Hello Santa!

This year we decided to skip the crazy chaos at NorthPark Mall and go visit Santa at the Downtown Neiman Marcus store. It was so awesome! We didn't have to wait very long to see Santa and everyone was entertained by all the eye candy throughout the store. Plus Santa wore a very fashionable green vest -perfect for pics. It was a fantastic experience all together and Mimi got to come with us since she was in town for the annual cookie bake. I thought for sure that Annabelle was going to be terrified by Santa but it turns out that she was a trooper and we actually got a pic of her SMILING!!! Love it! Check out some of the pics from our visit below.

Icing on the Tree

A good way to get a kid to bounce off the walls from a sugar high... decorate an ice cream cone with icing, sprinkles and M&M's! MMMMM, tasty! A enjoyed this " holiday craft" mostly cause she loves sugar and you can bet everything got a taste test before hitting the tree.

BTW I think Stephen enjoyed helping her decorate as well. Ha!

Meet Deedle

Or as Annabelle says... DEEEEEDLE! He's come to stay with us for December and we are all enjoying having him around. Stephen and Annabelle go on Deedle hunts every morning. Cute! So far Deedle has been found on our bookcase with silly messages for A, he has been known to hang upside down from our living room fan, he's decorated a frosted Christmas tree with sprinkles and he's even been found fishing in the sink.

Can't wait to find out what he does next!

Perot Museum of Nature and Science

This museum is so great! Annabelle and I went to check out the new Perot this week with our friends  Katie, Cordelia and Gwen. First off there is no way you can conquer this museum in one visit but we did try to at least preview all the floors. Annabelle enjoyed the Children's exhibit where she got to play in the cute waterfall and on gym equipment. She even participated in the arts and crafts area and played with blocks. I could see that she really wanted to go "dig for bones"as well but that part was outside and in a big sandbox. We are going to save that for another time.

Other parts she enjoyed- the animals exhibit where there was a bunch of stuffed animals that looked alive (creepy). Anywho she loved looking and pointing at the animals. She also loved the sound room in the Life section. She played the piano and rocked out on the drums. The huge dinosaur area was very cool- my fav- but A was a little overwhelmed by it. I don't think she got that part.

Overall....SO FUN! I can't wait to go back.

Warning: these pics stink! A was running around enjoying herself so much I couldn't get her to stay still to take pics! Haha!

A and G playing in the waterfall

A on the drums

All the girls driving in the truck in the Children's section

Working on gears with C

My little drummer

Dino's in the lobby

Water!

Over the bouncy bridge

A and G loved going up and down the stairs

Dino lottery. A liked pulling the switch

Talking to herself in the mirror

Mixing it up in the sound room.

Christmas Parade

So we kicked off the Christmas holiday season by attending the Dallas Children's Hospital Christmas Parade on Saturday. It was super fun. We had our neighbors with us- Katie and Cordelia and we all had a blast. Annabelle really enjoyed the bands and was amused by the balloons. I think this is probably a Nickles tradition in the making!!

Changes...

So, I may be a little slow to update the blog going forward.... I started working again (full-time Marketing position at Southern Methodist University) and now things have moved into the tad-bit-crazy mode. Annabelle is attending school and still adjusting to the change. As you can imagine, it's going to take some time to get her fully acclimated to the new routine. I think she will be fine tho- the school is good and she is very good at handling changes. I however miss her dearly and could not have gotten through my first week back to work without the support of my husband and Mimi who came down to help the tail end of last week. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the coming weeks. I am so excited about Christmas and all the fun activities that come along with it. I promise I will update as quickly as I can. Bear with me! Here are last weeks photos.

I know this is a crazy blurry photo but I still love it. My girl running down the hallway with a pink cape!

Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving! We spent the holiday celebrating in Austin with Mimi and Gramps, Bryan, Steph and the twins. Gray and Kinsey have recently joined the 1 year old club and are on the move- which makes for a super fun time for all! We loved every minute and can't wait to spend more time together at Christmas. Here are some pics of all the fun.