Click the photo above to see the whole album. It’s a lot of photos, but they are cool *wink*
This year the ICE display was a Charlie Brown Christmas. We learned our lesson last year and decided that we were going ASAP when it opened this year so we wouldn’t have to fight the crowds. We had the place practically to ourselves and it was a great time. Nadia had a lot more fun in the display this year even though she did complain about the cold at the end, but I don’t blame her. It was cold!
Here are some of my favorite photos. This was a great way to kick off our Christmas season!
Nadia did the “meet and greet” with Snoopy. She gave him a hug, high five, poked his belly and scratched his ear!
Is this cute or what?
On the way home I asked Nadia what she liked best about our night. She said, “Seeing the ‘tivity’ scene….. oh and meeting Snoopy!”
We had our 3rd annual PJ party book exchange last week. We have so many new additions that the mom’s of 2 kids decided to do an exchange for the big kids and the little ones which was really cute! We started out letting the kids play for a bit, then did the book exchange and finally our potluck for lunch. Then back to playing for the kids and talking for the moms. It was so fun!
2 of my favorite things in the entire world are books and jammies so this is so much fun for me to have each year. Thanks to all who came out and had fun with us.
Last night we went to church for the Advent Celebration. Everyone ate dinner and then the families got to work on our candy advent chains. Kaye had the best idea for this and it was super easy. They had numbers cut out and we all got the ribbons and 25 pieces of candy. Then a big giant piece of saran wrap. See the photos to see how it turned out. Nadia and I had fun putting this together.
Then Kaye gave us an Advent Devotional to do each night and it included sheet music and the songs go with the verse for the day. And we grabbed a “Names of Jesus” advent chain maker so we can learn one of the names of Jesus each day of Advent. Nadia is finally the perfect age to do this and listen and respond to the readings.
A couple of weeks ago we went to a charity fundraiser that was called “High Tea with Santa and Mrs. Claus” It was the most adorable thing and they had Colonial Country Club decorated with all sorts of Christmas Trees. For the children they had a buffet table that was their size with snacks and fruit. They also had hot cocoa and spiced cider. There were truffles at every seat in addition to coloring pages for the kids while the Grinch Who Stole Christmas was in the background.
They had a whole bunch of activities set up, but the first thing Nadia wanted to do was meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. The people who were playing the parts were perfect! They were totally in character and did such a good job with the kids. Nadia knows that Santa is just a storybook character so she gave him a funny look when he asked what she wanted him to bring her for Christmas. She did end up telling them “I just want my sister.” Which led them to ask me questions and I told them that we were going to adopt a little girl from China soon. Mrs. Claus gave Nadia a lollipop and they posed for a photo and she was good to go.
Then Nadia made Reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn so they have something to eat on Christmas Eve. Nadia really enjoyed this and we already sprinkled it on the lawn. She wants us to make another batch with more glitter to put out on Christmas eve in case the birds eat what is out there already 🙂
Grammie came with us and said that she enjoyed every minute of the event.
Emily brought her boys and they were so cute running around.
They also had a Flip Book station set up. Nadia did not want to do one with me until she saw me do one with my “mommy friends”. They both turned out really cute and it’s such a fun thing to do. Kerrie and her daughter made a book and I snapped a photo while they were being filmed.
