Holiday family {fun}.

Although snow is a rare commodity in TX, certain shopping destinations really know how to put a festive smile on your face!

One evening as I was out shopping alone to get those "finishing touches" all set for Christmas day, I snapped a photo of the trees all lit up.  It doesn't quite look as impressive as it does in real life but every single branch was on fire with billions of lights! 

Another evening we went out as a family to go see the "singing Christmas tree".  It's a light show at another outdoor mall area that runs every 30 minutes, my kids love it so we go:) 

Little R in front of the large main tree.  Yes, it was warm enough right before Christmas that shorts and a small jacket were still fine. 

G actually standing still long enough for me to take a photo!  Every child runs laps around this huge tree while the lights and music are all going off:) 

We also made it to see Santa, phew!  His lines just keep getting so long that last year our favorite Santa finally went high tech and you now have to text "Santa" to his phone# and he'll text you back on where you are in line.  We were in a "virtual" line for almost 4 hours!!!  But, the kids made sure to write out their letters to Santa as well as their wish lists.  Little R wrote hers out at school and decorated an envelope for me to mail her letter to the North Pole. 

Little R's wish list:)  Let me help you out since they teach kids how to spell phonetically nowadays: Bike Helmet, Dominoes, M&M's, Chocolate Coins, LeapFrog, Eagle Puppet, New Water Bottle, Snow Globe, Wreck It Ralph, Mario Game. 

Little R's adorable envelope addressed to Santa Claus:) 

Baby R's letter to Santa:)  She was so simple and adorable this year, all she wanted to ask Santa for was a new book:)  One with horses:)

G's wish list for Santa.  He was all about one item for some reason which was a Despicable Me stuffed Minion.  He was very particular that it was the one that only had one eye too.  Too funny:) 

Right before we headed over to see Santa the day was gorgeous so we stopped at the park and let the kids get some energy out.  Apparently every other family thought the same thing because the park was busy! 

Santa moved into a local book store starting last year.  It's ok in the fact that while Mr. D waited in the line (after waiting in the virtual line) I took the kids over to the kids section where they have a lot of hands on things for the kids to play with along with coloring pages of Santa. 

We saw Santa!!  Santa doesn't allow you to take your own personal photography so I'll have to scan the kids photo and post that later.  The kids are all standing in front of the adorable mailbox that they shoved their letters into outside of the bookstore.

Stay tuned for our Christmas Eve/Day fun!!

The BIG {4}.

My baby turned 4!!!  It's sad but fun all at the same time, I guess they call that feeling, "bittersweet".

We started off her day by taking her to Build-A-Bear Workshop.

Here she is making her final decision on what she'd like to stuff and love.....Rudolph wins! 

Next comes what sound byte she'd like.  A jolly "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" medley it is!

Time to step on that pedal and bring her new friend to life!

Kiss that heart:)

Place that heart inside:)

Now to sew him up and make him yours!!

Clean him off:) 

Now to name him......"Rudolph!" 

Add a few festive accessories and he's done! 

That's a big box lady, did you want me to help you?  "No, I do it!". 

And she did:) 

Next comes a ride on the carousel:) 

No horse today Little R??  Whatever floats your boat I guess:) 

G chose a horse! 

This is what the uncle and cousins do while you ride the carousel, eat pretzel bites:) 

Time for presents!! 

Smiles are always a good sign:) 

Baby R's cake:)

And finally, time to sing happy birthday and let this lady make a big 4 year old wish! 

Blow'em out!! 

And all of us together for my sweet baby's big 4!

A couple of days later when everyone went back to school Baby R was having a smashing good time dancing and singling along to her My Little Pony microphone that one of her g'mas gave her.

Baby R we love you madly!  We love your imagination, we love the funny things you say, we love your obsession with stuffed animals and we love that you are part of our family!

PS: Baby R's birthday hairdo was courtesy of her aunt:)  But in her defense, Baby R did want ALL hair pretties she could find in her hair that day:)  Baby R was a fortunate soul to have extra family be there to celebrate her turning 4!!

Merry Madagascar {ICE!}

We did our annual trip to the Gaylord Texan to see ICE! while Mr. D's sister and family were in town still for Thanksgiving.

The "Dreamworks" boy on the moon. 

Mr. D's sister and her boys and hubs. 

Baby R mimicking the hippo:) 

Here's my kids w/their red cheeks and noses from being in the cold:)

They have had sledding the last couple of years as well.  This is how Texans do snow hills, quite humorous isn't it?

The Gaylord Texan is huge and gorgeous! 

The scale of these boots are a lot bigger than what they look in this pic.  I'm not even sure where you'd store props this big! 

The miniature trains throughout the hotel. 

The glass Texas Star that sits atop the hotel.

ICE! has become an awesome tradition for us since we no longer get that frigid Minnesota winter anymore.  It's always fun when we can share our tradition with others and this year it happened to be Mr. D's sister and family so I hope we showed them a good time, Texas style of course:)