Family Christmas Party

Abby refused to go near Santa this year at the family Christmas party with Brad's office. We have a cute shot of Alex and Santa, but Abby is nowhere to be found! Abby did get into the face painting and enjoyed having a snowman on her cheek for the remainder of the day. I am pretty sure she is the first of our kids to want her face painted! The dessert table may have been the biggest hit of all :)

Our First Snowfall

Gingerbread Houses

Now that the local bakery has raised their rate to $24.50 per gingerbread house (yikes!), and I needed two this year, we opted to decorate Wilton pre-baked houses with friends. The houses went together well and while we had a little trouble with our second batch of decorating icing, it didn't slow the kids down any. Yes, we have already consumed all of the candy and are working on the gingerbread. These things don't last long in our house.

Christmas Shopping

On Saturday we did a little Christmas shopping with our two favorite little helpers! Yes, she dressed herself. Abby's a big fan of shopping and running errands in general. Wherever we are going, she wants to tag along. Alex would much rather stay home in his PJs all day on the weekends, playing games and relaxing. Abby, however, overheard Brad say he needed a haircut and she had her rain boots on before he could tell her she should probably stay home. Needless to say, she sat patiently in a chair at Great Clips, eating a lollipop, while Brad got his trim.

Deck the Halls...

In her defense, she was on her way to swim class!

Friends Forever?

Cassie and Scooter fight like cats and, well, cats. For some reason we found them both huddled up on the guest bed one night. This is famously the coldest room in the house so I'm not even sure why they'd want to sleep in there, but it was cute.

Portillo's

In between appointments last week, I took Abby to Portillos for lunch. The man working there thought she needed a paper hat, and she agreed!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Cincinnati again this year visiting family, shopping, going to see the Muppets movie, exploring both the Children's Museum, and Totters Otterville. We celebrated Aunt Nicci's birthday, played outside, set up TVs and Christmas trees, ate lots of great food, bought presents and washed lots of clothes. We had a great time and were exhausted when we got home. Good thing we are still "young"! Can't wait to go back at Christmas!

Photo Shoot

Once the tree was up, it was time to get a good sibling shot for the family Christmas card. Plenty of outtakes, like this one and only a few where they were both looking at the camera at once.

Swim Lessons

Abby and Jaydon (our neighbor) have been taking swim lessons together on Friday mornings with a college student instructor at our gym. They enjoy spending the time together and playing in the pool. I think they may even be learning a few things too!

Bobcat Badge

At the last Pack Night for Cub Scouts, Alex was presented with his Bobcat badge. He earned this badge by learning the Cub Scout Promise, the Law of the Pack, what Webelos means, the Cub Scout sign, the handshake, the motto, and the salute. We are very proud of him. He wears the badge upside down until he completes a good deed and we flip it around. They also had each scout throw whipped cream pies at the leaders for every $100 in popcorn sales they made. This was quite a sight, and quite a mess! I have a bit of a badge backlog going on over here and need to make affixing these to his uniform a priority.