Christmas Continues

When we got back home, we saw that indeed Santa had visited.  He fulfilled their wish list from the letter Mia wrote to him.  Mia hopped excitedly from one thing to the next.  Quinn tended to concentrate on one toy at a time, inspect it, and play with it a bit.  He especially loved his new Daniel Tiger and remote control fire engine.  Mia was really excited about her Barbie Malibu House we got for her.  She's also been putting on performances with her microphone and telling lots of jokes out of her joke book.  We had a great Christmas and had such a great time with our families!

Showing Quinn how his dump truck works

Figuring out the remote control on his fire engine

Christmas Day

Santa stopped by our house in Dallas, but he made sure to come by Darvey and Kenda's house, too.  He left a couple small gifts for Mia and Quinn as well as a note to tell them he had delivered the rest of their gifts to our house.  This year was the first time that the kids have watched Home Alone, and they love it!  They've seen it a few times over the last week, and it was on again at Darvey and Kenda's.  They also showed Home Alone 2, so we watched that as well.  I guess I should more accurately say that it was on.  Mia and Quinn don't usually sit still for too long, but they watched most of it.  We got to enjoy Christmas morning with Nana and Keith, too.  Then, we went out to Nana Bev and Papaw's house.  Quinn was obsessed with going to see the horse and cows, so Dad called them up to the house.  It was so cute to watch Mia and Quinn petting the horse.  I had taken several pictures, but then I guess the light changed and the automatic setting on my camera decided it needed flash.  I spooked the horse (who bolted) as well as several cows.  I felt terrible, but everyone was fine.  Mia wanted me to take more pictures of her when the horse finally came back, but I told her no more.  The poor horse's nerves probably couldn't take it.  Poor thing.  They loved seeing the horse and cows with Papaw, though.

Christmas Eve

I don't have many pictures to share of Christmas Eve.  We were too busy enjoying all of the family time!  Our elf on the shelf, Benjamin, did come back to visit us this year, but I didn't get too many pictures.  Here are a couple of his shenanigans this Christmas season.

Quinn at the white house

Mia and Quinn at Darvey and Kenda's house

Waiting for Santa!

Benjamin brought A & Q gingerbread cookies

He also brought them the complete set of Santa Clause movies.  Pardon the messy floor.  We had just put our tree up.  It's pretty old and tends to shed a little when we put it together.

 

Feeding Reindeer

The four of us headed to Heavener on Tuesday to spend Christmas with our families.  Before we left, Mia and Quinn sprinkled the reindeer food on the lawn.  They didn't want Santa to forget to stop at our house since we would be out of town.

This and That

Our weekend before Christmas has been nice and low stress.  It's not been the usual running around like crazy.  Christmas shopping is done.  I'm just working on wrapping a little at a time.  The kids and I finished up the shopping Sunday.  Mia wanted to pose with a statue and have her picture taken while we were out, so I obliged.  Today, we made reindeer food for Santa's reindeer.  We've used glitter before so that the reindeer can find the oats mixed in at night, but we opted for a more biodegradable choice this year.  Mia mixed in lots of different sprinkles to make the reindeer food more colorful.  I think Rudolph and his buddies will be able to find it just fine.  I wanted to give Quinn's room a good scrubbing as well as make room for new toys he'll get for Christmas, so I worked on that next.  You don't realize how many toys your kids have until they are laying all over the floor.  I boxed up the infant toys and cleaned his room.  Then, we took a walk this afternoon, or rather, I walked while Mia and Quinn rode in the wagon.  Of course, Bobby, Quinn's monkey, came along for the ride.  This week will be busy, so I'm glad we were able to get some rest.

Holiday Photos

My friend, Julie, took pictures of Mia and Quinn for our Christmas card this year.  I guess I should technically say "cards" because I loved the pictures so much that I ended up sending out two different card designs.  Photo shoots with Julie are so fun because there are always fun props, wardrobe changes, and lots of giggles.  I definitely couldn't choose a favorite among all of these.  They will be treasured!

Halfway Point

Today was the last day of the fall school semester for Mia.  Kindergarten is halfway over!  The kids all got to wear their Christmas pajamas to school, so that was a real treat for them.  Since she's in the dual language program, her class performed a couple songs in both English and Spanish for their Christmas program this morning.  Mia has been practicing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Spanish at home, and she nailed it!  I love to watch her onstage because the girl has no idea what stage fright is.  She's energetic and really has fun!  Each class did their songs, and then the whole kindergarten (which is massive) piled onto the stage to sing a song together.  Mia was sitting front and center on the edge of the stage.  She sang loud, smiled, and did all of the hand gestures/dance moves.  She's a joy to us!!  Most of the kids went home with their parents after the program.  Unfortunately, I had to go back to work, and Wesley couldn't leave his work.  Mia was really sad to have to stay at school, but several of her friends stayed too, so she was okay.  One of her friends could have gone home with his mom, but chose to stay so that he could play with Mia!  What a sweet friend!  When I picked Mia up later, she said that she and her friends got to do lots of fun and special activities with her teacher, so she enjoyed her day!

Little Ballerina

Because we are approaching the halfway point of the school year, Mia's ballet school had a parents' night so that the dancers could show their parents what they have been working on.  It wasn't a recital.  During her regular class, the teacher lines the room with chairs, and the parents get to sit in and watch.  The girls were more distracted than usual with all of the parents watching them, but they were so proud to show off their moves.  I'm glad that Mia is stilling enjoying ballet/tap.  She's always loved to twirl!