It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's that time of year and things are VERY busy around here! We've been shopping, baking, caking and so much more!

To get the holiday season started off right, we received an e-mail from the jolly ol man himself! Daniel was super thrilled and impressed with this! Check out Daniel's personal message here: Santa message.

On the first of the month, our Neighborhood Association had our Annual Holiday Bazaar! The downside was that it was rainy and cold...and the festivites were all outside. Daniel was very excited about this, so a little cold and rain wasn't going to keep us away! It started at 4:30 with Santa arriving at 5:00. So, I got the kids bundled up and headed out- we timed it right and got there at the same time as Tony. Things were already in full swing and everyone was having fun. After we dropped off our toy donations, we headed off to find Santa. Not only did we find Santa, but also Frosty and an Elf! The only downside was that they did not have a chair set up for Santa to sit in so the kids couldn't actually sit on his lap. Daniel went right up, but Arianna was holding on pretty tight. Santa sensed her hesitation and offered up a candy cane. She quickly went over and grabbed her candy cane and retreated. We got her up there long enough for a picture and she was done with that. No tears this year, but I'm sure if she had sat on his lap tears would be a given.




They had guys dressed up and walking on stilts which Daniel thought was neat. We grabbed some food from local restaraunt booths- yummy mexican and ice cream! The kids got to make reindeer antlers and bell necklaces and play a few games.




Daniel was super excited that Santa brought two of his reindeer for us to see. Very cool!

We stood in line for the face painting and balloon animals, but it started raining pretty hard. While the tables were under tents, we weren't! Daniel was quickly persuaded that the balloon wasn't so important and we escaped to the warmth of the car! All in all, it was a fun night!

Daniel asked for a bike and the interactive Buzz and Woody for himself and a Mickey Mouse kitchen for his sister. I think he asked for an Xbox for his Daddy and for his Mom to be able to stay in the Disney castle :-). He also asked for snow. So, you can imagine his utter delight to wake up the next morning to SNOW!! It didn't last long and wasn't the nice fluffy stuff to play in, but it was admired and enjoyed the same!

The lights went up on the house the weekend after Thanksgiving as usual- the guy that does them for us is awesome! The tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but our tradition is to decorate it the night of Dec 2nd. Why you ask? In 2007 when I was pregnant with Arianna, we decorated the tree on Dec 2nd and the next morning our little Princess decided she didn't want to wait another month and came into the world a bit early! So, we just decided that will be our decorating day from now on! We had fun decorating and anyone with small kids will understand why only the top half of the tree is decorated! She actually is very good and doesn't bother the tree, but I'm sure lots of stuff at the bottom would be too tempting for now. Daniel did a great job helping and we had fun!

Next up was our traditional gingerbread house decorating. This was our 3rd year and it's always a fun time. The prior 2 years, we made the gingerbread from scratch and constructed our house. However, this year I was feeling a little time pressured and opted for a pre-made kit. I did NOT like using the kit and will definitely make time for the homemade gingerbread next year! We all had fun decorating our family gingerbread house-everyone had a part! And yes, there are hidden Mickey's on the house!




In between our everyday things, we'll be making our annual goodie baskets and lots of other fun stuff! Hope your holiday preparations are going well! Happy Holidays!

Zoo and Museum

This one is a little late, but the kids and I went to the zoo right before Thanksgiving and had a great time! We really love having our zoo membership! It was a cool day- I think around 50 degrees and the zoo was empty. We practically had the place to ourselves! I was a little disappointed that the giraffes weren't out as they are one of my very favorites. I gave Daniel money to get a pressed penny and he chose a giraffe for me since I didn't get to see them...what a sweetheart! We had the penguin room to ourselves and stayed there quite awhile as we all love the penguins. A penguin jumped in the water and Arianna had a good time running back and forth following the penguin. We skipped feeding the birds as neither seemed interested and we headed back to the petting zoo and carousel. We were the only ones on the carousel so she let us stay on there quite awhile- which was fun for the kids although Mom was ready to get off! We took a nice walk back to the entrance and the kids picked out a couple of little toys before heading out. Then we headed downtown to get Tony for a nice lunch!






We had planned to make another trip to the zoo for Arianna's actual birthday, but decided we would go for something indoors since the temperature was a high of 40 that day. We just got a membership to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and thought that would make a fun day! The zoo just reopened in November and has really changed! There are lots of children's interactive areas that they loved! Daniel's first request was to see the dinosaur bones so that's where we started.

Then we headed over the the Children's Museum area and let the kids go! Arianna was definitely in awe of the bubbles. She would get 2 feet away from them and then run back and look again!

Daniel says his favorite was "everything"...sounds about right! They both enjoyed the balance area and the grocery store was a definite hit! They loaded up with vegetables and fruits...if only they would eat that well everyay!

We ended in the "Dream" area where you can make your own pinball machine, sand art and build things. The coolest thing in here was the shadow room. There weren't any instructions, so we went in a pushed the button which started a countdown. When it hit 0, a very bright flash went off. Um...ok we had no idea about this one. As we were exiting, a gentleman that worked there came by to explain the exhibit. You can pose and when the flash goes off, it puts your shadow on the wall- even once you move away. Then you can use laser light to draw and make your own art. It was really cool. After that, we made our way backwards back to the Children's Museum and then the dinosaur room. It was a fun day and the kids had a blast! After that, we stopped by downtown and enjoyed a nice lunch with Tony!

Guess who is back in Texas???

Check out our Elf blog for the latest antics. (There is also a link on the top right side of this blog). :-)

Happy 2nd Birthday to a sweet girl...

As most Mom's say...I can't believe my sweet little girl turned 2 on Thursday! This has been a great year seeing her personality develop. She is such a sweet and fun little girl. Even after her little tantrums (which are becoming less and less every day :-)), she can melt her Daddy with her smile and "Dadddeeeee". She loves her big brother and always welcomes him with hugs and kisses when we pick him up from school. Daniel is enjoying that she can really play with him now- they have so much fun together. They are just little bundles of energy for sure! We have been truly blessed with wonderful children and we are loving every minute of our family life!

Daniel was very excited about her birthday and was a huge help with the decorations and wrapping presents. I was impressed with how well he wrapped the presents...he might just have a job in a few weeks! They loved our party "guests"...aka the balloons that were over 4 feet tall!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet Arianna!

All things Pier 1

Things have been very busy arounnd here and I have fallen a little behind in my postings. So, I'm here to get caught up!


To kick off the Disney sweepstakes promotion that Pier 1 is running in their stores, they brought the Big Cheese himself to the corporate office for a meet and greet. On the heels of our Disney vacation, Tony was sure that I wouldn't want to go to this....surely he was kidding! When we picked Daniel up from school, we told him that we had to stop by Daddy's work (to which he was not so thrilled). When we went inside and he saw Mickey, he smiled from ear to ear and said "I didn't know Mickey came to Texas!" The line was long, but moved very fast...I'm sure in big part because we didn't have to contend with the autograph books! The kids loved seeing Mickey and it was well worth the time!

Speaking of Pier 1...they celebrated Associate Appreciation Days earlier this month. Tony was the very lucky winner of some cool Pier 1 stuff! Most of it was samples that may or may not be sold in the stores. Really cool win! If we thought the luck would continue, we would invest in some lottery tickets!





Pier 1 has some really awesome things in their stores right now! I would find lots to buy even if I didn't get the awesome discount! :-)