MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas this year!! We have been busy getting ready for Christmas this year. I can't believe that Santa comes tonight!! I think that we are all set. I have a hat to finish knitting and then everything will be done.

Last weekend we began the festivities with Zak, Susan and the girls. We all made the trek to Milwaukee to spend some time with them! It was a lot of fun. Our kids are getting really good at traveling in the car so that is good. At least it makes the longer drives a little easier! It was so great to see Helena and Lydia. They are getting so big and living 6 hours away we don't get to see them nearly as much. E and Lydia had a blast playing together. Our weekend went by too fast!!



Yesterday I had a birthday party for Emma with all her daycare kids. We got a pinata, decorated cupcakes and made ornaments. The kids all had a blast! Especially since it was also PJ Day!! I don't suggest doing a pinata inside. It was quite the experience. I was glad that Alli came over to assist. No one was injured and there are no holes in my walls!!

All my daycare kids. Charlie would not sit on the couch!

Today we are enjoying being home. We got 7 inches of new snow last night and have a ton more that will be coming! We don't have for to travel to be with family so that is nice. Freshly fallen snow is so pretty at Christmas time. Now hopefully the 20+ inches we are suppose to get by Saturday will all melt quickly!! Winters are so long in Minnesota. We finalized our trip to Florida for February. Hopefully it will be warmer in down there!!

We are wishing you all a Merry Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone is able to spend time with their family this year!!

Speech and more....

C had another session this week with his teacher. He is doing so well and we are so impressed with how far he has come in such a short amount of time. He is now saying mama and dada consistently. He also has expanded his signing language. It is so cute to see him sign thank you. As he signs thank you he uses his inflections to say thank you. We are so excited to hear him start to try to talk. We have been teaching him through music. He loves to listen to music and has a few songs from his teacher that he loves to listen to. We play them over and over and over again, all day long.

We are getting ready for Christmas. It sure is a big task every year but I wouldn't have it any other way. This has to be my most favorite time of year. I do over extend myself every year and every year I say I won't do it next year. Well shocking but I did over extend myself once again this year. I always survive and I will this year too. We leave for Milwaukee tomorrow evening. We are all so excited to spend the weekend with Zak, Susan, Lydia and Helena. It will be so much fun to see the cousins play together. Hopefully the weather is nice so we can get outside some too.

Auntie Alli is coming home! We can't wait to see her either. We are hopeful that we will get to visit with her on Sunday when we return from Milwaukee. It has only been a few weeks since we saw her in Michigan but it still feels like it was months ago. I am so glad that she will be home for a few weeks. We have lots of movies we need to watch, talking we need to do and Wii games to play. I expect to see lots of Alli and I can't wait!! We now have a bunk bed for her to sleep in so she should be all set.

Uncle Graham will be home as well! We haven't scene Uncle Graham in a long....LONG time! I know that Auntie Patsy can't wait for him to come home tomorrow evening. I can't imagine being without my husband every night. It will be nice for all of us to have time as a family, if Sean will share his daddy for a little while ;)

Christmas seems to sneak up faster and faster every year. I remember as a child it took forever to come. Now that I have children of my own I would like time to slow down some. I just want to bottle up these last few weeks to enjoy them a little longer. The long winter sets in January 2nd!!

Here are the pictures I promised from Santa. We sure had a great time.

Out of surgery!

Molly is out of surgery and everything went well. Now we just have to pray for a speedy recovery. At least she has time to rest! It is so stinking cold here that she won't be missing anything outside!!

Prayers Needed....

My sister Molly is having surgery this morning. Please say some prayers for her! I know everything will go just fine. Good luck Molly. We all love you so much!

SANTA

I hired the best Santa ever to come to my parents' house for a party. This is the second year that he has come to help celebrate Christmas with all my daycare kids. It was so much fun and I was so glad that some of our friends could bring their kids as well to celebrate. We got the best pictures and the kids all had a blast. I made hats for all my daycare kids for Christmas gifts. I was able to get a picture with most of them in it. I love them all and hope they can all enjoy their hats this freezing cold winter season! I will post some pictures soon from todays event!

All the daycare kids minus C and Jake.

Last week...

We had a great week last week. It was extremely busy but that is okay. We started the week with E's dance class having parent observation week. Nick, the boys and I were excited to see what she had learned. It was so cute and she had a blast! We are so proud of her.

Wednesday B started CCD. We had been attending Generations of Faith at our previous church. B and I would go and we would sit through a 3 hour class once a month. I dreaded it and knew we needed to find something new. I wasn't learning anything and when I asked B he just remembered playing with balloons but not what we had learned. We switched churches and LOVE IT! They have a preschool program for E on Sunday's and B is able to go to CCD on Wednesday nights. He loves it. He thought it was great that there were kids from his 1st grade class in his CCD with him. There were a lot of younger families that attend this church as well. It feels like a very refreshing move!! PHEW!

I started my new adventure last week. I decided to start selling Lia Sophia jewelry. I had a few parties and love the jewelry. I thought since I loved it so much I should start selling it! I am very excited about this opportunity! It is forcing me to get out of the house and away from my kids at night. What mom doesn't like getting together with some girls to chit chat?! It is perfect!! I have had a busy week but loving every second of it.

As I sit and type this we are in a blizzard warning. Oh the joys of living in Minnesota. I ask myself every winter why I put myself and my family through this. Tomorrow we are suppose to have -10 degree wind chills. I guess the days of playing in the snow are short lived. I will not be dragging 10 kids outside into below zero temperatures!

Here are some pictures from last week and then from today. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!!

Pictures from Michigan