Here come the holidays!

As you will see in this post, we are in full swing holiday mode!  What a fun and busy time of year.  Both kids are so excited and we are having so much fun watching them take it all in.  Noah has really had a lot of questions about the logistics of Santa this year - I can't believe we might have only a few years left of belief.

After we got home from MD, we were ready to get a tree so we went one weeknight and after some hiccups (mostly potty issues!), we found the perfect one, loaded it up and got it home.  It took the whole week to get it up and decorated - picked it one night, put it up the next night, got lights on the next and finally got the kids to help decorate on Friday night!  Phew.  Amazing how you have to break up the tasks with kids!  Some pictures of the whole ordeal.....  :-)

Noah was still having fun - not sure what this face is about.  They both look so big to me though!!!

Friday night - first ornaments on the tree - Disney ornaments from Grammy and Papa!

The finished product!

Saturday morning, we went to see Disney on Ice with Nana, Grandad, Andrea, Sean and Savannah!  So much fun!!  This year, it was a princess show - Princess and the Frog, Cinderella and Tangled (the Rapunzel story).  The both loved it but Kylie in particular was really enthralled.  Noah liked it too but actually got a little scared during some of the more intense parts.  Afterwards, we went to lunch with Nana and Grandad.  A great day!  Thanks, Nana and Grandad for the tickets!!!

The finale - all of the different princess couples came out!

That night was a treat for all of us!!  We had a party in the neighborhood so we had the director of the daycare come to our house to babysit!!  The kids were so excited that Miss Twanda was coming to their house and ran around showing her the house.  She did great with them and we had a BLAST at the party.  No pictures from that night, though.  :-(

The next day, we were all pretty tired so we stuck close to home for the most part.  We ran to the mall around 11:30 to try to see Santa but the line was pretty long so we gave up and just had lunch instead.  We promised them we'd go back later in the week and we made good on that promise on Wednesday night.

As close as we got the first try...

Grammy had to come down last minute for her cousin, Tommy's funeral.  :-(  A sad reason to come but we took advantage of having her here and tried to have some fun.  She arrived Wednesday night and we went straight back to the mall to see Santa.  This time the line wasn't too long and we made it.  Kylie had a death grip on my finger so I wasn't really sure how it was going to go, but at the last minute, as we walked up, I told her she'd get ice cream if she went up to take a picture with him.  She said okay and hopped right on his lap!  :-) 

In line

Telling Santa what he wants - a monorail toy is the #1 thing!

The 'official' picture.  :-)

After seeing Santa, we had dinner with ice cream for dessert of course and then Kylie and Noah pretended to be reindeer all around the mall using Grammy's scarf.  :-)  Aunt Karen, Uncle Michael and Cousin Reeves showed up just as we were heading out so it was fun to visit with them for a bit, too!

Grammy stayed with us Friday, too.  The kids had parties at school that afternoon so we sent them to school and got some holiday shopping done.  We came back at 3:00 for their parties and they were excited to have us there. 

Kylie's room

Noah's

Kylie joined Noah's party after hers  :-)

Grammy and Kylie

Grammy stayed to babysit the kids Friday night so we could go to another neighborhood party.  This one was supposed to be an 'Ugly Christmas Sweater' party but we kind of skirted around it by getting a silly tie for Waylon and some pins and earrings for me.  :-)  We had a great time and are so thankful that Grammy stayed so we could go!

Sunday morning, Grammy left pretty early but not before an early morning story time.

After she left, Noah helped me make some goodies for his teachers at school.  We had such a good time doing it together and he was a great helper!  It was lots of fun.

Saturday night - another treat!  Aunt Karen and Uncle Michael got us all tickets to go see Cinderella at the Raleigh Little Theater!  Karen used to take my cousin, Katie, every year when she was young so she offered to start the tradition for us.  It was so fun and the kids LOVED it.  There was even a part where the prince came out in the audience and tried Cinderella's shoe on little girls in the audience and he tried it on Kylie!  She LOVED it.  He asked if he could try it on her and she said, 'Uh Huh' and stuck her foot right out to him!  :-)  It was so adorable.

After the show, the characters were out front signing autographs.  We met the Fairy Godmother!

They really were excited, I promise!!  :-)

 Our neighbors, Carolyn, Eric and Abby came also and we managed to get a picture of the three of them after the show before we went to a late dinner.  So much fun!

And today.... another Christmas celebration - this time with Waylon's extended family.  Always fun to see Uncle Royal and Aunt Danita, Meghan, Cameron and Lily Kate, Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Robin and Justin!  And of course, Nana, Grandaddy, Andrea, Sean and Savannah.  It was craziness with a 4 year old, a 3 year old and two 2 year olds!  :-)  So fun....

Hiding in the 'bear cave' that Grandaddy made them.

Our bag lady - good thing Santa is bringing her a backpack with her name on it!  :-)

Uncle Royal and Lily Kate dancing  :-)

All the kiddos!

Sweet picture of Noah and Savannah

Coloring

Siblings - Royal, Kay and Ronnie

Nana and her grandbabies!

One more week and then CHRISTMAS!!  So fun.  We'll be staying in town for Christmas day and then heading back to MD for a long weekend the following week.  FUN TIMES!!!