More from December

Claire went to the Nutcracker again this year with Mimi, Samara, and Aunt Tara!  

We visited the house in Brandermill which won a nationwide contest!  We managed to get in to see it without much trouble and not too bad of traffic....but once it was announced that it had won the contest, the lines to get in were 30 minutes+!  They have actually had to make tonight the last night because of so many traffic problems.  Anyway, it was an awesome house and the kids LOVED the snow!!

We gave Mimi a pretty good tour of Midlothian and found some great houses!

Elfie brought us a "magic recipe" but it turns out he's not much of a cook.  We watched it turn colors and then slowly evaporate, but it was a dud.  One day we found a bag of marshmellows in the pantry which we think was from Elfie because he felt bad!

 Fielder "helping" mix the ingredients (and taste testing the sprinkles)

This was not our year for baking - either with Elfie's recipe or my own!  We tried to make sugar cookies and they were a bit of a disaster (even though they still tasted pretty good!)  Oh well, it's not like I need any extra sweets around here!

Elfie PJs!

It was an exciting morning here!  The kids found Elfie up on the cabinet holding a long ribbon with a note attached...

The note read:

Hello Claire and Fielder, it’s your buddy the Elf!

I’ve brought you a surprise since I’m tired of just sitting on a shelf!

In order to get it, you must be especially good…

To your teacher, your Mommy, your Daddy & friends, just like you should.

In order to find it, you must search in the tree….there is another note with more directions from me!

Oh good, you found another clue!

To get your surprise, you have one more chore to do….

Go up to your rooms and make sure they look neat.  Make your beds and tidy your space….now get off your seat! 

When you’re done, ask your Mommy to get the next clue…..it’s hidden in my shoe!  (Don’t worry, I’ve told her what to do)

I've never seen the kids work so quickly to straighten their rooms!!  When they were done, I told them that I had noticed Elfie's shoe in the office the night before and didn't know how it got there.  I said, let's go check there...sure enough, his shoe was there with one last note!

This is the last clue, I’m sure you’ll be glad.

In order to use these, you must NOT be bad.  Hidden beneath your beds are gifts just from me…. 

Wear them tonight to see the tacky lights and let your hearts sing with GLEE!  YIPPEE!

Back upstairs we ran to see what was under the beds!

Christmas pajamas!!!  YAY!  We laid the pajamas out on the bed (well, Fielder stuffed his back under his bed) and had to wait all day to wear them.

These are the cutest pajamas I've ever seen!  They looked adorable and they were SUPER hyped up.  It took 30 tries, but I got 1 picture of both kids smiling and standing still.

After dinner, I drove them around to see the lights.  Fielder must not have any memory of doing this last year because he had no idea what we were talking about.  But once he saw some lights, he loved it.  Of course, they loved the "jackpot" street the best which is a whole street of houses decorated.  We'll be back another night soon!

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!

Trimming the tree

Our house is ready for Christmas!  We are having fun decorating for our first Christmas in this house.  Now we're just waiting on Elfie....

Claire had fun helping me with the ornaments today and Fielder helped a little too.  So far only 1 broken...and it actually wasn't his fault!

Thanksgiving 2014

 Happy Turkey Day!  We made it a day-long celebration at Mimi and Papa's house this year with all the Masons.  We had a nice light lunch, including our fruit turkey, and then a day of playing with Samara!

Andy had a fun activity for us - he had collected pecan nuts and we cracked them open to make candied pecans.  The kids had a great time whacking the nuts with mallets - I think this kept them occupied longer than anything else.

We also made Native American costumes - probably more work for the parents - but the kids looked really cute!

Fielder helping Papa with Suduko

Here's Claire checking the status of the turkey.  We had a delicious meal - all of Mom's specialties and then Andy and I brought a few sides to go along.  Maybe one day my kids will appreciate the wonderful food????  They tried a few bites here and there, but mostly "feasted" on grapes and rolls.