'Tis the Season!

'Tis the season for rainbow sparkly lights, candy canes, Christmas music, frosted cookies and extra giggles around our house!  This is truly the most wonderful time of year and we're so thankful to share it with our friends and family, near and far. 

I've had some very busy elves over the past week!  Our halls are decked, our trees are up, cookies have been decorated, presents wrapped, festive Christmas dresses ironed, Christmas cards and letters to Santa have been mailed, and we've already met the Jolly Bearded Big Guy himself!  

My busy little elves!

It wouldn't be Christmas without matching footie jammies and Christmas stories!

Hailey and Lainey in front of "their" tree.  Their tree is 95% decorations from Grandma, and 5% homemade decorations from school!

Hailey and Lainey in front of "Mommy's" tree.

The two big girls in our Snowman family.  

Silly girls in Santa hats!

Hailey has been all about the Christmas themed crafts!

Kissing under the mistletoe.  

Playing "Baby Jesus."

More play with the Nativity.  

A sweet story about Hailey on her class blog.  She may be all about Santa, but at least something is sinking in during our bedtime Bible stories!  

Lainey loves dressing like Avery for preschool!

Avery loves the extra excitement around our house this week!

And I love dressing my sweet baby up in cute Christmas clothes!

The Christmas spirit seems to have put and extra "pep" in Avery's step these days!  It's either that, or the Santa hat!  But she's about to take off running one of these days!

She's baaaack!  Maybe Ariel the Elf can work some Christmas magic around here and keep these girls in their beds at night!!!  I'm going to need a miracle because this Mommy is going on her SIXTH straight MONTH of no sleep!

The girls love racing dowstairs in the morning to see where Ariel will be!

Hailey made a Christmas dress for her Barbie out of paper, markers and staples...

Ariel the Elf thought she would try it on for herself!

Hailey thought that was very funny!

The girls also made a special seat for the Elf to sit.  They were very excited to see that she decided to sit there the next morning!

The next day, Ariel turned her seat into a bed and decided to take a little rest.  

The girls love playing "Elf on the Shelf!"

Hailey decorating her pink/rainbow tree.  

Hailey made an Advent chain in her class to help her count down the days until Christmas.  

They picked purple, for royalty, because Jesus is King, and pink, because it's the color of patience.  They also get to light the Advent wreath every day and talk about the Nativity story. 

Lulu, decorating her blue and purple tree.  

Goofy girls.  

Lulu wanted me to take a picture of her in front of her "potty" tree.  She will more than likely regret this request when she's a teenager!

Hailey has been all about the Nutcracker!  She loves dancing around, pretending she's a ballerina in the Nutcracker. The girls have also been playing the songs "Where are you Christmas" "Carol of the Bells" and "So this is Christmas" on repeat all week!  

'Tis the season for Christmas shows on tv.  

'Tis the season for tacky light tours in the car.  

'Tis the season for festive treats.  

'Tis the season for red and green sprinkles and chocolate chips on our pancakes and waffles!

'Tis the season for cookie decorating (with our neighbor Kaitlyn).

This is also the time of year where you will always find Hailey in front of the computer, watching YouTube videos of Christmas Light displays!

This year, the girls helped me decorate our own "disco ball tree" full of lights, garland and ornaments.  

A sweet picture of Lulu, watching videos of her baby cousin Adelynn.  

The girls had lots of fun at Ella's birthday party!

Hailey and her balloon rainbow.  

Lulu and her balloon Olaf.  

Time for cupcakes and Olaf jello!

Lulu didn't want to put down her bag of jellybeans when it was her turn to hit the pinata.  Surprisingly, she still had a very impressive swing and managed to put the first hole in it, left handed!

After the candy was out, Lainey and Avery spent the remainder of the party sampling it all, while watching Frozen on tv.  

Avery loved hanging with the big kids at the party!

Hailey had fun playing with her friend Jasper.  They went to preschool together, and now are at different schools.  

We spent Sunday afternoon at Gigi and Babu's house.  

The girls love running around there and Mommy and Daddy love relaxing there, while someone else chases after our kids!

Avery decided to get comfy in Babu's spot on the couch!

Gigi took the big girls to Yankee Candle so they could see the decorations.  They loved it when it "snowed" inside and they loved watching Santa visit with the other boys and girls!

"It's snowing!"

Lulu loved playing with toys there.  

And both girls had fun dancing around to the Christmas music on the bridge.  

Of course, the Baby Jesus was their favorite part!

Santa visit, 2014!  This picture was NOT easy to capture.  It took 20 minutes of bribing to get Lainey to even stand in the frame!  She said she didn't like Santa's beard.  Avery was terrified, but gladly snuggled with the photographers reindeer stuffed animal that he was waving around to get the girls to smile.  Hailey of course walked right up to Santa and started reciting her wish list.  

After picture icecream cones...as promised to Lulu.  

When the girls got home, they were eager to write their letters to Santa.  

We mailed them the next day.  

Every now and then, I will find Lulu staring inquisitively at her Santa picture...she still doesn't like his beard.  

Hailey has been extra nice since our visit with Santa.  She was even caught giving Lainey early morning "tickles!"

We'll see who is on Santa's Nice list...

And who is on Santa's "Naughty" list this year!

Merry Christmas from our crazy house to yours!