Hold on tight...

It's December 20th, and I'm going to try to recap the last twenty-something days in one post. There has been a ton going on, so get ready!

We started the season off by putting our tree up on Thanksgiving weekend. Come hell or high water, we always do it that weekend. Carter added quite the responsibility this season, so we had to do our decorating in shifts. After 3-4 nap time increments, we got it done. 1400 lights later, here she is...

Blair had received a couple of new ornaments that she was very excited about adding to the tree this year. Here are a couple of her favorites.

Our very first Christmas activity was a trip to see Santa after the practice run we had made to the mall to calm Blair's nerves.  I was so proud of Blair this year; she was such a big girl and showed Carter just how it was done. However, something tells me that Carter will not need much guidance ;)

We also had our annual Christmas gathering with the McGrath and Driskell families. Felix always cooks up a good pot of jambalaya, and the kids exchange Christmas presents.  This once started with just Blair and Quinn, and now there are 5 of them!

Next up, we were so lucky to have Pop come stay with us for a few days! I don't think our bottom hit the chair the entire time he was here, but we sure did make some good memories! We started the visit off with a trip to the Botanical Gardens. They have TONS of Christmas lights all over the park, and they EVEN have Lumina the Light Fairy and SMORES!!!!  Blair said her favorite part was seeing the fairy and making the smores. That's my girl!

The very next night, we decided to take Blair ice-skating. I was a little worried if it would be a disaster, so I made her wear her bike helmet just in case. We were so amazed at how well she did. The three of us took a few laps around holding hands, and then by the end of it, she wouldn't let us touch her. The St. Regis does a bang up job at hosting this very fun activity, and we can't wait to go back next year! (If we can wait that long!!).

Since school has been out, we have actually had a few days to catch up with a few of Blair's buddies from last year. I constantly hear how she sees her old classmates on the playground. So, we hosted a little cookie-baking party at our house, and the kids had a great time.  We were lucky that ALL THREE didn't end up in princess dresses by the time it was over, but the girls seemed to go easy on the little guy ;)

I know it doesn't appear this way, but we have also had a lot of down-time too. We have had plenty of time for decorating gingerbread houses, making more cookies,  fooling around with that dang elf on the shelf, and just being plain ole silly!

So, now we wait! Wait on that ONE big day, that we have spent the past 2 months preparing for ;) Now, that all the hustle and bustle is over, we will try to spend the next 5 days remembering what is important and clinging to our loved ones. These two little ones right here make it all worth it, and I know they have probably received more hugs and kisses in the past week than they have since they were born. We will be praying extra hard this holiday season for the Sandy Hook families, while we are reminded of how fortunate we are to have our little ones to share this precious time with.