Wednesday, December 28, 2011

trains, cookies & cocoa

We had a fun packed day. It started with a trip to EnterTRAINment Junction - the world's largest indoor train display. This was our first visit and it was a success! We all enjoyed it, but Kenzie, Lexi and Papa Gene were especially impressed.

tr

tr2

tr3

Then this evening we had some friends & neighbors over to celebrate the 4th day of Christmas with cookies and cocoa. The house was filled with little ones hopped up on lots of sugar - what can be better than that?! No, seriously, it was so nice to get together with friends and to watch Kenzie and Lexi with their little friends. I love reasons to get together and celebrate .. and I got to try out some fun holiday dessert ideas I got from Pinterest.

cc1

cc2

cc3

cc5

I am so enjoying this week off with my family and am sucking every last drop off holiday cheer out of this season ... looking forward to more fun over the next few days.

Monday, December 26, 2011

it was MAGICAL indeed!

On Christmas Day the girls opened their stockings and a couple of gifts from Santa. I think they would have been perfectly satisfied if this is all they received for Christmas ... they especially loved the play dough and dress up outfits that they received. That afternoon, Granny and Papa Gene arrived and we shared a wonderful Christmas dinner together. The girls must have been especially good, because on the 2nd day of Christmas Santa visited again. It was a magical morning and a fun filled day! We closed out our celebration with a visit to the Festival of Lights at the zoo. I will capture more stories of the two days when I have more energy, but for now I will leave you with our Christmas celebration in pictures ...

cd1

Photobucket

cd3

cd4

Photobucket

cd8

cd10

cd9

cd11

Photobucket

2cd

2cd1

2cd2

2cd3

2cd4

2cd5

2cd8

2cd6


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night ...

2cd9

A Very Merry Christmas Eve!

I am exhausted after 3 days filled with Christmas celebration, so this post will be long on pictures and short on words...
Our Christmas Eve was perfect. The weather was beautiful so we enjoyed a morning walk, followed by a trip to Findlay Market to pick up goodies for our meal that evening. We stopped at Eden Park so they girls could play on the playground and then went for a walk around the pond. After the girls napped we got ready for the 5pm family church service and if I do say so myself, the girls looked pretty cute in their Christmas outfits. The church service itself was a bit challenging, as the girls did not really get the being quiet part ... but thankfully there were tons of kids there so it didn't really matter. They enjoyed the Christmas music and I was happy to be able to hear the Christmas message. Afterwards we came home and enjoyed a delicious dinner ... just the four (I mean five, sorry Tobi) of us. The girls got to eat off of fancy dishes, and then they got to enjoy naked dessert ... doesn't get much better than that :) After their bath, Daddy read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to the girls and then they got to come back downstairs to put out cookies for Santa. They were so excited! It was a perfect day for our little family.

ce

ce1

Photobucket

ce8

ce2

Photobucket

ce4

ce5

Photobucket

ce6

Photobucket

ce7

Photobucket

Friday, December 23, 2011

countdown to christmas ...

Randall and I have been off of work for the past few days and we have been gearing up for Christmas. We finished up our Christmas shopping, got the house organized and spent quality time with our girls.

Thursday was Sara's last day with the girls until the New Year. We exchanged gifts and then all went out to lunch. The girls were very excited to open their first Christmas gift. They loved the cowl scarves that Sara knit for them and their ultra cool sunglasses. Too cute!

ccd

They also have not stopped playing with the phonics game and play sandwiches she gave them.

We finished up some holiday decorating and enjoyed cookies with visitors. Thanks Donna & Trisha for coming by!

ccd2

I also baked Christmas cookies with the girls. They were really into it. Kenzie's favorite part was using the spatula to scoop up the cut out cookies. Lexi loved finding "shapes" in the remnant dough left between cookie cutters. She found lots of turtles, squirrels and moons.

ccd4

ccd3

This Christmas season has been so magical with the girls. They have loved finding our Elf "Elfie" each morning. (Quick aside: As per the Elf story you are not supposed to touch elf as that will make him lose his magical powers. They know that they can't touch elf. On Wednesday night we went out to dinner to a neighborhood pizza place that has paper on the tables and crayons for coloring. Randall drew Elf on the table and when Lexi reached to touch him, he jokingly said "Oh no Lexi! You can't touch elf!" Lexi in slow motion went from smiling, to serious, to lips curled down into a pout, to full blown crying with crocodile tears. Daddy's reprimand (although a joke) hurt her heart. She is our sensitive soul. If you correct her when she knows she is doing something wrong that is fine, but if you tell her "no" when she has made a mistake or doesn't realize what she is doing is wrong, then her feelings are beyond hurt.)I love watching their excitement and can't wait to see their reaction on Christmas morning!

elf

2 more days ... Merry Christmas to all!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Santa Fail … Christmas Success!

I had a “I am a terrible mom” moment on Friday when I called to make reservations for Breakfast with Santa at Joseph Beth Bookstore on Saturday (yes the very next day) and they were already fully booked. I had intended to call much earlier, but things have been so busy and every time that I remembered it was either before or after store hours. I felt terrible. We had such a great time at the breakfast last year with the DeLacy’s and I was really looking forward to making this an annual tradition. I envisioned the girls’ excitement when Santa entered the room, them eagerly running up to sit on Santa’s lap smiling up at him … but this picture would not turn to reality due to poor planning on my part.

So instead, we sought out other fun holiday activities around town with the opportunity to see Santa. And based on how that played out I am guessing that my “vision” of Kenzie & Lexi visiting happily with Santa would not have become reality even if I had called in time to get tickets to Breakfast with Santa …

On Saturday morning we headed over to the Museum Center to see the Holiday Trains and Santa. Granted, the first time this season that the girls saw Santa at the German Christkindlmarkt did not go over too well. But since then, they have learned who Santa is. They have seen movies with Santa, they have read books about Santa, everywhere we go there are pictures of Santa. We have an elf who goes to the North Pole to report back to Santa every night. The girls know ”Santa.” So I thought maybe now it would be different. Oh was I wrong.

The girls loved seeing all of the “choo-choos” and the “snow”. They had a blast playing with the trains and the other kids. They did NOT like seeing Santa. From afar Lexi pointed and yelled “Santa!” But once we approached and it was actually time to sit on his lap, they were petrified. They clung to me, burying their faces into my chest. So we hurried along, trying to spare Santa’s feelings and restore the joyful holiday spirit in our girls. Santa fail.

cs

santa
the only picture that we have to commemorate this traumatic encounter is this blurry iphone pic


cs1

The next morning we went down to Findlay Market for breakfast and some shopping. We enjoyed waffles with strawberries and cream and a breakfast burrito. Yum or “mmmmmmm” as Kenzie exclaimed throughout our meal! Then we had fun exploring the market, getting inspiration for our holiday meals.

Photobucket
cs4

Following our trip to the market we decided to stop by Fountain Square since we were already downtown. We debated taking the girls ice skating, but as we approached the rink and the girls spotted the man in the red suit, with a white beard and big belly on the ice our decision was made. We would NOT be ice skating with Santa. Instead we enjoyed the big Christmas tree and a visit to Tiffany’s.

cs5
cs6

What girl wouldn’t like to wake up to this under the tree on Christmas morning?
cs7

On Sunday evening we visited the Live Nativity at our Church. The girls enjoyed watching baby Jesus in the manger, hanging out with the shepherds by the fire, and feeding the baby goats. They almost got run over by an overly rambunctious foal (baby donkey/mule), but even that evoked giggles.

cs3

Christmas success! Christmas is all about the story of Jesus (not Santa) anyway. Maybe that’s what the girls were trying to remind me of all along.