretty good idea of the songs they would be singing as we had heard most of them in the car at one time or another.  I was pretty surprised to see on the program that there were about 12 songs to be performed and some I had not heard from my child yet.  Don't worry, since the program we have heard them!

  After the program there was a reception for the kids and parents.  I am pretty sure Emma shoved about 3 cookies in her mouth right before we took her back to her class for the rest of the day!  Thank you to all of the supporters we had that came-even sweet baby Campbell came and napped through the whole program!  I didn't get any great videos from the program but I got this one from that same morning.  Of course both of these songs were performed!



 

Smiley Girl

Anna Claire turned 10 months this past week so I thought I would share some pictures from the weekend.  She is such a happy girl-oh and a little messy as you can tell from her shirt.  She is into everything these days.  I was doing laundry this weekend and she got the basket and started playing with it.  This easily amused her for a good 5 minutes!

You will notice the bumps and bruises she has-that just comes with the walking territory!  She has been walking for about a month now and she thinks she can conquer anything!

Snow Day

Last week we woke up to a very snowy morning.  I think I had some idea that there was a possibility for snow but I didn't really pay attention.  So much to my surprise when I looked out the window in the morning everything was covered in snow-except the street.  Luckily, schools were still open and we made it around just fine.  This was Anna Claire's first time to see and touch the snow.  It snowed right after she was born in February but we didn't take her outside.  

We Wish you a Merry Christmas

I promise this blog will not become a tribute to Emma singing but she is busy preparing for her musical debut aka school program and we get to hear her practice everyday.  I do have some snow pictures that I snapped this morning.  Let me get them uploaded and I will get them posted.  In the meantime enjoy some We Wish you a Merry Christmas-with Emma lyrics!



 

Jingle Bells

Be sure to listen to the words to Emma's Jingle Bells-you are sure to get a laugh!