We had one more party at the Kitchen before Christmas. It was smaller than the party the prior day, a little more laid back, a little less stressful. Probably a little more fun for the kiddos. 

After the party we exchanged family gifts. 

The girls were thrilled to receive gifts from each other. 

They picked out Shopkins for each other. I have avoided these. I have heard about them but had done my best to steer clear. I see tiny little toys that are going to get sucked in the vacuum. They see nothing but happiness. 

We hosted a cookie decorating party at the Kitchen and it as a hit. The party sold out within days of posting and we had 26 kids in the Kitchen. B and Ricky were cooking away so I did my best to keep the kids entertained. 

Among the guests, the girls had several friends attend so they were thrilled. 

After the party the girls begged me to go paint pottery. 

They were amazing and kind and helpful during the cookie decorating party and I was fairly prepared for work this week so I was happy to be able to spend the time with them. 

Gwyneth takes her painting very seriously. Annabelle maybe not so much. 

My friend, Shennon gave me a great Christmas gift. A little set that turns a wine cork into a reindeer. How fabulously festive is that? How well does she know? Yep, I had a few wine corks laying around. 

We spent the night downtown and I took a day off to spend with the girls. B had to head back to the kitchen so he ordered us breakfast and then headed out quite early. 

Since we were downtown we had a 2nd breakfast at the aquarium with Santa. 

They each got a stamp for being on the nice list. 

Waiting eagerly for “Swimming Santa’s” arrival

Imagine swimming in that get up?!?

The last day of school for two whole weeks. The girls were more excited about their holiday parties than the upcoming break. I alternate between classes for holiday parties and this time it was my turn to help in Annabelle’s class. I got tasked with food and a game. 

I’m not nailing it on the food. It has to be store bought and that’s just not my bag. I get veggies and cheese and cracker trays and cookies and well, I just don’t know how else to make store packaged snacks fun for these parties. I have my work set out for me, because I don’t like to disappoint and well, I like to party. Look out Valentine’s parties. I’ll be bringing my A game. 

Annabelle and I did come up with a fun game. We made our version of headbands with holiday clues and reindeer headbands. The kids had a good time trying to guess each others clues and were all laughs. 

Annabelle is too cool for school or more accurately, too cool for pictures at school so I only got to snap one on my phone with her friend Reagan. 

I snuck down to Gwyneth’s class to see what they were up to. They were turning their teacher into a toilet paper snowman. They had a blast and Gwyneth was thrilled to receive this snowman stuffy. 

Bye, Bye school! See you next year!

After a busy week, we were all exhausted! The girls have never seen A Christmas Story so we settled in for a family night of rest and relaxation. They loved the movie and couldn’t stop laughing. “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out” is a new staple saying in our house. 

My mom has Annabelle hooked on Dancing with the Stars. I never watched, but Annabelle got really excited about it so it became a fun thing for us to share. Gwyneth likes it, but doesn’t love it and when I found out the Live version was headed to town I was conflicted about taking them. The show was late and it was the night before their holiday parties. I asked the girls what they wanted to do. Annabelle said “Yes”. An emphatic yes! 

Gwyneth was unsure and then finally decided she would rather stay home and make butter with her dad. Yep, that’s right. Butter. The girl loves butter and B eagerly said he would make garlic infused butter with her. Annabelle and I spent the evening dining and watching some crazy dancing and we now have a container labeled “Gwyneth’s butter” in our fridge. Yep, that’s how we roll. 

Had dinner with this little lady at Pizzeria Republic

She is a lovely, dining partner. We shared pizza and pasta and she caught me up on the happenings of the 3rd grade world. 

Off to the show. This little lady was excited. 

She purchased a bag for herself to carry her coat. 

We had great seats. Just 7 rows back. 

 I didn’t think this through though, because Annabelle is short. We may have been better off sitting higher up where the seats are elevated and she didn’t have to struggle to see over the adults’ heads. She ended up on my lap and was just fine. Even 8 years old still sit on their mom’s laps if they really need to see. 

It was a very late night. We didn’t get home until nearly midnight. She didn’t mind one bit. She fell right to sleep and was very eager to get to school the next day to tell her friends all about our evening. 

Today was holiday character day at school. They could dress up as any character for a holiday book or movie. I suggested Polar Express so they could wear pjs and robes to school — have I mentioned how much I like pj day? The girls opted for Santa sweater and hats instead. I thought they looked adorbs and was shocked that they wanted to match for the day. 

I finally got my holiday shopping finished today. I had most of it done before Thanksgiving (I really don’t like waiting until the last minute with all the holiday chaos). I couldn’t figure out what to do for the girls’ teacher and then I can up with this lovely idea after I saw their wish lists. Both said they enjoyed wine so I found these great books and gave them gift cards to a liquor store. Let’s be honest, even the most patient person could use a cocktail after five months with 2nd and 3rd graders!

Today is holiday spirit week and the entire week is out of uniform. I don’t really mind the uniforms. I think the girls look cute in them and it makes it pretty easy for them to get ready in the morning. They seemed awfully excited to wear their regular clothes to school, so they must not like the uniforms nearly as much as I do. 

Today was animal day. We opted for simple animal dresses, but some of the kiddos were actually dressed up like animals. Some days a cat dress is the most I have in me and the girls don’t seem to mind. 

The students at the girls’ school each have to prepare a special interest project. It can be on whatever topic they would like and the presentation can be however they like. There is a lot of freedom in this assignment. Gwyneth chose a posterboard of penguins. She did the research online and reading books and found the pictures. I wanted to ensure this was a Gwyneth project, not a mom project so she did 99% of the work. She need a little help with formatting her facts and printing, but the rest was all her. 

She was really proud of her Penguins and couldn’t wait to present to her class. 

I purchased tickets months ago for Charlotte’s web at the Arvada Center. Our big morning finally arrived and we were so excited to meet Shennon, Ruby, and Jenna. We received a nice surprise because our friends Eleanor and Clara were at the show also. 

After the show we hosted our first booth at the Winter Wonderland for our neighborhood. We sold cookies and drinks while people waited in line for Santa. It was quite busy and a great experience for us. We’re hoping to have more booths in our future. 

Our girls were great little helpers, ran around with friends, and even got to visit with Santa. 

Our neighbors hosted my mom’s club holiday party. There are lots of new members and I don’t know many, but there were still some of my old fav’ friends and it was just a lovely little walk down the street. There were lots of sweet little ones at the party, but my girls were right in line to see Santa. They were very excited to meet him and let him know what they wanted for Christmas. 

Looking all grown up with the Big Guy. 

Oh, silly little sisters

My gorgeous little ladies!