Santa and the Parade!

December is always a busy month, but this one has been a whopper.  Luckily it has been busy with all things fun.  Every year our HOA invites Santa to fly down to our neighborhood club house so all the kids can sit on his lap.  It's awesome because we don't have to pay anything and we can take all the pictures we want.  Also refreshments are included.  I will never go to a mall again.

Ella was so excited to meet Santa while she was waiting in line.  This is the first year that she "gets it."  But after waiting in line and finally reaching Santa, she flipped out and decided she wasn't going to sit on some old dude's lap even if her crazy brother and sister were.

Lily and Skyler had a great time with Santa.  Lily brought "Snow," her Christmas version of a Flat Stanley.  Everyone in her class has one and they had to have their picture taken with them while doing something Christmas-y.  Lily wrote a little report all about their adventure.  I can't believe I have a kid old enough to do these kinds of things.  Sheesh.

Having just Ella and Thad at home is sooooo amazing.  The house is semi-quiet and life is pretty simple.  One day they took turns trying to fit into a shoe box.  That's my kind of party.

On Saturday Holly Springs held its annual Christmas parade.  Lily's dance studio was going to be dancing through it and we weren't sure if Lily was going to be a part of it or not.  Ben originally was supposed to be on a campout and there was no way I was going to tackle the other three kids by myself at a parade.  The campout date changed and so we decided to go for it and Lily got really excited.  Ben dropped her off early and saved us some killer seats right in front of Town Hall.

I wish I could say that Ella didn't sit forward in her chair and land on her face in the road 5 minutes later.... but I can't.  Luckily, she didn't get a scratch.  She's had a rough week....

Skyler and his friend, Ace, sat together through the whole parade.

The first jeep is a Willy's Jeep.  Ben wanted me to grab a picture because he and his dad restored one when Ben was a teenager.

We were introduced to the Holly Springs Fire Department's newest member!  Awwwww!

There are about 1,000 dancers at Lily's studio and so finding Lily was a challenge to say the least.  Lily is in the black and pink shoes, just to the right of the second woman's head.

She's in here somewhere too, but I'm not sure where.

The last float before Santa was of a band called Suburban Uprising.  The drummer is one of Ben's young men.

Well December has been so busy that I haven't had much time to make goodies and take them to people.  But my visiting teacher who is being induced in three days just brought me cookies, so I think that was the guilt I needed to get moving.  Happy Decembering everyone!

Disney's Frozen on Ice

WARNING:  Eternally long post.  And not all pictures are perfect because of the lighting and movement.

Last Christmas I looked at all the presents my kids had been given.  It was WAY too much.  Somehow the pile in the attic looked so much smaller than once it was wrapped and under the tree.  So Ben and I agreed that this year we would give them less presents and more experiences.  A few months ago I saw that Disney's Frozen on Ice was coming to Raleigh.  I knew when tickets were going to be on sale so I was able to get great seats.  We sat in the front row of the 2nd level.  We told Lily and Skyler a few days ago that we would be going and they didn't really understand what it meant, but once it started, they were in love!

I halfway wanted to jump in the snow with them until I discovered that it was actually soap bubbles.  Eh, pass.

This is how they smile with Ben....

and I guess this is how they smile with me???

Before Frozen actually started, they had all sorts of famous Disney characters come out and dance.

This was my view for most of the night.  Lily just hung over the wall mesmerized. 

"Elsa, wake up, wake up!"

The Duke danced so fast this was the best picture I could get.  And of course his wig also fell down when he bowed.

The kids really loved that it snowed onto the rink.

"People smell better than reindeers..."

"My own personal flurry!"

Anna punching Prince Hans.

I made movies of all the songs for Ella since we didn't get her a ticket.  There's no way she or Thad could have stayed up until 9.  (Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting!) Here's the shortest video I had of the night.

We all had a blast.  Skyler kept trying to do ice skating stunts as we walked around during intermission and on the way to the car.  Lily sang and waved to the characters the entire time.  I think it was money well spent.  I think we'll definitely try to include more experiences as Christmas presents in the future.