Holidays are here!!

I love holiday season! Christmas time is magical and gives me warm fuzzies from head to toe! It's exponentially more exciting now that we have children, and especially with a 3 year old in the house! Abigail is to the age now where she remembers last Christmas! She asks me when the neighbor's giant blow-up polar bear will be back, etc. I'm shocked she remembers her 2 year old Christmas! Kinda scary... So we started a couple new traditions this year and even though it's not even November yet, we've had a fabulous start to the Holidays!

The day after Thanksgiving, we took both girls up north, about 45 minutes away to get a Christmas tree from a tree farm. It was raining & muddy & cold & AWESOME! We took our time and were very selective with our tree. Finally Brandon sawed the tree down with Abigail cheering him on the whole time, "Yay, Daddy! You're doing it! You're so big & strong!!" Then, while Brandon worked with the farm crew to bundle the tree & attach it to our car, Abigail, Brooklyn & I sat near a wood stove and snacked on some candy canes. Sometimes I stop & think to myself that this is everything I've always dreamed of. I feel very blessed.

Abigail helped me decorate the tree. She actually did the majority of the ornament hanging, but she likes to group ornaments so I had to go back & re-disburse. 

We started a new tradition this year called "The Elf on the Shelf". It's an Elf that sits on the shelf & watches if the kids are being naughty or nice, then he flies back to the North Pole each night & gives Santa a report. The fun part is, when the Elf returns from the North Pole she gets into mischief. So when the kids wake up the Elf isn't on her shelf, we must find her! This morning she was caught making flour angels. Abigail named the Elf "Holly Haffy Holmes" Abby's so stinkin' funny!

Brooklyn is absolutely adorable lately. Nana bought her some new PJ's & she looked like a Christmas ad sitting in front of the tree.

I'm very happy to report that Brooklyn FINALLY started crawling forwards! She's been able to make her way around for a while, but mostly does it by crawling backwards, or scooting on her butt. Finally though she figured it all out & can move herself forward. This should relieve a lot of frustration for all of us! However, I'll have to get back in the habit of vacuuming more often & keeping little bits of whatever off the floors. 

I know it's not even December, but I"m completely done with my Christmas shopping! Abigail even picked out 2 gifts for her baby sister. She put a lot of thought into them & I think they are great gifts! I let her wrap them both herself & she did a great job!

The second gift has about 15 tags & 3 bows on it. And that's what we've been up to lately. This weekend we're going to a Christmas parade and celebrating Nana's birthday. Should be fun!