Visit with Santa

I love having Friday's "off" because it gives us the chance to do something fun with no crowds! Last Friday Funday was the perfect day to check "Santa" off from our Christmas to do list. So, I got the kids dressed in their coordinating Santa outfits and off to the mall we went to visit the jolly ol' man himself.

It's crazy to think I haven't been to a mall in 3 years. My last visit was right after I had Alexandra and ironically enough it was to see Santa. Honestly, besides not having any real need, the thought of taking 2 preschoolers and a toddler scared me a bit. Not really sure why, I take them everywhere else?!?! I guess it's because if I was to go to the mall it would be to shop and how could I possibly shop with 3 kids?!?! Lucky for them (and me) our first mall field trip was not to shop but to ride the train & carousel, play on the soft playground, and most importantly see Santa!

The picture speaks for itself and is a true representation of our kids current state and personalities! Sophia was completely excited, no hesitation at all and very eager to tell Santa exactly how well behaved she's been and what she would like to see under the tree Christmas morning. Alexandra as usual was a bit timid and shy with strangers or in new surroundings, but quickly warmed up to the white bearded man. Once she heard how confident Sophia was, she too told Santa what a great helper she's been and how much she would love to have anything Hello Kitty! (her new obsession) Lucas seemed excited as we waited our turn in line but as soon as he sat on Santa's lap, the tears started flowing and the screams began! Separation anxiety at it's finest : ) Awwwww the joys of the season!!!!

Thanks Santa for making our trip to the mall such a fun event! Have a safe ride back to the North Pole! See you next year!

Alexandra's 3!

After going back and forth between a Wizard of Oz party, a Fairy party or a Jerry, (our cat) party. Alexandra finally decided on a Hello Kitty party! It was the closest thing to a Jerry party I could think of and it turned out to be the purrrfect party for my little kitty!

One of the activities we had was face painting. After all, it wouldn't be a kitty party without some kitties! All the girls had white ears with a pink hello kitty nose and bow.

And the boys were little puppies!
Lucas didn't mind having his face painted but he wasn't too happy about those puppy ears.

The purrrfectly cute Hello Kitty invitation set the mood.

Pink, pink and more pink! From the cupcakes to the popcorn everything was in pretty pink with a little Hello Kitty splashed in the mix!

And what do kitties drink? Milk of course!
The puppies and kitties had fun sipping out of pink paper straws and glass bottles.

Miller in his puppy ears and face paint : )

Maggie surprised us all when she asked to be a kitty. So cute!

Patterson insisted on being a kitty. Stating very matter of factly,"it's not a hello puppy party it's a hello kitty party."... and whose going to argue with that!

Hello Birthday Kitty couldn't wait to take the first bite of her strawberry cupcakes with pink icing and pink sprinkles!

Happy Birthday!!!!! ... SWEET girl!
I hope you liked your kitty party as much as I enjoyed planning it for you!

Dear Santa

Still looking for a few Christmas activities to keep the kids busy, we decided to work on our letters to Santa. Of course with most kids this age the list gets longer and longer with every visit to a friends house or commercial they see on tv (which by the way it seems they try to squeeze in even more this time of year).

However, when the girls realized they would have to write everything down, they decide to shorten their list and only include the most important items. After all Santa has Sally (our elf. yes last years Elfie now has the more sophisticated name of Sally) watching to inform him.
So, this is what they came up with.

Dear Santa:

I have been a very good girl. May I please have :

a hello kitty blanket with lots of sparkles on it and lots of hello kitty stuff. (Alexandra)

a crazy hair lalalopsy and lots of princess stuff (Sophia) ... notice even with her shortened list she still got tired of writing. especially when she saw how quickly Alexandra finished with mommy's help.

Thank you,
Love

And off they went to the North Pole! My neighbors said they got a letter back last year so hopefully our postal worker will be so kind to do it again this year.

That would really be soooo exciting!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

Tree: check
Ornaments: check
Wreaths: check
Elf: check
Nativity: check
Garland: check
Lights: check
Stockings: check
Nutcrackers: check

So now what do you do with 3 sick kids ...

Gingerbread house!

I know it was little early, but what else was I to do?!?! So, out came the left over Halloween candy, gingerbread walls and roof, and we began to mix the icing. Messy, messy ...but fun!

Building our traditional gingerbread house actually turned out to be the perfect Christmas activity for my 3 sick architects. However, I must warn you to nibble at your own risk when you stop by . Our house was made with lots of love and germs : )


Wait at least an hour for the icing to dry. Yeah right! Try telling two anxious preschools we can't decorate our gingerbread house. Not going to be very merry! So mommy had to improvise. Thank goodness we have a little invention known as the hairdryer!



But even the hairdryer wasn't quick enough for my little builders. So once again we had to figure out a way to keep our house together while we worked on the fun part ... candy decorating.

