Santa at AXA

Thank heavens the sun came out…I thought we were going to miss one of the best events around!  Chris' work is so wonderful when it comes to family fun.  Every year Santa comes to the office for the children.  He also brings each kiddo a gift…can you believe that?  This party is all about the kids from the food to the entertainment.  

Of course this is our big SANTA moment! You know the one that I have been talking to my child about for weeks now.  The reason why I stop at the mall every other day for her to see SANTA..not because I love the mall traffic or play area.  Many discussion have been based on this party so when we were iced in you can imagine how sad that made me.  All my hard work preparing Miss H to not cry and take one GOOD picture, could be lost.

No worries my friends because the sun came out all day TUESDAY…thus our driveway began to melt as well as our neighborhood streets.  We were FREE!!!  Besides the excitement about Santa we were excited to be out of the house finally.

Miss H was super excited she talked about Santie (what she has named Santa) all day long.  She talked about how she was going to dada's work and Santie brings present.  She talked about how she wouldn't cry but didn't want to sit on his lap either.  We discussed that she could stand beside him to take the picture if she liked that better.  She felt that was a good idea.  Also we chatted about house Santie's wife Mrs. Claus would be there.  Then she became known as Claus, this girl and her names!!

Thankfully we made it safe and sound to the party and boy was Miss H excited!  We got there a little early so she could check it all out.  Plus I didn't want her to freak out when Santa came in.  He and Mrs. Claus come in to the conference room and sit by the tree.  They chat to the kids and just have fun.  Really it is the best one on one with Santa any kid could ever want.  Miss H was super excited to because her friend B was there.  B's mommy and I taught together…and now their daddy's work together.  I love how they are growing up as friends.

Miss H had to give her a big hug when she got there

The grand entrance of Santa!!! Well Miss H saw him coming and immediately began to CRY!!  NO NO NO…we talked this over why oh sad mom moment.  No worries thought I asked Santa to do Miss H's gift last.  He began with some of the bigger kids.  Miss H only cried for about 3 minutes then really watched.  She watched as each kid when up sat between Mrs. Claus and Santa.  Then listened to them talk about gifts and get their present.  By the time it was her turn she was all smiles…okay not crying at least!   We walked up and she instead that I sit with her.  Sure as long as you are not crying I will do anything!!  WE did it!  WE got a non crying picture…can't say its her best smile but I will take it.

Once she sat there took her pictures she promptly told Santa that she would like a horse please.  He smiled and told her that it was a big gift so he would try.  Then he gave her a gift to open.  She was so excited about this.

 Our 2 pictures with the jolly guy!!

Of course she is doing her new cheessseee smile! 

Had to get one with both girls, who were not fans of Santa

So excited she got Baby Jese as she calls him

After opening her gift she was much happier to visit with Santa…she took him some of her toys too! Then as we were walking out the door she told them all good bye…and followed it up with a finger point and Santa and "HORSY" As if she was reminding him what she wanted!  Oh how I adore this child!

Ice days galore

Ever since last Thursday we have been ICED in our house!!! YIKES that would be 5 days now, if one were counting.  Thankfully Thursday Miss H and I went to the grocery store for a few things, but had I of known we were going to get 3 inches of SOLID ice I would have grabbed a few more things.  Poor Chris has not been to work since Thursday either…although he is lucky enough to be able to work from home it isn't the same I am sure.  We are also very blessed to have had power the whole time, unlike the snow storm in 2010…you can read that here

Needless to say we have had a nice 5 days of family fun around here.  Chris has become a pro at building fires.  Miss H has become a pro at playing with every toy in the house and leaving it out.  I have been a pro at figuring out what we can eat with our few supplies :-)  We have gone outside to enjoy the ice some too.  Miss H is amazed by the ice, but I have made sure she understand this is not snow. I don't want her confused ha ha.  Here she is on her first adventure out.

time to warm up now..

Our neighborhood had a sledding party the first day of ice!  We didn't last too long because it was very windy that day.  Miss H got cold pretty quick.

Ice angels!

After that we had some fun sledding with the Webbs, Miss H's BFF!!  As crafty as we are here in Texas we created some great sleds from boxes.  T's sled was better though it was a plastic lid with her booster seat for eating attached.  Both girls enjoyed their sledding time!  I think both daddies enjoyed it even more!  As for the moms…we had fun, but tried to keep the dads from killing our babies ha ha!

The sweet Webbs

Okay I love these next few pics because you can see the girls heads go back when pushed…then back up as they start heading down! ha ha

One of the super sweet neighbors down the street made our day yesterday.  They have 4 wheel drive and were able to get out…and brought back Sonic for us!  You would have thought it was gold, we were so excited. Look how cute the girls were as we walked down for our Sonic party.

Honestly it was the best burger in a while and I am sure that is just because we have been eating the same stuff here.  We had such a nice time down there.  I love having wonderful neighbors.  Today we had to go to town!!  Poor Winston has been itching his ear since Friday…and well he has an ear infection.  We needed to get him looked at and some meds for sure.  Plus we needed FOOD and so did Kacie's family.  So as nervous as I was to take my new car out in the ice we did.  Chris managed to get it up the drive way…due to his great shoveling yesterday, nice work honey!  Off we went…on our adventure.

While Winston was at the vet we walked down to good old Target.  This Target is not a super one but they still carry food.  Actually they probably had the most food in town because people don't really go there for it.  AHH was it nice to be out of the house!!! I mean we walked around and enjoyed checking things out.  Miss H was so excited she ran up and down the rows just screaming with joy.  I couldn't help but laugh that even a 22 month old was happy to be out of the house!  Once we bought the items we could (everything but meat and bananas I think) we too off.  Safely arriving back home we settled back in for another night in our ice fort.  Due to our freezing temps every night all the ice just keeps on sticking around.   Honestly the neighborhoods are awful so no school again tomorrow here for most people!  Hope the rest of you are safe and sound…and not going to crazy from being home so long :-)

Here are some other random funny pictures or videos!!

Gingerbread Houses and Goodbyes

Saturday is our traditional Gingerbread house day!! I love this day and so does Chris's family.  Their club host a party where you make gingerbread houses.  They provide all the stuff you just decorate and eat your hear out.

I was super excited to have H enjoy the party this year…although worried she would eat her weight in candy!  She like it but wasn't overly excited.  She had fun for the first few moments but then she and Nana went walking around.  Normally it is girls vs boys…this year we just kind of all worked together.

After all our fun we had to rush off to the airport! BOO everyone was sad.  I swear this trip goes faster and faster each time.  We have a blast while we are there can could always managed an extra day or two.  Although I know Nana is happy to have her house back to normal…tripping over toys is only so fun for so long, believe me I know!!  Hope your Thanksgiving break was as amazing as ours!!

our little traveler all ready to go home on the plane