~ Officially on Christmas Break ~

Jaidyn and Addy had their Christmas parties at preschool today and they won't return until the beginning of January, so we are officially starting our Christmas break. Yeah! I am looking forward to a couple days of down time...I really need to clean the house, it is a disaster. I would be so embarrassed if someone happened to stop by right now.






How many more pictures is my mom going to make me take this morning?


How much longer do I have to wear this stupid Santa hat?




The Reindeer Pokey, "You put your antlers in!"




Christmas Carols!!!


"When Santa comes to our house, I'd like to take a peek
but I know he'll never come until I'm fast asleep."


Daddy had the day off so he was able to come to the party.




A Christmas snowflake ornament for the tree.


Cookie decorating


Lots of sprinkles!








Addy has been dying to wear this Christmas dress every day since I bought it. She was so easy to get dressed this morning. It was so nice to have her cooperate and get dressed so quickly. Usually my morning consists of, "Addy, get your clothes on. Addy, you need to put your shoes and socks on. Addy, go in the kitchen and pick out your cereal. Addy, hurry and eat. Addy, have you put your shoes on yet? Addy, you still need to brush your teeth." I'm usually exhausted before we even get out the door.


Addy was quite the caroler. She knew every word and all the actions. Too cute!

What Santa Doesn't Bring Me...

What Santa Doesn't Bring Me, Grandma Will!

The kids received these darling pj's in the mail as a surprise from their Grandma LaLa. Can you tell they are definitely spoiled. And I noticed that there is nothing mentioned about PaPa on the pj's...I guess that will teach him not to leave ALL the Christmas shopping up to Grandma.


This morning we braved the cold and misting rain to see Santa and watch the local parade. We first stopped off at the library so each of the kids could sit on Santa's lap. Jaidyn and Addy were prepared as they both had items on their list that they wanted him to know about. Jaidyn also asked Santa if he liked apples. Lately she has been very concernced about Santa and his big belly. She is worried that if he keeps eating cookies he won't fit down the chimneys anymore. She has decided that we are setting out milk and apples for Santa on Christmas Eve. Levi did not like Santa at all and wanted nothing to do with him. We did torture him for a few seconds just so we could get a picture of him on Santa's lap.


We haven't even made a dent in the Halloween candy and now after the parade we have refilled the candy bowl. Ugh! Levi wouldn't wear his gloves and his poor little fingers had to be frozen. He didn't seem to notice because he must have thought picking up candy and putting it in the bag was a game as it completely occupied him.






Yesterday, I was able to spend some time with my college roomate, Kristin and her daughter Elise.

Jaidyn and Addy always raid Nana's dress-up clothes closet (clown and cheerleader outfits) and also dressed Elise up with a little pink cape.
It was so nice to spend time with the two of them. And I am so glad to see that Elise is doing so well. Her family is currently living in Florida so it may be several years before we are able to get together again. We had planned that we would live with our backyards connecting after college so our kids could grow-up and play together, but it just quite hasn't worked out that way yet. :)

Jaidyn is 5, First Snow & Ugly Sweaters

Jaidyn turned 5 this past Wednesday. I can't believe she is 5 and that a little over 5 years ago Wes and I were childless. It is crazy to think how much our lives have changed in a 5 year time period.

Jaidyn is a very sweet, caring little girl and we are so proud of her in so many ways. Jaidyn, We love you so much...Happy 5th Birthday!

We celebrated her birthday at McDonald's the night before her actual birthday with many of her preschool friends.












Where there's food, there's Levi!!












We let her open her gifts from us on her birthday morning.

On her birthday she received a sweet little surprise text on my phone from her preschool friend (who she also tells me she has a crush on).


We had an hour or so of big fluffy snowflakes so Wes took Levi out on the deck and let him experience his first snow. He was fascinated by the flakes and would hold his hand out catching them. I am guessing we will have much more of this to come and we have his snow boots and gloves ready for that day.




This is Wes and I's darling spirit-filled sweaters for the Ugly Sweater Party. My sweater had a huge sequin bow across it and I added the big bow in my hair to go along with the theme of my sweater. Definitely 80's. Don't you just love Wes's glittery holiday sweater accented with his turtle neck? It was a women's petite so it had 3-quarter sleeves and fit him across his stomach. He also wore some matching socks. Yikes!

If anyone has one of these parties coming up or actually think they are "Purdy", we would be more than willing to part with them.