All it took was a tall vase and we were good to go! No more waiting for icing to dry. We could dry and decorate at the same time. We just had to remember to keep the heat away from our chocolate doors : )

Our final creation! A gingerbread house Hansel & Gretal would be proud of!

So Thankful!

We spent our Thanksgiving in North Carolina with The Barker Cousins (Ryan, Kevin & Eric), Aunt Judy & Uncle Chip, Grandma and Aunt Elaine. The girls started counting down "sleeps" since the first day of November. To say they were excited is an understatement! In fact, they each had pictures of Ryan, Kevin, and Eric in their rooms and would talk to them. Sophia was especially excited about seeing Kevin. She would hug and kiss his picture and would say she "loves Kevi because he does magic." Joe and I just hoped the feeling would be mutual when we arrived, otherwise our little turkeys would be very disappointed.

Luckily, the boys were happy to see the girls too so that was one less obstacle we had to face. However, our Thanksgiving still didn't turn out as we had hoped. Alexandra had come down with a terrible cold and by turkey time on Thursday, all three kids (and Joe) had a horrible cough and fever. Alexandra was the worst. She was on round the clock Motrin and Tylenol and would still get up 3 to 4 times a night. Lucas was sleeping but when he was up all he wanted was mommy. Sophia dealt with it the best (until we got home). She was just thrilled to be with cousins.

Needless to say we cut our trip a day short. Still, between Thanksgiving dinner and trips to the medicine cabinet, it amazes me how we were somehow still able to celebrate Alexandra's birthday and Christmas! I guess cupcakes and presents make everything better! So, after a long 5 days, we're just so thankful everyone is finally feeling better!

Truck and Cars make everything better!


The best seat in the house!


Go Tigers Go! Uncle Chip was very proud!


Clemson's #1 fan!


Shadow doesn't typically hang out but I guess he felt comfortable around Lucas.


Happy Birthday Alexandra!


The purrrrfect Christmas present!


More trucks! So excited he could take these home!


Sophia and her books!

Thanks for having us Barkers! For all the wonderful gifts but most of all for the memories! We love coming to visit!

Birthday's Galore

Not only has our Fall been filled with all the typical fall activities: Festivals, Pumpkin Patch, Apple Orchards, Hay Rides and Halloween but we've also had back to back to back birthday parties, 8 to be exact! Needless to say it's been busy!

Here are just a few ...

ANSLEY
The birthday party marathon kicked off with Ansley's 3rd birthday. A baking party!

The birthday girl busy at work!

This was SO perfect for Alexandra! Long after the rest of the clang was off playing inside or on the playset, Alexandra was still at the table baking away. She came up with some pretty interesting concoctions! Maybe there's a Top Chef in our future?!?!

MAGGIE

Maggie's 2nd birthday party had the cutest "rugged but girly" little petting farm theme! As expected, it was all about the details! Pretzels were turned into hay bales. Fresh veggie tray was a garden. And guests munched on pigs in a blanket and cow tails! Everything was almost too cute to eat!


Maggie's farm was stocked with a sheep, goat, rooster, donkey, llama (or alpaca not sure which of the two it was), pony, rabbit, piggy, and cow! ( i think i got them all) And yes, this is a cow Alexandra is standing next to!

WESLEY KATE

Wesley Kate's 4th birthday was the most adorable Alice and Wonderland inspired Tea Party! Not one detail was left unnoticed! From the ice cream cone tea cups to the Mad Hatter top hat craft. Everything was simply precious!
Even my five kids ... The Zimmerman's and Micca's arrived wearing coordinating brown corduroy and blue gingham outfits! Later we were told the birthday girl, Wesley Kate and sister Bradly almost wore the same outfits too! Goes to show you, great minds really do think alike : )

OLIVIA

Olivia, one of Sophia's classmates and close friend, had a jewelry making party fit for a princess! The hot pink zebra theme was perfect for an all girl afternoon.

Here's Sophia getting ready to make her necklace. Then they decorated a jewelry box to put it in! So cute and girly!

LANDON

GO Landon GO!
The final touchdown was Landon's football theme 1st birthday party!

All the guests were asked to show some team spirit! Everything from Michigan to Florida State was represented. So, how could Joe pass up the opportunity to show off his 3 little DUKE Devils!

So now that all the Fall birthdays are behind us we can relax! Well except for: Thanksgiving, Alexandra's birthday, Santa, and a handful of Christmas parties coming up!
So much to look forward to!

Cars

Lucas spends all his down time playing with cars. He races his cars, lays on his back and spins their wheels, lines them up, etc. I just can't get over how different he is from the girls. And watching him play with all his vehicles just confirms how men and women are just born different.

This pictures says it all ... my little man loves his cars!