The days before Christmas!

This might be a long post with lots of pictures.  I use to be good at doing these posts right when these events happened, but for some reason, I forget a lot.  So, let's start with the week before Christmas.  First up....  Emilee's choir performance.  This is the second year that Emilee has been in the school choir.  I find this funny because she really hates singing in front of people, but she does like to talk in front of people.  The show this year was, "SnowBiz".  She had the part of the translator.  She translated for a snowboarder who had his own language of talking.  She did a good job of course.  She looked like she was upset at times.  Come to find out, she had what she called her "nervous pee" and had to use the bathroom the whole entire time. LOL...You gotta love Emilee!

Next up....Ice Skating once again.  We had so much fun ice skating last time that we had to do it again.  This time though we would bring friends.  Emilee brought two friends and Megan brought one.  So, we had ice skating, Christmas music in the background and even a small snowball fight with the ice that was kicked up from the skates.  

Emilee and her friends were hilarious.  I think they felt big staying out late and hanging around the old ice skating rink.  I know I had a blast watching them.

 Megan is really into the cosplay thing.  Her and her friend were "My Little Ponies".  And I thought they lost interest when Megan turned about 8.  She tells me they are different now and much cooler.  What do I know.

Every year we see Santa.  This has been going on since Megan was just a little baby.  Usually we do it a little earlier, but things had been really crazy this year so we got there just a few days before Christmas, but Santa was still taking orders.

Megan tells me that she is too old to sit on Santa's lap.  She did not want to go, but I told her I needed one more picture and then next year she could refrain.  I did compromise with her.  This particular Santa, if the child is so upset about seeing Santa, will come around the back and look in the window.  Then a picture is taken of the child with Santa in the picture.  I told Megan we could do this for her then I still get my last picture of her with Santa and she doesn't have to sit on his lap.  I think the picture turned out real cute.

 Of course Emilee and Hunter still don't mind sitting on Santa's lap and are excited at that.  Every one told Santa what they wanted, now all they have to do is wait.

Christmas Eve!  I was out most of the day.  I still had shopping to do.  Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute.  I told you that this was one of those seasons where things were just nuts.  So, usually we start making cookies for Santa around 1 pm.  This Christmas Eve we waited to start about 6 pm.  Crazy, I know!  It got done anyway and we had a wonderful Christmas message and thought about our Savior before they got to open one present.  Then off to bed they went with dreams of  sugar plums dancing in their heads.

Christmas Day!  I have to hand it to the kids.  They waited until 6:30 am to wake us up.  Usually it is a lot earlier.  It started with Hunter.  He noticed that he had the biggest present under the tree and had to open it right away.  It was very heavy as he pushed it to the couch and he was glad to see that it was an electric scooter.  Can't wait to charge that baby up.

I have always said that my children will not have a cell phone until they are 16 years old and driving.  Woops!  I guess I have changed my mind.  It is a different world now and I find that I worry a lot more then I thought I would.  So many times I have wanted to get a hold of Megan.  Now I can.  She was excited to see it.  Now, it is not a smart phone.  Defiantly not ready for her to have one of those, but it does have unlimited text and can get on facebook.  She does have rules that go along with the phone, but I am sure she can deal with it.

Emilee thought for sure she should get a phone too.  Sorry Emilee.  Not yet, but my guess is you don't have to wait until you are 16 so just be a little patient.  Your time will come.  She has wanted a camera though and was very excited to get that plus a Hermione wand, Taekwondo shoes, Hello Kitty lava lamp and even a doorbell for her room.  I think she will be OK.

It was a very nice morning with fun presents to open, a great breakfast, a very relaxing day which I took full advantage of and a fantastic Christmas dinner.  We are so blessed and had a very wonderful Christmas Day!!

Hoping that you all had a wonderful Christmas Day and will have a Fantastic New Year!!

Ice Skating

The other night, I took the kids ice skating.  Emilee had gone once before with a friend, but Hunter and Megan had never been.  I think for the most part the kids had a blast.  They had some ups and downs, but they had fun doing it.

Hunter had a lot of fun at the beginning.  He just took off.  They had these walker thingys to help them learn balance on their skates.  He just took off slipping and sliding along.  He fell sometimes, but he would get right back up.  Then he fell once and just couldn't get up for anything.  He kept sliding too much.  Megan had to help him to the side of the rink.  By then, he had enough.  I should have been prepared to skate with them, but I did not have the socks on my feet to get skates.  I wish I would have gone.  Anyway, Hunter has decided that ice skating just isn't for him.

Megan and Emilee on the other hand had a blast.  They started out a little shaky but they were old pros by the end.  They took my camera out on the ice and took pics of themselves trying to look like official ice skaters.  It was very funny and very cute.  I had so much fun watching them.  

I want to take them again, but next time I want them to bring a couple of friends.  I think that it will be so much fun.  And hey, maybe next time I will even skate myself.  It has been years, but why not??

That's Right!! Halloween in December!

So, I might just be a little slow in getting these Halloween pictures on.  What can I say, but sometimes life is just like that.  The kids are getting older, but they still love Halloween.  They weren't at all what they said that they would be in September.  Each chose a very different costume, but they look good, don't they??

Megan had said she wanted to be Katniss from "Hunger Games".  After thinking about it, she decided that if she was Katniss, that was one to many.  Her and her friends decided to be Gangsters.  Funny.  I think though that she made a very cute Gangster.  

She went Trick or Treating with her friends again this year.  I think they were hoping to go by themselves, but us parents followed closely behind, trying not to cramp their style.  

Emilee was suppose to be a policewoman.  Now last year, I saw this costume a lot, but couldn't find it.  Saw the adult version, but that is highly inappropriate for a 10 year old I would say.  (Though I think it was inappropriate for a 25, 35 and even a 45 year old.)  We were just getting ready to make something up when we saw this costume.  Emilee loved it instantly and she made a very pretty Japanese princess.  She followed Megan and her friends.  She tried to stay back with Hunter and me, but I think she liked hanging around her big sister and friends and they were all good to her anyway.

Hunter was suppose to be so many different things.  He changed his mind all the time.  It started out as a banana, then an alien but then we came across the Grimm Reaper and he was sold.  He said he wanted to be scary.  Death just might be scary enough.  

Poor Hunter didn't get to Trick or Treat very long.  He had been suffering from some bronchitis and it acted up that night.  He wanted to go home, but we did manage to get him some candy anyway.

Well, that's Halloween.  Done and over with until next year.  Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween.