A Dolly Christmas

Last year the girls started a tradition of taking a Christmas photo for Christmas cards with their dolls. I suggested it last year to show off the matching girl and doll Christmas dresses Meamaw and Grandpa got for the kids. This year they dressed the dolls and staged the photo themselves. Then MiniM.E. created the cards and signed and addressed them. They are so cute!

Tree Lighting

The Victorian Stroll in downtown Saratoga and the Gavin Park Tree Lighting are always back to back. It makes for a very exciting and very exhausting start to the season. This year, toting four kids, we decided to go to a "pre-stroll" party on Thursday and skip the walking around in the downtown cold and only do the tree lighting. It was cold and damp but Santa's arrival on the firetruck was worth the wait for the kids. 

And the indoor party with free snacks, movies, and Santa is a huge hit.

Snow Play

We've had some freak snow storms in the past few year that gave us snow on Thanksgiving and once even snow before Halloween. But this has been the craziest December. It's ridiculous the snow we've already gotten and we aren't even a full week in. 

While I know we'll all be sick of it by March, the novelty hasn't worn off yet. Lots of fun playing outside the past few days!

 We even brought the snow play inside!

The girls are enjoying the snow much more now that they can play more creatively and maneuver better in their snow gear. I am pleasantly surprised at how much the boys seem to enjoy being out in the snow!

Trimming the Tree

As we decorated today, I wanted to document the decorating with my camera's remote. In typical "spice things up" (a.k.a. ruin all Mom's plans), SlimJim decided to come down for the decorating wearing this:

So they weren't quite the photos I was hoping for, but I guess they document our family dynamic.

 

Merry Christmas Season!

Cutting Down the Tree

The season between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so short this year that I really wanted to get the tree the weekend before Thanksgiving, but with such a full house we wouldn't have had room for the tree and the table in the living room. 

We headed to Bob's Trees, our favorite cut your own farm because they have reindeer and wagon rides. Found the tree right away, in typical fashion. As MiniM.E. kindly informed us, "getting a tree is like looking at the first tree and then having to walk around a farm all day until your legs hurt finding the best tree and just picking the first one that only Mommy likes anyway." This year with four kids in tow and no snow for pulling the sled, we only did a little of the "walking around the farm all day".

Compared to how easy it was to check if all our lights were working, decide they weren't, buy new ones at the store, decided those wouldn't do, and go back to get more lights from a different store, getting the tree this year was a walk in the park!

On the agenda for tomorrow: the rest of the Christmas decorating!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a busy, full house for Thanksgiving. Gram and Grumpy, Auntie Jen and Uncle Dan and E., Uncle Billy and Aunt Donya and their new baby, and our neighbor from across the street. 

It was loud and crazy and busy and hectic and delicious. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Best of Friends

SlimJim is just coming into playing with the girls. LittleL.G. is the closest in age, and they play frequently and fiercely. It is a love, hate relationship: when they are playing they are either having the best time in the world, or someone is in tears. Adding a boy to the mix has certainly spiced things up and I'm always surprised at how differently they play than the girls. 

If found this today (pardon the crumbs visible in this photo- you wouldn't have believed what was attached to those pajamas when they got out!)