Santa Came To Town

Ty's daycare had a lovely Christmas party tonight. It was a potluck at a local park and such a nice time. We had to scramble to get there (seemed to be scrambling a lot lately) as today is M's dance class but we made it before the Big Guy. My children would be the ones in dance attire and filthy sweatshirt and the poopy diaper. Yes, the grubby ones in the back. Other people got their child out early, brought them home and dressed them in fancy outfits, see the dresses and sweater vests? Not a high point on the Momma-scale tonight. But we made it, no shoes and all.

At first, my two little ones were not too sure about the Big Guy. But I think there was safety in numbers because when they could approach him as part of a group, they were great. Marie even decided she wanted to be his helper. That is huge for her. She is starting to be a lot more comfortable and confident in new situations and that is just awesome to see!

It was sooo sweet how they wanted to sit together and be together during the Santa visit! They are such good little buddies!

Ty decided he really did want to catch Santa's eye so he stood up and gave a little wave.

All the kiddos were given a scarf with their name on it and a candy cane. Perfect.

Marie loved hers. She made short work of the candy and then danced with the scarf for the rest of the evening.

Santa has a rather bizarre accent. At times he spoke clear American Midwest English but then he would switch into a Scottish brogue and then some sort of almost Australian accent...I guess he is such an International Guy that this is to be expected. He looked good, though.

Afterwards was a bit of play time and SOMEONE is a huuuuge HAM!

Snow Day!

"Painted rocks"

"Sticker Work"

"Dance Party"

"Snack Time"

...all before 11am!!!

Yikes! What's a Momma to do? Frankly it was too cold to go out.

But, Marie came up with a (mostly good) plan. Fort-making.

We take our fort making a little too seriously.

Especially when you have an in-house anti-fort contingent, AKA the little brother.

But, he can be distracted.

Sadly, so can Momma.

What to do?

What do you do when you wake up to a foot of snow in the driveway?

First you spend nearly an hour getting everyone dressed to go outside. Multiple layers of pants, socks, shirts, etc and then you start on the outside gear. After several more minutes and layers, you all head outside to sled. (For the record, I felt his hands, feet, etc when he came in and the ONLY cold part of his entire body was his cheeks so we did well in the layering dept).

Marie and our neighbor on the sledding hill.

Ty had a hard time walking...

Soup and hot chocolate for all at the end!

FIVE!!! PM

Marie's Bday, pt 2

And then the school day ended so we headed downtown. We had a skillfully planned dinner at Bubbas. This means that Momma and the kiddos showed up just as the meal was served since Daddy got there prior and ordered. Ahhhh..parental teamwork!!!

We then walked a few blocks down to the enormous Christmas tree that sits at the center of our downtown. A certain Christmas celebrity meets the Mayor and flips the switch to turn on the tree for the season and well, we to to be right *there* as he walked by and greeted Marie personally! She was quite stunned! We also ran into her classmate and his mother and their 8 mo old. Daddy was trying to catch up to them and couldn't get through the crowds. We were thrilled to be her extra set of hands; isn't it amazing how that works out? Marie was just tickled to have a buddy to spend this occasion with and we could assist and lift him up as needed so he could see. You can see she was just thrilled with it all...

Ty, of course, loves anything new that he can do with his family and his beloved "Dee Dee." Since she was happy and having fun, he thought it was magnificent!!!!

Hey, look! Momma was there too! Same hat and coat as last year!!!

We walked back to the parking deck where our cars were and got the kids buckled in. Then I took them for a drive to see the lights. At one point, shortly into the drive, I look in the rear view mirror and Ty is babbling away while Marie has drifted into a deep sleep. She was out for the night!!! So we opened her gifts first thing in the AM. She was thrilled with all of them!!! Thank you!

FIVE!!! AM

According to Marie, she is NOT Five today; she is "turning five." Not sure what this means but I believe it will serve her well in her forties! This is her early descent.

She quickly started to soak up and appreciate the attention. Her special birthday breakfast of sausage with a candle and a waffle topped with strawberries and whipped cream slipped on down. Her Baptismal Candle is lit in front of her presents. Thank YOU to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Abby for adding to her gifts!

At school they do a special Birthday Celebration. The parents read about each year of the child's life and the child takes a globe and circles the "sun" to represent the passing of the year. "The Earth goes round the Sun; the Earth goes around the Sun. It takes 12 months to go around and now Marie is...(one)." So she orbited the sun 5 times to represent her age. Needless to say, a certain Momma was c-h-o-k-e-d up at this.

Proud Parents with the Big Kid at School

Daddy can appreciate a Good Birthday Crown; what a Man.

One Quick B-day Pict

Marie enjoying her new favorite toy and Ty trying to shoehorn his way in. (It is dark so the red glow can be seen in the pict). Thanks, Uncle Jeff!