santa & his elf

We took our annual trip to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa this year.  Over the years and after trying many different places, this is our favorite.

There are so many fun things to do while you are waiting, and they have a really organized system so you don't have to wait forever in line.

I can't help but see Ralphie here... you'll shoot your eye out kid!

They always love pretending to ride on these!

Andrew used to freak out about this bear.  There was a time he would not go near it.  Times have changed- ha!

Santa's talking reindeer.  I actually got Kerigan to stand by it but the picture didn't turn out.  She was a little unsure but she's getting more and more brave!

Doing a craft while waiting for Santa

This cracks me up!  She's like, "you're gonna make me do what?!"  We had totally tried to pump her up for Santa's lap.  I had been talking about Santa for weeks, telling her how nice he is, and that she is going to have to tell him what she wants for Christmas.

She was waving at him, and seemed happy and excited... until...

We started walking up to him and she freaked out.  Ha!

You will never see me in photos with Santa holding my child.  I am not that nice.  Ha!  I LOVE crying Santa pictures!  Call me mean, but I think they are the funniest things ever!  I just plopped her down and ran away with my camera!

I think it's so fun to look back at all the pictures.  I think this was probably the last year we will have any crying pictures, and I think I'm a little sad about it!  Ha!

It made me laugh because after about 30 seconds she stopped crying, smiled and told Santa she wanted a baby!  Ha!  I think she just got over the initial shock!

Then on our way out she was making friends with the elf.  She called him "Santa's friend."

I just look at these pictures sometimes and wonder what is going through her little mind!  Ha!

Sooooo funny!

Speaking of elves... we've been having more fun with Buddy this year!  The kids were so excited when he showed up and have excitedly run around the house looking for him every morning.  Thankfully mommy has remembered to move him every night Buddy has made it back from the North Pole every morning!  This day he turned our milk green!

One night Andrew spent the night at Ga Ga's and Buddy had a party in his room while he was gone, and changed his sheets to his Elf on the Shelf sheets!

Andrew couldn't believe they had a popcorn party without him!  Ha!

They were watching the Elf video and reading Christmas books!  Andrew loved it!

And he loved sleeping in his sheets so much he fell asleep reading!  Sweet boy.

One morning Buddy showed up with plushee pals so the kids could play with them and cuddle them and they wouldn't lose their magic like the real Buddy!  What a perfect invention!

Buddy got himself all wrapped up one night after I had wrapped gifts and left all the paper out!

We can't believe it's almost time for Buddy to fly back to the North Pole with Santa!  I know Andrew especially will miss him.  He wrote a 2 page letter to him one night when he was staying at Ga Ga's.  It is so sweet how much he loves him and gets into his antics!  It is so fun being a mommy and getting to watch the magic happen for my kids.  There's just nothing like it!

More posts from Christmas coming soon, I just had to get caught up again as usual!  Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

let it snow!

We are so excited we are going to have a white Christmas this year!  

(Laughing at her brother)

We have had a couple of big snowstorms and one ice storm that cancelled school on the day before winter break!  

The kids have had a blast exploring our new surroundings in the snow!

They discovered this hill makes a pretty good little sledding hill!

So we got out the sleds while daddy was clearing the driveway and they had the best time!

Kerigan loved the snow this year!  Last year, she wasn't too sure.  I loved watching her dig right in and play with Andrew.  They had a great time together.

I love this picture of our house from the back, with our tree in the window.  I spent an entire morning on the coldest day of the year putting up the greenery and lights around our deck.  Our house is gorgeous from the road, and I wanted it lit up!

Craig was responsible for the front of the house.  Notice there are no pictures of it!  Ha!  Maybe next year.

I have realized that this picture makes this tree look really dinky, but it is actually a 7.5ft and is super full and gorgeous!  This room just needs a 12ft tree.  I will be scoping out the after Christmas sales!  We have loved watching it snow out these windows this year.  This summer when we decided to buy this house, I could not wait to watch it snow, and it did not disappoint!

We've been busy getting ready for the holidays around here!  I spent 3 nights gluing gingerbread houses together for Andrew's class party.  I was so excited to get to help this year, since I normally am always working.  I also made cupcakes to decorate like snowmen and we filled goody bags for Andrew to give to his classmates.  Needless to say, we were pretty bummed when school was cancelled!  Of all the days!  Oh well, the snow was fun and I'm sure they will have the party after break- although then it's not quite the same...

We celebrated Christmas with our friends!  The kids had fun exchanging gifts (mommies too!  I love my popcorn bowl set Mandy gave me!)  We always have fun with the Diggins family!

Ga Ga came to spend the night the next day and we had so much fun.  It was so nice to be snowed/iced in and get cozy by the fire in our pajamas!  After the kids went to bed mom and I stayed up watching Christmas movies and wrapping presents all night!  We decided it was much more fun wrapping together!

The next morning we had a cookie baking day!

It is a tradition to make my great grandma's sugar cookies every year.

They are the best cookies in the world!  They take a ton of time and effort to make, but they are so worth it!

This year I found these adorable measuring cups and spoons and could not resist!

Both kids were so excited to help and did a really good job this year.  Kerigan was so funny she would get all excited and clasp her hands together like this and just giggle!  It was so fun to watch them.

She was very serious about her job!

After the dough chilled we rolled them and cut them- the fun part!

Andrew wanted to do everything by himself.  He was actually pretty good at rolling and cutting them out this year.  He wanted to put them on the cookie sheets and everything.  This was the first time he could actually do everything independently.

Little helping hands...

My sweet friend Mandy made her apron.  I could just die of cuteness!

We still have the frosting part left to do!  We are going to do them at Ga Ga's house when we go to celebrate Christmas with her and Papa in their new home!

Andrew had his last Awana at church on Wednesday- they had a birthday party for Jesus.  I have just loved watching how much he is learning from Awana.  Just tonight he was making up songs about Jesus and saying how Jesus is in our hearts.  What a special little boy.  We will not forget the reason we are celebrating Christmas.

I can't believe how fast this season went!  I just want to rewind and do it all over again.