Christmas Catch up!

It’s the end of January and I officially have my tree down as of yesterday!  I am in the spring cleaning mood now!  How about you?  I do have a little Christmas catch up I need to do {among other things}. 

I’ve been busy busy checking out schools for my 5 year old!  My goodness!  Where did the time go?  The pressure!  We’re looking at a Christian school and an cultural immersion program at our local school district.  I’ve even thought about homeschooling (and I don’t even have a denim jumper ;)  I’ll keep you posted.

Back to Christmas catch up-after the extended family Christmas on the 17th we went on our annual carriage ride to look at Christmas lights on Park street.  It’s such a fun, quick (no lines), easy thing to do in town.  Landree loves the hot chocolate and treats and we get to see Christmas lights-win for all!  The highlight for me is an older man that stands on his porch and whistles Christmas carols into a microphone as you ride by his house.  It’s the neatest thing.  

Sharing his popcorn with Grandma

Another Christmas tradition we enjoy is the going to the Nutcracker.  Momma, Landree, Maggie and I have been the last 3 years.  This year H joined us too! We had a lot of fun and the ballet was wonderful, however, we decided we might need to branch out and see a different show next year.  There are lots of fun kid programs available that we think will be fun to try too. 

 

And last but not least, one of my favorite things {pun intended} was our book and favorite things Christmas play date at Aunt Megan and Hayden’s.  Look at all this yummy food!  I love dips don’t you? 

We all brought a book for the kids to trade and a ‘favorite thing’ for the mommas to trade.  We seem to have the same favorites ;) Several yummy smelling candles, BBW soaps, and Ghirardelli chocolates.  Megan ended up with those and shared one with Landree, she called them wonderful! 

The kids enjoyed playing outside for while and loved every minute!  And I loved spending time with friends, old and new.  We look forward to it next year!  (I hope-that’s where school gets in the way!  I can’t believe I have a 5 year old!)

   

ICE 2011

We’ve been to ICE at the Gaylord Texan for at least 3 years now.  And this year may have been my favorite!  They had a Shrek theme and the details are crazy!  They bring in 40 artisans from China to create the ‘winter wonderland’ It’s amazing!  It takes 3 months for them to freeze enough ice for the exhibit.  Blows my mind every year! 

The annual 'blue pictures’.  We carried Hudson last year and even a lot of this year because of the crowds.  It’s so hard to carry a 30 pound baby wearing a coat and a parka while you’re doing the same.  I’m really building up my arm muscles. 

H and J went with us this year too.  Landree adores her cousins!  They are so good about playing with her!  Especially J, she adores him!  And H is so beautiful!  She is 12 y’all!

 

They ask you not to touch the ice because it can cause it to melt, but they had a place you could sit in the ‘outhouse’. 

  

They have a giant slide room (that was the coldest room of all!) That you can slide down the ice-H and J both took a turn on the slide. 

 

When we got to the last room we had Mag snap a quick picture-we couldn’t find Mia and Landree (they had already finished-it was too cold)

I have a picture of Maggie with a fire extinguisher from the first year we went.  Just seems kind of funny.

 

And one of my favorite parts is that they always have a nativity scene and have the Christmas story being told.  It’s beautiful!

After ICE we headed to eat lunch before we walked around the Gaylord for a little while.  It is so beautiful and a little overwhelming to be honest.  They toy solider and snowman are 3 or 4 stories high. 

  

And there are trains everywhere!  Hudson loved watching them go by! 

Santa’s reindeer are everywhere-they are so cute. 

A life-size gingerbread house and a gingerbread village with more trains!

These giant toy soldiers where walking around too.

And we couldn’t leave before we got a balloon.  Hudson got a sword and Landree got a balloon bracelet and bunny.  They both last about as long as we had to wait in line (about 45 minutes)