Christmas Vacation has officially begun!!!

The weather was calling for ice, freezing rain, snow, rain, and anything in between. Well I got the text this morning at 5:19 telling me schools is CLOSED! I figured they were right for once with the weather. Soon after I could hear the ice beating against the house. Nicholas tried to peek out the windows but most were covered with ice. Thankfully shortly after getting up this morning the ice had stopped falling and the day has been clear. We did not recieve the snow they were calling for. I took some pictures around the house because the ice was really pretty. Thank goodness I had nowhere to be today!

From our family to yours....

Nicholas' Christmas Program

Nicholas had his school program Thursday December 4th. He was so excited for it and sang the songs around the house all week. All of the kids did a great job! Nicholas was so tired he kept yawning and rubbing his eyes. Come to find out he wasnt feeling good and was up all night with an earache :( Here are a couple videos of the show!

Candycane Express

It has become a tradition to head out to Hesston for the Candycane Express every year. We started going when Nicholas was little, and I hope to keep going for years to come. It is a fun and inexpensive trip. We last Saturday and again yesterday. Santa is set up in a caboose and the kids go in to see him. You can take pics and they are free! Santa takes time with every kid (and yesterday he remembered he had seen Nick and Ellie the week before). After seeing Santa we went for a train ride through the woods. We saw deer in the woods and the kids were very excited to see Santas reindeer. There were 3 together. Previous years we have anywhere from none to a few. They have a few different trains running. They also have trains for the kids to do themselves for just a quarter donation.

They also have a store there and setup inside are free cookies, and a train table for the kids to play at along with benches for the parents to sit down and warm up. The kids really enjoy it and it is something they look forward to every year. I hope they continue to enjoy it.

Dear Santa....

Briella is really into Christmas this year. She saw a commercial a while back for a dollhouse and it has stuck. This is all she has been talking about and we have been to see Santa THREE times to tell him. Santa asked her what else was on her list and she said "I REALLY want a dollhouse PLEASE!" That is the only thing on her list...it is so cute! The dollhouse she wants is the Mrs. Goodbee dollhouse. She likes the fact that it makes all kids of noise. We went to the store that had a display set up and she was in heaven. I am so glad we have nowhere we have to be Christmas day, in case she is good and Santa brings it.
Nicholas has a few things on his list. Among them are a guitar (he wants to be like David Cook), transformers, the Batcave, Gorilla Mountain, wrestling, and some games and movies. He was fine with seeing Santa just once, but went ahead and saw him 2 times. The cool thing is Santa remembered seeing him the week before...so that was sure to erase any doubt the darn kids on the bus had put in his head.

I have had a hard time getting into Christmas this year, but I am excited to see their faces on Christmas Morning. In the meantime...Christmas is really sneaking up and I need to get weeding throught he old toys making room for the new things to come. I guess that is my mission for the week. I think we are done with our trips to Santa. I told Ellie Santa knew she wanted the Dollhouse and now she just needs to work on continuing to be a good girl so he can bring it. She has been something else with this whole Santa thing. Nicholas was afraid of Santa at this age. It is so funny to see how different kids react.