The Chinese Lantern Festival

On Sunday afternoon, Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve took us all to see the movie "Walking with Dinosaurs" which was really interesting and well done. It reminded us of the BBC documentaries that Sofia used to love watching about dinosaurs, except that it wasn't quite as educational and the dinosaurs actually talked. It was a fun movie and Sofia thoroughly enjoyed it and spent the rest of the day pretending to be a dinosaur with Aunt Shirl. They made up their own separate roars and had a dinosaur conversation or two.

That evening, we went to Stampede 66 in Dallas which had a Sunday family-style dinner that included ribs, fried chicken, biscuits and green beans. It was very good and an interesting restaurant. After dinner we headed over to the Chinese Lantern Festival which we did last year and really enjoyed it. Of course, it was in the mid-30s and freezing cold so we bundled up and headed out! It was just as spectacular as last year and really beautiful. We walked around, looking at it all and trying to stay warm. Olivia was beyond tired and at point took a serious digger and scrapped up her knee and bit her tongue which made it bleed. She was really upset, so I carried her the last bit before we headed to the car. Aunt and Uncle bought Sofia a cute little ladybug that one of the Chinese vendors made out of a blade of tall grass. It's pretty amazing and I soon found when it's upside down in our living room it looks very real!!

After the Chinese Lantern Festival, we loaded up and drove home. Olivia finally fell asleep on the way home and we slipped her into bed once we arrived home.

Outside Stampede 66

Aunt and Uncle

The girls at the Chinese Lantern Festival

The lake at Fair Park

All bundled up!

Sofia, our little dinosaur

The goldfish

Love the reflection

Flamingos

The girls and their favorite part of the Festival...they begged I take a photo of them with it. So cute!

Aunt and Uncle Visit

Aunt and Uncle arrived for a short post-Christmas/pre-New Year's visit on Saturday! They flew in from California, where they spent Christmas with Aunt Shirl's family. They planned on heading out Monday for New Mexico where they would do their annual New Year's in Santa Fe. Since we had just a few days with them, we had a lot planned.

They arrived early Saturday afternoon and we headed back to the house for CK's "signature" dinner of grilled filet mignon, roasted asparagus and sweet potatoes. He's got the grilled steaks down and they are fantastic! After dinner, we opened presents which was really fun and the girls loved it. Olivia got a constellation ladybug, which she and her sister absolutely love! In fact, Sofia wanted to take it over! For Sofia, they got her a great dinosaur book, which she and Aunt Shirl started looking at together. The book is similar to Dinotopia, which Sofia got last year and LOVES to have read to her over and over. The art work is incredible and the story very interesting. Although Sofia has "moved on" to horses, it was great to see her interested in dinosaurs once again and reading all about them.

After gifts and hanging out, we put the girls to bed and caught up with Aunt and Uncle until we all went to bed. It was great to have them here!

Sofia and Aunt Shirl reading her new dinosaur book.

Sofia Looses Her FIRST Tooth!

Finally! Sofia's tooth has been loose for over a month and we originally thought that she might loose it while at her Grandparent's house in Florida over Thanksgiving. Then, over the past week it has been so loose that we couldn't tell how it was still in her mouth, yet a sharp yank produced nothing. Sofia has been afraid that losing her first tooth would be painful and bleed, and despite our explaining that it wouldn't hurt, she was not to be swayed. Honestly, I thought she might swallow it in her sleep since she wiggled it so much.

Then, yesterday morning, as CK and I were getting dressed and ready to take Buddy to the groomer and then move the plane over to Addison, Sofia came into our room with her bottom right tooth in her hand! She was so excited! She was mainly excited because it didn't hurt or bleed! I took pictures immediately and asked her how it felt. She said it really didn't feel that different, I think because her permanent tooth is so far in already.

I gave her a little container that my Mom gave to me years ago that I figured would be a good tooth holder. She loved it and immediately put her little tooth in it to "keep it safe." We headed out and the girls flew with CK from Arlington to Addison, while I drove and met them. We then went to lunch together and headed home after, where Olivia napped and Sofia played with her horses. Then, we went to sushi for dinner and after we came home so Sofia could write her letter to the Tooth Fairy. She wrote out a note and outlined her tooth. After reading stories at bedtime, Sofia mentioned that she wished she could keep it for another day to show her Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve who arrive later today. So, I told her she could put the tooth back into the little container and fold the note and put both in her night stand drawer. Then, she could show her tooth to her Aunt and Uncle and put it and the note out the next night. Plus, I'm pretty sure the Tooth Fairy is too tired, so it all worked out!

