We are all ready for Christmas!

Madelyn is so happy that her winter break has started.  She is very excited about having two weeks off of school and I'm happy about hopefully having a chance to get a little extra sleep in the morning.  We are all ready for Christmas and the girls are counting down the hours until Santa visits.  Here are some pictures (sorry they are out of order) from Friday and our weekend!

Decorating cookies with Nana and Pop on Saturday morning!

Central Virginia Dance Academy Nutcracker.  It was really good!

Visited one of the tacky light houses after the Nutcracker

Went to see Frozen after church on Sunday!

Happy Hour in the cul da sac (70 degree weather!), Pizza Dinner and Tacky Lights with the Moore family on Friday night!

Jingle Bell Jog at school on Friday.  Cora and Josh came to watch and Josh loved running out to see Madelyn as she walked by!

Fun with neighbors on Sunday night.  We even had some carolers come to our house that night.  It was so special and we are so lucky to have such a great neighborhood!

Note left from our elf Simon tonight!

More Holiday Craziness

The past several days have been filled with lots of holiday festivities.  Over the weekend, we saw "Twas The Night Before Christmas" at our local Children's Theater.  We also saw "The Living Nativity" at a local church (I never got a chance for pics) and the kids loved seeing the live animals in the play.   In between the shows, Bill and I enjoyed a night out with neighbors and the girls had a fun night spending the night at Nana and Pop's house.  We had lots of laughs that night and it was nice to be able to stay out late and sleep in!  Yesterday, our Daisy girl scout troop decorated graham cracker gingerbread houses.  Ellie even came to our meeting this time around and had so much fun with the Daisy troop.  She can't wait to be a Daisy one day!

Ellie already knows the Girls Scout Promise

The mice at Twas The Night Before Christmas

Holiday Cheer

We have been super busy this holiday season doing all sorts of fun things!  Last weekend, we made our annual trip to the Legendary Santa.  We usually go during the week when there is no line but with school this year we decided to try the weekend.  It was not too bad but we did have to wait an hour and a half.  The kids played in the little holiday houses so it was bearable.  After Santa, we stopped by the Richmond Christmas Parade and ran into some friends.  The rest of the weekend was filled with a party at both our church and the University of Richmond.  This time of the year is so much fun!

Getting ready to visit Santa



Ellie had stage fright and did not say a word but Madelyn and I told him her list

The Parade

The girls were not a big fan of the UR Santa.  After seeing the legendary Santa, it was clear that this was not the real Santa!

Face Painting at UR

Mystery Reader at Ellie's preschool

We also delivered holiday cards and sang Christmas carols to the low income apartments behind our church.

Happy 5th Birthday Cora

We celebrated Cora's 5th Birthday at Pump it Up yesterday.  Madelyn and Ellie had a blast and were so excited to celebrate with their cousin.  They also enjoyed seeing Josh try out the bounce house and slides for the first time.  They took Josh under their wing and helped him get around the obstacle courses.  It was so cute!  Happy Birthday to our favorite little redhead.  We love you Cora!

The Wind Tunnel