Christmas Eve

Well the morning of Christmas Eve we took a trip to Doctor's Care. Lily was coughing a little and complaining of her ear, so I figured it was an ear infection. So glad we took care of it before the big day and an airplane trip to NY!

We made cookies for Santa the night before. This was the first year we tried to shape them ourselves and Grace really enjoy it. Next time we need to use a little less dough for each shape (and I could use some new cookie sheets)...

We decorated the cookies on Christmas Eve....

 We ate our traditional Shrimp and Grits...

 

 Lily found the pickle in the tree ( a German tradition) which

 means she was able to open the first present...

Sisters...

I will cherish this...

Giving Gifts...

My Loves

Feeding the Reindeer

Drinking  hot chocolate out of "real" mugs and watching

 The Polar Express, another Christmas Eve tradition...

We had a fun family day and can't wait to see the girls reaction to Santa's gifts... Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas...

Here are some of my favorites from the photo shoot 

I tortured the girls with  for our Christmas card...

 Christmas 2013

Christmas 2011

Gingerbread and Reindeer Food

We had fun making gingerbread houses. This year we got a kit that had several little houses. Lily was really into it and sat for a long time decorating each house. Too bad our naughty elf snowflake ate the houses last night...

She was very proud of her work...

The other night we had the Dinkins over for dinner and to make reindeer food.

 Grace read a book to all the little kids.

Bennet had fun playing the instruments.

 The Reindeer Food Bar

We are looking forward to feeding the reindeer on Christmas Eve!

The kids received a special package from the North Pole (candy canes and chocolate)...

We are looking forward to a fun Christmas Eve!

Christmas Cheer

We survived the last day of school and 

had fun wearing our PJ"s all day!

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear," our favorite quote from one of our new favorite movies Elf. Well, we spread lots of Christmas cheer on Saturday. We went down town to a Christmas sing along concert, it was so much fun!!! We got a little fancy and the girls loved the show.

Downtowne at the Sotille Theatre

walking around downtown in 80 degree weather after the show...

Me and my Girls

On Saturday night we spread more cheer and went

 Christmas caroling with some people from the neighborhood...

They just loved singing and making people happy!

Love this time of year, so many happy memories...

Tis the Season...

We have been busy having lots of holiday fun! 

We went to the Mount Pleasant Christmas parade...

We went to a Christmas party with lots of family and friends...

We've been wearing lots of festive outfits. 

(the girls want to wear x-mas pj's every 

night, so I am doing lots of laundry)

My Two Favorite Gifts...

We went to the Festival of Lights...

Carousel Ride

Changing the light colors on the tree...

Daddy's Girl

Ready for the Train Ride

Smores!

Time to go home...

This time of year at school is crazy and fun at the same time. The kids come in each day excited to tell stories of what their naughty elf did and we lots of art/craft projects. I am excited to be on Christmas break and have this time to spend with my girls (my only wish would be that Brooks could get time off as well). We have lots of fun activities planned and are looking forward to spending time together with family and friends...