Sofia's tooth!

Her new smile!

A close up of her mouth!

Sofia writes her note to the tooth fairy

Finished!

Her tooth

The note

All set for the tooth fairy!

Merry Christmas!!

Sofia woke up around 7:30am and since CK was already awake and in the living room, he told her to play with her toys and wait until Olivia woke up before going through her stocking. She played with her horses while Grandma and Grandpa came downstairs and we all sat around with our coffees waiting for Olivia to wake up around 9am! Meanwhile, the breakfast sausage and bread strata Connie and I made the day before was in the oven.

The night before, Sofia came down around 11pm wondering how Santa would be able to get down the chimney with the fire still going....she narrowly missed seeing Santa getting ready to put gifts out. Finally, I agreed to cuddle with her until midnight since she was determined that Santa arrived at midnight and she was GOING to see him this year! As she cuddled, she would be close to asleep then sit up and ask "What time is it?" I would check my sports watch and tell her it wasn't quite midnight yet. Finally, she fell asleep around midnight and missed seeing Santa! Maybe next year.

Once Olivia was awake, Sofia was beside herself to go through her stocking! They both sat on the couch and ate the rest of Santa's cookies and were so happy to enjoy a little sugar first thing in the morning. Sofia immediately started going through her stocking, while Olivia focused on her cookie, and then a chocolate coin in her stocking. Otherwise, she didn't really want to delve too far into her goodies. After Sofia was done going through her things, she opened the play food that Santa left for both girls to share and they were both happy and excited to play together.

We all ate the breakfast strata and drank coffee and relaxed. Around 2pm we enjoyed ham, green beans, scalloped potatoes and biscuits which were really good. Around 3pm, Scott, Brenda and Oliver came over for dessert and coffee and it was great to catch up with them. That evening we went to our Bible study before returning home for some leftovers and bed. What a great Christmas day!

The stockings full of goodies

Toys from Santa - pretend food and a shopping cart for the girls to share

Santa was here!

Enjoying the leftovers from Santa's cookies

Such cute girls

Going through their stockings

Sofia going through all of her goodies

Olivia trying to find the gold chocolate coins...

More candy!

Opening Christmas Presents

Sofia was SO excited to start opening presents and was convinced that the biggest present (from CK and I) would be the absolute best one. Once it was her turn, we let her open the big box and she was a little less than impressed when she found .....clothes and socks. Not what she expected. She continued opening her presents and was SO happy when she opened two from Grandma and Grandpa: a horse farm set and a Breyer "Paint-Your-Own" horses set. She immediately opened up her horse farm set and started playing. She also got many books, four Magic Tree House series from Grandpa and Grandma, the newest Fancy Nancy from her Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jay and cousins, Black Beauty, Little Princess and Alice in Wonderland illustrated books, and the Barbie Horse set from her sister.

Meanwhile, we couldn't get Olivia interested in opening her presents. She was far more interested in playing with Sofia's horses. Finally, we convinced her to start opening and she started on a good one: a pink "princess" dress from Grandma and Grandpa! She was so excited! She continued opening presents and got clothes, a sweater and shiny winter boots from us, a real Cinderella dress, Cinderella book and DVD from her Grandparents (the dress went on immediately), a Snow White book and musical princess book from Grandma and Grandpa, a shapes activity set from her Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay and cousins, and an erasable travel drawing set from her Grandparents. She also got a Hello Kitty notebook and Melissa and Doug horse set from us. Both girls were in horse heaven!

The girls got gifts from my sister Becky, from Sian and her family, as well as Alice and her family which we plan on opening with Aunt and Uncle once they arrive on Saturday.

Before bedtime, we gave the girls new Christmas pajamas they could wear for the night and while they went through their stocking goodies the next day. We got the girls to bed a lot later than normal and I was in the middle of listening to Sofia read her Magic Tree House book, when she asked about putting milk and cookies out for Santa! We'd completely forgotten! Sofia and I hurried downstairs and she chose the cookies for Santa while I got a glass of milk ready.

The presents ready to be opened!

A new "princess" dress - she's SO happy!

