Santa Visit

We met our good friends, Stephanie, Emma and Julia at the mall for a visit with Santa. Our mall Santa is the real Santa. He has been at our mall for over 25 years! He is so popular that they have a very elaborate system where you go get a ticket with a number and come back when that number is up. I like it! Stephanie got our number when she dropped her kids off at school and we all went back later that day.

Katherine is a pro and liked Santa. She told him that she wanted "Dress Up". Those kids have so much dress up but still want more.
Caroline was not as sure about Santa. As we were waiting she put her hand over her mouth in the same way that she does when we see "Josh" our Elf at home. So, I knew she was a little scared.
She insisted on taking her baby doll with her. There were no smiles but there were no tears either so that was a success in my book.
Emma and Julia did pretty well.
Afterward we went to the food court for Chick-Fil-A and then to see the ducks and turtles. For some reason this mall, one of the most popular in town, does not have a play area.
So, the kids climb and slide on the planters. I am sure all the old ladies shopping just love that. I remember doing the same thing as a child.

Christmas Time

My girls have so many Christmas outfits (about 15-20 each) so I had to get as many photos as I could. I guess you could say it is a weakness of mine but aren't they cute?
For the second year, we had an "Elf on the Shelf". I think it is a really cute idea. There is a book to read about an elf coming to your house in December. During the day they watch you and at night they go to the North Pole to tell Santa if you have been naughty or nice. Our elf is "Josh". Caroline was terrified of Josh. She would not go into the same room with him without crying and saying she was scared. So, after a few days, even of hiding in the tree, Josh went to the North Pole for good. We will see if he can make an appearance next year.

Christmas Card Photos

This year we did our Christmas Card Photos very spur of the moment. We were supposed to get together with our good friends Jen and Richard. Jen texted me to see if we would meet up to swap photography services. We got home from Thanksgiving and in 30 minutes I selected outfits and got everyone ready. Given the lack of planning I was quite pleased with our coordinating outfits and the cooperation of our kids.

We walked around Santa's village a little but it was not fully ready yet.

Christmas Decorating

Finny that I am writing about decorating now that all of the decorations are away. Actually, that is not totally true. It is February 5th and half of our outside lights are still up though not on. It seems every weekend it is either rainy, icy or Sam is out of town.

It seems that since we have been married we have been on an every other year rotation as far as either being minimal in decoration or doing it all. I think now that our kids are old enough to notice we will not get the minimal years any more.

While the girls napped, I put up the tree and Sam build a fire. When they woke up they helped me put on the ornaments. I love our ornaments. When we got married, 4 days before Christmas, we decided that Christmas ornaments would be the souvenir from our travels. They are small, usually easy to find, don't clutter the house and give us a time once a year to reflect on all of our vacations.

With kids the decorating is not perfect. We ended up with a nice cluster of non-breakable wooden ornaments. I fought the urge to move things around and let the tree stay in it's not perfect state.

It was a fun afternoon activity.

England

Sam had a business trip to a city north of London. We have not had a trip without the kids since we had the kids so we thought this was a good chance to get away. He left on a Sunday (while Caroline was in the ER getting her stitches) and I left on Thursday. I sat on the airplane next to a delightful chap (doesn't that sound British) who had gone hunting with and had tea with the Queen. Pretty impressive. I can say I have 2 degrees to the Queen.

When I arrived I had a company car take me straight to the hotel. It was so nice to not have to navigate the train, subway and train when exhausted from travel. Sam was waiting for me. I was exhausted so I took a short nap before we explored the city a bit. Stevenage did not have much but there was a small city museum and a street that was "old town" where we walked to eat dinner. We had a lot of typical pub food such as bangers and mash, fish and chips and shepherd's pie on this trip. I decided to take photos of some of the cool pub signs.

When I arrived we literally had NO plans. We did not know if we were renting a car or taking the train. We had no hotel reservations and we had no itinerary. We also had no working cell phones. I still don't know what the deal is with that because I talked to AT&T before and after the trip and they just shrug their shoulders and say it should have worked. Luckily we did have a laptop and most hotels and B&B's have WiFi now so we would stay one day ahead.

