Christmas 2016 at Nana & Papa's

Christmas afternoon we headed to Tyler to spend a few days at Nana and Papa's house. 

A family picture before we opened presents.

 

The kids in front of the tree. 

 

Annabelle and Caden with their new Lego sets from Nana and Papa. 

 

Annabelle with her Play Doh gift from her Juillerat cousins.

 

Caden with his books from Nana and Papa.

 

Jeffrey, Brian, and Hallie.

 

Bob, Laura, Annabelle, Great Grandma, Abby, and Rebecca. 

 

Hallie was so excited to get a ukulele!

 

Annabelle and Hallie had so much fun playing their ukuleles together.

The boys playing Risk together.

 

Jack and Caden playing with Jack's new Pokémon cards.

 

Annabelle has so much fun playing with Hallie! 



Christmas 2016

We spent Christmas morning at our house, just the four of us.  A few family pictures before we opened presents.

 

 

The kids in front of the tree.

 

Stocking lute!

 

Caden with his present from Wyatt and Luke.

 

Annabelle with her present from Wyatt and Luke. 

 

Opening up Grandpa's present...movies & a ukulele.

 

Caden with his present from Grandpa. 

 

Annabelle with her present from Mommy and Daddy.

 

Caden got Legos, Legos, and more Legos.

 

We also got the kids a Lego/game table.  It'll be in Caden's room for a while to help keep his Legos organized, and then one day move into the playroom to be a game table.  I love that it's keeping his Legos off the floor, and he is loving building on it.  There are organization compartments under the table top and under the bench tops.  Caden working on assembling his Christmas presents.

 

We took the kids to see the movie "Sing" on Christmas Eve.  The kids rarely see movies in the theater, so they think it's a real treat!

 

The weather has been all over the place the past few weeks.  We had a few days in the 20's.  We went for a walk one day, and we ran into a neighbor friend.  The kids were super excited to stumble across a neighbor who had run their sprinklers in the cold weather, and there were icicles all over their bushes, grass, tree swing, and tree trunk.  The kids were picking them off the tree swing and the tree trunk and eating them.

 

And we've had quite a few days in the 70's.  Christmas Eve was so warm that Annabelle wanted to swim.  We heated up the hot tub for her.



Christmas with Mimi and Tia

Mimi and Tia spent Christmas day in San Diego this year, so we went to their house to celebrate Christmas the Saturday before.  A few pictures of everyone before we opened presents.

Caden opening a present.

 

Annabelle opening one of her gifts.

 

Annabelle helping Tia open a present.

 

Caden with his light up building toy.

 

Annabelle with her new boots.

 

Annabelle with her new stuffed puppy.



Visiting Santa and Christmas Parties

I took the kids to see the Santa at the Neiman Marcus downtown again this year.  We have seen that Santa for several years in a row, and he is definitely our favorite. 

It took a little persuading to get Caden to agree to go take the picture.  So we invited one of his friends from school along.  Here are the pictures of Caden and Annabelle with Santa.

 

Annabelle is in the 4/5 yr old choir this year at church.  They performed at the Festival of Carols.  Here's a picture of them singing. 

 

Afterwards, there were games, dinner, and all sorts of entertainment.  Here's a pic of the kids with their balloon animals.  

Annabelle also got her face painted. 

 

A family picture from the festival. 

 

I took Annabelle to the Nutcracker.  She loved it!  A pic before we headed to the show. 

 

Annabelle in the lobby ready to see the show! 

 

Annabelle was excited to get her picture taken with the Snow Queen during intermission. 

 

Annabelle and her friend Belle at a Christmas cookie exchange playdate.

 

Caden had his first presentation at school this month.  He picked the Lion.  He had to artistically create a Lion and present eight facts.  He molded a lion out of homemade play dough, and then he did a great job presenting his facts.

 

Caden had a class Christmas party his last day of school before the break.

 

Andrew and Caden.

 

Caden and Mommy. 

 

For the second year in a row, Santa has ridden through our neighborhood collecting toys for a local charity.  We missed it last year, but the kids really enjoyed it this year.  Unfortunately, Santa's route isn't right in front of our house, so we went to a friend's house, who lives along the route.  A picture of the kids (Luna, Caden, Annabelle, and Belle) before Santa arrived.

 

Here comes Santa Clause.

 

I saw the two cutest elves that I've ever seen at Trader Joes one day.