I Heart December!

So many fun things to do in December!

Well, this doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas, but Friday was Claire's last dance class for this session and we were invited to come in and watch.  They all looked so cute and Claire was really proud to show me what she'd learned.  She has loved doing these classes at the Y so we'll be back in January!

Saturday Daddy went to the UVA/VCU basketball game.  He couldn't get his hands on tickets, but then was offered a chance to go as a Nationwide representative and "work" the game.  While he was gone for the day, I had planned to take the kids to the parade downtown, but it was raining and I wasn't brave enough to try it on my own and in the rain!  So we settled for watching it on tv in our pj's!  They were excited to see Santa at the end!

Dec 1, Elfie showed up swingin' from the chandelier!

Elfie showed up on December 1st and they have loved searching for him each morning. He's been pretty laid back so far, but yesterday morning he had prepared some tiny pancakes and left the rest of the batter in the fridge for our breakfast :-)

Sunday was a big party day - first was Eileen and Larry's Christmas party.  They were our realtors last year and invite all their clients to come and visit with Santa, have treats, and crafts for the kids. It's really nice and I am hoping the photographer got some good photos of us!  (One of our few chances at a family photo)

At first Fielder wanted nothing to do with Santa.  He warmed up to him a bit, but mostly Santa won him over when he told a perfect-for-Fielder joke!  I was trying to get a picture of the kids and couldn't get Fielder to sit still or smile at me so Santa came over and was "trying to remember" how to sing Jingle Bells.  He asked Fielder, "Is it Jingle Reindeer?  Noooo....Is it Jingle POOP?!"  Well, Fielder thought that was HILARIOUS.  He thinks if you just add the word poop, anything is funny.  Of course, then he kept singing Jingle poop at the party, but that is totally Santa's fault.

Claire didn't give this Santa too much attention.  She wasn't convinced he was the REAL one so she spent her time on the crafts.  (Although she really did get a kick out of catching Santa in the kitchen eating cookies!)

Photographer's pics:

After that party, we went straight to the bowling alley for a friend's birthday party.

Kids in bowling shoes are so cute!!  Especially when they are wearing princess dresses!  (It was a princess bowling party, duh)

I tried to explain to Claire that "real bowling" doesn't use a ramp, but she insisted on the ramp and loved it.  She's begging to go back and do it again.

Happy Birthday Gracie!