Saturday we rented a car and drove across the countryside towards Oxford which we never actually saw. We stopped first at Wrest Park. It was a former Abbey turned residence. Most of the residence is not open to the public. The real attraction was the beautiful gardens designed by "Capability" Brown. They were huge and beautiful. After posting the photo below on facebook, a friend commented that she did not recognize us as we were so relaxed and well rested. It has been a tough summer and fall with Sam traveling most of the time so we really did need this trip and we really did relax. Next we drove through the countryside and small towns to Woburn where we had lunch in a delightful tearoom before heading to Woburn Abbey, which also is now a residence. The Duke and Duchess of Bedford live there and the current Duke appears to be about my age with a 5 and 9 year old. We would be in a room with 17th century paintings on the walls and pictures of the kids on the coffee table. Woburn Abbey also has a deer preserve and wildlife park. We saw a lot of pheasant and deer including two bucks sparring. It was pretty spectacular to watch.
We had a bit of trouble that night as we arrived to Oxford after dark. Street signs are not well marked or well lit so we ended up on the other side of the town from where all the hotels I had marked were located. We pulled into a B&B with restaurant where they helped us find a reservation and served us an amazing meal.

Field Trip

Katherine's class took a field trip to the farm and pumpkin patch. It was the day before I left on a trip to England so I just stopped by the field trip for about an hour. It was a lot of fun to get to interact with Katherine and her classmates.
Each child got to pick a pumpkin to take home.
Katherine and her friend Ziggy.
Evan found the perfect pumpkin.

Pumpkin Farm

Sam and Katherine went on a campout with the YMCA Adventure Princess program along with our good friends Matt and Emma. While they were gone, Stephanie and I took the little sisters on their own outing. We met for lunch and then headed to a pumpkin farm. We had fun but I think I like the Arboretum better for the actual pumpkin pictures.

We went on a hay ride, got to pet the goats, play in a maze and see lots of pumpkins. Caroline and Julia had a lot of fun. Stephanie and I enjoyed time with our younger girls without the distraction of the older ones. I think that Caroline and Julia also really enjoyed all of the personal attention.

Christmas Cards

I love the fall. I think that part of it is the emerging from the horrible heat that we experience well into September. It is also the trifecta of holidays, so much more fun even with kids. Halloween has come and gone and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. That means that it is time to start thinking about Christmas and specifically, Christmas cards.

I love receiving Christmas cards. The rest of the year my mailbox is filled with junk but in December I love seeing what I receive each day. I have a carefully maintained database of addresses that I start updating about now as well as a spreadsheet of the cards we have sent and received over the years. I guess you can say that I am a little "type A" about my Christmas cards. I just love seeing photos of my friends and their kids as well as reading update letters.

One of my new favorite traditions that we started last year is that we keep all of our Christmas cards and letters in a basket in our kitchen. Each night we pull out a card and pray for that family. The kids love it and it means that your cards are being viewed much more than one month of the year.

Shopping for Christmas cards can be a little overwhelming to me at times. There are so many choices out there and I have such a large list that it can get a bit expensive. One place that I always turn for my holiday shopping needs is Shutterfly. I have used their cards before and they are so easy. There are tons of design from which to choose and it is easy to upload your photos. The problem with Shutterfly is not that you won't find a card you like but that you won't be able to narrow it down. There are so many cute choices.

I tend to lean toward more traditional cards but they have a come cute whimsical ones as well.

Since I like to include a letter, I liked the idea of this one.

Another thing I have done every year at Christmas is make a Calendar for the following year using our pictures. It is so fun to have it in our kitchen and see how much the kids have grown each year. You can have a plain design or they have a lot of pages that are already decorated for you.

And, for those of you who do not have time to deal with Christmas cards, I have a few friends who send New Years or Valentine's cards instead. It actually is not a bad idea as it removes that large task from a busy season and puts it in your friends mailboxes at a time when there is otherwise not many interesting pieces of mail being delivered. Shutterfly has you covered for cards no matter the occasion.

And one of the great things about Shutterfly? Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

State Fair

We joined some friends at the neighborhood for a day at the state fair. Four moms, each with 2 daughters. It was a girl day. The state fair is huge and there is no way you could see it all in one day. When you have 8 preschoolers the amount that you are able to see is reduced to not very much. But, we had fun.

We started off with the petting zoo. There were several baby animals including a 2 day old zebra. This was the part of the fair that Caroline commented on the most, not because of the cute baby zebra, but because while we were watching the mama "go poopoo".
Next we went to the dog show. I did not get any pictures but it is entertaining to watch the dogs go through obstacle courses, catch Frisbees and catch a toy while jumping over the water.

Next we decided we were hungry. What is a trip to the fair without a corn dog? Both girls enjoyed it. Katherine gave it a thumbs up.Next we headed towards the giant Ferris wheel, so giant that Katherine said "no way". So, instead they rode the kiddie swings. Rides are fun but they are expensive so we did not stay on the midway long.
We enjoyed the little farm. Here the kids were able to go through the process of planting seeds, watering plants, harvesting, etc. It is a fun and interactive exhibit.
Overall it was a great day and the kids did a wonderful job being troopers. They were exhausted but did not nap before our next event that night.