Christmas Program, Santa, Nutcracker, B'day

This week we had the treat of attending the kindergarten Christmas program at Katie's school. It was very cute and we were very excited to hear Katie do her speaking part, which she had been practicing (see videos below).




After the program all the parents were invited back to the classroom to work on an art project with their child, which was a little nativity scene.

On Saturday Grandma and Poppy arrived for their week-long visit and that evening we went to visit Santa. Both girls were comfortable going to talk to him and we actually got a photo with two smiles!

Santa asked the girls who had been good this year and both raised their hands. Then he asked "Who's not telling the truth?" and Caroline raised hers! Katie asked for an Easy Bake Oven and Caroline requested baby doll stuff. Glad our rehearsals paid off, so we didn't have any surprise additions to the list on Dec. 19!

After Santa we enjoyed a nice dinner out and then drove around to look at some Christmas lights.

On Sunday the "boys" and Caroline ventured to an interesting mega/specialty grocery store/park to purchase our Christmas roast. Poppy enjoyed taking a peak inside of one of the best restrooms in the world. Too bad Grandma wasn't there to get a look!

That afternoon, Katie and I took Grandma to the Nutcracker as her Christmas present.

We enjoyed a nice lunch downtown.

And we also looked at all of the old department store windows that they have on display--which Katie looks forward to as much as the ballet.

And then we enjoyed the show. Katie didn't talk as much this time, or ask as many questions, but she was fidgety!

Here's Katie with her new change purse- a birthday gift from Great Gammy and Great Poppy in Nova Scotia.

Monday was Katie's actual birthday. We had already celebrated some in November, but we had a few little gifts for her to open including her Daisy Scouts necklace.

She had a fun day at home with Grandma and Poppy and requested to stay in her pajamas until after her rest time.

That evening we went out to dinner and Katie got to bring her friend Miranda. Jamie requested some birthday singing from the wait staff for Katie and the look on her face was priceless! She looked absolutely mortified during the singing/clapping, but then as soon as it was over, she said "That was awesome!"

The kids enjoyed snowman sundaes and got to decorate their ice cream. None of them ate much of it, but Caroline did enjoy "doing shots" of the little cups of candy decorations.

After dinner we went home and Katie opened a few more gifts and then she and Miranda played with her new bead set.

That night as I put her to bed, I asked if she had had a nice birthday and she got this sad look on her face and paused for a long moment and then said "Yes, but I just wish it wasn't over."

As part iof her birthday present, Katie received some nee leotards and started gymnastics classes on Tuesday. Grandma and Poppy came along and we were all pretty entertained. She really enjoyed it and did a nice job listening and following instructions.

More Christmas Fun

We continue to get ready for Christmas. This year Caroline has gotten her own little tree for her room. It was interesting to watch the girls negotiate over ornaments. Katie was quick to identify the "best" ones and quietly horde them while convincing Caroline that others were better I think this scene was reminiscent of when Mom asked Jen and me to divide up the ornaments several years ago!

You can see that Caroline used the clump method of arranging the decorations. She was particularly delighted with a homemade Care Bear ornament that Aunt Jen's crafted back in her younger days.


This week also marked the milestone of Caroline moving into a big girl booster seat, which is a huge convenience for us! We had reached the point that we couldn't get Caroline buckled in with her coat or we would have to make her lean forward while crunching her coat in. You can see she is very pleased with herself in her new seat!
This weekend we spent a lot of time making ornaments and decorating a mini Christmas tree for my high school friend Tom who is currently deployed in Afghanistan as an orthopedic surgeon. Katie was delighted with the project and worked very hard to make some very special ornaments for him.

Caroline enjoyed helping make beaded candy canes. But while we talked about the idea of doing something for others, she decided they would all be for her. We finally convinced her to give up one for Tom's tree. I guess it's hard to be generous when you're three!

Saturday morning, we went off to find our Christmas tree and decided to go for a big one. Caroline ended up picking the tree and it seems to have her ornery tendencies!
After the guys at the tree shop tied our tree to the roof of the minivan, we headed off on our short drive home. Minutes after we left the parking lot, there was a loud noise and low and behold, our tree had fallen off the roof of the van and was hanging off the passenger side (but still suspended). Jamie quickly pulled into a business' driveway and we cut the tree loose. After much deliberation, including what I call Jamie's melodramatic moment "Just leave me here with the tree and go back for help . . ." we decided to implement Katie's plan and "just shove it in the back of the van."
As you can see, Jamie rode in the back with it, and thankfully neither he, nor the tree rolled out.


Once home, we wrestled it into the tree stand. As I was busy twisting all of the holder things, Caroline decided to be my helper and ran for the screwdriver-which wasn't necessary to twist them-but should make Poppy proud!

We then enjoyed some cocoa and marshmallows and laughed about our tree adventure.

After church Sunday morning we worked on some other decorations.
Once naps were done we got to work decorating the tree. It's amazing that the ornaments made it through the process. The girls were very enthusiastic and I quickly realized that I had to man the ornament box while Jamie managed the tree and the ladder or everything would be crushed.



It was Katie's turn to put the star on the tree this year, which she really wanted to do until she got up there. The tree is probably about 10-feet tall, so it was quite a reach and she was scared (see fake smile and death grib on Jamie below).

Sunday night we went out for dinner and then enjoyed a horse carriage ride. Caroline was very excited about the ride and would not remove her coat during dinner "because the horsies were coming."

When we returned home, Caroline got to be in charge of lighting the tree, which she enjoyed as her special moment.

Monday afternoon I finished with the rest of the decorations and was quite pleased with the finished tree. Monday night we tried to perfect its placement and get the star to stand straight . . . and then Tuesday morning we woke up to find the tree toppled over! Perhaps we should not have attempted perfection!!! Thankfully only one ornament broke, but it appears that I need to uncheck "decorate tree" from my holiday to-do list! As I said, this tree is kind of ornery like Caroline!

Christmas Preparations and Pam's Visit

It was a very busy and fun week. I had meetings in Cincinnati this week for work and made the drive back and forth several days. Jamie's step-mom Pam arrived Thursday evening. My meeting was only half-day on Friday, so Jamie, Pam and I met up for lunch and did some shopping. We had Jamie's office holiday party that night, so we were grateful to have Pam there to be with the kids.

Saturday there was a St. Nicholas Festival at Katie's school, so while I was volunteering for my shift in the Secret Santa gift shop (note to self: do not volunteer for a.m. duties following Christmas party!) Jamie took the girls to enjoy many of the activites available, like making sand sculptures and decorating cookies.

Once I was done in the Santa Shop, Katie went in to make her purchases and Jamie and I tried to entertain Caroline who seemed to view the bake sale table as an open buffet! Every time we stopped to visit with a friend off she went to grab a cookie, and Jamie kept following behind with quarters. She enjoyed the storytime with Mrs. Claus and sat quietly for a few minutes there. Then she and Jamie left and Katie and I stayed to make reindeer food (which will need to be sprinkled on our lawn Christmas Eve) and visit the craft tables.

That evening we went out to dinner and enjoyed the Christmas decorations and live nativity scene.

Sunday we went to church where the girls celebrated St. Nicholas Day at Sunday School, then had a "quiet" day at home. I use the quotations because at times it was actually quite loud! Here the girls are pictured with Pam wearing their new Christmas pajamas, which were so snuggly that they made the girls want to wrestle around "snuggling" each other.

Pam left very early this morning (she and Jamie were up at 4:30 a.m.) and when the girls awoke much later, they discovered that we had our first snow of the season. Here they are watching it and discussing with each other whether school might be cancelled and whether they might wear their new boots.