Christmas Eve Photos

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful tree inside the lobby at church for pictures rather than trying to take them at home. We arrived early before it was too crowded and got all set up for pictures. I think they came out pretty good.

The kiddos.
The whole family.

Individual poses...Madison.

Carson.

Jason.

Geotrax Madness

Over the last few years we've built up our collection of geo-trax train sets. We started with two small sets that I got at a consignment sale and last Christmas we added some more track and remote control trains to our collection. On Christmas Eve Matt used our lincoln logs to build a huge train station and then built the track area around it. The kids were pretty impressed and enjoyed playing with it.
Even Target likes to act like a tunnel sometimes.

Then the kids got the mega-blocks out and had Matt help them build another tunnel for the trains to go through (top of the picture).

This Christmas we added some elevated track to our collection so more construction will be happening soon.

Decorating Christmas Cookies

I did a lot of baking a few weeks ago but had been putting off the cut-out cookies as I know how time-consuming it is...not to mention messy. But the other night I knew I couldn't put it off any longer. The kids were patient as I mixed the dough and cut-out the cookies, then for family night we decorated the cookies after dinner.
Carson shows off one of his candy canes.
Don't let the smile fool you....he wasn't very happy as he wasn't participating much in the activity since he refused to even eat one green bean at dinner....so stubborn.

Madison adds some decorations to her cookie.

Some of our finished products.

First Snow

By this time last year we had already had a major snowstorm and the kids were out sledding....no such luck this year, yet. But on the 16th we had a little amount of snow (probably 1 inch or so) but it was enough for the kids to get bundled up and enjoy playing in it on the deck.

Preschool Christmas Celebrations

Preschool ended mid-December for all the kids and they had a variety of different celebrations throughout the last week. Santa Claus (the director's husband) came to visit the terrific twos class and gave them each a present. Then they each took a turn sitting next to him. As you can see Jason was being super shy and wouldn't take his fingers out of his mouth. Madison's response to Santa being there was that it was just a man in a costume because she saw him get out of his car. She said, "He didn't come in a sleigh, it's just all pretend!"
Carson and Madison each participated in separate Christmas singing programs. I got them all dressed up and they did such a great job. Carson is in the very middle with the light green shirt and tie.

Madison was sitting in a place that was difficult to get a picture of her but she was able to sneak a look at me every once in awhile.

Madison Turns 5!

On November 29th, Madison turned 5. We had a little family celebration in Ohio then a birthday party planned for December 4th with some girlfriends. We really didn't have any big plans for her actual birthday which was a good thing because in the evening both her and I came down with the stomach bug which Carson and Jason both had the previous 2 days!

Here's a picture of Madison with her matching doll on her birthday...prior to feeling sick!

I opted out of decorating a major cake this year as in years past.....we went with the cupcake option....much easier!

The table all ready with balloons and a pinata!

Madison and Dorothy spend some time coloring while they wait for their friends to arrive.

Madison takes a little break with Mikaella and Faith on the steps.

Not the best birthday video...Madison was acting so shy, but I had to include it.

And some pinata action. Matt had to hold it and put himself in harm's way because we had no place to hang it inside and it was way too cold to be outside. It didn't take long before someone was able to break off the bottom and all the loot fell out.

And in the way of statistics....Madison now weighs 48 pounds (90th percentile) and is 44.5 inches tall (83rd percentile). She had a major growth spurt in the last year....gaining 10 pounds and about 5 inches.