Family Pictures

 I couldn't post these until after Christmas because we gave these to grandparents and great grandparents for Christmas, but here they are! I finally convinced Matt that it'd been two years and we needed family pictures again. I love love LOVE them.

November and December Activities

 For the first time ever, we made a Thankful Tree a few weeks before Thanksgiving. I'm not sure why we haven't done it before because the girls had an absolute blast! I also loved seeing our Thankful Tree up on the wall each day.

 As the weather started cooling down (slowly) we started making hot cocoa in the evenings. This particular night, we roasted hotdogs. We have since built a fire pit in the backyard which we now use, but fire pit hot cocoa is a tradition.

 Charlotte had a Christmas concert. Can you see her in the lower left corner? She played with her dress most of the concert, which is about what I expected. :)

 And she still only wears these sandals....even when it is cold here. I absolutely cannot get her to wear anything else!

 Nathalie's class took a field trip to the local children's theater for some fun. Nathalie kept telling me she didn't want to go and it was sooooo boring. And then she went and got right into the singing and dancing.

 

 Lydia didn't have any concerts, field trips or holiday parties. So she decided to glam up at home.

 

 

 I was able to go to Emily's Thanksgiving Feast. We had a great time. Unfortunately it was the day before I found out about my blood clot, so I was in a lot of pain but Emily appreciated that I was there. Emily was also cast in a Christmas musical her school put on. I didn't get any pictures of her there, but she said her one line very clearly and knew all the words to the ensemble songs.

 

We did end up going to a birthday party for one of Charlotte's classmates at Chuck-E-Cheese. None of the girls would slow down long enough for me to take a picture except Lydia, mainly because she spent most of her time on this little train!

As always, November and December were packed to the brim with activities!

Christmas Break Fun

 After our Christmas celebrations were over, we still had about 10 days just to play around. I love having the kids home so that we can have fun together! (That is, until they get tired of each other and start fighting.)

First we went to the local Art Museum. We don't normally go because it is so expensive but we had some coupons left from the summer reading program to get us in for free. The coupons expired on Dec 31, so we made use of them. The museum has a very small area for children but it was fun enough that we played there for 1.5 hours.

 We played outside in the warm weather.

 We did some arts and crafts.

 We played pretend. Nathalie was the teacher (always!) and I was the student. Or her sisters. It goes better when I'm the student...

We played outside with more toys.

 

We made blueberry syrup which was delicious, obviously!

 

 And we wore ourselves out.

 Lots of times.

 Even more times!

Christmas

Our beautiful tree. Tradition is that the day we set it up, we turn off the lights afterward and just sit to enjoy the view.

 My beautiful family. Matt and I take turns putting the girls to bed. On the nights I put them to bed, we read books. On the nights he puts them to bed, they watch a short show. Right before Christmas we got them hooked on Donald Duck. The giggles coming from them made us laugh too! It was great.

 

My birthday, the big 3-0! It feels weird, because I still feel like I'm in my early 20s. Matt spoiled me for my birthday and bought my favorite pizza-- Papa Johns. We put the candles in the pizza and the girls helped me blow them out.

  

My parents were so thoughtful and sent me this beautiful bouquet for my birthday! I have never received a bouquet via delivery before and it was such a wonderful surprise. I just love flowers.

 I love that now I make my own birthday dessert. I didn't wait long enough for the cake to cool before frosting it, but really, could you? The cake was fantastic, the frosting was fantastic and I had to fight the kids over the raspberries. Matt invited friends over (as a surprise to me!) and he bought fireworks too! So we all ate cake, talked, the kids played, and we lit fireworks. It was a WONDERFUL birthday.

  

Christmas Eve was all about keeping the kids busy. My mom sends a "Christmas Eve" box every year with a few activities, a movie, and Christmas pjs. Thanks Mom! These activities helped pass a very looong day. 

 

 Christmas morning was all about presents, of course! We had a good time opening presents and subsequently playing with each one.

 Like the bubble maker Santa got for Lydia. That was a big hit! It was super warm on Christmas, so later in the afternoon we headed out to the park where most of the other parents in Savannah had the same idea! Since it was about 80 degrees (no joke, it was crazy) we let the girls run off their Christmas candy for about 2 hours. Not our typical Christmas, but a good one nonetheless.

 A few days later I took down the Christmas tree and found TWO lizards living in it. Not abnormal for Savannah. I only got a picture of one of them because I wanted to catch them and take them outside.

I let Odin play with one of them. He doesn't kill them, but he loves to touch them with his nose and then jump around when they move. He had a great time but I'm not so sure about the lizard...