Little Hadleigh jumped right in on the yummy action and served herself.
She's quite independent, that one.
Our neighbors gave us some of their old dress ups and we've had so much fun with them!! Taryn is hooked on this Superman outfit!
Ok- this made us laugh. One of the sister missionaries asked if we wanted our family picture taken. So she took a BUNCH of photos- so great! But they were all blurry like this. Hahahah! Oh well…..
Our apartment complex asked Santa and Mrs. Claus to make a special stop to our clubhouse the Saturday before Christmas. It was the best, most personal experience we have ever had with Santa (and Mrs. Claus!) We were in a small room with about 15 other kids. Santa called each child up by name (thanks to a bluetooth device hidden away) which added to the magic of it all. Taryn asked Santa for a Pinkie Pie My Little Pony. She had been looking forward to sitting on Santa's lap and waited ever so patiently as she was the 3rd to last to be called up to his knee. Hadleigh could have done without Santa. But it made for a good laugh! (we're so mean!) Santa read a Christmas book to the children, made it snow a bit, and had a little magic show too. It really was a great Santa visit!
Right when we walked into the gates, there was a women who came up to us and said, "I have tickets for the trains that we are not going to use. Do you want them?" Uh….yes please!!!! We hadn't planned on doing any "extra" thing but when you are offered free tickets (worth $12) you take it! It wasn't a super cold night either- actually we were rather warm after a bit in our winter coats. We're grateful for the warmer December weather that we've had. 55 degrees is pretty much perfect for an East Coast Christmas!
I was baking baking baking! This was my first Christmas season in years that I had an oven I could rely on (or an oven at all!) I have been looking forward to this ever since we moved in last March!
Christmas morning we played with our toys, ate our Sausage Breakfast casserole with orange juice, and skyped with family.
And my favorite part of this past week was being able to spend so much time as a family. Tyson had a shortened work week and so did I. It made for lots a quality time together!!!
We are grateful for the Christ child who was born to save us all. We're grateful for a special time of year that we can join with others in celebrating his birth, not to forget throughout the year the special gift Heavenly Father gave to us by sending His son to Earth so He could provide a way for us to return to live with our Heavenly Father again.
Visiting the trains at the U.S. Botanic Gardens is always so much fun! Each year the theme changes so you are always in for a treat! Taryn and Hadleigh loved seeing the trains come by, waiting ever so patiently for them to come around the track again. This year, Taryn took more interest in what each creation was made of. It's been great to be able to talk about what we were going to do this Holiday season because Taryn could remember some of the activities or we could show her pictures of them from last year. Creating traditions is really fun, especially when your child starts to make connections with them from past years.
This year was a Nautical theme and like always, the details were amazing!
Can you tell she loved it?!!
Hadleigh, just like Taryn at her age, LOVED the water display in the entrance. I can remember taking a photo of Taryn (here) and her reaction to the water like it was yesterday. It's crazy to think that Hadleigh is almost the same age Taryn was when we first moved here already!
Taryn was the happiest little 3 1/2 year old decorating our little Christmas tree.
Watching the SNOW!!!! We haven't had much (totally not complaining!) and nothing has stuck but we still see little flurries now and then.
Our Taryn, she is always in motion.
We found our new favorite park equipment!