Getting Ready for Christmas!

We have had a great time getting ready for Christmas this year! First up, decorating the tree! Daddy got us a stepladder and boy did we have fun with that! Sam liked to clump his ornaments together in big groups :)

I went to a Ninjabreadman class at the Park and Rec. I had to practice my ninja skills before we left!

We decorated our gingerbread trains we got from G&G Hyland. I was very serious about decorating mine...Sam just wanted to eat the decorations, but he did decorate his too.

Daddy took me squirrel hunting. This was the first time going to where Daddy hunts. We sat in the blind, had some snacks, and Daddy got 2 squirrels. Not bad!

Mommy tried to get some pictures of us for the Christmas card for our teachers at school.

I had my program at church and I did some singing this year!

Mommy tried to get a picture of us dressed up. As usual, we were two moving targets!

Last week was Breakfast with Santa for Mommy's work. Santa read an "Elf report" on all of the kids. I think Sam was explaining his naughty report here....

He didn't quite agree with what was being said.

Ah, Sam....

We made cutout cookies one Saturday night and then decorated them on Sunday. I stuck with the whole process and even rolled the dough myself to cut them out. I loved the smell of the dough. Every cookie I made, I would sniff and say "that smells sooo good".

Sam liked the rolling part!

Sunday we celebrated Grandpa Hyland's birthday with lunch at the Mexican restaurant, cake and presents at our house and then swimming at the hotel with a pizza supper.

We had to decorate the cookies too! Sam and I each got our own plates of frosting since we couldn't be trusted to not double dip in the bowls.

We can't wait for Christmas to get here and to go on our trip to Texas!

Cell Phone Picture Update

Here's an update that covers the past several months with pictures from Mommy's phone.

This picture was from the Overture anniversary celebration. Mommy and I went with Char and Landon. We had a great time seeing Wayne the Wizard and walking around downtown...

We saw the Central Library for the first time since they had redone it. It was very fun!

Sam and I got to go play at Landon's house for a little bit in the afternoon. He has a TON of Legos. We both had so much fun!

Next up is the annual Edward's Orchard trip. I had to ring the bell (with Uncle Jay's help).

Our annual picture to measure up!

I love doing the pony ride every year. Sam said "no thanks".

Mommy and Sam had an afternoon together while Daddy was on his hunting trip so they tackled some leaves in the front yard!

G&G Rikli brought some new plants for the front of the house. Sam worked very hard to help get them planted.

These pictures aren't great quality, but Daddy took me to Family Fun Night at school while Mom and Sam went to LOGOS. They met up with us for a little bit after LOGOS, but we soon realized that it was a good idea that Sam and Mommy weren't there the whole time. Sam was BUSY!

One of our last visits to the park before snow came!

One afternoon Mommy took us and Matthew and Allie to Fireman's park. They had a new tube to play in...we weren't really sure why it was there but all the kids at the park had a great time playing in it!

We've gotten more snow this year than normal! Sam and I are loving it...although Sam is like I was at his age and if it's too cold, he goes outside for about 5-10 minutes and then says that he wants to go inside and have hot chocolate.

We went to the annual Christmas tree trimming party at the Monroe Library. We had a great time (once we got Sam past the cookies).

The Friday after Thanksgiving, they have a tree lighting and firetruck parade. Mommy took us to see the parade part. We didn't walk down to see the tree lighting since Mommy thought there would be too many people to be able to see, but apparently Santa lights it from a firetruck ladder bucket so we probably would have been ok. We'll try that next year!

Waiting for the parade to start! It was raining (it was 27 degrees though) when we drove to the parade, but it stopped before we even got out of the car!

Sam was a bit nervous about the dark so Mommy had to hold him the whole time.

The trucks are all lit up and there are over 10 trucks in the parade. It was very cool. Mommy's phone on her camera just can't do it justice!