Visiting Santa at Bass Pro

On Friday we decided to visit Santa (nothing like two days before Christmas). We went the prior Sunday after Meeting, but the wait time was several hours and we didn't feel like either waiting or returning after getting all settled at home. So, Friday morning we dressed the girls up and went to pancakes before heading to Bass Pro to see Santa...along with half of Texas. It was still crowded and the wait was still a few hours, so we ran errands and returned just before our scheduled visit time. CK and Olivia waited in line while Sofia and I rode the carousel, visited the craft area and played with the train to pass the time. Bass Pro has an outstanding set up for kids to write letters to Santa, draw, do crafts and it's beautifully decorated. The wait wasn't too bad and Sofia was so excited to see Santa and let him know what she wants for Christmas.

Papa and Sofia at the pancake house


Olivia and I


Riding the reindeer carousel


Olivia snoozing


Sofia "the reindeer" mets a "real" reindeer - she insisted on wearing her reindeer antlers to see Santa and has been wearing them around the house for days.


Playing with the train. I love this picture - Sofia at the controls while all the boys watch and want to take control.


Writing a letter to Santa. She asked me to write "Dear Santa, I would like a train and volcano. Thank you" and signed her name


Olivia is awake!


Sofia drawing a train


Almost there - In line to see Santa with just a few kids in front of us.


Santa and the girls. Sofia was so excited to sit on Santa's lap and Olivia didn't cry, although she kept looking up at him like "Now, who are you?"


Sofia about 5 minutes after we got back into the car......a very tiring day!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

CK's birthday this year fell on Monday and he asked for a nice steak, mashed potato and asparagus dinner followed by his favorite, red velvet cake. So, that morning Sofia and I set off to make his cake. It turned out well except that I ran out of red food coloring so the cake itself looked rather pink (but it still tasted fine). While I frosted the cake, I set Sofia down with the card she picked out for him and told her where to sign her name and suggested that she draw him a picture. Before I knew it she'd sealed it and written "PAPA" on the envelope.

After CK got home, we took a few photos before putting Olivia to bed and then enjoyed our dinner together. Before she'd even put her fork down, Sofia was ready to start in on the cake! So, we lit candles that read "43" and sang to Papa and then we enjoyed his red velvet cake and vanilla ice cream. After, we sat in the living room while he opened his gifts: a very generous gift certificate to his favorite store, Orvis and a flying book from his parents and two Orvis shirts from his girls and one from me. He's not easy to shop for, except I know he pretty much loves anything from Orvis so that helps. The card from Sofia was absolutely adorable and she explained the drawing to be her and Papa holding hands and me and baby sister holding hands. Very sweet! Happy Birthday, Papa!!

Sofia with the red velvet cake


Papa and Olivia just after he got home from work


Papa and his two girls


Papa, Olivia and me


Make a wish!!


Sofia liked playing with the candles as much as eating the cake (really just the frosting for her)


Opening presents


The card from Sofia


Papa and Sofia holding hands (on the top) and Baby Sister and me holding hands (on the bottom)


Helping Papa open his gifts....

This is how I find my thumb...

In the past few days Olivia has started sucking her right hand thumb on occasion, usually just as she goes to bed. However, at times she also decides to suck on it during the day. We're not sure if it's really a soothing device for her or just something really interesting that she's figured out how to find. It is cute how she finds it though and I actually was able to catch it on video! So, here is goes!

Our Gingerbread House

I decided last year that building a gingerbread house would be a Christmas tradition and we had such a fun time together building our first last year. The tradition goes back many years with me, sort of. I can't remember a year when my Mom and I weren't making elaborate plans to build the best gingerbread house ever (from scratch), but somehow we never actually did one. One year when I was in high school and my Mom was recovering from back surgery, my Grandma and I made one and that was the only year that we did it. So, I decided I really want it to be a part of our holiday celebrations. This year it's been so crazy that we finally found some time on Sunday afternoon, even though I think all three of us were so tired and just wanted to relax. However, I was determined so I set everything out on the coffee table and we started to decorate. We did have a problem with the gingerbread kit's icing - it was too thick and was very difficult to spread, so it took a lot of effort to spread it out and use it to decorate. Sofia soon lost interest and after I took a few pictures, I ended up going off and doing something else while CK did a great job decorating the house. Next year we'll be a little more focus (and have better royal icing!

