An Old-Time Christmas at Silver Dollar City

 Our awesome friends, April and Tommy Lowden, invited us to go to Silver Dollar City yesterday. 

We had so much fun. Chris took a half day and we left at lunch to drive over. Luckily they weather wasn't terrible so we were able to really enjoy ourselves. And as an added bonus, Mimi, is visiting so she got to come too. 

Bailey really loved the snowflakes that were painted/chalked onto the roads. 

Our first stop was "half-dollar Holler" where we rode the carousel a few times and then played in the rope tree house. The kids and I played while Daddy, Mimi and Tucker explored the vendor booths and demonstrations. 

Bailey loves the carousel. 

Tanner was really excited to get to sit in the carriage because he wanted to get a closer look at the park map. That boy LOVES maps and instructions of any kind. 

Fun in the tree house. 

Next the kids and I went over to the "Grand Exposition" area. It is full of carnival like rides for younger kids. Thankfully, both Tanner and Bailey were tall enough to ride the rides alone this year. 

They had a great time together. 

Then we met back up with Daddy, Mimi and little Tuck. 

Tucker, of course, was just chilling like an angel in her stroller. 

Then Daddy took Bailey on the swings. She was a little mad she couldn't do these alone, but she got over it. These swings get so dang high!

Then we met back up with our friends for dinner at the "Old Mine Restaurant"

After that it was time for the parade. That is always a hit. 

Then we hopped on the train for a ride around the park to see all the lights. 

The park really is magical at Christmas. And something that I really love is the nativity scene. The train stops about halfway and they do a reading of the nativity story and as they read it, pictures light up. Its awesome and my kids actually really listened. 

Then we finished the train ride. And went to watch the big Christmas tree that lights up to music. 

Here are some pictures of the park all decked out for Christmas. 

We are so grateful we have wonderful friends to take us to do fun things. 

And we are grateful that are kids have wonderful friends too. These kids had a blast together!

It was so fun. After watching the tree for a while, we loaded up and went home. Thankfully the kids slept the entire drive home. We had so much fun and now it really feels like Christmas. 

How is it already December?

I don't know where the year has gone, and now its December. We decorate our tree a couple nights ago and I'm still kind of in shock that we have a tree and that Christmas is in like 3 weeks. WEIRD. 

Here are the kiddos before we started decorating. 

They LOVED decorating this year.

 They were really really good at decorating the bottom half of my tree. 

It got lots and lots of attention. 

I really love Tanner's faces he makes when he's concentrating. 

Bailey was dancing to the Christmas music and having a grand time. 

Again with the concentration..

And we can't forget about this little bug. How cute is he? He was so "helpful" tonight. 

Oh Tucker. Such a sweetie. 

Then today, we met mailed our Santa letters at the North Pole Express drop box. 

Tanner has complete faith he will be getting the toy he asked for, "bumblebee transformer"

Bailey really really really wants the "Tiana magiclip princess". That's all she asked Santa for in her letter. So cute. 

And sweet Tucker didn't really know what was going on, but he was happy to be part of it. 

These sweet babies of mine are so much fun this year. The holiday season has barely begun and I just know they are going to bring so much enthusiasm and excitement to our outings. I can hardly wait. 

Elf on the Shelf Return

Today is December 1st and today our Elf on the Shelf, Buddy, returned.

We had a big "Welcome Back" breakfast (for dinner) to celebrate. 

Our breakfast was "gingerbread" themed and it was so fun. 

Turns out, Santa sent reinforcements this year. Buddy brought a friend back to us this year.
Bailey promptly named her "Sparkle" and fell in love with her. 

Here was our centerpiece. The kids were so excited to decorate it. 

And the place settings.

Our breakfast consisted of gingerbread man shaped pancakes, which kids got to decorate, bacon and scrambled eggs. Then we had milk and hot cocoa to drink. 

It was a big hit with the kiddos. 

Even little Tuck enjoyed some pancakes. 

After we finished breakfast, we decorated our gingerbread house.
Tanner was so awesome this year. I piped the frosting but he told me where to put it and put on a lot of the candy. We had to let Bailey help a little, but Tanner did the majority of our house this year. 

They are pretty proud of their gingerbread house. 

My kids are getting so big and I have a feeling this Christmas is going to be a lot of fun. 

Then Daddy read the kids the "Elf on the Shelf" book and we let each of the kids give their elves some snuggles before they weren't allowed to touch them all month. 

It so hard to not touch the elves. (If children touch them, they lose their magic and they can't move or do fun stuff at night). So letting them get their snuggles out in the beginning helps. 

To finish off our return party, the kids let Tucker open the gift our elves brought us.
Tucker tore the wrapping paper off to reveal two Christmas books. The kids were thrilled.
(I love that my kids adore books so much). 

I hope our elves feel properly welcomed because we are ready for some fun this holiday.