Christmas Morning

I just love Isabel's expressions as she would open her Christmas presents from Santa. The only thing she told Santa that she really wanted was a pink unicorn pony. And she told that to every santa she saw & in her letter to him. So, she got 2 different pink unicorn ponies and some other new ponies. The girl loves her ponies.

Christmas Eve: Family Presents

Isabel had such a hard time waiting all day until it was time to open our family Christmas presents. Her big gift from mommy & daddy was the new play kitchen, which she has had a great time playing with already. Her brother gave her some wooden cutting food, which goes so nicely with the wooden kitchen. The other thing you can see in the picture is some new pink jammies that she received from mommy & daddy. The other presents she received from mommy & daddy is a couple books, a new puzzle, an art set, and a sock monkey. The homemade items that mommy made her were story blocks, a hat, and a dress. And baby dolly received a homemade knit scarf and mittens set that matches Isabel's hat.

Sledding & Tailgating

Isabel & mommy went sledding at the hill at the park today with our friends Caitlin, Amelia & Gavin. They brought along hot cocoa for all of us, so the kids got to experience some tailgating. We had a good time, even if the girls get a little whiney about walking back up the hill.

Christmas Present from Kendra

Isabel's Christmas present included a kit for making sugar cookies and what was neat about the dough & frosting was that it was white in the package, but as soon as you added the water it turned pink. Isabel had very little patience in waiting to make these. We had a good time.

Sparkly Trees Craft

Isabel & I made these trees. They were inspired by some that Martha Stewart had created. Although, if we ever make them again we will use hot glue instead of school glue because the sequins have been falling off. But they sure are pretty.

Christmas at the M's

Santa @ Frbo Library

We had no idea Santa was going to be at storytime. If I did know, I would have made sure she picked out clothes that matched. Sometimes the outfits she picks out can be quite interesting. She was pretty happy to see Santa again. Of course, she told him she wants a pink unicorn pony (which she has told all the other Santas, she has seen him 4 times.) Santa gave all the kids a candy cane a d stuffed penguin, which she thought was way cool, that Santa was giving an early present.

Northfield Winter Walk

I took the kids to the Northfield Winter Walk this year. I had never been to it before. Lots of carolers & instrumentalists, all the free apple cider & cookies you could want, free sleigh rides, face painting, ornament making santa's helpers walking the streets & Santa. There were also plays & puppet shows & another holiday characters to meet and other things that we didn't get a chance to do. But we had fun.

Sledding

Friday I took Isabel to the park to go sledding and took this picture before we went down the hill (many time!)
This was sledding we have done in our own yard. With all the snow we have been getting there is plenty of opportunity to sled here with all the huge snow hills we have.

How to Make Snow Ice Cream

Step 1: Collect fresh clean snow from outside

Step 2: Measure out 8-10 Cups of snow in a large bowl (I usually go with 10 and it's fine, more fluffy that way)
Step 3: Pour in 1 tsp. vanilla
Step 4: Pour in one 14 oz. can of sweetened condenced milk

Step 5: Mix together until evenly covered.
Step 6: Enjoy! You can freeze this, but it will end up having an ice milk consistency when you scoop it out again.

St. Nick's Day

So, this year Isabel wrote her letter to Santa on the iPad and we left it by their stocking for him to read when he came to check on them. Then Santa wrote her & Henry back a letter. Her St. Nick presents included a christmas plate, a christmas book, christmas ornaments, some candy, a bracelet & purse.

The other lesson I learned about her Santa expectations (see brother's blog for the other one) is that all the presents in the stocking are supposed to be wrapped. In the past they always have been and I was feeling kinda lazy this time and asked daddy if I had to wrap them and he said no, so I didn't. Anyways, she remembers they were always wrapped. Guess they will actually be wrapped on Christmas Day.

Playdate with Gavin

Our family friends came over on Sunday, what I mean by family friends is that it's not just that I am friends with the mom from our playgroup. Our whole family is friends with their whole family. The dads were working on making their next adult beverage (they finally started drinking some of the beer they made, as it takes a long time, and they did a good job and made something edible) and watching the Vikings game. While that was going on, Isabel & Gavin were playing together and making crafts (Christmas train & decorated ornaments.)

Christmas Crafts

Our friends Cheri, Cole & Jacqueline came over on Tuesday and we made the above crafts with them: baby food jar santa, fingerprint lightstrand & Christmas train.

Today, Isabel's BFF Maizee and her little sister Berklee came over for a playdate. They had fun playing dress-up and making crafts (candy decorated christmas tree and jewel decorated tree {not pictured}).
These are the ornament crafts she made on Saturday when her friend Amelia was over for a playdate.
These were crafts that she made at our ECFE class on Tuesday night. She made a dog biscuit ornament, a snowman, and a yarn ornament.
This is such a crazy picture. She is in some dress-up clothes and did her own hair. She made these crafts on Monday when her friend Aleah came over for a playdate. The painted christmas tree is a little container and they also made christmas cards.

Ninjas

Another Sleepover

Her friend Amelia came over for another sleepover and they couldn't wait to get outside to play. It was cold, so they had to come in for a while and then back out again to play some more. They had a good time and made some ornament crafts that night.

Orchestra, Elves, Lunch, Chocolate & a Nap

You can read about most of this on brother's blog. One of the things I forgot to mention that we also went to the Godiva store after lunch and bought some chocolate. Yummy! And at the Elf exhibit, Isabel also talked to Mrs Claus and some elves.

Preschool Dance - Fall 2010

She wore the same outfit to this recital that she did during the summer, but I altered it. I took off the sleeves and added sequins around the armholes and in the skirt and in the center of the top. She looked very pretty and sparkled up on stage.

Her friend Aleah took dance class with her and she were so excited to get up on stage and perform.

Cabela's & Turkey Crafts

Last week Monday I took the kids to Cabela's. They had a good time looking at the living & stuffed animals.

On Tuesday morning we had some friends over and we made some turkey crafts. Isabel loves crafting so much!

First Snow of the Season (Fall)

She spent a lot of time playing in the snow today. Hopefully there is still some snow on the ground tomorrow and we can go to the park to sled.

Ag Power & Fairgrounds Park

This morning we went on a tour of a farm equipment store, Ag Power. The kids had a lot of fun getting to climb in a combine, a tractor, on a flatbed, and on some of the lawn & utility tractors. It was such a great day to be outside for a tour.

After the tour, we went to the Fairgrounds park for some playtime and a lunch. It was such a pleasant surprise to be having a picnic on the ground when we almost 1/3 the way through November. This park is special because it's the only city park with climbing walls for the kids. Plus they have very separate little kids play equipment and big kids play equipment. And actually, some of the equipment here is meant for even older kids, so it's a good park to grow with your kids.

Underwater Adventures at the MOA

Mommy & Isabel

They other day she was snuggling up to me (well, she does that all the time) but this time she was begging me to take a picture of us because we were so cute & she loves me so much. How could I resist?

Cousins

The top collage is pictures I took, the bottom collage is pictures Grandma M. took.