The gingerbread house and all it's decorations


Sofia and Papa are all set to decorate


Getting started


Sofia liked making a "waterfall" with the frosting


Papa, the master decorator, hard at work


The finished house


It's beautiful!

Oh Christmas Tree....

We finally got around to getting a Christmas tree....before Christmas is actually here! We stopped by Blooming Colors over the weekend and found the tree for us. It's actually a little smaller than I'd like, but CK made a good point about how much more we'll need to decorate if it's larger. Once home, we set to decorating it. I love taking out the boxes of ornaments and going through all that I have. I've had the majority of them since I was very little and nearly all have been gifts (mainly from my Mom). CK and I added the lights while Sofia tried to help as well when she wasn't going through all of the ornaments. Sofia helped me decorate and then we were ready to add the angel. CK tried to lift Sofia up so she could add the angel, but she's getting too big so he did it himself. After, I went ahead and added the gifts that we've already received under the tree to be opened at Christmas. We look forward to a fun Christmas!

Our tree! Sofia helped me pick it out, of course.


Ready to decorate!


Trying to add the angel


The angel goes up!


The finished tree! It's beautiful!


Our Christmas mantel all decorated and ready for Santa


All four of us


The girls by the tree

Olivia's First Baron Flight

Yesterday CK took Olivia on her very first Baron flight! CK had plans to meet his flying buddies at Lancaster airport for lunch so they could drool over the new paint job, and we all decided to go so that Olivia could enjoy her first flight (or if she didn't enjoy it, we'd know now instead of the first long trip we took). Plus, I wanted to get some good photos of the Baron with it's new paint job. As usual, Sofia was very excited and "helped" CK pre-flight the airplane. Once we were ready, we loaded up and the girls and I got comfortable in the back seat. CK cranked up the plane and Olivia was oblivious. The flight took under 15 minutes and Olivia was very content to sit in my arms and look around. I know if the flight was longer Olivia would have been asleep (and Sofia for that matter). We had a nice lunch with CK's flying buddies and after talking about planes and looking at every painted surface of the Baron, we headed back to Arlington. After we arrived in Arlington, we took some "glam" shots of the Baron, although the background could have been a lot more interesting....It was a fun excursion and now we are ready for our first real trip somewhere with two girls.

Sofia "helping" CK get the plane ready


The girls and me...


Olivia and her pilot Papa


Looking down on the Texas scenery


A very content little girl


Sofia clowning around under the wing


Infront of the Baron at Lancaster Airport


CK and his pilot friends


All of us next to the Baron


Me and my girls in the backseat


CK and his "new" Baron - the glam shots


I love this picture!!

Decorating Christmas Gifts

Given that I have a big family, I always try to either make gifts (usually dozens of cookies that I package up and send out which is completely exhausting) or try to come up with something that is nice and doesn't break the bank after I've bought enough for five siblings and three sets of Aunts and Uncles.... This year, I must confess I sort of stole the idea from my brother and his wife, Pancho and Julie. Last year they sent us a box of chocolates and a wood frame that was obviously decorated by their kids along with a photo of their three kids. I love it and love gifts like that since our kid's youth is so fleeting and the may not enjoy doing crafts like that for too many years. Plus, I know from all of my "Joy" ornaments, several of which I made when I was little, that it's fun to be reminded of prior Christmas memories and reflect on the year that has just passed.

So, with that in mind, we headed to Michael's and stocked up on frames, paint brushes, red and green paint and decorations to add to the frame. Then, one day I set up our dining room table so Sofia could paint her frames. She was so excited and loves to paint or draw, however, she generally likes to layer every color on top of each other so that she basically ends up with a black or darn brown drab creation. So, I told her for this craft she had to paint the whole frame either red or green but couldn't mix them. She was fine with that rule and got busy. While she painted she made up some sort of story and talked her way through her creations.

Hard at work creating


Our little Picasso


She really loves to paint or draw and I should set out such crafts for her to do more often


Moving on to green