Random December happenings and Maggie's dance recital

Can't believe December is already almost over - I am trying to get all the pictures off my phone, so this post will be a somewhat random one...

The kids had their annual eye exam - Colin's eyes needed a little bit of a stronger prescription, and Maggie's are holding steady (but might need some glasses next year)

They both did awesome, and we loved our eye doctor (we tried a new place very close to our house, Dr. Hug was awesome!)

Maggie had her Christmas Dance recital on December 9th

She did amazing, of course :)

We all loved her dance costume, and I am still finding those little sequins all over the house, multiple weeks and many vacuums later...

Meemaw came up and was super excited to watch Maggie dance

I love this picture of the 2 of them after the recital was over

We were a little concerned about Eli staying quiet during the performances, but he did AWESOME and loved every second of it.  He kept saying "lets do that again" after each dance performance...

Maggie with some of her dance classmates

(she's so little compared to the rest of them...) 

Our best attempt at a family pic

A few nights later, Colin had his first Reconciliation sacrament.

He was a little nervous, but did great.  He waited in line for Father Joe and was very proud of himself afterwards.  He's growing up so quickly!!

Colin with Father Joe

We went out for some ice cream afterwards to celebrate.

The kids had a random dance party while watching the Chiefs game one night

These crazy boys...

Love my goofy family

A few days later...we took Maggie to see a Nutcracker performance held at a high school just north of us, put on by a very good dance studio.  It turns out, we knew 2 of the girls dancing in the Nutcracker, so we waited afterwards to get a picture with them.  So fun!

Studying the program during intermission

Madeline, a daughter of one of my Bunco friends in the neighborhood

and Katie Jane, an older sister of one of Colin's classmates.

Such a fun and busy couple of weeks!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2017

We did our traditional cookie decorating for Santa, but we almost ran out of time this year so we just did round cookies with whatever toppings I happened to have in the pantry.

Santa didn't mind though, he really enjoyed the cookies this year!

Eli loved decorating the cookies - and he super duper loved licking the frosting off of the cookie and knife.  I should've taken a picture of his cookie when he was finished - it was just a big smear of frosting that had slobber all over it.  Yummy!

Colin did some great designs on his cookies...

And Maggie did awesome, too!  They love doing this stuff - I wish I wasn't so anxious about all the messes that come along with it!!! :(

We went to 2:30 mass at the downtown Cathedral on Christmas Eve.

We love that Cathedral at Christmas - and we love the mass time at 2:30 because we can be home before 4 and get on with our evening traditions of opening a gift, eating a yummy dinner, and going on a drive to see Christmas lights!

We took our family picture in front of the tree again...

The kids really wanted to have Moose in the picture - but he just wouldn't lay down for us.

Here are some of the outtakes...

And finally our winner!

The kids opened up their gift with matching pajamas and a new family game to play!

Eli wouldn't cooperate until I took a picture of the other 2 kids and made him jealous!! :)

I love Christmas time!

We played our new games...

Wrote Santa a note and left him cookies, milk, and some carrots for the reindeer...

Santa came!!!

He kids did great opening up gifts one at a time and waiting their turn...

Eli got some big boy underwear and insisted on wearing them over his pajamas. 

They are green with soccer balls on them...

This kid cracks me up!

We took one more picture before we opened Santa's gift that he left under the tree...

It was a new Wii game, but inside of it was a note that Santa wrote.

He sent us on a scavenger hunt again.  This year, his presents were passes to do fun things around Kansas City.  They were: a Mavericks hockey game, LegoLand, SeaLife, CocoKey, Snow Creek skiing, and a Power Play gift card for the arcade.  So fun!

After that we went to Grammie and Grandad's for some yummy food and fellowship.

We love having so many cousins close by!

We also opened up our gifts from Grammie and Granddad.

The kids got some great presents - it's always so much fun over there!

Our best attempt at a family pic with all the KC Grandkids

Bennett and I just hanging out

Colin and Daniel were the champions of a fun card game that we played, called Pass the Trash.

I was the first one out every time we played.  I guess I'm not very good at passing the trash :)

Visiting Santa - 2017

We're definitely getting into the holiday spirit around here!

We put our tree up after Thanksgiving and our Elf Buzz came to visit us for a few weeks!

Eli is a little stinker with the Christmas tree.

He's always taking the ornaments off and moving them all around - I find them all over the house and mostly just on the floor around the tree.

Colin was sick one day last week (something he ate, thank goodness it was a quick sickness) - and Buzz made him some Jello and left him this nice Get Well note.

Buzz is so thoughtful! :)

 We went to visit Santa at Crown Center like we do every year.

I wasn't sure how Eli would do, but...

 Colin and Mags had fun with the reindeer display

 There were no tears, per say, but he was definitely hesitant and uncomfortable on his lap.

He let me get this picture, told Santa that he wanted a car and Legos, then immediately requested to get off.  Done and done!

 Colin and Maggie discussed some things with Santa.

Maggie wanted girl Legos, dresses, a desk organizer

Colin wanted Barcelona soccer stuff, a hoodie sweatshirt, Legos

 We stayed and played for a bit on the interactive displays

 And Eli was mesmerized by the trains that kept coming along the tracks

So fun!

He probably could've stood there to watch all day!

 Afterwards we hit up the Candy Store for a few little treats and then went to Jack Stack's BBQ for dinner.  This is probably Brian's favorite meal ever, so he was pretty pumped.

The kids love the burnt ends and we learned this year, so does Eli!

We had to wait for about 30 minutes for our table, so we hung out in the car and on the little bench outside the restaurant.  It wasn't too cold for being a December evening.

 Another family selfie

And just the girls...

Love this lady so much!