Day 341

It was the town Tree Lighting celebration tonight. That means the kids got to see Santa! And what a perfect day for it - freezing, but with snow falling most of the day so all the dirty bare ground is now covered with nice white snow. It's only fitting that there be snow on the ground when Santa comes to town.
Santa was spending a lot of time talking with each child, so we decided to go on the sleigh ride first. Then we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies while waiting in line for Santa.
Kaitlyn always picks just one thing to request from Santa and this year it is a "2-wheeler bike." So when Santa asked her what else she wanted she was stumped. So he told her that he would also bring her a surprise. And that Ruldolph likes half a carrot on Christmas Eve. Tyler simply requested "tractors" and was then happy to hop off Santa's lap to dig into his candy cane.

Day 340

I have been itching to put up the Christmas tree, this year even more than usual because I have all new decorations for the tree. But it takes up so much space I made myself wait until after Tyler's party. So today was the day to put it up. Yay. Except I had problems with the lights and with the stand. About gave up on the stinking thing 3 different times. But in the end I won! And I have to say, after we got the lights on, the decorating did get enjoyable. The kids had a great time and were actually very helpful, especially Kaitlyn. She was always ready and willing to hand me things and she put the majority of the ornaments on all by herself. (and I only moved 1! Coming from a Christmas tree perfectionist, that's high praise) Tyler kept himself busy with his toys (making a bit of a mind-field for me with all the cars on the floor), but did help with the last bit of ornaments. And the end result is beautiful. I love Christmas.
Did I mention that the kids are sick today? Kaitlyn has had a fever and chills. Ty, the sleepless night and runny nose. Yet despite that, they have been on best behavior all day. Aaaaaah.
Oh and today the elves were found in the living room, where most of the party was waiting to be cleaned up. Twinkle had stolen one of the chocolates from the advent calendar (that we have forgotten to eat for the past couple days) and was hiding in Ty's new barn. And Tinsel was riding around on the toy tractor.

Day 339

Happy Birthday Tyler!
It's hard to believe that my little guy is THREE! Time just keeps flying by (how often do I say that??)!
Kaitlyn wanted to help surprise him, so I let her stay up a bit late so we could blow up balloons and fill the floor of his room with them. Sweet little girl was very tired though - she fell asleep on the couch within 10 minutes, while waiting for him to fall asleep. She woke up enough to carry one balloon into his room then went straight to bed.
I don't think Tyler is quite clued into the whole birthday thing. It was Kaitlyn that insisted he open at least one present right away in the morning. Sam was down at the base, so we saved the rest for when he would be home. Then I/we spent some time decorating cupcakes for the party.
Tyler had a farm themed party with some of the neighborhood kids. And the "people party" (as Kaitlyn calls it - that means "grown-up" to all the rest of us) was after dinner - gifts, cake and ice cream! Ty seems pretty happy with his day. Happy Birthday Buddy!
*the night of the birthday didn't go so well. By the 3rd time getting up with Ty (all before midnight), he finally ended up in bed with me. I think it was due to a cold coming on because in the morning he had a stuff/runny nose.

Day 338

(hope you don't mind I posted this one Audrey)
I decided to take off on my own today and go have some fun with my good friend Audrey, while leaving the kids and Sam on their own (I love when I get to do that). Audrey wanted a quick photo session of Michael, so we did that first. We got some great smiles out of him inside but when we moved outside...let's just say thank goodness for the garbage truck! I think we would have had major meltdowns if he hadn't had something to watch.
After photos we went to lunch, had a quick gift exchange (aren't we so on the ball?!), and did some shopping - a great combo for a great day. Wish I could do it more often.

Day 337

Kaitlyn was very upset with the elves today. She thought they were trying to hurt her fish. Sam was finally able to convince her that they were doing catch and release. Guess those elves are going to have to be more careful from now on.

Day 336

Guess he was hungry :)
Kaitlyn found the elves first thing and put the cereal away before telling us what they were up to (I love that she feels so responsible for them). I had to reinact it for a photo. Ty spotted it then and told me to get him out. Then I was instructed to put him in time-out LOL.

Day 335

Our Elves. Santa sends them on the first of December to stay with us and let Santa know if the kids are naughty or nice. This is the third year they have visited and Katy is really into them (Ty is young enough he just goes along without really understanding). She knew what day it was last night and when she woke up the first thing she did was check the porch. She spent a good part of the day talking/playing with the girl elf and can't wait to see what mischief they get into while she sleeps. It's pretty cute.