SNOW DAY!

On Christmas night it started snowing. We were expecting a really big storm and it finally hit. Unfortunately, the next morning we discovered the storm wasn't as big as we thought it would be.

We only got about an inch.

Oh well. We still had fun playing in it. It was the first snow of the winter and we were going to make the most of it.

I love how the kids look in their snowsuits- walking marsh mellows.

Tanner eating the snow

Tanner didn't want to come back inside, but I bribed him with hot cocoa. We had fun and it definitely feels like winter around here.



Merry Christmas!

I can't even believe how much fun Christmas was this year. Tanner especially loved it this year, three is a great age for Christmas.

Here is Tanner with his stocking first thing Christmas morning. He came into our room and whispered in each of our ears "It's time to wake up" "It's Christmas"

So cute! He loved his stocking!

He loved his monster hat and his "star wars" underwear was a big hit!

After Tanner had a chance to go through his stocking and play, Bailey woke up. Chris went and got her out of her crib and brought her to the living room to see everything. It was entirely too cute to watch her face light up. The first thing she saw was her doggy hat and she immediately started asking for "Goggie". So I snagged it from her stocking and put it on her- she LOVED it!

Then Bailey enjoyed going through the rest of her stocking

Oh and when she discovered the doll her daddy had placed in her stocking, the world stopped.
She is so in love with that little doll! She loved the little bottle and feeding her doll. SO precious!

Here is Bailey with all her stocking loot

Tanner with all his stocking stuffers

Then we moved on to opening presents.

Both kids opened their shutterfly books first. Tanner loved his and Bailey was so excited to see her monkey on the cover of her book.

Then Bailey opened her "big" present. Not big like it was expensive, just that it was her main present and I knew she would flip over it.

She absolutely loved her puppy. She carried it all around the house.

And Tanner opened his big present- a "CARS" Lego set. He was super excited about this too!

He also opened this gem from his Aunt Stephanie. To say he was excited would be an understatement.  This kid loves "Star Wars"

Tanner saying a big "Thank you" to his daddy for his Lego's. So sweet!

Oh and my sweet husband got me a dvd player for the car and a kindle case. Yep, my MIL- got me a kindle. So fun! I can't wait to play with it more. I got Chris a wireless keyboard and some reloading tools. Then I went in with my parents on a tv for Chris.

After playing with our new toys for a bit, I scrambled to get breakfast made. They might be a little ghetto, but our waffles were festive!

 

Then I got the kids dressed in their Christmas outfits. LOVE how their shirts look together! Man- I love these kids!

We got all ready and then headed over to my parents for Christmas with them. This was Bailey for the longest time. Puppy in one hand, dolly in the other. Pretty much- she was in heaven!

And this was how she was giving "loves" to her puppy. haha. Always rubbing her face on stuff.

We opened presents and my kids were totally spoiled again. I think the big hit was the LeapPad. Both kids kinda loved that!

Papa showing the kids how to work the LeapPad.

Christmas was a huge success for everyone.

Even Aunt Laura got the boxing gloves she wanted. Although she had to wrestle Bailey for them!

Then came the playing with the toys..so cute. Papa and Bailey with her Puppy.

Then we took the kids home for naps and came back just in time for dinner. Yum.

After hanging out with the family a bit longer, we got the kids dressed in their Christmas pjs and headed home. We made an early night of it, since the kids were thoroughly exhausted from all the fun!

Bailey loved her new bunny slippers

Haha, Tanner kissing Bailey. She really does like him...you just can't tell in this picture.

Christmas pjs. Love it!

Anyways, it was such a great day.

Merry Christmas everyone!

T'was the night before Christmas...

Surprisingly enough, I wasn't wrapping presents on Christmas eve. Most things were done, which for me is a huge deal. The kids and I enjoyed a quiet day, we played, made a Christmas tree pizza and watched a Christmas movie. Tanner loved this pizza.

Then the kids went down for naps and I had a chance to make the kids Christmas shirts. Love how they turned out.

After naps, our sweet neighbors came over and we exchanged gifts with them. We seriously love our neighbors.

Then we went to Nanny and Papa's for our Christmas eve festivities.

We kept it this simple and did deli sandwiches and chips.
Bailey and I after dinner- love this silly girl!

Tanner and Dad hanging out

Then we opened the calendars from my wonderful Aunt Lynnette. Every year she makes a family calendar. It's a tradition to open them together on Christmas eve.

Then came the main event. The gingerbread house smash. This year it was a gingerbread train.

Eventually all the kids got into it. Some just took longer to warm up than others.
For those who don't know our tradition, we let the kids smash our gingerbread house/train each year with toy hammers

YUM!

gingerbread in each hand....that's my girl!

After the gingerbread smash, we loaded the kids up and headed home. We still had lots of traditions to do on our own. We are trying to start doing more on our own- making our own family traditions. So after we got home, there was a knock at the door and this is what the kids found.

Love this look of surprise on the kids' faces

Tanner immediately ran outside and grabbed it.

Tanner was pretty excited.

Tanner showing me the book that was attached to the box

Kids opening the box

Tanner pulling their "urgent delivery" pajamas out

We got the kids dressed in their special Christmas pajamas and then we read the book "The Pajama Elves". It's all about these little elves that measure you while you are sleeping and make your special pajamas to wear on Christmas eve. The pajamas are made with Christmas magic and help you sleep soundly so Santa can come without waking anyone. It's such a cute story. The kids loved it.

Then we quickly gave the kids their reindeer food and we went outside to sprinkle it on our lawn.

The label read something along the lines of
"Sprinkle this outside your house tonight.
The moonlight will make it shine so bright.
As the reindeer fly and roam,
this will help guide them to your home"

Tanner sprinkling the reindeer food on the lawn.

Bailey thought it was so fun to dump it all out.

Then we came back in and found our elf, Buddy, had left us a note saying goodbye.

Then we let the kids say their goodbyes to Buddy. Yes, we let them hug him goodbye. He didn't need his magic to fly because Santa was coming to get him. Therefore, it was okay to touch him this one time.

Isn't this picture darling? 

Bye Buddy!

Bailey huggin on Buddy

Then we laid out our cookies for Santa and got ready for bed.

Tanner was pretty excited for Santa to eat the donut reindeer we had made for him.

We let the kids fall asleep in front of the tree. I remember loving sleeping in front of the tree as a child and I wanted to pass that thrill and excitement onto our kids.

Bailey was so exhausted. She didn't last long. We moved her to her bed first.

Then Tanner eventually fell asleep and we moved him into his bed too. Isn't the picture precious though?

After moving Tanner to his bed, Santa was able to come.

Here is what Santa brought for Tanner this year.

And here's Bailey's stocking from Santa

Stocking loot. I love doing stockings. I love finding the perfect little stocking stuffers, even if they don't always fit inside their actual stockings. Oh well...next year I'll try and keep it more under control.

Christmas eve was so fun. Our kids are getting so big and holidays just get to be more and more fun the older they get. I LOVE IT.

Merry Christmas!