Lately...

Here's what we've been doing lately...

Addy's Girl Scout troop earned their Philanthropy badge by going to a church, picking the names of 2 girls off their angel tree & then going to Target & buying Christmas gifts for those girls. They had a budget of $100 (which was money they had earned by selling magazines, nuts & chocolates in the fall) to buy the gifts & spent it all! Super proud of these girls! 

We went on a Girl Scout hayride around the neighborhood to see Christmas lights.

We went to Cole's Ninja Turtle birthday party

at Stomping Grounds

and Claire's birthday party at Main Event

where the kids played laser tag

and bowled.

Addy had such a great time with her friends!

Nick & I went to the Texans game.

The Texans won so we got to see the running of the flags several times!

We went to the playground

and a Christmas party

and the kids had Polar Express Day

and their school Christmas parties.

The weather has been cold & wet & so besides that, we've been staying in our pjs cuddled up by the fire!

A Very Merry Christmas

We usually go to my mom & dad's house for Christmas Eve, but this year we had lots of sick family members.
Including my two kiddos who both had ear infections.

So instead, we spent Christmas Eve at home

making cookies

and other sweet treats.

We also continued a new family tradition that we started last year, to read The Pajama Elves. The book tells about some of Santa's elves that make special pajamas for boys & girls & deliver them on Christmas Eve. The special pajamas help the kids snuggle up & sleep tight so that Santa can come visit without being seen.

This year the elves brought Addy a My Little Pony nightgown

and Alex a pair of Skylander pajamas.

Then we spent the rest of the evening hanging out as a family

and trying to figure out what exactly was in those boxes under the Christmas tree!

When it was time for bed, the kids picked out a few of the cookies that they had made earlier that day to leave for Santa.

And then it was time for Mr. & Mrs. Claus to get to work!

Santa brought Addy a kite, a doll, a flash rider & a barn with farm animals.

And Santa brought Alex a wii u, a scooter & the skylander trap team & swap force starter kits.

When we had everything in place, we turned out the lights & went to bed because we never know when Addy might wake up!

She ended up waking up around 7:00 am. Nick was already awake but of course, I was not! So she came & woke me up & told me that Santa had come! We tried to wake up Alex, but with his double ear infections, he just was not feeling well & did not want to get up. 

So Addy ended up opening all her gifts before Alex even woke up!

A-Man finally woke up around 10

and wasted no time opening his gifts!

The wii u was by far his favorite gift & has done almost nothing else since Christmas!

The aftermath!

Santa's Cookie College

On Sunday, December 14th, Addy went to a fun Girl Scout event called Santa's Cookie College.

Girl Scout cookies go on sale next week (who wants to buy some?!?) so they started this event by refreshing the girls on what cookies they'll be selling & to remind them of selling safety and etiquette. 

And once they completed their badge work, they had some Christmas fun!

They made a Christmas sign.

And they accessorized mittens with beautiful bows.

Then they decorated cookies

and took pictures with Santa!

At the end of the event, they had all the girls come together & make their Girl Scout closing circles around Santa. 

Addy had such a great time at this event. And so did I! I thought it was really well done & as a leader, I loved it because the girls earned both their cookie business badges!