so, we saw santa

grace and carter were super excited to go see santa.  grace, i think, was nervous as usual. carter was just crazy.  but, the nerves and craziness created this sweet moment. 

both kiddos happily sat in santa's lap and asked for one gift each.  grace asked for a rainbow loom and carter wants a train table.

santa was begging to know what else they wanted, but there was nothing else.  one gift and that's all.

santa did give them 2 pieces of candy and they were totally cool with that!

grace even gave santa a hug, i mean, grace even let santa hug her!  this sweet girl has come a long way over the past couple of years!!! 

dear santa,

we wrote letters to santa while we ate cookies and drank frozen hot chocolate.  carter asked for a puppy and a train table.  grace wants a rainbow loom.  this is good handwriting practice too!  you want santa to be able to read your letter.  right?

Our North Pole Breakfast

Jingle, our elf, is back to celebrate this Christmas season with us.

So, we had our annual North Pole Breakfast to kick off the Christmas season.

We had lots of sugar!!!  Jingle brought the kids a book, tic-tacs, and a note.

Grace and Carter love this tradition.  It's kinda magical and sweet!

Grace did a lot of reading with her breakfast.

While Carter did a lot of eating.  Ha!

We are excited to have Jingle back (and powdered donuts)!!!

we got a tree

Last weekend, we searched high and low for our perfect tree.  Once we found it, we loaded it up and headed home.

John put the lights on this year and it was wonderful!  Before we decorated, we gave the kids some Christmas jammies and an ornament.

They were so excited!!!  Grace was so happy to get matching clothes with her AG doll and Carter was a puppy.

I got this cute little elf family ornament for us this year.  I love the dangling legs!

We got busy decorating the tree.

I couldn't find any ornaments that I loved for the kids.  So, I got these cork letters from Hobby Lobby, put a coat of paint on them, and added a ribbon.  I like them a lot and they were super easy and cost me less than $1 a piece.

John's Grandma hand made us this amazing felt tree skirt.  I think that it is pretty awesome!

And, for the finishing touch...a star on top!

Now, we have our perfect for us Christmas tree!

thanksgiving day

on thanksgiving day, we gathered together with our families.

the kiddos made apple turkeys.

then they ate them!

everyone ate some turkey...even the youngest.

meaningful conversations were had over pie.

the end.

seriously?  i have so much to be thankful for!