That morning, our Elf made his appearance and brought the kids their advent calendars for the month!
Harley must have known Acelyn wasn't feeling well, because he napped close to her one afternoon, which is rare!
Nolan got a fresh haircut for our upcoming Disney trip, and was all about his lollipop on the ride home.
Our Elf (he's nameless... it's cool) decided to ransack our Cheerios, but also brought a fun Cheerios play book to make up for his bad behavior. Nolan was obsessed with it and used the book all morning long!
Acelyn has become really, really into babies, and she's always quick to point them out whether on TV or in person. She feels sooo much love for them she often "reaches out" to hug and squeeze them... but little does she know, she will definitely not be receiving any real babies any time soon! Sorrry, chick... you're the last baby, here!
We spent the absolute best three days in the Happiest Place on Earth, and made amazing memories during our holiday in Disneyland!
I found Acelyn alone in the spare bedroom, squealing with laughter one morning, and she was playing with Max and just cracking up, sitting him up on the nightstand and then throwing him down over and over again. Crazy girl!
Nolan created the cutest Christmas tree at Preschool.
I took the kids on a random trip to the Christmas tree patch, because Nolan had been asking each time we drove by if we could go see the trees. I think he expected it to be similar to the Halloween Pumpkin patch since it's in the same place, and he was surprised to find no train, blow ups or rides, and just simple Christmas trees, instead! Either way, they enjoyed running around the lot while I snapped some pictures, and Acelyn had a blast picking up 13537805343 pieces of tree needles, while Nolan was intrigued by the saws and how they cut the stumps of the trees.
Acelyn played with her character figurines and decided to line them all up on the table... she's so funny when she plays by herself and seems so satisfied doing the simplest things. I just love her!
We visited Santa at Bass Pro Shops during the week, where Nolan was consistent on his one gift he wanted: a doctor's kit! Acelyn, on the other hand, asked to get the heck out of Santa's lap, and she screamed and hated every second of her time with the big guy. Since the Disneyland Santa wouldn't hold her while she threw her fit, we finally got our screaming Santa picture with the Bass Pro Santa... he gave zero cares about a crying babe and was a trooper with her antics! Definitely one for the books....
After our meet and greet with the Big Guy, we spent some time wandering around Bass Pro, where we drove boats and hung out with the fishes. The sting rays were huge and super active, and kept swimming up to the glass, which the kids loved. We took a walk outside to check out the giant tree and the water fountains, before heading back home for lunch.
Over the weekend, we celebrated Coen's 4th birthday party with a pajama movie party! It was SO cute and Jamie did an amazing job with everything, from decorations, to cupcakes, to wrangling all the kiddos for some fun games. They all had the best time, and it was so fun seeing them play and relax in their jammies, plus it made life super easy when the party was over to pack up and put them straight to bed! Haha! One of Nolan's favorite parts was throwing popcorn on Coen's head for one of the games... all the kids thought it was hilarious!
Acelyn was in heaven snacking all night, and looked adorable in her favorite Sulley PJs that she requested to wear. The kids lasted longer than we thought watching the movie, but soon enough, it was time to wreck havoc with sugar highs kicking in, and the boys all played together before heading home to bed. Happy Birthday, Coen! I can't believe you boys are turning FOUR already!
The next morning, Nolan had his first tee ball practice (with lots of the same boys from the party from the night before!) We are excited to see him play this season, and he has a great arm, which is even better!
That night, we took a trip to Downtown Summerlin to enjoy the winter festivities they had, as well as take Grandma out to dinner at Wolfgang Puck for her birthday. We got there right as the parade was starting, and Acelyn couldn't quite figure out her mittens and wasn't sure how to feel about them. (IT WAS COLD!) Not a minute later, it started "snowing", and she completely forgot about the weird things on her hands and started waving them like crazy instead, to catch the snow! Nolan was a big fan of the parade and made sure to wave to every one of the floats that passed us by, and both kids were super stoked about seeing Santa pass by in the end!
After dinner, we took a walk around the mall and watched some ice skating and the train make a round... but was way too cold to stick around too long, so we quickly headed to grab some dessert to munch on in the warm car for the drive home! Happy Birthday, Grandma! We love you!
Nolan helped make his Preschool teachers their Christmas gifts, and we loved how they came out!
Later in the week at his final week of school before Winter break, he brought home a handmade noodle necklace, a Menorah, a Christmas snow globe, and the cutest Christmas wreath!
While he was in school, little Miss and I took a Target run for no other reason than to just go to Target, so she gathered up some penguin friends for the cart ride around.
I got some snuggles in with Harley, which usually happens after the kids go to bed, but he was feeling extra snuggly that day.
Acelyn has a recent love for Snowball the bunny, from Daniel Tiger, and plays a cute little game on her app on the iPad with him. She constantly asks for "Schnow-baw" and it is my absolute favorite word she says right now! I die.
The kids and I were hit with the flu literally days before Christmas, which made for a very, very low key holiday for us all. This years flu strain was no joke, because Nolan got hit with it first and was feeling awful... and then as soon as I got it, I completely knew why he felt so crappy. I hadn't been that sick in a long, long time, and had zero energy for days! Not the best combination right before Christmas!
We somehow mucked up some energy to bake our Christmas cookies, where the kids made their own batch (germs!) and I, before I was really hit hard with the flu, managed to disinfect and bake up a storm for the remaining cookies while they napped. Sick or not, this is still one of my favorite Christmas traditions to do with the kids, and I'm glad we were still able to pull it off this year!
When the woke up from their naps, Acelyn was all about eating her cookies she baked, and gave some sass with it, too.
Acelyn's turn of feeling awful came the day before Christmas Eve, and mine was hours after her. We somehow managed to get over to Grandma's house for our tradition of Christmas Eve dinner and presents, and the kids were excited to see all the gifts under her tree when we arrived! After dinner, we opened gifts, per tradition, and the kids were spoiled with lots of goodies from Grandma and other family, and were stoked to open up all their fun toys ASAP!
We celebrated a very low key, sick Christmas Day together, but was still full of fun surprises, Santa magic and lots of snuggles and family down time. Nolan was slow to wake up, but once he realized Santa had come, he was ready to go with gift opening a mile a minute. With some reminders to slow down, we enjoyed opening stockings and gifts together, enjoying each one as we went and opening and playing with the toys in between, too.
We stayed in our jammies allllllll day long, and unfortunately had to postpone our traditional Christmas dinner, and instead opted for grilled cheese and soup and another early night to sleep! Even though our Christmas was a little different than usual and much calmer, it was such a relaxing feeling to not have to worry about getting dressed or cook or even leave the house! Next year we'll hopefully be healthier, but also hope to keep the lax vibe for the day because it really was enjoyable to not worry about anything and just relax and play!
The kids finally started to get their energy back right before the New Year, and we celebrated New Years Eve East Coast style... celebrating with noisemakers, apple juice cheers and the ball drop at 9PM! I snapped some random shots around the house with my new 55mm lens and it is LOVE. We did some NYE brownie baking to pass the time, and the kids barely made it until 9 to ring in the New Year. Jason and I also barely made it to midnight, and hit the pillows right at 12:01AM. Here's to a New Year and hopefully starting it off healthier and focusing on all the good things it will bring! We can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for our family! Happy New Year!
...Until next year!
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