Victorian Street Walk

Last night was the Victorian Street Walk.  Broadway closes and hundreds of people come out to walk around, go shopping, see people dressed in Victorian attire, hear carolers, and see the tree lighting and Santa.

In the past it has been a frigid event, but this year was unseasonably warm, which made it much more pleasant.

However, there didn't seem to be as much activity as in previous years.  We missed having the "Noah's Arc" and reindeer, and it seemed there were less performances and activities.

At least the carousel was open!

It was still fun to have an excuse to go out downtown in the evening in the winter!

A Cute Nap, Some Sandwiches, and A Boat

Cutting Down the Tree

This weekend began my favorite time of year, the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  To start our Christmas season we went to Bob's Christmas Trees to cut our tree.  It is definitely a drive to get there and both girls were a bit cranky since having company and lots of activity really tired them out.  The weather was less than ideal, cold and drizzly, but I can't give up the tradition of cutting down our tree to get one from a tree lot or get a fake one, so we pushed through. 

It was also a bit difficult because MiniM.E. now has a preference for trees and was insistent we find one that she thought was "the best one at the whole tree farm!"  It took almost an hour, but we did it- we found the best tree at the whole farm!

Once we cut down the tree, we went to see the reindeer.  MiniM.E. was disappointed that the wagon ride we'd been on last year wasn't open because of the weather, but this year the reindeer were a lot more interested in us than they were last year, so that sort of made up for it.

I had LittleL.G. in the Ergo so I don't have photos of her by the reindeer but for some reason deer are her favorite animal and she was SO EXCITED by the reindeer that she was almost JUMPING out of the carrier.

Happy Thanksgiving

So thankful.  And so full!

It was great to have everyone together at our house for Thanksgiving.  Thanks for coming Gram and Grumpy, Meamaw and Grandpa and Uncle Billy.  We missed you Auntie Jen and Uncle Dave!

The Week Before Thanksgiving

Bob is lucky to be able to take the whole week of Thanksgiving off this year.  Monday we went about our usual Monday activities, MiniM.E. had school and ballet and I had a lot of cleaning to finish up and dinner prep to do.

Yesterday Meamaw and Grandpa arrived yesterday evening and we had dinner together before they went back to the hotel for the evening.  

Today we met Meamaw and Grandpa downtown for a walk and lunch.

Then we just hung around the house until Uncle Billy and Gram and Grumpy arrived.

Its nice to have everyone here and the girls are so excited for Thanksgiving (especially MiniM.E.)!

A Chilly Afternoon

It is definitely turning colder and after being spoiled with the warm weather lately, the colder air definitely feels like a shock. Yesterday we went downtown in the late afternoon and because it gets dark so early, the shadows were already long and it was chilly in the shade!  But that didn't keep these girls from having a great time together.  

The moms started with coffee while the girls patiently snacked... 

And then the fun began.  First with insisting that everyone ride the horse outside Starbucks:

The best part of the afternoon were the unexpected blankets of leaves all over Congress Park.  MiniM.E. was thrilled to play in the leaves since our yard is (almost) treeless.

It was so cute, we had to stage an impromptu photo shoot:

If all that jumping and playing wasn't enough, the girls decided a jumping contest was in order:

The fun didn't stop there, after all the jumping, they wanted to climb trees-- the same one, at the same time:

These girls have become such good friends the past four years and it was hard to pull them apart when we all had to go home for dinner.  Great afternoon!!

Cuddles

Enough said.