2012 Revisted

Holiday Activity Countdown Continues...

This year we have been doing a holiday activity everyday as a way to countdown to Christmas!

 (You can see days 1-10 HERE) 

Days 11-20 have been filled with so much fun... 

Day 11- Visit with Santa

We took a trip to the Bass Pro Shop and this year Louie didn't cry! 

Day 12- Read A Christmas Story

This is the ultimate Christmas story. Reason for the season and all! 

Day 13- A Trip to Starbucks

After The Phi's amazing school performance we had a nice time sipping warm drinks. 

Day 14- Game Night! 

We brought out the Dora Candy Land, Princess Yahtzee, Connect 4 and Trouble. 

Day 15- See the Redlands  Highland House Light Show

When we got the the Redlands house there was not one light up. After a quick search on the internet we found a home in Highland that had an even better music and light show. And we had a Santa sighting. He came right up to the car and gave the girls candy canes! 

Day 16- Make A Christmas Drawing

We brought out the paper, crayons and stickers and made some really festive drawings!

Day 17- Bake Cookies

Yes pre-packaged cookie dough. Don't judge us. 

Day 18- Make Paper Snowflakes

We even let Louie use the kids safety scissors. 

Day 19- Watch a Christmas Movie

Joey had recorded a couple movies and I decided that we would watch Home Alone. The girls LOVED it. 

Day 20- Write A Letter to a Friend. 

Phi wrote to Schmonkey, Louie "wrote" to Chavo, I wrote to my Boo Ami, and Joey wrote to Abba-Zabba, his only real friend. 

We only have a few more activities to go. That means Christmas is almost here!!!

Smelly Sheep and 9 Year

The Phi was sooo excited! After many weeks of rehearsals it was time for her school Christmas play. She was playing the part of "townsfolk". We got her to her school a half hour early. I took her to her classroom and got her into wardrobe. Which looked a lot like a giant pillowcase.

We grabbed some pew and the show began! The Pre-k thru 2nd grades classes performed the play "Shepherds, Sheep and Savior". The Phi didn't have a speaking part, but she did do some acting. There was one scene where a couple townsfolk walked by the shepherd and waved their hands in front of their noses and said "EWWWWW'. So technically she did have a speaking part!

She also sang her heart out!

Louie was fairly well behaved for the entire show. We did have one crying incident towards the end.

My new favorite picture of Lou

The best song was called "Shaggy Smelly Sheep". Here is a little peek.

 

The holiday show landed on Joey and I's 9 year "together" anniversary. 9 years earlier we were at a "Never Heard of It / The Erks" show at Chain Reaction. Who knew that 9 years later we would be at a Christmas show starring our 7 year old.

We still know how to rock.

A Visit with Santa

It was the big day! The day to visit the big man in the red suite. We had to get Louie hyped. We reviewed last years photo.

Yes there was a bit of crying last year. So we talked to her about Santa and about not crying. 

Every year we visit Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. This place knows how to do up Christmas. 

The line was not too long and it felt even shorter because the girls and I got to go on a carousel ride. 

Louie still looking a bit unsure

Then it was time to visit Santa. Phi lead the way and held on to Louie's hand. 

Then it was photo time! Phi looked amazing and Louie, although still looked a bit concerned, did not cry! 

They had a brief chat with Santa. Phi told him she wanted a Password Journal and when Louie wouldn't answer Santa, Phi spoke for her and told him she wanted a baby doll. 

We ended up with a really great photo this year! 

Then it was time to have some fun with racing cars....

posing for pictures.......

hanging out with reindeer.....

checking out the fish....

sitting in front of a giant Christmas tree.

We were even able to get a little Christmas shopping done! 

Now if the girls can stay on the good list, I am sure Santa will bring them what they asked for!

Our First Live Christmas Tree

I think we got our first tree in 2005. The Phi was about 6 months old and we got a great deal on a 5 foot Noble fir. $16.00! It was my first ever fake Christmas tree. It worked well for us all these years. This year we decided that we wanted a real live Christmas tree.  We shopped around and found Home Depot to be the best deal in town.

I can't get over how expensive the tree farms sell their trees for!

We decided (well our budget decided) that a 6-7 foot Douglas fir was what we needed. We headed to our local Home Depot parking lot to find our perfect tree.

If took us about 5 minutes to find it.

It was netted and then Joey had to get it onto our car. We took the Benz for this trip. I could not get the image of my awesome 1980 Benz with a Christmas tree on top.m

We clapped when we got the tree home safe and sound. We watered it down and put it in the stand. The next night we brought out the ornaments and lights and made it our own.

Louie was in charge of the soft non-breakable ornaments.

We buy an ornament each year to represent something from that year. We have had our 2012 ornament since February when we took our first trip to Las Vegas!

It didn't take too long and the girls had a good time with the ornaments. We even did tinsel!

We also got to decorate the mantel and put up our nativity.

Then it was time to turn on the lights. We counted down and ohhhed and ahhhed.

Our tree ended up being about 8 feet tall! It is so huge and the girls were so excited. And it smells so good! 

 I will let you in on a secret. I think I was more excited about the tree than the girls were.

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Photo Bloopers

Thanks to digital photography I don't have to worry about wasting a shoot. I can just keep shooting and that means that a lot of the photos I take are bloopers. Like this one. Neither kids are looking. 

But then I looked closer

And closer...

Best picture ever!