Santa and Trains

We had heard about Northpark Mall having what are called, "The Trains At Northpark" which is a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald house. We thought this would be a good year to check it out with our little train fanatic. As I was looking at the site, I saw some Santa info and thought this would be a good chance to fit that visit in as well.

Story time with Santa. I have never heard of this before and it sounded like a lot of fun, so we headed to the mall early to listen to Santa tell a couple of stories. Lorelei was completely in love with this, Makin was ready to leave. So, he stayed with me in back and she sat up front by herself. The part they loved more than the stories was when he would tell them about the North Pole or not to leave the fire place going so he doesn't burn his boots, and also reminding them about the cookies of course. :) Made for a fun Santa experience we have never had. (In the picture she is looking at me after he talked about the cookies. Like...are you paying attention, Mom?)

We wondered around a bit waiting for our turn (this place gives out tickets/numbers) and also waiting as Brad was going to leave work for a bit to meet us there and see Makin's first Santa visit and the trains.

Lorelei walked right up and sat on Santa's lap and talked about her list. (Which, until this day, was very general and she did not have one set thing she wanted. Now suddenly there is one thing and only one thing she wants and everything else is "for next year." Lets just say, next year the list better be made earlier and with a sharpie, no amendments allowed.)

Makin held back. I actually thought he would have no hesitation this year as he happily talked about Santa and was totally pumped to see him, sit on his lap, and tell him what he wanted. After a minute of us coaxing and watching his sister, he let us put him on his lap and he did not freak out. Santa asked him what he wanted and he quietly said trains, so Santa did have ask Big Sis what he said. He warmed up and answered some questions and did great. It helps when Santa is AMAZING.

They both got a picture of Santa that he gave them that has a note on it and love having it in their room.

Then we headed to the trains! I'm pretty sure if it hadn't been nap time, Makin would have stayed for hours. We stayed 45 minutes or so, which is impressive if you see that this is NOT that big a room. :) He was completely entranced and followed the trains back and forth. They just made him speechless and in awe. He went through the groups of people following trains down their tracks and did not worry for a minute if one of us was not following him (thankfully it was not that crowded and I was VERY glad we had one adult per child). He favored a certain blue train that he liked watching the most.

Lorelei loved it. She could not spend the same amount of time there as her brother, but definitely enjoyed the experience. :)

Trying to catch a reaction to seeing the trains...close as I got but the smiles were huge. :)

Lorelei's favorite part of the day was seeing Santa. Makin's favorite part of the day was the trains. :)

Guess it was a good combo! :)

First Full Week Of Christmas Fun

We are having such a great time with all of our activities! :)
A few highlights:

Christmas Play-Doh 

Got a few tiny buttons for ornaments and made green play-doh with gold glitter. :) Huge hit. Will be using nearly every day I would guess. :)

Little Elm Animal Shelter

They loved picking out some items the animal shelter needed and dropping them off. Of course they were thrilled when they got a chance to see lots of dogs and cats as well. Wanted to make sure to do something animal-related for Miss Lor. We asked if there was any way for kids to volunteer, but not until much older. :(

Peppermint Shakes with Brownies and Polar Express Movie Night

They had so much fun helping make the brownies. :) And we were shocked at how entranced they were with the movie. Even Makin lasted through the entire thing! Was great to have some relaxing down-time as a family.

Reindeer Games

Thumbs Up For The First Annual Reindeer Games!

We had some fun games planned we knew they would enjoy. First up was Pin The Nose On Rudolf. All had a fun time and Lorelei did get a second try after she was so dizzy she put the first one on the windowsill. :)

We followed with one of Makin's all-time favorites, Duck, Duck, Goose, only in this case, naturally, it was Santa, Santa, Rudolph. He did NOT want to stop playing. Then Brad took them inside and played Santa Says while I hid mini-candy canes for the Candy Cane Hunt. Our last game was setting up an obstacle course for them to run though. By then they were pretty worn out, but had to hide the candy canes a few more times! :)

We topped off the night by walking down to the neighbor's yard. They have been asking to do this for at least a week, and a cold front is about to hit, so made sure to check out the shivering snowman and many friends in their yard. :)

The Games and Polar Express were actually last-minute changes when we decided to tweek a few of our plans and not do quite so many things out...actually quite excited and will probably keep them on the list for next year! :) Thinking maybe Reindeer Games might be a fun play-date plan for some group games! :) Loving all our fun!

Lorelei's Christmas Program

Lorelei was soooo excited for her Christmas program at preschool. She didn't want to tell me any of the songs they were singing, but I did find out she knew the words to The First Noel and that it was now her "favorite" Christmas song, so I knew that was one of them.

Kids all decked out for the night. They were soooo excited to leave when it was dark out and see houses with their Christmas lights up on the way.

Tallest in her class. :) She didn't seem that nervous at all before hand and it didn't seem to phase her much being on stage. She just kept looking at the crowd trying to find us. We finally got her to see us for the last song and then she was all smiles and lots of waving.

Sweet moment. We went to their classroom after the program and Makin wanted to sit down and color with her. The other seats were for her friends, so she scooted over and offered to share half her chair with Makin so he could sit and color. :) I think he ended up just standing but made me go "awe."

