Christmas 2014

We had another wonderful Christmas together as a family.  Kids were spoiled and it was so much fun to watch them open all their presents and see the excitement in their faces!

Here is what Santa brought the kids:

 Elise got an Our Generation horse and doll.

James got a cleaning cart (don't laugh, he LOVES it) and some construction trucks.

Here is our tree filled with presents!

Their first look at their presents!  I love the smile on Elise's face!

Janitor James worked hard cleaning the house the rest of the day!

Elise enjoying her princess apron dress ups!

We spent the day eating, playing, relaxing and watching movies together as a family.I think I put the saddle on Elise's horse no less than 40 times.  What more could you ask for?  Merry Christmas everyone!

December Happenings!

We had so many fun things going on this December.  I thought I'd make things easier on myself and put all the random ones together in one fun post!

My parent's gift to us this year was really fun!  They decided to do an advent gift giving.  They mailed it all out ahead of time and each Sunday of December before Christmas, we got to open a present.  Needless to say, the kids loved this. 

The first night we got popcorn, the movie The Santa Clause.  We had fun watching together as a family.

Elise opened a book, Christmas ABC's and some darling hot cocoa mugs from Crate and Barrel.  

Opening a book, This is the Stable and James opening the nativity Christmas ornament we got.  Thanks again Mom and Dad. This was so fun!

Elise had a Christmas sing a long at her school.  It was so fun to go and watch her perform!  Their class sang Jingle Bells.  Here she is all ready for her performance.

Here is Elise with her class and the K4 classes on stage.

Elise also got to bring in a birthday treat for her class the last day before break!  We made lemon cupcakes with pink frosting!  She had fun getting to wear the birthday crown!

Fred and Kathy took us to another fish fry downtown at Lake Front Brewery.  This is always so fun and we look forward to it every year.

 James showing us his moves on the dance floor.  

 The kids love the polka band and the bubble machine!

We also made gingerbread houses!!  I have bought things to make these the past two years and we never get around to it- so I was very excited we actually made it happen this year!

 Hard at work!

 James' contribution to the house was eating all the candy!

 Elise showing off our awesome gingerbread house!  It was her idea to put the wings on the house.

The finished product!

Elise's Birthday

This girl had a lot of celebrating her this month- just as it should be!  We decided to celebrate Elise's birthday as a family a few days earlier than her real birthday because Zack was going to be out of town at an interview that day.  We had a great day and a lot of fun!

Elise woke up to streamers and balloons in front of her door.  It made her pretty happy!

Elise asked for scrambled eggs for breakfast and I thought it would be fun to dye them a color. She requested pink.  I think pink scrambled eggs look a little strange but they still tasted yummy.

We started the day out by going to the Milwaukee Domes.  A few friends were also able to join us so that was fun.  

Elise and her (blurred) friend Lydia.

Mom and the birthday girl!

Our afternoon was pretty low key.  Elise got to watch  a movie of her choice and James napped while I worked on birthday prep- dinner, cake and making sure the presents were wrapped!

This was the first year Elise had an opinion on her birthday meal.  She chose pepperoni pizza for dinner and for her cake chose funfetti cake and "pink" (strawberry) ice cream.  Good choices!

Present time!!

Art supplies!  Do a Dot markers and stamp markers

Princess Twilight Sparkle Castle

Giant Zebra Purse (she has named Sal)

Earmuffs for the girl who will NEVER wear a hat!

An art easel.  So much fun!!

After setting up her castle Daddy and Elise played castle and tea party all night long!

I LOVE this picture and the look on her face!  There is nothing better than making your kids happy.  Elise, we love you more than you'll ever know.  Happy 4th birthday sweet girl!

Elise's 4th Birthday Party: Rainbow Theme!

Yesterday we celebrated Elise's birthday with her friends!  This is the first time she has had a friend party and I think she liked it :) 

I chose to go with a rainbow theme because there are so many fun things you can do with projects and colors.  I think she thought it was fun too.

Let's start with some of the details from the party...which are always my favorite part, even if the kids don't notice.

The party table

Her party didn't start until 2:30pm so I wasn't  worried about having to feed them a lot. For the food we had fruit skewers in rainbow order, rainbow goldfish and then cupcakes and ice cream.

While all her friends were arriving I had them making rainbow necklaces with froot loops.

When they had all finished making those, we had them make their own rainbows.  I bought a bunch of things to decorate them with and I think the kids really liked this part.

Zoe, Tinzley, Caitlyn, Elise, Jack and Kara

Zoe, Tinzley and Caitlyn

Eric and Cayden

When we had finished working on our rainbows, we took a break and the kids got to eat their fruit and goldfish.  While they were eating I read them the story, A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman.  It's about a little boy who wants to catch and play with a rainbow.  It's a cute story.  I was surprised by how well the kids listened.  It probably helped that they had food in their mouths :)

We played a few games with them like Duck Duck, Goose and Simon Says.  I think for a few of them this was their first time playing Duck Duck Goose but once all the kids caught on to how to play, they were really good at it and had a lot of fun.  They all knew how to play Simon Says and we had a lot of fun with that.

Next we opened presents.  It's so fun to watch kids open presents.  All the other kids are SO excited to have them open theirs.  I love it.  It's so fun.  

Her friends were all very generous and Elise was a good girl and told them each thank you after she opened it.  She's getting so big!

This is the best group shot I could get- kids!!  We invited 7 of her friends.  Here she is from L to R: Tinzley, Kara, Eric, Elise, Jack, Caitlyn and Zoe.  Her friend Cayden was also here but was too busy playing with toys to join us for a picture :)

Singing Happy Birthday with Elise blowing out the candles!!

Time to eat!!

Once we finished all of the planned activities, they all got to play.  It was probably their favorite part.  They are such cute kids and all had so much fun together!!

Thank you to everyone who came to help celebrate our little Lisers!! To finish off the party, the kids all got to take home a treat bag.  Inside was: rainbow stickers, colored licorice, jolly ranchers, a rainbow pop sucker, a blowout, and either heart bracelets (girls) or a squirt gun (boys).