Breakfast with Santa

the girls with Santa and Mrs. Claus

Matt, Paula, Sophie, Santa, Nana, Abbie, and Paw-paw

our family with Santa (notice Abbie is keeping her distance from Santa!)

the girls by the tree

A couple of weeks ago, we had breakfast with Santa at my parents' church. The funny thing was that it was one week after Halloween so we celebrated Halloween and then a few days later, had breakfast with Santa. It was only the 2nd year that their church had done it and our first time to go. The reason that they do it so early, is that Santa Claus (who goes to church with Nana and Paw-paw) had to travel to Texas soon after the breakfast to find out what all of the children there would like for Christmas. It was very well-organized with almost 300 people. Breakfast was catered with doughnuts and pastries, French toast sticks, ham rolls, etc. Overall, it was a pretty nice meal. They sent small groups of people up to visit Santa Claus and then you rotated. While you waited to have your picture made with Santa, they had some coloring sheets that you could do or you could make your Christmas wish list. They also had a couple of cute crafts that the kids could make and take home. We've been to Breakfast with Santa at our church a couple of times and while it's fun to see everyone, it can be mass chaos at times because there are so many people! We really a good time and were able to see some friends too! It was nice that Nana and Paw-paw could come too! As you can probably tell from the pictures above, Abbie did not want to stand right by Santa. She had told her mama before the breakfast that she could sit on Santa's lap because she (Abbie) did not want to.

Halloween

Rapunzel and Minnie Mouse (A.K.A Sophie and Abbie)

our family

Nana and Paw-paw with the girls

Sophie and some of our neighbors doing their scary faces.

Abbie playing in her tent.

Abbie with Emerson's new puppy-Izzy

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. The girls definitely had several opportunities to dress-up in their costumes. Uncle Phil came over that afternoon and hung out with us as well as Nana and Paw-paw. We had some pizza and then the girls changed into their costumes. Nana and Paw-paw gave out candy while Mama, Daddy, and Uncle Phil took the girls trick or treating. The weather turned out to be pretty nice for trick or treating. We went around with some of our neighbors. Sophie and her buddies moved quickly from house to house but Abbie really took her time. Matt had to leave early and teach his lab so Phil stayed to help us finish trick or treating. Sophie wore her light-up plastic shoes to go with her dress but they became very uncomfortable because we ended up hiking over a little bit of hill and covering some ground this year for trick or treating. We had to come back and let her change shoes. Since the girls had already had other opportunities to trick or treat, they were O.K. with being finished shortly after 7. That worked for me too!

Abbie's School Party

                                        Abbie with Ben, Caleb, Braden and Garrett

                                        back row: Caleb, Nolen, Abbie, Molly, and Nathan
                                       front row: Garrett, Ben, Ford and Braden

                                         Ava Grace and Abbie (best buddies) and Will

Abbie is in Mrs. Gloria's class this year. There are only 2 girls and 7 boys. I'm the room mom for Abbie's little class but thankfully, it didn't involve too much work. I love planning a party though! We ordered pizza and all of the kids were so excited. Abbie (and each of the kids I think) had been talking about the party like it was his or her party and she kept referring to it as her birthday party. It was a windy cold day so we had our pizza and then trick or treated inside the church building this year. The kids still had a blast! Each of the kids took home a treat bag with goodies and some candy.

Halloween Festivities

silly girls with some of the accessories for our Potato Head Diva pumpkin

                                     Sophie and Lauren at Trunk or treat at our church

                                                   Katie, Abbie, Sophie and Ava Grace

                                                   Sophie and Kate

                                     Anna, Savannah, Garrett, Abbie and Ava Grace

We had a great Halloween this year with some fun activities leading up to it. The girls were able to trunk or treat with some friends at their church a week or two before Halloween. We also trick or treated at Sea World a few weeks before. Just a couple of days before Halloween, Sophie's friend, Emerson, had a costume party for Halloween with a hayride and everything. About a week before Halloween, we carved a traditional pumpkin and also decorated this Diva pumpkin. Sophie kept making me nervous because she wanted to hold a knife and help carve the pumpkin. Not such a good idea for a 6 year old! We also trunk or treated at our church the night before Halloween and it was very crowded this year. We had fun seeing friends there though.