More Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa had such fun playing on the floor with Lizzie and Lizzie actually let Grandpa hold her for long periods of time! She liked him a lot!

Ali discovers a new love...FOOTBALL! (at least when accompanied by Grandpa AND carmel corn!!)

First SNOW Day

Even Lizzie bundled up to walk around outside. The snow had mostly melted on the ground but it was fun to see snow falling for the first time since we moved here!

When we were outside we saw our neighbors and we all walked around in the snow together! The girls are so cute together.

Early Merry Christmas

Grandpa and Grandma come to visit and we have an early Christmas. We are so lucky!!! Ali gets to choose 2 gifts to open and she receives......DRESS UP dresses and shoes!!! Just what she asked for! She played ALL day with this beautiful dress that reverses from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty! I love the pretend play but the only bad thing is she says, "Mommy, you're the evil one!"

We went to look at lights in Santa's Magical Kingdom and then Ali got to choose an ornament from the Christmas store...thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

We love when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit! The girls get SO excited! We had such a nice weekend and they got to play a lot with the girls! Thank you for everything!!!

Holiday House Tour Part II

Stockings on the banister...we are told that Santa is bringing one for Elizabeth this year!!

The view from our kitchen...I just love all the fun colors of Christmas. It is such a special time especially with kids...they just get so excited about everything. It makes it so much fun!

Our beautiful Christmas rug from my friend Melanie and Brad :) And look on the door is a needlepoint from Oma!! :)

Our entry way by the front door. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season!!

Welcome to the Holiday Tour of Our House

Welcome to our Living Room...Ali just happened to be watching Rudolf on tv when I was taking these pictures!!

Here are our shadow boxes filled with Christmas things. Chris' mom helped me to decorate this year...I like the new touches! The stacking dolls are Alexandra's...one from Poland from Uncle Colin and one from Nana from Alaska. We also have a tradition of giving Ali a new Christmas book every year. I put them away with the decorations so that they are exciting to look at during this time of year...one book is on display on the shelf. The book she chose this year was a Dora Christmas book!! :)

I put the girls Christmas pictures in frames...they turned out so cute. I almost like the ones I took better than the professional ones just because they show the girls personalities. Lizzie waving her arms, Ali putting her arm around Lizzie...so cute.

The mantel...Look at the wooden snowmen and Santa hand made by Oma!! The stocking were knit by my Aunt Lynn!

Chris always loved a real tree...but this year we thought we'd save some money (in the long run) and buy a fake one. Ali took some cues from him and said, "I don't want a tree from a box!!" but it looks nice and I don't have to remember to water it!! :) Alexandra has chosen her favorite ornaments and likes to organize them by year. She doesn't want them on the tree...just in the lines she has put them in on the table! She loves having her OWN ornaments...we have kept the tradition from my mom and given her an ornament each year representing something from that year. It's so much fun to look at all the ones I have from almost my whole life and I'm so glad that Ali likes having her own also!

Thanksgiving 2

We went for a drive through Tilles Park where there are thousands of Christmas lights. It was so beautiful and Ali loved sitting on Opa's lap and looking at the different scenes. It was a great intro to the Christmas season!

Oma and Opa get ready to feast!!

Look at all of the gorgeous dishes...Chris said he was impressed that we actually had all of the dishes and serving pieces to put on our first big holiday at our house!

Oma had a great idea and had Ali color name tags for everyone. She wrote some of the letters for each name...good writing Alexandra!! :) They turned out so cute!!

The first time we used our new dining room table!!