The Nutcracker

Last night Kate and I had a big girls night with a few of her friends. Their Mommy and I took the girls to The Cheesecake Factory and then to the Allen Civic Ballet Nutcracker. Kate LOVED IT! She sat on the edge of her seat for most of the performance and clapped and wanted to woo hoo after every act! She is already talking about going back next year.

It is a Blessing to be able to Help Bless Others

Sunday we adopted a family though our church called Scotty's Gifts. There were 4 children ages 12-3. We just dropped off their Christmas gifts to them and to see the excitement on their faces was such a blessing by itself! The kids loved getting to do this too, from picking out toys, wanting to help wrap and then to load them up in the car! We even got to unload everything under their tree this afternoon.

Friday we had a party with some friends each bringing items for this family, instead of another cookie exchange I thought why not spend money and time on something that someone really NEEDS? We had a great time visiting and the kids playing and at the end our friend Kyla took the kids and prayed over the gifts as well. We are so blessed to have such a great group of friends! I actually forgot about the camera till the end of our get together so there are a few kiddos that did not make the picture. (Sorry about that Luke, Kate, Campbell, Peyton & Jack!)

Christmas Mix of Events

Some of these pictures are actually from November, I forgot all about them on the other camera. There are a few blurry ones too, don't know what happened there! We invited some friends over in November for an early Christmas craft day. They got to make lots of ornaments and reindeer antlers, getting ready early!

The next group of pictures is from Build a Bear at the mall, this was the first of December. We really went to watch a group ice skate with Snoopy, but there were so many people we could not see. :( The balloon art was still fun though and we broke down and let them get build a bear animals instead! This will be a one time only thing! So cute, but the $$ adds up fast in that store!

The train pics are from another mall. The train set up all year long, but right now it is decorated for Christmas. They get so excited to ride it is really funny. I am just happy they will ride on it now without crying! When they were 2 they THOUGHT they wanted to ride, but got on and freaked out when it started moving. I guess at 2 they were not quite ready, kind of like the carousel!

Caroline had her Christmas party on Thurs. We got to go to chapel and see Mason & Kate perform again, then went back to her room to party! They were so cute working on crafts and decorating cookies. They ended with a book exchange. They have a sweet group of 3 year olds and great teachers!

Mary & One of the Wise Men

Kate was selected for Mary in the Christmas Chapel play at school and Mason was selected as one of the wise men. It was so much fun going to chapel with them and getting to watch them on stage. Afterwards we got to go to their class for their Christmas Party! Tomorrow we get to see it again with Caroline's class and then I get to go to Caroline's party! I can't believe we are so close to Christmas!

Northpark Mall Trains

We went to the Northpark Mall in Dallas on Friday. We HAVE to go see the model trains every year. Even though I think the "slides" were the biggest hit for my 3 this year. We had a great time with our friends checking out the trains, "sliding" and watching the puppet show.

Caroline was not into smiling the the train area??
Our group.
Caroline by the ducks.
The "slide". They will run up and the slide down...
Waiting for the puppet show to start.
Scrooge looking on Santa's list for Kate's name. He told her all she was going to get is socks. A pink and purple pair. At the end he ask for her again and told her he felt bad that is all she was getting and he threw an autographed picture of himself to her! I thought it was neat, she wanted to throw it away when we got home. She wasn't very happy about getting socks for Christmas. HA!
Kate at the Disney store. We don't have a neat castle at our Disney store!

Santa's Village in Richardson

We went to Santa's Village in Richardson last night and had a great time! I have decided Thursday night is the time to go. The crowds were not bad at all! City Hall has an entire village set up and it starts at 6:00 with Santa's arrival with Mrs. Claus by fire truck! I took pictures in almost every house we went into. They have everything lit up, inside and out. If you are in the area I highly recommend doing this, well, on a Thursday or get there a little bit before it opens!

Santa's arrival
Mrs. Claus passing out cookies.
Dr. Seuss village house

Police village house

Elf bank

Ornament decorating
Elf tv - there are televisions set up outside this house so you can watch

Frosty's house, coloring pages
Frosty himself!
Balloon art


Rudolf's house, you get your nose painted, and reindeer food for Christmas Eve
Fire station house


Nadia, Keira, Kate, Caroline & Mason (Yes, Nadia and Keira are twins too!)