Santa

I just realized I never posted the pictures from our visit to Santa this year! Geeez Well, here they are :p We waited in a very long line at the Frozen Ice Palace to see Santa. Daddy held our spot while the kids and I walked the mall and let them run wild in the kid play area. After an hour or so Santa took a break to feed his reindeer. Seriously. Okay, I realize the man needs a break but this seemed like the worst timing. We went after work on a Monday so we're talking 6:30 pm here the week before Christmas. Wouldn't you think maybe he should take a break before the holiday rush after work? So the kids took a dinner break themselves and were treated to Chick-fil-a. 

Luckily the kids were in good spirits and had fun all throughout. Once back in line they got to play with snow and sing and dance to Frozen songs. Happy kids!

 

Addie was looking forward to telling Santa what she wanted. Last year we were so focused on her not crying that we never even pushed actually talking to him! She told him she wanted a Frozen sign (we think she meant poster) but what she really wanted was a bike. All the Frozen movie paraphernalia in line didn't help! She does love the movie though and I was just happy she spoke to him! Connor told him he wanted weapons. Yep, that's right. Weapons. Santa said 'What kind of play weapons?' Connor said, 'No, real weapons.' Sigh. I really don't have a dangerous son, I swear! He's just into Clash of Clans and Minecraft right now :)

So that was that, we could check Santa off our to do list for the holidays. 

Ho Ho Ho

Taekwondo

Connor tested for his high orange (Kindergarten) belt last week and did awesome!

Connor and Reid - no contact sparring

Connor receiving his new belt from Master Dan

We are very proud of his quick accomplishments! At this rate he will likely skip the white belt and go straight to yellow before the end of the school year. 

Good work, Connor!

Ugly Sweater Party

We held our 4th annual Ugly Sweater Party on December 13th. We had another great turnout this year with 26 of our closest friends in their tackiest attire! John and I have historically found our sweaters in local thrift stores but decided to make ours this year. Finding an ugly sweater has gotten easier since we started throwing this party - seems you can find them almost anywhere now (if you're willing to pay for them!). Thrift stores are still the best way to go, in my opinion, nothing better than a cheap ugly sweater :)

We had our traditional White Elephant gift exchange and added a photo prop area this year. The best part about this year though was that it was actually COLD outside! We weren't sweating in our sweaters this year - yay!

 

As always, a very special thank you to BeBe and Grandpa for babysitting the kiddos - we couldn't have done this without you!

You can see all of our party pics here...view at your own discretion! ;)

Christmas: Part I

We celebrated Christmas with BeBe and Grandpa last weekend. Every year they come down to us and then take the kids for the night so John and I can throw our annual Ugly Sweater Party.

We had a yummy lunch together at the house - steak, baked potato and broccoli.

After lunch we exchanged gifts! 

The kids left with BeBe and Grandpa around 3 pm, check-in time at the hotel :) Though our visit was short we had a great time together! 

We will spend Christmas at Grandma and Papa's house - stayed tuned for Part II! You can view these and a few additional pics here.

Wordless Wednesday