Teachers Ms. Vanessa and Ms. Kristen, and Best School Buddy, Olivia. :)

And along the school note, Ms. Vanessa had to take a full time job, so this week is her last week teaching Lorelei. I am kinda devastated as she is full of energy, makes each child feel like they are extra-special, and keeps me informed at the end of the day. Hopefully the change in teacher will leave Lorelei unphased, but we will miss Mrs. V's smiling face twice a week. Here is the back of the card from Lorelei...

And we figured the grandparents would want to see the program, so here are the videos. The rest of you don't feel like you have to. :)

The First Noel




Joy to the World




We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Three's and Fours Classes Together)

Surprise Under The Tree

Boy was it hard to wait for Sunday's surprise...all the way until after bath!!! I hit up a couple Black Friday sales for slippers and Christmas pajamas this year. It was so fun having them under a tree and treated extra-special. I also brought out the giant stash of Christmas books we keep in Makin's dresser/cabinet and put them under the tree. When they saw this under the tree they went completely CRAZY. It was more of a reaction than we could have even hoped for. The slippers were an unbelievable hit. I would have pictures for you, but they are all completely blurry, of two half-naked kids running around like crazy making monkey noises with only their slippers on. They were ecstatic over their pajamas and dove into the books like the treasure that they are. Then we took turns reading nearly all of the books under the Christmas tree. (Our original plan was to have a fire going too, but since it reached about 80 degrees that day, we had the AC on!)

Their sweet, excited, delighted reactions to our little surprise warmed our hearts. Wonderful night.

P.S. The next morning, neither child wanted to put on real shoes to go out. Both asked to keep wearing the slippers...that Makin left on all night and Lorelei slept with like they were stuffed animals. :)

Children's Medical Center Holiday Parade

We were excited to try out Dallas' big Christmas parade this year. The tricky part? We had to get there three hours early in order to get good seats! :) So, we packed up a bazillion snacks, made the kids special hot chocolate and headed on the road a little after 6 am. We were aiming to get there by 7, but did run a bit late. We seemed to have gotten one of the last few curb-side seats available! And then, we waited...and waited. ;) Thankfully when there was about an hour and a half left, the clowns came out. (Bottom left pic Lorelei is twirling in her Scrappy Christmas Tutu. No-sew and made by MOM! I know, pick yourself up off the floor. Oh and major help as Brad cut the strips for me. :) )

The clowns were amazing. We came to the conclusion that a certain number of clowns were assigned to each block. They were so much fun. If you asked for a picture they would all yell PICTURE and come huddle around for your pic. We didn't get many of the big groups, as the kids were taking a walk when the masses of clowns started heading down to spread out, but we still got one group. Two clowns from our block were the favorites. One had "magic dust" aka glitter, and would tell you to make a wish and then blow into your hands full of glitter, and then of course, you had glitter all over you. :) The other favorite blew bubbles and organized games. Isn't that the biggest game of duck-duck-goose you have ever seen? Makin did not want his picture taken with the crazy people with wild outfits and hair, but he couldn't resist the bubbles and did try duck duck goose for a bit. Lorelei was out in the thick of every game and wanted pictures with every single clown. :)

Finally the parade started. Brad's favorites were the bands. Lorelei said her favorites were Little Critter (we love those books) and the big bear balloon (she has a stuffed animal like it). Makin loved waving at everyone passing by. There would be a lul and he would say "More? More?" and was so excited that more was coming up each time.

These faces and expressions made it all worth it. :) Completely priceless and full of memories. :)

And couldn't resist a boot shot. :)

Some New Traditions

We have a couple of new Christmas traditions this year. So far, LOVING it. :)

Advent book and wreath. Brad's family did this growing up and he remembers it well. Although my family didn't do them every night, I was definitely in charge of lighting these candles in church every Wednesday and Sunday in December. My mom regrets not doing this with us, so made sure to send us the devotional booklets, wreath and candles this year. The kids love it, and I love taking a few minutes to read and celebrate the importance of Jesus' birth every single day!

Christmas Surprise activities each day.  I'm not big on a little elf bringing fun every day in December, but watching my VA Beach friends and all of their Christmas events really made me love the idea of a special activity each day, so we decided to do our own spin on it, minus the elf. ;) You will be seeing posts with these activities throughout the upcoming weeks. It is a mix of family fun, crafts, helping others, and a few others. Lorelei is LOVING the surprise every day factor! Each morning she pulls out a paper (this year I just stuck slips of paper in an advent calendar we already had, I will have to upgrade when she knows how to read!) and we read what the surprise for the day is. Boy am I having a hard time keeping my mouth shut, as we usually discuss these types of things for weeks/days as they are coming up. Lorelei is telling every one she sees about our special tree and the papers of fun activities. It just warms my heart how much fun they are already having and how excited they are.

The Big 3-0

My Happy Birthday Included Many of My Favorite Things:
chocolate chip pancakes, hugs and "Happy Birthday's" from the best kids in the whole world, a trip to Barnes and Noble complete with Starbucks coffee, many phone calls (including singing!) from family, messages that made me smile from friends and family, a few special packages in the mail, Red Lobster brought home for supper, a dishes-free night. :)

30 on the 30th. I should get a gold star for that right? ;)