A fun visit to Santa

We took the kids to see Santa last night. 


There wasn't a line and Santa was so sweet to actually talk to the kids about exactly what they want this year.  They sat on his lap for almost 5 full minutes!


Layla asked for bunk beds for her room and a giant craft set.


Hayden asked for bunk beds for his room and a BB gun.  Santa was very matter of fact in telling Hayden that if he got a BB gun there would be certain rules to go with it.  He was very nice and told Hayden to never shoot living things.

I'm excited for Christmas time and I can't wait to see what Santa will end up bringing!
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Christmas parties and snow!

We started out our day on Friday with snow.  It was such an exciting day of school Christmas parties and snow made it perfect.

Hayden's face was priceless when he saw Santa bust into the preschool classroom!

These two buddies were having a serious conversation.

After Hayden's party we went to Layla's class party.  It was so fun to meet a few moms and spend time with her teacher.

When we got home from a snowy day at school we found a package of goodies on our front porch!

It was a fun way to start the weekend!  

We had our new friends over on Friday night for a pajama party.  

We made homemade snow man pizzas!

For dessert we made pretzel kisses topped with M&M's.

We are loving this time of year!  Snow made it even more perfect!

We are hoping for more snow in the next few days.

our weekend

Our weekend started Friday afternoon with a little cheesecake decorating.  Layla wanted a fun snack, so the kids created Santa faces.  Layla's is the top left.  Hayden's is the bottom left picture.  He had a bit of a heavy hand when it came to red sprinkles.  Hello sugar overload on a Friday!

Saturday we went across the river into West Virginia for some shopping.  We also had a fun lunch at Ruby Tuesday.

We all split an appetizer of shrimp fondue.  It was really really good. 

Gary had fish tacos, I had a crab/lobster cake and the kids had fried shrimp and mini burgers.  It was a fun little lunch.  I thought I had eaten at Ruby Tuesday before, but I'm not so sure now.  It seemed really different than I remember.  It was good and a little more fancy than I remember. 

After lunch we went to the mall because we'd never been.  It is a nice little mall.  There is a Sears, Penny's, and a Belk.  There are also some other good stores we like, so we had fun exploring!  Hayden really wanted to see Santa, but Layla didn't want to see him for some reason.  We really didn't plan to see him, but it just worked out.  Layla was nervous, but she realized she was being silly.  Bless her heart.  She is so cautious about new things lately.  I love her!  

They had a nice conversation with Jolly St. Nick. 

Hayden is so proud of his new vest.  He has been asking for a vest for a few months.  I'm not sure where he got the idea, but I think a vest is just his style.  He really doesn't want to take it off.  We all got new coats at Old Navy.  Gary needed another coat and Layla needed a puffer-ish style coat that repels water.   I found a fun yellow coat and I couldn't pass it up.  We actually wear coats here in Ohio.  Shocker huh?!?  Sooooo the way I see it, we can never have too many coats.  I feel the same way about boots and gloves and hats and scarves.  I love boots and I really need them to keep my feet warm.  If my feet are cold my whole body is cold and lately boots and slippers are my favorite things.  I have only worn flats a handful of times.  While I'm on the topic of cold...it isn't so cold here today.  Tomorrow it will be, but today it is warmer here than in Texas.  I hear Texas had a bit of a cold snap!  I hope some of my Texas friends got some snow.

Happy Monday!

Christmas Card 2011 plus some...

Today I am sharing our Christmas Card for this year.

This card perfectly portrays our family.

I'm also sharing the kids Santa picture for this year.

My Christmas gift from Hayden's preschool was this picture in a frame!

How stinkin' sweet is that??

I'm not gonna lie. I teared up. 

My heart melted right into a puddle.

And this one???  

Oh wow...I have no words.  This is typical Hayden.

Merry Christmas!!!

Our weekend in iPhone pictures

We started out our weekend with pancakes for breakfast.

Gary makes the best pancakes and Hayden asked me to cut his like a pizza.

Can you tell I am loving my new iPhone.  I have really enjoyed the camera.  There are so many fun photo editing apps.  I love instagram and picframe.

I attempted to wear a sock bun.  It was so fun and cute, but I don't think my hair is long enough.  We got in the car and it fell out.  I was so sad.  I finally found a pinterest idea that worked for me....for about 10 minutes.  My hair just doesn't hold style.

We went to Cabela's after I got an email that Santa would be there!

This man was there on display.  The kids thought he was hysterical.  They asked if he was alive once.  He was a weird wax man doing a little camping!  Santa was in Cabela's in the huge room with all the animals on display.  The line was formed all through that room.  Thankfully we got to see all kinds of deer and wildlife while we waited in line.

Layla got to sit with Mrs. Clause.  Hayden didn't want any part of Mrs. Clause.  I was worried for a second that he wouldn't want to sit with Santa, but he did!

They were super excited to sit with Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Gary and I were so proud of the kids.  They were getting super antsy while waiting in line to see the jolly white bearded man.  I'm thankful for zero meltdowns.   The waiting was the hardest part, but they did great!

We stopped to take a picture of Hayden on this bull!

My cousin came in town from San Antonio.  We had the best time hanging out with him and my Aunt and Uncle.   We made slider sandwiches, warm mexican dip and buffalo chicken dip appetizers.  We played and watched the Heisman award presentation.  Yippee for Baylor's Robert Griffin III!!  We were so thrilled to see him win such an amazing award!

Today I woke up and sneezed about 150 times.  I guess I have a cold.  We skipped church and have had a low key day.  The kids got an email and video from Santa Clause.  They thought it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen, even though they got the same video last year. 

I made a new chex mix recipe.  It has walnuts, cranberries and cinnamon chex.  

I will share the recipe this week!

Look how festive these holly glasses are.  I have been drinking out of them the whole month of December.  I just love them!  They were Gary's parents and we use them now.  I feel so festive!

This evening we are gearing up for the last week of school before the Christmas break! 

Hayden has two days of school and Layla has five days.  They each have their class parties this week.  We are excited about a fun but busy week ahead.

I hope you had a great weekend!

loving this season

I love reindeer.  If I have a Christmas theme...it is reindeer. 



My favorite colors of Christmas are gold and red.

I had so much fun this past weekend with these two munchkins and their dad, who happens to be the best dad and husband ever.  I love this time of year and I love seeing the joy in our kids eyes.

Layla has not put her best friend Clarice down since we adopted her and Rudolph.

I am dying to make cookies...I can't wait to decorate sugar cookies and have Layla help me. But I want to wait until Layla is out of school.  She has five days left and then she is on vacation until the beginning of the year....so in the mean time I made oatmeal cookies.  They are so good and I am pretty sure each of us had at least 5 warm right out of the oven.  I used the same recipe I always use for oatmeal cookies.  The recipe is found on the lid of the Quaker oatmeal container.

Hayden ate his cookies front of the Christmas tree. 

If you haven't made a Portable North Pole message for your kids do it!

It is so fun if you do the Santa thing. 

We do the Santa thing in our house, but we never loose sight of the real reason for the season.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 6:6