Snow Day!!

We got a lovely four inches of beautiful, fluffy, snow yesterday!  Which meant that today was perfect for sled riding, snowman making, and hot chocolate!  Don't tell Sylvia, but I totally, absolutely HATE going out in the snow.  Which is why Sylvain was elected to do the job while I took pictures and video.  My argument?  "The Mom always stays inside and makes hot chocolate.  Didn't you know that?"  He he.

He didn't take her down the hill, but I made him hold her for a picture.

The neighbors have a much nicer sledding hill, so after a few attempts at ours, we ventured next door to join MANY neighborhood kids.

"We go sledding!  Let's do it again!"

They survived!

Trudging up our backyard hill - what a good Daddy!

Snowman construction.

She knocked on the front door and yelled to me, "Mommy!  We need a carrot NOOOSE!!!"  I was ON IT!

Stirring the hot chocolate!  She talked about it the whole time she was outside, but she only took two sips and declared, "I don't like it!." Which was surprising, considering she's never turned down chocolate.

I really wish we could just cross "snow day traditions" off the list and be done with it, but I'm pretty sure she's going to wanna do it again the next time it snows.  And I'm pretty sure I can't pull off the "I have to make the hot chocolate" excuse next time, either.  Oh well, at least it eats up an afternoon and wears the Nugget OUT!  Hopefully next time, we'll get a day off of school for all this beautiful snow!

The Perfect Christmas

I could go on and on about how wonderful our Christmas was now that we live closer to our family.  I'll sum it up by saying that I am so blessed to wake up in my own bed and spend the day in my own house, only venturing out into the cold for Christmas Eve Mass, followed by G.G.'s house, then again for Christmas dinner at Grandpa's house.  It truly doesn't get better than this.  I got to sit back (for the most part) and watch my girls have the time of their lives.  Here are the picture highlights...and there are many!

Getting ready to put out the reindeer food before we head to church.

At G.G.'s house, tearing through her first present - an Ariel doll!

Aunt Dar gave her a toy puppy - hopefully this will quell any desire for a real one.

G.G. got some Bailey's chocolates!

Margot was passed around like a sack of potatoes...

...but she likes faces, so she didn't mind!

Sylvia had a front row seat for the exchange games.

We got home late, but not too late to set out some cookies for Santa!

Santa's really good at wrapping big things in the playroom.

Christmas Morning

The girls slept so late that I had time to make tea AND take a picture of the family room!

Sleepy Nugget.

A new set of princess books - squeee!!!

Sylvia uncovers the new play kitchen.

Margot woke up just as Sylvia finished opening her own gifts.

She's intrigued by the sound and the taste of wrapping paper!

Ahhh...much better.  Thanks, Santa!

New slippers from Papi and Mamie in France!

They match.  My heart melts.

And the rest of the morning is spent baking cookies.

Mamie Brigitte arrives and we chat with a sick Mark.

More gifts!  She is one lucky girl.

Margot watches from the safety of Mama's lap.

A banana and cookies for lunch.  *Facepalm*  I do the best I can.

To Grandpa's for dinner!  Margot has the coziest spot in the house until....

Grandpa opens his gift from Jordan!  Yikes!

She never gets tired of opening presents...

...even when they're somebody else's!

That would be my brother, wearing a gift from my other brother.  Hilarious, especially with that beard.

Grandpa and Gran gave Sylvia her very first, 15*F sleeping bag!!!  She thinks we're going camping, like, tomorrow.  She's wrong.

This isn't the first year for remote control helicopters for the boys, but it IS the first year for SMART PHONE controlled helicopters.  I'm not even kidding.

Uncle Jordan helps put on her first pair of TOMS, which happen to match mine.  What is it about matching footwear that makes me melt?

Phew!  And there you have it.  I didn't even get to include pics from my Mom's Christmas with cousins Charlie and Claire because I don't have them yet, but Sylvia had the time of her life there, too!  We are so blessed.  In fact, Sylvia is blessed to the point of being absolutely spoiled rotten and I do feel a little guilty about it.  A little.  Not much, because I remember being a kid at Christmas.  And for what it's worth, I think she said "please" more often than she said, "more" or "now."  Also, I know she knows what all these gifts are for.  She watched the Christmas pageant at church last night with stars in her eyes.  She told me this morning that baby Jesus is in the manger with Mary, his mommy.  We had a few snugly moments today where we gave thanks for our presents, and for our own baby Margot, and our Daddy and everyone else who loves us so, so much.  It was really the most beautiful Christmas I've ever had! 

