Santa 2013

I honestly didn't think it was going to happen, but we made to see Santa!!! 

We have been going to see the real Santa at North Park Center in Dallas for the last 6 years.  All of our Santa pictures are taken with the same guy, but this year I was a little worried! 

You see, we normally go to North Park during the week while school is still going on.  It's a big deal to see this Santa and you can't just walk into the mall and get in line.  You have to have a ticket and those tickets are given out at 9 that morning.  It's kind of crazy!  But in the past we have always gotten there early, gotten our ticket and then been able to meet the big guy at a reasonable time.  Well this year was different.... We couldn't go see him until after school was out and just 2 days before Christmas.  We thought we had it figured out.  Ben and I would leave at 7am and drive to Dallas, get our ticket and then call Coach and Honey and they would bring the kids down to the mall.  Well we got there at 8:30 and you would not believe the line!!!  It was CRAZY! We have NEVER been in the 100s before... we got number 191 and was told to come back at 6:50pm to get in line.  CRAZY!!! 

Crazy, but in all honesty I had fun.  I know North Park Center is NOT Ben's favorite place to be... more like the worst place for him, but we had all day together!  We went and saw a movie, finished up our Christmas shopping and then just hung out.  I had a lot of fun and we got to see Santa!!! 

Hunter telling Santa he wants one of those things the quarter back wears to call plays. 

Archer wants a Mickey! 

Maggie wants the Bell dog and a Disney princess pet. 

So next year we will come earlier!!!  A LOT earlier!!!  

Here are a few pics from us waiting... and waiting... and waiting... 

We finally made it up to Santa's house!  

It's almost our turn!!!

I was really worried with how he would react!  He did so good!!! 

I love that the Disney Store was next door to Santa!  We played, colored and watched movies while waiting on Santa! 

Ben and I watched this movie and LOVED it!  Go see it!  But don't bring the kids.  They would be bored! 

Santa 2012

Santa 2011

Santa 2010

Maggie's Christmas Program 2013

Maggie had her school Christmas program on Thursday afternoon. 

She did a great job!  They sang lots of songs, but none of them were the traditional Christmas songs.  I was really impressed with how well the kids knew the songs.  You could tell they had been practicing. 

Before the kids got on the stage the director told everyone that the kids would wave to you and encouraged everyone to wave back.  I really liked that because that is what all the kids want to do when up on stage. 

Maggie, the little ham, would often put her hand on her hip and cock her foot out after a song... just had to do a little pose. :)  

She would also wink, like in this picture.  It was so funny!!   

They did a great job singing.  It was different, though.  The Kidslink director played her guitar and sang along with the kids.  They sang about 8 songs.  Below is a video of one of the songs.  This was the only song we knew.  Hunter and Maggie sang it last year with Ms. Samm!  They love Ms. Samm and miss her!  So do I! :)  

Here are a few post from Christmas programs in the past. 

2012

2011 (my favorite)

Santa post coming soon! :) 

School parties

I am so thankful Honey came this past week so I could go to all of the school parties and activities!   I don't know who had more fun, me or Maggie and Hunter!  It was so fun! 

Maggie's party was on Tuesday and she had lots of fun with her friends! 

She made Christmas tree out of an iced ice cream cone. 

She got to dig through a bucket of reindeer food to find a few jingle bells for her reindeer pictures she colored. 

She got to listen to a story.  She also got to paint a candy cane and make a handprint ornament. 

Singing some Christmas songs with all of her friends. 

And it's not a party with out sweet treats! 

I think she had a lot of fun!  I was so glad I was able to be there and help!  

 Hunter had Gingerbread Day on Thursday.  He had lots of different activities, too!  

I was at the Science and Math station, so I wasn't able to take many pictures.  I LOVED getting to talk to all of the kids in his class!  It was so fun! 

He got to ice and decorate a sugar cookie and here he is decorating a gingerbread house with stickers.  

He also made a gingerbread man, played bingo with sight words and made an awesome gingerbread house!  We LOVE his kindergarten teacher!  She is awesome!  Her mom baked everyone a gingerbread house that she put together.  Then during the party she was there to help them decorate their house.  His house turned out so good!  I think it is better than the one we made as a family!  It also smells amazing, so much better than a bought kit!  So neat! 

Here he is at my station, science and math.  Their experiment was, what will happen to a gingerbread man (cookie) if he gets wet.  They all had to draw what their cookie looks like and then what they thought would happen when it got wet.  Then we put the cookies in water.  It was so funny to hear the kids and watch their reactions to their gingerbread men!  They were so funny! Then they did a count and color sheet using a pair of dice. I'm so proud of this sweet boy!  I had so much fun at his party! 

I will tell you I had a big pinterest fail this week... We always send a small gift to all of the kids classmates at school.  They love giving their friends something for Christmas.  

Well this year I found this on pinterest and thought it would be perfect.  I thought Hunter and Maggie would be able to make them by themselves.  I bought a bag of candy corn right after halloween so we would have something for the nose... well I could not get the donuts to stay on the stick!  I even dipped the stick in almond bark thinking that would help.  Nope! They kept crumbling and the scarf would not stay on.  Finially I gave up and this is what we gave...

Make a snowman kit... a bag filled with the donuts, a nose, buttons (skittles) and a scarf (Twizzlers).  Oh well...  :) 

Thank you, Honey for coming this week!!!!  That was the best Christmas gift!! :) 

Insta-Friday: ELF EDITION! :)

It's been another super fun week with our elf, Elfie!  

Here's a peak at where he has been hiding.  So fun! :) 

Just hanging around on Saturday! 

Ready to cheer on the Texans on Sunday! 

Sure wish we could win a game!!! oh well... 

Zip lining down the hall on Monday! 

Taking a bubble bath on Tuesday! 

Being a reindeer on Wednesday! 

Checking out our advent calendar on Thursday! 

Maggie and Archer came running into our room this morning after they found Elfie!  They were so excited to see him flying! So fun! 

Here are some of our advent activities from this week... 

Last Friday we let the kids have a camp out in the tee-pee downstairs!  They all slept all night in the tee-pee!!  WooHoo! We also made smores.  It was Archer's first smore!  He loved it! :) 

Saturday evening we went to look at Christmas lights!  This was our favorite house.  Can you tell why??? lol :) 

Sunday we made our gingerbread house! 

See post here. 

I know this wasn't an advent activity, but it has been so nice here in Kansas this week!  The kids have LOVED playing outside!  To bad it is freezing again today. :(

Watching one of our favorite Christmas movies, Prep and Landing!  We love both movies!! 

This was my favorite activity!  

We acted out the Christmas story!  It was so much fun!  

We also made a few more Christmas crafts!  

We have had such a great week!  I am so glad Hunter is out of school for 2 weeks!!  WooHoo!  We are so excited about Christmas!!!  

I'll be posting about school Christmas parties and a Christmas program soon!  Have a great Friday, ya'll!  

Our Tiny Dancer

It was parents day on Monday in Maggie's dance class, so I got to go in and watch.  

She has had so much fun dancing this year!  They start with tap and end with ballet.  Here are a few pictures from Monday! 

They are a little dangerous with those shuffles!

She really wanted to wear her candy cane tu-tu on Monday and she wasn't the only one! 

Heal taps

free dance

Moving on to ballet... 

Starting with some skipping

Maggie's sweet friend Nora!  They would skip back and forth and give each other a hug at the wall. So cute! 

Going over the positions... 

And... she's done! She didn't want to draw circles.  

I think she was so excited that I was there that she was getting bored with the slower dancing. She is so funny! 

We love you, Maggie Moe!  

We are so proud of you, tiny dancer!