Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Some snowy days have begun around Newport. We are all loving it for now. The hearty soups and stews for dinner. The hot cocoa and cider...and White Christmas Sam Adams. The latest snowfall made me realize one thing: my kids do not own snow gloves. Whoops! Their poor little hands are always bright pink when they come inside with their frozen mittens on. But it doesn't stop them from playing in it. And don't worry. They will get the proper gloves. I promise.

Luckily, Tom bought them sleds the other week (see we are semi-prepared!). I thought he would just buy the cheap little discs. Nope. He went to some mountain gear store and picked the Sleds of the Year. Nothing but the best for his kids. ;) But we all know it was secretly for him. He's a big kid. And this video proves it:
He went for a test run to see if there was enough snow to let the girls sled for the first time. This is a hill in our neighborhood. I was sort of terrified after he sent me this video to even take the girls sledding!

Keep in mind it gets dark at 4pm here so the video is dark. The girls LOVED their first taste of sledding and I have a feeling it will be a very fun, (albeit nerve wracking for me) winter! With all of our awesome hills to choose from, the girls will be very busy testing them all out.

I couldn't believe how brave they were. No worries. Madeline really did love it. The girl has no fear. And I wish I could have recorded Ella going down with her hands in the air! I think my heart was in my stomach the whole time I watched them.

One of our first snowfalls. He loves watching them play (from the warm indoors!)

 I made Tom pick Ella up from the bus stop. He looked like he enjoyed it though!

 And this little beauty wanted to go, too! In her tutu no less!

 Our holly berry tree out front. So pretty!

 Sam passed out during sledding and stayed that way for awhile afterwards. Not sure if he was frozen or what;)

Winter Wonderland Recital

Ella and Madeline's dance school put on a Winter Recital. Madeline's class was a little too young to participate, but Ella's class danced to the song Winter Wonderland. It was adorable. Minus the little girl bumping into Ella. Ummm helloooo? My daughter is dancing backwards. You are heading in a forward direction. Watch where you are going. I wanted to go all Dance Mom on her, but I stayed calm and seated;) Feel free to watch the video below. Ella is the second one to come out in the white cap and pink tutu.

North Pole Breakfast

Our 3rd Annual North Pole Breakfast with Henry was a success. The girls were so very excited to come downstairs and see a table filled with endless amounts of sugar coated goodness to fill their bellies first thing in the morning. Every single night before bed Ella would ask if tomorrow would be the breakfast day. I think it's their favorite part of Henry's visit to be honest. And what kid wouldn't love eating candy for meal number one of the day?

Little do they know their mom went out grocery shopping after they had gone to bed to buy all of the supplies and then stayed up until midnight setting it up. Either I am super crazy...or I truly love making their Christmas season as magical as possible.

Tom always jokes that I am an overachiever when it comes to this stuff, but then he will pull me in and give me a big hug and kiss letting me know that he loves how I try so hard to make Christmas special for our babies.  I love doing just that! It's fun for me...and seeing their sweet, happy, excited faces make it all worth it!

 Note from Henry...we tried to scare them into not fighting with each other, but I think it only worked for an hour or so.

 Tom placed the Elf on Santa's face. 

 Christmas Crunch. My favorite;)

 Henry made the girls Froot Loops bracelets.

 Ahhh her smile. She was so genuinely happy and excited!

 She doesn't waste time!

 Amazed at Henry's skills!

 Christmas sprinkles and whipped cream in hot cocoa? Yes, please. 

 Strawberry yogurt parfaits with raspberries and mini bagels with strawberry cream cheese

 That's my girl! Adding more and more.

 We didn't forget to invite you Sam...

 Sugar russshhhh!

 I love that Ella looks so lovingly at him.

 Mommy's breakfast. I probably needed 12 cups that day to deal with the craziness that ensued!

 Until next year...

Artsy Ella

My kids loves art. Like reallllly loves art. Her idea of doing something fun is buying more art canvases and being allowed to paint whatever she feels like. She does not, whatsoever, get this from me. That is almost painful for me to sit down and try to paint something. Fortunately for her, I think she received the artsy gene from her daddy's side of the family and I hope she continues to paint her little heart out.

We are really proud of her that her artwork was selected to be on display at the Newport Yacht Club. Go Ella!

A canvas she painted for her teacher

 She drew the Gingerbread Girl with "stitches" detailing and licorice hair (have you read the book? Super cute!)

Henry had painted a pink snowman the night before her art show to show he was proud of her;)

 Don't even make fun of that beautiful painting completed in 30 seconds at midnight;)

Gingerbread House

Now I know why my parents didn't really build gingerbread houses with us growing up. I haven't quite figured out who it's fun for yet. Here's this house that you need to ice the walls together. Let it set for an hour before adding candy decor (making your kids mad and bored). And then watch your kids eat said decor before it makes it on the walls of the gingerbread. Oh all while hearing them fight over the icing bag or who ate more of the circle candy. Ohhh and the best part: chasing Sam around the dining area while he hunts for every piece of candy that falls to the floor.

In the store when I was purchasing the house I thought "oh this will be fun...it will give us something to do one evening this week after school." I pictured the girls giggling and singing Christmas songs working together. Yeahhhhh, I should have known better. Our reality was candy all over the floor, Ella having a meltdown because Madeline ate too much icing, little candy balls spilling everywhere, me screaming, Tom running off to his class Christmas party mid-decorating (after cleaning his suit jacket that was covered in icing) and me cleaning it ALL up.

Next year, we are skipping this.

Oh who am I kidding? I bet we torture ourselves all over again.

Oh how happy they are to start.

 Just hunting on the ground for spare candy.

 We did Christmas crafts while we waited for the house to set.

 I'm seeing sassiness in this picture.

 And this is what set Ella off. Hence no more pictures to follow because well...they would not have been very pretty;)

Day Date

When I found out Elf was playing at the Jane Pickens theater, our local movie house (for free with a canned good donation) I jumped on the chance to take the girls to see it. I absolutely love that funny movie and the girls do, too! I have been wanting an excuse to go to this historic theater and to have girly time with my babes. It was a win-win. I guess it's been a really long time since it was just me with Ella and Madeline because they were overly excited to spend some quality time with me minus Sam in my arms. Babies tend to take up a lot of a mom's time, and unfortunately, I am guilty of showing him more of my attention.

But I loved every minute of Madeline on my lap during the movie (she fell asleep there at the very end) and spoiling them with candy and popcorn and soda. I'll admit it was kind of nice to be baby-free, too;)