We also went down the street to the annual Decker Gingerbread House contest. Lots of fun and Brian took over building the house, I think the kids helped off and on...and might have just help to eat the decorating candy.
Julianna was also super helpful at Grace's school party. We made snowman cheese sticks and snowman cups for popcorn. She passed out snacks and napkins. So much fun for us to visit Grace's class!
That was the last day of school and we had a nice long break! Which meant sleeping in and wearing pajamas and playing with friends. It was so nice to just relax for a couple weeks. Meegan and I took Julianna and Lily to see the Nutcracker. They might have been a tad young to sit through a ballet but we made it. And the girls had a great time! Maybe next year we will see the Rockettes!
Finally it was Christmas Eve after going to church and eating a yummy dinner, the kids went to put cookies and milk out for Santa. We may not have had any carrots but they were easily convinced green peppers were a reindeer's second favorite and a welcome change from all the carrots they would be getting! Yes, once again Grace ate more cookies than she plated but that is to be expected!
Christmas Eve might just be my favorite day of the whole year (and not just because kids go to bed with ZERO arguments!) I love finishing up the wrapping and putting out all the presents. Stuffing stockings. And its so quiet! This year I told myself I would have everything wrapped and ready to just bring to the tree. Well that didn't happen. Oh well next year I will be on top of it!
Thankfully the kids slept until after 7am (which was great because I didn't make it to bed until 3am!) Once everyone was up they were able to go downstairs and see what Santa brought. Jake got a new bike, MarioKart 8, Ghostbusters, a walkie talkie and Marvel Live tickets!
Julianna finally got her dollhouse! Santa didn't bring it last year and she was so sad! I think Santa redeemed himself this year! This one even has a pool! She also got a nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and some nail polish.
Grace didn't want anything but food. That made it challenging for Santa. But her came through with a new easel, huge Olaf, Dumbo and lipsticks.
After we went through all the Santa gifts we headed to the living room to open presents. The kids got all kinds of fun stuff...and useful stuff too! My favorite presents are the ones the kids pick out for each other. Julianna takes this very seriously and will spend an hour at the store looking at every toy before she settles on anything. This year she bought Grace an Olaf tea set and Jake two Super Hero figurines. Jake picked out a spin art set for Julianna (she is quite the artist) and a jumpy thing for Grace. Grace just kind of points to something and doesn't think too much. But she got Jake a Lego book and Julianna a set of princess books. They were all happy with their gifts and super happy to see other opens their gifts.
Julianna's school still has a Santa shop and she picked out presents for Mommy and Daddy. The day she shopped she jumped in the car and was sooo excited! She said "I can't tell you what I bought you but its beautiful and I got Daddy reindeer socks and he is going to be so excited to wear them!" It is so adorable how excited she was for us to open her gifts. I love that her school does this for them!
It was a wonderful day. Jake ended up with tons of Legos! Which he spent hours and hours putting together in his room. We skyped with Grandma and Poppy while we opened their gifts. The girls even got a Frozen karaoke machine! I have to include this picture of Grace. She is standing on a table with her microphone singing into the mirror. Future singer/actress?
Brian's family came for the weekend. We had a great time playing and enjoyed having everyone here...even if half the family was sick by the time they left. But the kids loved spending time with family and cousins. I just love this picture!
New Year's came around and we rang in 2015 with our neighbors. 2014 was crazy busy but we had a great year! I am sure 2015 will be even better! We already have plans to got to New Orleans at the end of January, I am heading to Disney World in February to run a half marathon (yes you read that right! Pray for me!), for Spring Break we are headed to Wilderness at the Smokies (an indoor water park resort), hitting the Beach in July, will go to Cincinnati at some point this summer, and we have a week break in September so we will be in our favorite place...Disney World! Lots of fun already on the calendar! Looks to be another fantastic year!
Happy New Year!
