christmas celebrations

Here we are heading to Ga Ga's for Christmas with Buddy!!  The kids were so thrilled he hid in a jar and left a note saying they could carry him around since they wouldn't be touching him!  They loved this so much!

The kids always love coming to Ga Ga and Papa's.  There's just something special and magical about grandparents and Christmas.

They always have fun surprises up their sleeves!

They love their Ga Ga!

Ga Ga had set out my old dollhouse and decorated it for Kerigan and she just loved it.

She played and played.  It was so fun seeing her play with my old dollhouse that I loved so much!

Of course we had some fun with snapchat!

My little deer!

Then we played pie face.  Because it's just fun.

The kids opened their gifts from Papa and Ga Ga the next morning. They got spoiled as usual!

It was a Shopkins Christmas for this girl!

And Legos and Skylanders for Andrew!

Andrew got a surprise this year and got his Skylander game from Ga Ga instead of Santa!

He was very surprised!

More Skylanders!

Papa always treats us so well and makes the holidays fun for us too!  We love that he always makes pancakes in the morning after we open presents!

She got a vanity mirror for her bedroom that holds all her jewelry, bows and accessories!

She thought it was so cool that it had a key!  Ha!

She had been wanting this- the American Girl ice cream cart!

Her gift from Papa!

And American Girl wellies and socks!

Daddy and Andrew put together Legos a lot of the day!

Thanks Ga Ga and Papa!

That afternoon it snowed and Ga Ga's porch looked so pretty!

That night we headed to my brother's house for Christmas with my dad's side.  We were so excited to see my niece's little boy, Nash!

And Kerigan loves playing with my nephew's little girls, Lucy and Caprice.  She and Lucy are 4 months apart.

The kids exchanged gifts.

These two are buddies

The girls all eating dessert!  And having a very animated conversation!  Ha!

Nash loves playing music, like his Grandpa (my brother) Tim.

I love this picture.  My niece Mary and nephew Lindy, and my nephew's wife, Jenny (on the left) and all our kids.  Mary, Lindy and I grew up together- they have always been like a brother and sister to me.

That night we headed back to Ga Ga and Papa's, put the kids to bed and opened the adult gifts!  We always have fun doing this together!

nutcracker, cookies and santa

Probably since before this girl was even born I had dreamed of her, and taking her to the Nutcracker someday during the holidays.  This is something I always did with my mom, and then I danced in the Nutcracker for several years too.

I just knew age 5 was the year I wanted to start this tradition.  So we watched a nutcracker movie, and read stories so she had a background about it.

Then to make the evening extra special, that day I had gone out to buy her new Christmas earrings so she could change her earrings for the first time since her birthday.  She was so, so excited.

We found this little Nutcracker ornament I had from when I was a little girl.  She loved it.

Going downtown to the theater!  A special date with mommy!

She was so excited- mommy was too!

My pretty girl

So, next year, we're doing a matinee!  Ha!  She got so tired she fell asleep after a few of the scenes.  I was a little disappointed but it made for some cute pictures!  Avery's big sister was in the show so she came to say hi at intermission and thought it was funny that Kerigan was sleeping!

By the time the show was over she was completely out and I had to carry her quite a ways back to the car!  I got a workout that night!

This sweet group of friends... Kerigan's friend Ruby in her class had an ice skating party one evening and we had another party to attend the same night so we had to squeeze two things in.

They had so much fun together!  These girls are all in the same class.  I was worried about moving Kerigan away from her old friends and I didn't need to be!  Miss social butterfly has no problem making friends!

After some ice skating, we scooted out and over to Avery's Santa party!  

Every year our neighbors host a party and elves come and everything!  Santa brings a gift for each child and the kids all have so much fun!

Someone was pretty excited to open his Skylander-shaped box!

How does Santa know just exactly what he wants!?

She was pretty excited about her big box of Shopkins too!

Then it's so magical because the kids all go to the window and watch Santa fly away!  They see a spark in the sky and they are all just amazed!

Kerigan with some good friends in the neighborhood.

Ga Ga came to visit for a few days and helped us make cookies, gingerbread houses, and got to visit the kids at school!

Buddy surprised the kids with gingerbread houses and they were so excited and couldn't wait to get started making them!

Good thing Ga Ga was here to help!

Then we made a few batches of our famous sugar cookies.  

These two rarely spend a weekend day apart, so of course Avery came to help with the frosting!  And the eating!  Ha!

While we were doing the cookies, I walked by and found Andrew in his room reading books to his stuffed animals!  I love that he still likes to do this!

I took Kerigan to the mall to see Heidi who was visiting for a Hockey game!  We were so excited to see her and spend some time with her and her boyfriend!

While we were at the mall I took Kerigan to see Santa again.  She was so happy!

And every time we've been to the mall I never have let her ride the carousel because it seems we're always in a hurry, or I never had the right amount of cash on me.  This day, the man running it said she could ride for free because she looked so cute!  Ha ha.  She was so pumped.  And she rode about 3 times!

The holidays are always fun at school too!  Ha!

The teachers had an ugly sweater day!

And the kids had pajama day!  Kerigan is hidden in this picture but her teacher sent it.  They were getting ready to make gingerbread men in the kitchen and put them in the oven!

Then they rolled them out and cut them out in class.

I got to sneak down as they were decorating them!

Then they got "lost" while the kids were in music!

It was so cute, they went to different classrooms asking the kids about their gingerbread men, and they posted signs around the school.

Here they are in my teaching partner's 3rd grade class so she took a picture for me!  When they got back to their room, the gingerbread men were hiding in the houses the kids made the week before!  It was such a clever idea and the kids all loved it!

Kerigan and her super fun teacher Mrs. Halverson. She has made Kindergarten the most amazing experience for our girl and we are so grateful!

 Pajama day is a perfect way to end school for the year!

I saw this on Pinterest and it made me laugh!  There's just nothing like having 2 weeks off!

Bring on Christmas break!