Christmas Eve

We were off work on Christmas Eve, and Emily was out of school, so we had an action-packed day of cookie baking planned!  Em and I had a ball making multiple kinds of cookies.  She loves helping in the kitchen, and is really good at it too.

I think decorating is really her favorite part though!

These are white chocolate covered Oreos with orange M&Ms for snowman noses.

Here are some of our finished cookies.

And a few more--I saw the idea for the big reindeer on Pinterest (it's a gingerbread man turned upside down).  We had such a great time making these, even though they're not all beautiful :).

And of course, Em had a great time sampling them.

We also had the great privilege of babysitting George, Em's class guinea pig, over the Christmas holiday.  He had a nice spot right on the dining room table where Gracie and Bella couldn't reach him--but they were very curious about a new strange animal in the house.

Em absolutely loved taking care of him--he got lots of yummy treats (strawberries, carrots, cucumbers) and plenty of attention.

After Em's bath that night, she peeled carrots for the reindeer,

and picked out the perfect cookies to put out for Santa!

She hadn't had a nap all day, so she went to bed pretty easily that night!

Nutcracker

A friend of mine at work has a daughter in ballet who was dancing in the Nutcracker, and I'd been wanting to take Em this year, so we got tickets for just the two of us.  At the last minute, I decided we'd take the light rail instead of drive, and it turned out to be a big hit for Em.

 I honestly think she was as excited about taking the train as she was about going to the ballet!

We got to uptown with plenty of time to walk to the theater and pose with the toy soldiers.

Em had asked for seats in the balcony, so she was excited to see how high up we were!

The ballet was beautiful, but a little long still for Em--she loved the story, but the second act felt like it went on forever.  Without much action and with no dialogue, I'm not sure we'll be coming back until she's a little older and can appreciate it a little more!

Frozen Christmas at Blakeney

Blakeney, our go-to shopping center, advertised a Frozen-themed Christmas event on Friday and Saturday night, so of course, we had to be there.  Em enjoyed playing on the sleigh, 

and had to strike a pose--after all, she was wearing her tiara.

They had the main characters from Frozen ready to take pictures with the kids--and yes, we had Em's Elsa dress in tow so she could put it on over her clothes for the festivities.

She decided she wanted a picture with just Kristoff and Sven :).

Here's the lovely Mrs. Claus.

And of course Santa!

One of the Elves.

They also had horse-drawn carriage rides, and Em wanted to pose with the horses.

It was a fun, cold night!  We couldn't get close enough to hear what she asked Santa for, but she's still telling us she wants blocks, dominoes and a Jasmine doll.

Christmas at the Garden

We decided to go back to Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden this year since it was raining when we went last year, but we loved the Santa there so much.

We went on a Saturday night, not long before they closed, and the line to get in was so long that we only had an hour once we got in the door.  We went to see Santa first.

It was the same Santa, and he's really great.  The room is beautifully decorated, and he's so good with the kids.

He called Em out for being sassy this year!

The lights at the garden are really beautiful, but it's tough to get great pictures.

Em enjoyed being outside and seeing all of the displays.

At the end of the night, we were among the last group who got on the horse drawn carriage.

The ride wasn't the best part of the night, but Em loves the horses so much that it topped her list for sure!

Maybe next year we'll actually get there earlier one night and have plenty of time to enjoy the gardens!

December School Project

Em's school project for December was to make a gingerbread house, and the challenge was not to make it entirely out of food.  We turned a few shoe boxes inside out and made a cardboard house, added some snow, and used candy for most of the decorating.  Em added plenty of glitter glue, and even Santa in the chimney!

Enjoying Fall

We had family pictures taken in late November, and when we got home, Em decided to enjoy the best part of fall--jumping in the leaves!

When she was done, she changed clothes and helped Mick get them all up--pretty sure this part was more fun :).

Frozen on Ice!

We learned months ago that Disney was bringing a Frozen on Ice production to the area, but not to Charlotte, so I got early tickets to a show in Greensboro and we left early that Saturday morning to drive up.  Only after we got there in the rain did I realize I forgot to bring Em's shoes!  She never wants to wear shoes on long car trips, but I do normally at least bring them!  She didn't seem to mind having Mick carry her inside though!

She needed her hair braided like Elsa, but we forgot her dress (it was on the kitchen table with her shoes)!

The show was fantastic--there was an intro with Mickey, Minnie, all the princesses, Nemo and friends, the Lion King characters, etc.

Then the Frozen show started, and it stuck really close to the movie--they used the soundtrack and had the characters lip-syncing.

We had great seats!

The costumes were great too.

Anna and Hans.

Elsa's powers are discovered!

Kristoff and Sven on their way through the storm, and here's Queen Elsa in the middle of "Let it Go."

Marshmallow, the snow monster, was really cool--like a giant inflatable that rose up out of the ice.

Anna saves her sister's life, and thaws her frozen heart :).

At the end, all the Disney characters came back out for the finale.

It was such a fantastic show!

Good Deeds

Em is actually great about wanting to help other people, as long as she doesn't have to give up her own stuff (we're working on that!).  Her school had a Stuff the Turkey food drive for Thanksgiving, and she was super excited to load up a cart of things to donate.

It was early on a school morning when we were in the grocery store, so she even got to scan all the groceries since it wasn't crowded.

A friend of mine in my book club invited us to a shoe box-packing party at her church for Operation Christmas Child.  We picked out some stuff to donate, and the church provided the shoe boxes and even pizza for dinner.  It was a fun event, but more than that, it was pretty humbling to see the videos of kids opening these boxes and think about how excited they might be over the things we chose to put in.  Em loved it, and was sad when the boxes ran out!