12 Days of Christmas

Shawn and I had so much fun planning out how we would celebrate our "12 Days of Christmas" tradition this year. With the kids a little older, especially Reilly, we knew we wanted to incorporate some more meaningful and spiritual pieces in the 12 days of fun. The kids loved running downstairs each morning to check the paper chain and see how many "chains" we left. We typically let them open the chain after Daddy got home from work to see what we would do that evening together as a family. The suspense built all throughout the day :) Here is the list of what we did this year for the 12 days leading up to Christmas:

1. New Christmas books
2. Ginger bread house
3. Popcorn in the car for a house light tour around the neighborhood
4. New Christmas movie special night
5. Dinner and Snowfall at Birkdale with singing bears
6. hot chocolate, music and dancing by the fire
7. Zootastic Park light tour with Aunt Kelly and Shaun
8. Peppermint milkshakes and shopping with daddy
9. Bake and take cookies to homeless shelter
10. Choose two "gifts" from the Samaritans Purse gift catalog to purchase for needy children/families worldwide
    
11. Make Cards and take cookies to Ivys and Caitlyn
12. Christmas Eve church celebration and come home for Jesus' birthday party!!

Zootastic park was really cool....miles of lights all over the place. And of course we got to go inside and see some neat animals! I can honestly say I have NEVER seen a kangaroo in person...AND had the chance to pet one before! so cute :)

SANTA!

We did a quick trip to see Santa after Reilly's preschool program. The kids both looked pretty cute and it was a spontaneous decision! And boy did we luck up! I pulled in at Great Outdoor World, where they have the BEST Santa and set (deer, a tiny house with elves, etc.) and we walked right in and sat right on Santa's lap. He was just waiting for someone...NO LINE whatsoever. It was fabulous :) Reilly was so excited to sit on his lap this year! Quite a change from years past :)

Stonebridge Preschool Christmas Program, Dec. 16th

Reilly was such a hoot during the Christmas program this year! She LOVED being up on that stage! It was so precious to watch her just sing and dance and perform as if there weren't 300 people staying at her! And it was so cute because Braxton sat in my lap the whole time, saying "LaLa" and pointing to Reilly up on the stage! He loved watching her up there!!

I love this next one.... "I'm not going to smile b/c I don't want you to know that I'm excited to see you!"

Reilly's bestest bud, Sophie, and her big sister Chloe

we have been SOOOO blessed, yet again, to have an amazing teacher for Reilly this year. Ms. Jacobson is just what our sweet little spirited daughter needs!! :)

Matching Jammies...a Christmas tradition

One thing that I started last year that I can't WAIT to continue each year from here on....a matching Christmas jammies photo shoot!! The photos I got last year were just precious and I was determined to find some jammies that were just as cute as the ones I happened upon at Babies R Us last year. After lots of searching, I finally found these online at Gymboree and decided they would be perfect :) I even picked up some giant lollipops for the kids! Braxton wasn't too into this year, but I still think I got some cute shots :) I just love this!

winter jammies!

Nana and Aunt Kelly gave Reilly and Braxton some super cute winter jammies....they LOVE them!

Jamestown Christmas Parade- December 5th

Mom was SO excited when the lady called to ask if Teddy (the pony) could be in the Christmas parade this year. She wanted so badly for Reilly to ride Teddy in the parade! I honestly didn't know if Reilly would do it once she saw all the thousands of people around. I didn't know if she would get scared or anxious or anything. But, I went along with it!! Mom and Reilly spent lots of time out at the barn Sunday morning getting all the equipment and tack together. Then they took ribbons and bows and shiny things and tied them all in Teddy's main and tail. Mom even had some antlers to put on Teddy's head to make him look like a reindeer! Reilly had a big Santa hat to wear and mom had one to match. As mom's friend pulled up with the horse trailer, Reilly couldn't wait to help Teddy get on the trailer all by herself!! And sure enough, she lead him right on it without him even hesitating one second!




I must say, I was absolutely blown away at how well she did!! Not only was she SO patient waiting for the parade to start (she and mom had to get there so early so they could get in line) but she sat so big up on Teddy and just waved from side to side at all the people lining the streets! It was just too cute. And she had a blast!!

this was a miniature horse that was also walking near Teddy...how stinkin' cute is he!!

2nd Annual Rockin' Christmas Party

Wow. I don't really know if I considered having another Christmas party after the one we had last year, but since we all had such an awesome time, AND since my neighbors harassed me about having another one since I titled the first one "1st ANNUAL Rockin' Christmas Party", we decided to give it another go! And we had an awesome time, yet again. All the girls begged me to let them bring food so I didn't have to do it all myself but I kept insisting that I really did ENJOY doing it! Honestly! I enjoy planning the menu and putting it all together and then planning the presentation of it all. That's the part I get all excited about:) We invited 17 couples this year and once again, THEY ALL CAME (except for a few of the men that were traveling or at a football game)! This year I introduced dad's famous Christmas carol picture quiz and another one very similar that uses word phrases for the songs. It was so funny to watch everyone crowd around the kitchen table in their own little groups, whispering answers back and forth and competing to see who would win the Starbucks gift cards I had as a prize! They were so into it! And of course, we had the most fun during the Gift Exchange!! I like the way it's set up b/c I don't specify whether the gifts are supposed to be "real" gifts or "gag gifts", which I think makes it even more fun. There were some awesome "gag" gifts floating around, and the funniest part is how some of the intended gag gifts often get stolen several times! Some of the funny ones were a piggy bank that was a naked butt and when you put money in it makes a fart sound (Really, who makes these things?!!). Another one was a putt-putt set to be used while sitting on the potty; it was called "pot and putt"! A moose salt-n-pepper shaker was stolen several times too. Probably the gift that caused the most laughs was a picture of Shawn and I, in a frame, that Bert Wilder took off the shelf in our living room and put into a gift bag while nobody was looking. It was hysterical when Lisa opened it and thought I had wrapped up a picture of us as a joke...but even funnier when people realized that I had nothing to do with it!! We have such a fun and sometimes CRAZY group of neighbors, but there is never any lack of laughing when we are all together :)

Caroline and Thomas, Kevin and Brent

Chuck, Steve, Neal, Kevin, Jamie

Alli, Jessica, Christie, Beth, Caroline, me

me, Karin, Holly, Jessica

Olivier, Heather, Alli and Keith

Steve and Amy, Caroline and thomas

Bert laughing and holding "the" picture frame as if he knew nothing about it!