Lots to catch up on!

I've been absent for a while due to a very busy December. We have been busy celebrating birthdays for Patrick and Emily, celebrating Christmas and learning how to have a crawler and a preschooler in the same house!

 

Earlier in December Emily's preschool performed their annual Christmas program. It was very entertaining, as usual. I decided to surprise Emily the day of her program with a new "Elsa" dress so she was busy playing with the tule layer for much of the program but did manage to sing and perform in-between her twirling :)

Santa and Mrs. Claus also made a visit!

We also continued with what's now become a holiday tradition: cookie decorating. Instead of getting together to bake cookies, my mother in law buys sugar cookies from a bakery and we spend the afternoon decorating them. We outdid ourselves this year with 12 dozen cookies decorated and who knows how many pounds of icing!

Christmas was extra special this year with the addition of Aubrey! We spent Christmas Eve at the Harrisons enjoying good company, a delicious lasagna dinner, gift exchange and more treats than needed. Aubrey made it to her usual bedtime, around 7, but Emily partied on until the bitter end. We looked for Santa on our drive home, but alas, he was not in Minnesota yet.

However, he made it to our house sometime throughout the night and left goodies behind for all that were good this year. Emily received a doll house and some treats in her stocking, Aubrey had a few pouches in her stocking and a couple of toys and Patrick and I both received treats from the big guy. After checking out Santa's gifts, we exchanged gifts from each other before heading out for the day. It was such a nice morning with our little family!

       

   

    

  

After our Christmas morning, we headed north to my parent's house. We exchanged gifts, enjoyed a delicious brunch and ended with playtime for our new gifts. It was a perfect Christmas Day!

                       

Last, we made a quick stop to Grandpa Bruce and Nana Michelle's house on Christmas evening to share holiday cheer!


It was a lovely season and a fun holiday. As the new year approaches, we are looking forward to playtime in the snow (now that we have some!).