Margot's Baptism

December was a great month for a baptism!  On the first week of advent, our sweet Margot was welcomed into the church and cleansed of original sin, thank goodness.  Now she has the green light to live life to the fullest!  She gained a couple of awesome godparents, too, who agreed to help steer her in the right direction, faith-wise.  Lord knows, we'll need all the help we can get!  Here are the pics of her beautiful day!

  

She fared the bath well and Sylvain presented her to the church, Lion King style!

 With godparents: Matt and Ann.

 With Grammy and Poppy.

 With Mamie and Grammy.

 With big sister.

With Grandpa and Gran - does she look like my dad or what?!

With Uncle John - plotting and scheming together.

We are so blessed to have our family around us to celebrate.  Margot received many beautiful gifts, we had a wonderful lunch, and it was a great way to kick off the holiday season!  God bless Baby Margot!

We Should Really Take This Show on the Road

 

 

I already posted this on Facebook, but I forgot to post it here.  Now is a good time too, because tonight is one of those nights where I need to hold on to the smallness of my little ones for a lot longer than I'm allowed to.  We really miss Uncle Evan.  We really, REALLY wish he were here where we could see him and touch him and laugh with him.  We love him and we miss him. 

All Aboard the Christmas Train!

Christmas Time is in full swing around here.  I'm working hard to keep from overdoing it when it comes to Christmas events.  If I'm not careful, I could have us all signed up for breakfast with Santa every day and a party in the North Pole every night!  This week we enjoyed a few fun Christmas events - one small, one medium, and one B.I.G. deal.

On Wednesday night we started what I hope will be a fun tradition.  A post-bath, post-p.j.'s neighborhood Christmas light tour!  After the girls were bathed and jammied (I made a new verb!), I told Sylvia that instead of reading a book, we were going to go look at Christmas lights in the car!  She was SUPER excited.  Luckily, the world's most amazing house is a hop, skip, and a jump away from our house, so we didn't have to go to far at all to make the magic happen.

Our buddy, Rudolph, had to join us, of course.

Thursday morning was St. Nick Day!  Sylvia tore into her stocking (and everyone else's) to find all the goodies that St. Nick knew we wanted/needed.

New toothbrush!

Micky mouse apple juice...."because I LOVE apple juice!"  St. Nick is a clever one.

This weekend, we had plans to go to the North Pole with none other than our best buddy, Charlie!  Grammy bought the tickets ages ago and I've been DYING to tell Sylvia she gets to ride on a real train.  When she woke up from her nap and I told her where we were going - oh heavens!  I've never seen this kid so excited!  She was laughing and trying to talk but she was to excited to get any words out, and she was shaking and flapping her arms, and when Sylvain walked in the room she screamed, "Daddy, we're going on a TRAIN!!!"  Then she giggled for a solid ten minutes while I got her dressed.

We arrived in Lebanon and met Grammy, Poppy, Matt, Jenn, Claire and Charlie!  Riding on a real train was a B.I.G. deal.  And to a couple of tiny tots, it was magical!  The adults were a little disappointed in the "North Pole," but the kids had no clue it wasn't the world's greatest train destination ever!  The train was great, Santa and Mrs. Claus were fabulous, and the kids were all very well behaved and agreeable!  You can't ask for more than that, can you?

This one melts my heart!

Gingerbread cookies!

Hot chocolate!

She might look cold, but this is her "better not pout" move.  It wasn't cold at all!

She's come a long way in two years.  This is the first time Sylvia's sat on his lap alone without crying.

And Margot followed suit!  No tears!!  SUCCESS!

Considering the five or six other Christmas events I turned down this week, I'm glad the things we decided to do turned out so well!  I don't know if we'll do the train ride again next year, but it was a great idea this year and the kiddos had a blast.  Part of me can't wait for Christmas, but most of me doesn't want December to end!