Christmas Eve

We spent the evening with Bret's family.  I didn't get any pictures of that, but I did get a picture of the kids opening their Christmas jammies.  One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up.

Sweet sleeping kiddos.

Christmas Eve in the Morning

Christmas Eve morning was fun.  We stayed at my mom's house the night before.  Bedhead on toddlers is so great.

Sweet little baby.

We stopped to see Santa.

The kids had a bunch of fun.

Brynn is a big Santa fan.

They also got to write a letter to Santa and put it in the really cool mailbox.

Elf on the Shelf

The morning after we put up the tree an Elf on the Shelf appeared.  The kids (and Bret) were having a hard time figuring out a name.  I think that it is Cup. 

Wes did NOT like him at first.  We decided to try a couple of more days to see if he changed his mind.  I told Wes if he still didn't like the elf then we would ask him to leave.  

I didn't want the elf to be too extravagant, but I still wanted him to do a few fun things.  So I was excited when he brought a few little Christmas stories and audio books for the kids the next day.  Wes didn't mind Cup as much after that.

Wes mentioned wanting to candy canes to decorate the tree and the next morning we found the elf like this.

Most days the elf just hid different places.

But sometimes he did funny things.

Brynn was a big fan of the elf hiding in her room.  She talked about it for days.  Wes did not like when the elf was in his room.

The kids loved when he played with their toys.

One night he painted Rudolph noses on himself and the kids. 

I got pictures of the kids, but forgot to get a picture of the elf.  I forgot to get the elf's picture a few time oops.  But the elf hid in Brynn's room again that night and that was extra exciting for Brynn.

The last night the elf did some puzzles with some of the kids toys.

We sure had fun with Cup the Elf.

December-wember

The kids were so excited to start doing the the advent calendars my mom bought for them.

The birds eating the fruit of my flowering pear trees makes me so happy. 

Brynn doesn't like to play out in the cold for more then a few minutes.

Wes loves the snow.

Coloring in their matching striped jammies.

I love watching him play trains.

More birds.

Christmas shows are so fun.

Crazy time in the tent.  I wish they would just leave it standing up the right way.  I don't want them to ruin it, but they love to roll around in it.

Reading with her backpack.

I did a little guest post on www.mymommystyle.com.

The kids loved playing with our electric train.