Oh Christmas Time, Oh Christmas Time... you

ARE so much fun, but seem to set me back TWO we---eeeeks!

I finally have all my pictures up to blog about! YEAH!! :) So, this post will cover everything in order over the last few weeks, including my kids Christmas parties at their schools, Elise's wedding, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, and any other outings in between!

Enjoy my post - chalk full of wonderful pictures and riveting captions;)

Ward Christmas Party

This year was a GROUND breaking year at our ward Christmas party. History WAS made with my kids. I could hardly believe that Ethan AND Erin actually sat on Santa's lap! Yes, folks, Erin and Ethan were 3 and 5 last year-- and still deathly afraid of going anywhere near that jolly man in the red suit... but this year, I'm not sure what changed... maybe because the guy playing Santa was a much smaller version then the normal Santa? I dunno? But it worked, and I captured the moment!

Here is Dante with his classic "thinking finger" asking for who knows what... but probably a math book that actually challenges him or something along those lines!

Here is Erin... (yeah!) and she is asking for more polly pocket pieces that she can lose!
And little Ethan, asking for Kota, who he would no longer be interested in after the first 3 months of having it. Silly kid, Kota is for babies! ;)

School Christmas Parties

I love school Christmas parties! Especially when the little ones put on a program! Ethan is the only one who did a little program this year at his pre-school, and he was so cute! And, I think he was practically the ONLY one not wearing red that day... hmmmm.. I'm a genius! Easier to pick him out in a crowd! Can you see him??

After his fun sing-a-long, we went and had a fun Christmas lunch in his classroom! I liked the Chic-fil-a nuggets they had at the Thanksgiving feast personally, but maybe the kids prefer kolaches? I dunno... but I think I'm going to give my input next time, since we get to eat the leftovers! (the picture turned out funky-- but he had fun!)

Then I took him to Dante and Erin's class parties. Dante made a cute little ornament with his picture inside, and he got to decorate the outside! I couldn't stay for the other project, or the food part... because I had to run off to Erin's party before school let out. We'll see how it goes next year, when all 3 of them have parties at the same school. (I still can't believe Ethan starts kindergarten next year!)
Erin got to make gingerbread cookies! The kids LOVED doing that... and they even had fruit and cheese to put on top too. Something about school regulations, and the kids needing balance in their diet. Call me crazy- but it's Christmas:) I guess they were still good- because the kids ate them. (I think?)

(insert Elise's wedding here, but I will make that post tomorrow as their are about 1,000 pictures!)

Christmas Eve

My family usually throws a big Christmas Eve bash, but due to Elise's wedding, we decided to scale it all down and just do our own family things. Since it was a last minute cancellation, we decided to hurry up and invite some good friends over for BANANA SPLITS!!

But first my family came over to drop of their presents to us and sing Christmas carols! How cute are they?

Here is the yummy banana split bar. I would recommend bluebell, but since it wasn't on sale, I opted for the on sale stuff. But it was still good:)

Here are some of our good friends, the Robinsons, who were nice enough to come at the last minute!

Here is Ethan, Erin, and Rechelle downing their banana splits. Isaac and Dante were playing video games, as expected! (They came out later for splits)

After the kids had finished their ice-cream, the adults got to play a game of Sequence before heading out. Chet and I won, which always ensures another invite to our house, for dinner and games! Way to go guys!:)

After they left, it was time to open the presents dropped off on our front door step from the pajama elf! (which I was so cool, i didn't get pictures of til' Christmas morning)
I think that is pretty good for now... I'll continue Christmas tomorrow and Elise's wedding on Monday!