Northpark or The North Pole?

I took my little elves to Northpark yesterday with Nonnie and Pops. I wanted their picture with Santa in their PJs. You would have thought we were trying to see Santa at the North Pole. 300 tickets were passed out before 11:30 and we were told to come back at 7pm for the evening tickets. We passed on that option, but did have so much fun doing some other things there.

Abby liked wearing her PJs so much, we decided to let both the girls wear them the rest of the trip. It was hilarious. Pops took Abby through the Ronald McDonald miniature train exhibit. The nice lady taking tickets let me go in for a minute to snap some pictures.

Abby was in awe. She didn't know what to think of so many trains.
The Thomas train was her favorite. Pops had to bribe her to leave with promises to go see the ducks and turtles in the fountain.

While they saw the trains, Nonnie and I took Caroline shopping. We took a stroll through Neiman Marcus.

She grabs at everything now. But, who wouldn't want to grab all the fun things in Neiman's?

"Now that I've been introduced to stuffed animals, I'll take all of these."

Abby threw pennies in the fountain.

Caroline hanging out by the fountain.

A big wave across the fountain from the head elf.

This man was playing Christmas carols. Abby was not shy. She walked right up to the front and joined in the singing.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I felt a little like Chevy Chase this weekend at our family Christmas celebration in Lindale. He tries so hard in the movie to make everything special and just can't quite make it happen.

As our family gathered around the tree and began passing out presents, I noticed none were wrapped in my paper. I had a sinking feeling they had been left at home. I was right, they were in the trunk of my car in Southlake. We rode with my parents and never switched them over to their car. If you know me, you know that this resulted in a minor meltdown. Tears were shed. I had a rough week and had been a little frazzled, but that was no excuse. I felt awful! Thank you for making me feel better, everyone! Thanks also, Melanie, for transporting the gifts to Marshall this week. Rest assured, I will have them next year.

We did have a great time, inspite of my goof up. We found out Caroline loves ribbons and bows.

Abby took up her job passing out presents.She got a dolly doctor kit and went right to work on Caroline's little people.Mary Grace entertained Abby. She was the railroad worker. It was nice to have someone fix the track in under a minute everytime it came apart.

Caroline made the rounds in her walker. First stop was Grandmother.

Next, Garrett gave her a ride.

Then, Camden chased her.

Camden-"Tag. You're it." Back at home, Abby gave Caroline a lesson on how to love her new "people."

Just like her big sister, she loves them. We are in trouble.Abby also learned how to use her mixer Grandmother gave her. She made chocolate milk in it.Grandmother gave Caroline a nativity. It was a hit! Abby names all the people and animals as she arranges them over and over in the manger.

PJ Pics

Wow! What a chore to get Christmas card pictures this year. I decided I needed to get this task accomplished one day while everyone was at work. What was I thinking? Crazy idea! I could have used some help getting both the girls to sit still at the same time. It turned out to be fun though. I got tickled at the girls and then Abby started to laugh and have a good time. After 45 minutes and lots of bribes (chocolate milk, cookies, a Mickey Mouse episode, etc . .) I finally ended up with a picture I was satisfied with for the cards. Whew! Here are some of the funny ones.

The Girls, Not on Santa's Lap

We went to Bass Pro the other night to get pictures with Santa. We had to snap the professional picture so fast, we didn't get one with our own camera. Abby kept running away. We thought she could just stand by Santa holding Caroline. No such luck. Brent and I ended up being in the picture. He had to hold her. Next week, we will try Santa again at Northpark. Stay tuned.

Abby checks out the trains with Pops. Caroline-"I could relax by this fireplace all day."

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree . . .

. . .at the Preschool Party Hop. I went to Abby's school party yesterday. She was right in her element and it was fun to see her in action. She ran around to every little center and everytime she got to something new, she would turn around to see if I was there to check it out with her. I think she plays with this phone a lot. She found it right away and kept it right by her side during the whole party. When I tried to get her to set it down for a picture her teacher said "that probably isn't going to happen. She loves that phone." Abby handed out her gifts to all her friends. She was so focused and proud to "read" each tag with me and deliver the present. Then, she would wait until her friend held the present and acknowledged her. Too funny!

We made reindeer food and a Christmas picture with foam stickers. She is so type A. When finished, she immediately gathered all her trash and ran off to the trash can.

The kids ate after the moms left. Her teachers said when they serve food with parents there, the kids don't stay seated and eat. I did hear about the "chichen"(mini chicken biscuits) they ate when I picked her up. At the end of the party, they gave us our present, an ornament with their handprints on it.

Happy Birthday Pops!

We celebrated my dad's birthday last night. Abby sings Happy Birthday all the time now and really gets into blowing out the candles.Pops got the 29 candles again. It's great to be 29 every year.I know. No bow. I don't know what happened here. But, we found out last night Abby loves, loves, loves peppermint icecream.Pops and Abby hide in the tent.

Abby helped with the presents, but wasn't thrilled with the clothes for Pops she found inside.

Bubba got her to wear this army helmet most of the night.

Abby could not believe this was me with Santa when I was about 5. She kept walking by it and staring.

Caroline met Mr. Penguin . . .

. . . and she liked him.

Breakfast with Santa

Abby was very excited to go eat her favorite breakfast, pancakes, with Santa Claus. Her school hosted it at our church this Saturday. We talked about it all week and she couldn't wait to see him. She practiced her one line she was going to say. "Pink chitchen and Minnie pease." It turned out to be like the pony experience. This is as close as we got to Santa. After we took our short turn, she wanted to go back. "Oh, shoot."

She got a little closer to the snowman.

We made a craft, a stainglass(tissue paper) nativity for her Christmas tree.

She also decorated a cookie with Daddy.

This Santa was more approachable.