CK opens one of his presents

Sofia plays with her new horse set from Grandma and Grandpa

Olivia and her REAL princess dress!

Sofia sets out milk and cookies

Christmas Eve

The girls woke up on Christmas Eve and both got into their princess costumes which is their new favorite with Grandma and Grandpa here. Sofia isn't really into dress up unless she has a friend over or we have visitors (especially Grandma and Grandpa). She loves wearing her princess dress from last Christmas that Grandma gave her for the fun tea day we all enjoyed together. Olivia has several frilly dresses that she wears pretty consistently and even wears the one Grandma got her for the tea last year too, even though it is pretty short and tight. She loves it! When she wears a frilly dress, she walks around saying "I a princess" to just about anyone. Both girls also love walking around in their "princess shoes" even though they can't possibly be comfortable and are rather treacherous to wear over our floor since the shoes are so slippery!

The girls enjoyed hot chocolate, scrambled eggs and toast while CK and his Dad left for a chilly (39 degrees) flight in the biplane! Connie and I set to work and started making the food for that night. We decided that we wanted to open all of our presents on Christmas Eve so the girls could play with their stocking toys on Christmas Day. We also planned the main Christmas meal for 2pm with Scott, Brenda and Oliver coming over for dessert at 3, so we figured we wouldn't have time to open presents on Christmas day. For Christmas Eve we planned to have a bunch of appetizers with eggnog while we opened our gifts. The appetizers included stuffed mushrooms, Thelma's ceviche, brie and crackers, goats cheese rolled in craisins, parsley and walnuts, homemade mac and cheese, and sliced summer sausage.

After CK and his Dad got home, we got the kids ready for a trip to Gaylord Texan's Ice! We hadn't gone to Ice in years and when we last went it was overwhelmingly crowded, although it was very interesting and fun. This time, we bought 4pm tickets and walked right in! It was perfect! It was really impressive and both kids loved it. Sofia really loved that she was able to go down the ice slide several times. Although we took Olivia to the top of the kiddie slide, she was not interested in going down and couldn't go on our lap. After walking through the ice sculptures, we took CK and Connie into the lobby to see the trains and decorations. Then we headed home.

Once we were home, CK built a fire while Connie and I set the food out on the coffee table. We all enjoyed the appetizers and then started opening presents!

Hot chocolate with Grandma

Someone likes the mini marshmallows and whipped cream and leaves the rest

Sofia loves it all!

In our blue parkas ready for Ice!

Once inside! Amazing!

The four of us

Ice details

CK and Olivia in the ice cab

The ice nativity at the end

All of us by the trains in the lobby

Sofia with her Grandma

Ready to open presents

All of us!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

The girl's Grandpa and Grandma arrived around 4pm to be here in time to celebrate CK's birthday! Although they had planned to arrive the week before, Connie was sick so they delayed but made a point to be here for CK's big day which I know he really loved! The girls were SO excited to see their grandparents and kept asking every five minutes when they would be here. I happened to see them pull into our circular driveway, so told them they were here which made them squeal and run outside! They were SO excited to see them! CK got home shortly after that and we started making birthday dinner. CK made a really lovely dinner for us one random Saturday night and it was honestly better than any restaurant, so we decided to replicate it. He grilled filet mignons on our grill with asparagus while I boiled and mashed new potatoes. I don't know what he does with the steaks, but they are perfect! We ate dinner, which was outstanding while hearing about the drive out from Florida. After our meal, we sang happy birthday and had cake. Market Street had this amazing creation which marries both of CK's favorites. It's cheesecake on the bottom with a layer of red velvet on top, then frosted with a fluffy whipped cream frosting. It was pure heaven!

After cake and ice cream, CK opened him presents. He got an awesome quilted jacket from his parents which looks perfect on him. It's such his style and fits him like it was made specifically for him! The girls gave him a new button down shirt and I gave him a blue striped scarf and socks. I actually ordered him something else but when it hadn't arrived the day before his birthday I went to Nordstrom's Rack and got him things I thought he needed (socks) and would be a fun new thing (scarf). After, we put the girls to bed and then stayed up and talked. It was really a fun birthday celebration!

The birthday boy and his cake

All of us - ready for cake and ice cream!

Sofia helped read the cards to CK

His new shirt from the girls

His "audience"

His new jacket!

Sofia being silly with CK's new socks and scarf