First Half of December!

December has been cruising right along and here we are, with only 3 more days to go before Christmas! Here are the random happenings of the beginning of December :)

 When you mention that you have to clean all of the toys before

you can bring the tree inside and next thing you know all of the toys are

gone, the rug has been rolled up and the floor swept. 

Thank you Caroline :)

Santa just goofed off while his sister cleaned

 Dropping off our Secret Santa gifts before the second 

tree lighting

 Decorating Nana's tree. Well Caroline is, 

George is trying to capture Nana with her beads

 After decorating Nana & Grampy's tree 

we came home and watched the snow fall from 

George's room. All of us laying on the floor, 

we agree with the kids, it was one of the nicest moments this December!

 Meh :P

 Daddy and Caroline decided it would be good to bury her?

Then George! 

 

Watching Caroline do some coding

 George did so well at his 4 year checkup that

he got a Landing Store muffin!

(no shots, 95% height, 85% weight)

 Hair cut!

 Caroline's school had a Afro-Latin Drummer come 

and show them some skills

 Mommy had another surgery while Daddy played on his phone :)

Alan went to Friday Morning Meeting to watch Caroline's 

drumming skills and participate :)

 

Cast Removal!!!

After 6 weeks, Caroline went in and had her cast removed. Sort of. They cut it and made it into a solid splint that she will wear for another two weeks for protection but while she is home she and relaxing she can have it removed to start getting some range of motion in her arm. We'll be back in 6 weeks for a follow up X-ray and full clearance to get back to playing. The weather was miserable so we celebrated closer to home with Tin Tin buffet and the a nice bath once we got home! So happy to be almost there. Sadly, because we have to wait for full clearance she still can't do too much play, no pushing or pulling or rough housing etc which means her winter basketball session has been canceled. We were so excited she finally wanted to participate in a group sport, but oh well. She's just about healed and that's most important!

Prelude Weekend 2!

The second weekend of Prelude we usually go and see Santa when he arrives in Cape Porpoise by fire truck and leave it at that, but we decided to do a little more. We have been wanting to go see the second tree lighting, even though we think it's silly, because we've heard the fireworks are amazing. They did NOT disappoint! We'll be going again next year for sure. Not many pictures of George during the tree lighting, he was too busy hugging anyone who went by!
Saturday afternoon we decided to visit Kennebunkport's North fire station and eat some hot dogs and chili to support them. Another day of playing around on fire trucks (think all said and done we did this 4 times during prelude!). The kids worked on their  letters to Santa and on Sunday we went and visited him. George did not want to go to him, but only quickly pass his letter on, but somehow his nervousness quickly subsided and he even went in for a hug :) I think seeing Caroline be so comfortable and happy with Santa helped! Afterwards, we came home and napped!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

We've been tossing the idea of cutting down a fresh tree for years, but practicality always won. Trudging through snow with kids, finding the time to do it, the cost. We always had good luck with trees from a local stand that was the cheapest in town. It became a game to us, even picking the first tree we saw with it still wrapped up. Last year our tree fell twice. We're not sure if it was the dry tree or the stand so this year we had a decision. Go artificial ( Caroline was not letting us do that) or try again with a new stand and a freshly cut tree. Going all in this year!
We opted for the ever popular Holmes Tree Farm and found a couple right as we got out of the truck, but Caroline and Alan wanted to persevere. At the end, I found a tree that everyone could agree on a few feet from where we started ;) All in all though, it was still quick and fun, but I'm not sure we would be all in if it was freezing or lots of snow on the ground!

While Alan and Caroline went to grab a saw I stood by one tree that

we liked while George found another. He then started chanting to anyone who 

walked by, "This is our tree, let it be!"  

He'll make a fine protestor :P

She's a beaut!

Because it's always just the three of them :P

Enjoying some hot apple cider after all of the hard work. 

Santa was around as well, but the kids chose to wait until next week 

at Cape Porpoise

Hanging up his baby ornament

Caroline hanging her's

George's turn this year to hang the angel up