Christmas Morning

Claire and Kyle must have been very good this year because Santa brought them such lovely things. Claire put out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. She also sprinkled reindeer food (that she made at daycare) in the front yard.

She woke up that morning ready to open presents. When I told her Kyle was still sleeping, she hugged him until he awoke. She ran right by the giant, unwrapped play kitchen and started with another gift. I think not sure how to react to it. After opening a Cinderella doll we could tell she was visually checking out the kitchen. We told her again it was for her and Kyle from Santa and she promptly went to investigate.

 Claire immediately called Spencer on the kitchen phone to tell him we were opening gifts. Then got out all of her play food.

 Kyle seemed to enjoy it as well.

Santa baby

It was great watching Claire opening and passing out gifts. We had a lovely Christmas morning.

Santa had these great gift tags on all his gifts. Thanks Nana:)

Christmas Eve Crafts

We had the day to ourselves Christmas Eve, which was fabulous. Nana Barb and Papa Joe had stayed overnight. They helped watch the kids while Lucian and I finished wrapping a few gifts. Then in the afternoon, Claire and I made cookies for Santa.

She loved it!

We also made a candy house earlier in the week. It was a spontaneous idea that turned out to be a great entire family activity. Not to mention we cleared the cupboards of a ton of candy that was sitting in the house! What do you think?

Getting Ready

This weekend was a cram session for the holidays. I started to freak out last week realizing it was my last full weekend to prepare. We are hosting my family on Sun. to celebrate Christmas and also planning Kyle's 1st birthday. I feel like things are pretty under control, but it took a good bit of effort last week/weekend.

Here is the invite I created for Kyle's party. Hard to believe our little guy is turning 1.

 Claire helped me bake cookies. Her favorite part is eating the dough.

 

We managed to get and decorate our tree last weekend (phew!). Claire was set on placing the star. She was so proud.

The best gifts:)

Papa's Birthday

We drove to Rockford last Saturday (the 8th) to have a birthday celebration with Papa Joe. We had a lovely lunch and enjoyed spending some time with my family. Happy birthday Papa!

Hugs from Nana

Aunt Mimi and Kyle Reed

Polar Express

Last Saturday we drove to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI to ride the Polar Express. I heard about it last year and also that tickets went on sale in the summer and sold out right away. I set an appointment in my phone for the sale date and snatched some up.

You could explore some really cool retired trains in the museum and then sit down for a reading of the story, complete with hot chocolate. After that we all boarded the Polar Express for a trip to the North Pole.

We rode the double decker car and sang songs along the way.

And every child received a bell. We'd love to ride the one in CO we've heard about. Perhaps a Christmas ski trip is in our future?:)

Claire Plays

 The weather was surprisingly warm today so we played outside for a bit. Lucian documented by taking these great photos.

Some of you may notice a spiffy new fence in the background. We gave up the job to a professional who wrapped up last week. We're very pleased.

Soccer

It was great to have three days at home after our trip to tidy up, hang out and try to prepare for going back to work. Here's a cute video from the weekend of Kyle playing with a soccer ball.

Florida Thanksgiving

Our daycare family went on vacation last week. When we got the notice months ago they would be closed, we decided we could use a vacation too. We were able to use Lucian's parent's condo in Bonita Springs and get away for a whole week.

This was Kyle's first trip to the ocean. He had no reservations about the sand and water. I'm pretty sure he ingested a good amount of sand.

Claire loved swimming in the pool. We brought a floatie that let her swim on her own which was a big help for Lucian and I.

Claire was timid about walking on the sand (and sharp shells) at first. After a day or two, she saw how fun it was to build castles and chase birds and forgot all about it.

We made the most of a cloudy/cooler day with a walk on the beach and a drive down to Naples.

Papa Dave came down for a good portion of the trip as well. He was able to take us out on his boat one afternoon where we saw dolphins swimming right next to and under the boat. It was so cool.

Claire even got to drive!

 I hung out with Kyle for a bit below deck. He ended up napping for a good portion of the ride.

 We saw some beautiful sun sets and watched dolphins from our lanai.

We spent Thanksgiving day flying back to Milwaukee. The kids did great overall and Spen was a big help, as always. We made it just in time for turkey dinner leftovers at Lucian's parents. We really enjoyed our time away from hectic schedules and cold weather. We can't wait to go back.