Ice Skating

Clara a friend from our neighborhood started taking ice skating lessons earlier this fall. Then Rachel, also a neighborhood friend joined her. We were told about the lessons as well but the thought of being on the ice by 9am on a Saturday just seemed like too much so we decided not to join them. However, last Saturday was bring a friend day. Of course, everyone knows if one of my girls is invited somewhere the other needs to tag along. So Clara invited Alexandra and Rachel had Sophia come as her friend.

Who knew we had 2 future figure skaters! Well not quite (yet) but almost. The girls did great! For their first time on skates and ice for that matter, we were all very impressed! First of all we had no tears which was an accomplishment in itself. I was expecting a little fear but if they were scared it never showed. Then once they got on the ice they picked it up as if they'd been doing if for months. Of course they had a few falls but they didn't seem to mind them. They just got right back up and tried again!

Sophia and Clara skating toward their instructor. Sophia was SO happy to be on the ice!

Oops! After this initial slip ...

Alexandra quickly learned how to balance!

And here she goes ...

So who knows, maybe we will have to give up our lazy Saturday mornings and sign up for 9am ice skating : )

Rudolph

We spent the morning at The Center for Puppetry Arts watching "Rudolph", another one of our Christmas traditions. This year however, rather than going with our usual group, we went with a few friends from Sophia's class. The girls enjoyed every minute! Lucas on the other hand would get a little fussy if the play stayed on any particular scene for too long. So rather than risk disturbing everyone around us, we watched the show from the very back of the theater, near the door!

After the show, we had a picnic where the kids enjoyed climbing a tree and coloring a Rudolph activity book, compliments of Jack!

Alexandra was so proud she was able to climb with the "big kids"

After seeing his sister's, Lucas just had to join in.

Sophia was the ring leader! She had no problems climbing up but needed a little help jumping all the way down! It was rather high : )

After the show & picnic we headed upstairs for the craft. Rudolph rod puppets! How fun! Another successful Friday Funday!

Trim the Tree

The Heilman's invited us to their first annual Christmas party!

The theme was retro white "trim the tree" in hot pink and lime green! Perfect for my little girls! However, finding 3 suitable pink and green ornaments turned out to be more of a challenge than we expected. After shopping around and not really seeing anything they felt was sparkly (flashy) enough, we decided to make our own. I wish I had taken a picture of their creations. Needless to say, they were VERY festive with plenty of sparkles to spare : )

Here's a not so clear picture of some of us on our way out. Sophia was too busy playing with a big bouncy ball to join us but then cried the whole way home because she wanted to be in the picture. The drama of a four year old!

As you can see, Lucas was not really cooperating either! Like most toddlers, all he wanted to do was run around. And after a little coaching Alexandra was content in daddy's arms but by the end of the night we all just really needed to head home. It was worth the try! Oh well! There's always next year! I can't imagine another tree theme but whatever the theme I know it will be fun since Donna's in charge! Merry Christmas!

Santa again ...

Santa again, or .... not!

Right around the corner at The Avenue they were offering free pictures with Santa and horse drawn carriage rides. So to end Friday Funday we decided to give Santa another shot. Who knows, maybe after our introduction earlier in the day, Alexandra and Lucas would feel a little more comfortable and I could get a better picture with the three smiling. However, when the kids noticed the horse drawn carriage, there was no way we could pass that up and Santa was no longer a priority.

So after a quick 20 minute wait and three happy kids we hopped on the carriage and went for our first annual Christmas carriage ride. If you live in Atlanta and haven't taken your kids, I highly recommend it! It was so much fun! I think we'll have to make it a new tradition and add it our Christmas to do list for next year!

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!