SANTA!

Last week, Santa visited the kids at Abigail and Katherine's preschool, so it was the perfect opportunity to check him out for free. In years past, I've paid to have the terrible mall photos of my children with Santa. Of the 6 times I've been to the mall Santa, there have been tears more times than not. So, even though the whole family had been talkin' Santa up, we just weren't sure how Katherine would react when face to face with the jolly one.

I was so proud of sweet Katherine. She did a great job. She walked and Abigail ran...to climb up into his lap. They both told him what they wanted for Christmas. And thankfully not one tear was shed. One more milestone down....

And for those of your keeping score, Katherine told Santa she wants "swan palace princesses" and Abigail wants a "fur-real friend". I have it on good authority that they will both be getting their Christmas wish.

Now if we can only wait for Christmas....which is like a lifetime when you are almost 3 and 5. :)

Merry Christmas!

Well miracles do happen!

Katherine had never seen snow. Last year, little flakes fell, and that was fun, but Katherine slept thru it. Abigail and I went outside to play in it, but it was short lived. Nothing stuck and it was over almost as quickly as it began.

This year, the snow was great. It stuck to the ground and the kids were actually able to have a snowball fight.

As Katherine quickly discovered, snow is cold. And when fingers get cold enough, they hurt. She didn't make it long. But Abigail must have sensed how big of a deal it was. She could have stayed out there all day. She soaked it all up!

Could we fit more stuff in one week?

So, the week before Abigail's birthday, all of our renovation projects came crashing down upon us at once. We hired the same company to do install engineered hardwoods downstairs and new tile upstairs in our master bathroom. We also planned to have our roof replaced after some hail damage. Thanks to the weather and everyone's schedule, they all showed up at once. The first day, it was just he wood flooring guys...then the next day the roofers arrived just in time for Katherine's nap...and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the tile guys showed up. Luckily that was the worst day....but it was the loudest and craziest 4 days. The results are beautiful though...well worth the trouble.

Ketchup

Ok, so clearly, I have some ketchin' up to do....

We have had a very busy fall...I just don't know where the time has gone.

For Halloween, we went to the fair at Abigail and Katherine's preschool. It was packed with families. I guess everyone wanted to jump in the bounce houses, ride the train and try to win the cake walk. We had a good time, but the girls had the best time trick or treating with their best friends Kayla and Meghan.

Abigail chose to be a vet, and of course, her favorite bear Snowball, was in tow for the night. And Katherine chose Pocahontas. It would have been a perfect evening had it not been for the over excited toddler who fell in the street 3 times, scraping her knees terribly. It's just so hard NOT to run!

Tomorrow...remodeling (in preparation to put our house on the market).