We Are Going To...

  Later on on New Year's Eve we had a scavenger hunt prepared for the girls. They collected a puzzle piece at each destination and once they collected all four they matched the numbers to this board and put them together.

 Once finished, we had them look at at it and asked them what they thought it read. Abigail thought it read 'kitty cat."

 After a minute of guessing we finally helped Lydia sound it out.

We are going to Disney World!

 Lydia knew we had Oreos in the house but I told her they were for a surprise and she couldn't have them. In fact, she was thinking the whole scavenger hunt was just for Oreos. So when we brought out the Mickey Mouse cookie pops, she was most excited!

Then she made a letter to Rapunzel. We'll mail it to her and hope we get a response before we leave Feb. 1st.

Here's our countdown paper chain with 30 links. (Ben's doing mouse ears.)

Lydia's doing Minnie Mouse pose. We're excited!

Happy New Year!

We spent New Years Eve morning at Betty Brinn's Children's Museum.

Corn maze in Iowa.

Aloha!

Surfing in Hawaii.

The kids had fun with the 50 states exhibit.

Dog sledding in Alaska

The museum has a nice little city laid out with everything from a real estate office, post office, factory, grocery store and public transportation.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round." 

Grocery shopping.

Then from 11:30-Noon they had a party!

 Party music, noisemakers and dancing!

Lydia ran into a friend from school, Zach.

We counted down with Baby New Year and Father Time.

We saw the ball drop.

We had a juice toast.

Happy New Year! 2015! Now we can go to sleep! Don't tell the kids it's only noon ;)

Christmas Parties

 The first stop on the Christmas Party Train was on December 21st at Grandma Linda's house.

We had a Christmas brunch, and that means there was grapefruit with green sprinkles. The kids dug it.

Four Little Girls, a Christmas poem

 Four little girls sitting in a row

 One hopped down to rip off a bow.

What she unwrapped she found delightful and cute.

Three little girls quickly then followed suit.

The End

 I hate lying to my kids about Santa being the man with a fake beard at the mall, someone with magical reindeer who fly around the world in one night, an intruder who squeezes down our nonexistent chimney and takes credit for awesome gifts, etc. But Santa's origins and spirit of generosity are real. A kid-friendly story to help kids make the connection from the historical Saint Nicholas to today's Santa who's everywhere: And Now We Call Him Santa Claus. So I decided to play along with the story this year in a fun way: Santa footprints! Made with a template of Ben's boots and a dusting of baking soda and glitter, they amazed and deodorized in one fell swoop!

 The kids knew right away it wasn't real snow, but Santa comes from the North Pole where everything is different and magical. Eh, maybe it didn't really amaze...but it did deodorize.

 On to the pickle, a new tradition in our house. Lydia found it first, so she got to open the first present. Next year it won't be hung at Lydia's eye level!

 Highlight of Christmas: Lydia wanting to get a gift for Holly Dolly and Abigail. Abigail loves the bracelet Lydia made for her.

 Another Highlight: Seeing these girls happy to prance around together in matching dresses.

 Yet Another: Seems like this handsome little man is going to love his new set of wheels!

 On Christmas Day we went to Roland & Kathy's house and visited with Grandma & Grandpa Alvin.

Abigail is as helpless as a little baby when she doesn't get a complete nap. Sometimes I'm okay with that.

The Christmas Party Train has reached its final destination. We are back at home now and enjoying time off from work and school to play with all of our new toys!

Lydia's First Salon Haircut!

My cousin Laura is at a new salon, so we went to see her for a haircut! Lydia got about an inch cut off so it's manageable enough that she can wear her hair down with just a headband, but no more than that so she can still work towards her goal of having hair as long as Rapunzel's.

Laura was great with Lydia and even painted her nails because she sat so still like a statue.

Abigail could probably get a haircut too, but she just watched. Her hair has really been growing these past few months.

 But back at home they are practicing fine motor skills stringing star cereal onto string to make edible bracelets.

 And Abigail's popping out of her rocket ship box. Cardboard boxes just never get old when you have a little imagination!

4-K Christmas Program

Ready for the concert!

The kids announced the songs. Lydia introduced "put a little hahaha in your holidays" with the line, "We hope this song makes you giggle."

This next song was introduced as follows: "You know Old McDonald had a farm. But did you know Old St Nicholas had a tree?"

A Little Christmas Cheer

Working together (amazingly!) to make a gingerbread train. There's been a lot of grabbing between these two lately.

Abigail being a little sneak. ;)

 Also decorating a little gingerbread village.

 St Nick came and filled our stockings with gifts and treats on the 6th (a European tradition).

The European culture continued at the Osthoff's Old World Christmas Market. Lydia met a "real prince and princess!" They are Milwaukee's reigning Prinz and Prinzessin of Karneval, German Mardi Gras.

 Then she met Saint Nick and got a lesson on why we celebrate Christmas. She couldn't tell me what he told her, though. I think she was a little starstruck. 

 The next day we had some family friendly Toys for Tots activities in Oak Creek.

Lydia jumped on the Americanized Santa Claus' lap. Abigail was scared, and I don't blame her. 

They both loved the train ride!

Choo choo!

Thanksgiving

 Early in November the girls helped me make our Turkey Box (painting is such  messy fun! Lydia ditched the brush for her fingers early on.). The body is an old tissue box, the perfect depository for notes of what you are thankful for. We had it out with strips of paper and pen the rest of the month. Lydia would go to it often and ask me how to spell things like 'my little sister Abigail,' 'chocolate chips,' and her stuffed animal named 'Jelly.' Abigail would go to me asking "what [letter] comes next?" mimicking Lydia. I  put down things like 'sunrises,' 'cuddles with my kids,' and 'a husband who picks up dinner.' Then during Thanksgiving dinner at home we took them out and read them. We sorted and counted out how many entries each person made. For who had the most, it was a tie between Lydia and I, and then we found a strip of paper on the ground with 'my whole family' written on it. Lydia won and was deemed the Turkey Queen! If Daddy can step up his game next year, we can modify the title to Turkey King.

Turkey Queen 2014

On Thursday we made our pilgrimage to Aunt Sue's house in Indiana for a delicious traditional feast. We got to meet our cousin Ben's (serious) girlfriend and go outlet mall shopping the next day.

Then on Saturday we had another feast at Grandma Linda's house. It was hard to get everyone in one camera shot, but really cool that we can all fit at one table! Happy Thanksgiving!