Treats and Sweets with Santa (AKA Ho Ho)

This weekend was full of holiday cheer. Saturday we had a great time visiting the Arboretum for their Treats and Sweets with Santa event. Annabelle got to chat with "Ho Ho", eat cookies and yummy snacks, construct fun crafts and even pet a reindeer. She had a lot of fun and so did we. I love that she still can still remember the details of the event and talk about her favorite parts. She is loving Christmas and all the festivities this year!

NorthPark Trains

The trains, the trains! This was our one trip out of the house this past weekend. We went to Northpark Mall to see the trains and let A run some of her energy out!

She loved it... especially the Thomas and Percy trains! Can't wait to ride on the GVRR Northpole Express next weekend!

Cookies and Aprons

It is cookie time again! Mimi, Mommy and Annabelle are already two cookie batches into our newest holiday tradition. We made the raspberry, almond thumb cookies first and the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies second. This year we are styling in the kitchen with new matching aprons- made specially by Mimi- and embroidered with our names! So cute! Check out the pics. Can't wait to make some more cookies but even more excited to EAT them on Christmas!

Icepocalypse 2013

What do you do when you are iced in for four days? Sleep, watch a lot of holiday shows and movies, make forts, make cookies, be silly and SLEEP more! We are going stir crazy but we have had a lot of great family time. Who hoo iceapocalypse 2013!

Decorating the House

"Mommy, can I help you?"

Annabelle has been so excited about helping me decorate the house. She loves the tree so I gave her full range to decorate the bottom with her own ornaments. She has been great! It seems like every little Christmas trinket I pull out gets a "wow" or a "it's so pretty" remark. I especially loved her excitement when the singing penguin made its return. We have heard, "its Christmas time again.... bells are ringing, children singing, magic fills the air...." over and over since it came out of the box! I will have to get a video or two before the thing gives out!

Here are some pics of the decorating fun. Enjoy!

Tree Hunting

We headed out to Van Alstyne to find the perfect Christmas tree this year. The Wintergreen Tree Farm came highly recommended by our neighbors who have been out to the farm for the last 10 + years. I went with high expectations and most were met. The actual farm was quaint and there were plenty of things to do: gift shop, playground, hot chocolate, hayrides and SANTA! Annabelle loved riding on the hayride and running around the trees. She even talked a big game wanting to see "Ho Ho." Turns out she was still scared of the big man and wouldn't even sit on his lap.... I think after seeing him a couple more times this month we will eventually get her to smile but no success on the first round. 

Unfortunately, the trees on the farm were on the smaller side due to lack of rain so we ended up buying one of their pre cut trees (from Virginia!). I felt bad at the time but it turns out that the chosen tree ended up being one of the best looking ones that we have ever had! Also, we still gave them a lot of business and will be back again next year.

Here are the pics.

It is a beautiful day to look for a Christmas tree!

Hayride time!

A wanted a Charlie Brown tree

Family pic time

So much fun riding the hayride

Visiting Ho Ho

A broke down and took the candy cane from Ho Ho!

Thanksgiving 2013

It was a nice Thanksgiving holiday in Dallas this year. Mimi and Gramps hosted the Nickles and the Magers clans. The kiddos had a great time playing together- Mimi bought a ton of fun toys to keep them busy! The food was wonderful, of course. We had a yummy fried turkey and mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, veggies, cranberry sauce stuffing..... and on and on.

We would have loved to hang with Bryan, Steph, Kinsey and Gray for longer but poor Gray was sick and they had to go back to Houston early. Poor thing had a bad sinus infection and a cough that was horrific. Hopefully he will get better soon.

Here are some pics from Turkey day. Enjoy!