December

December was quite the month!  It started off with us going down to see the Christmas Train come through the area, and ended with Caden having an awful cold which put him on two different inhalers and a nebulizer.  Plus we made our first visit to the Children's Hospital ER because of his awful breathing conditions!  I don't know who was looking more forward to Christmas up at Nee Nee and Pops' house, me or the kids!  I needed a break!

The night of the Christmas Train was a frigid night so we all got bundled up and headed out.  We met Brian, Kate, Lexi, Jack and Mason there.  Riley really enjoyed it. I think this may be a new holiday tradition in the making!

Riley had her first Christmas concert for Preschool. They were so cute and Riley did so well.  There were definatly a handful of times that Riley was singing so loud we could pick her voice out from the other 14 kiddos singing!  That's my girl!

Great turnout!

Eating Christmas cookies and drinking punch after the concert with Riley's best friend Sienna.

Riley's two best friends from school (and one of their sister's). Erin, Sienna, Riley, and Sienna's sister.

The weekend before Christmas we went down to Illinois to see Dustin's Grandma.  She was so excited to see the kids.  This was the first time that she got to meet Caden.  We had been wanting to go much earlier but we kept saying, "He is so fussy right now, let's wait until we get things more under control so that he is happier down there."  Well, we decided, that fussy is Caden's middle name and it wasn't going to get any better so there was no time like the present.

We headed to Appleton and Three Lakes for Christmas again this year.  We were in Appleton on Christmas eve and day.  We went to Butt des Mortes for Christmas Eve brunch.  Caden was actually pretty good!  Here he is sleeping through brunch.

I always want to get a family photo on the stairs at the club.  We planned ahead this year to get there early so that we could do the photos before brunch.  That way we were hoping to have a cooperative little 3 year old! Well, good plans go awry.  We didn't do pictures until after and like I suspected Riley was being a bit uncooperative.  We did get a few ok ones though, thank goodness!

Riley being silly:

The best we could do:

Presents from Nee Nee and Pops, Annie and Mom and Dad.

I think this mermaid costume was one of Riley's favorite gifts of the year! Thanks Nee Nee!

Santa stopped by our house!  On Christmas Eve night Riley found Santa sleeping in the living room!  He was resting up for his big night he told us.  She was quite timid at first but she finally warmed up to him.

Here Riley is showing Santa the Reindeer food that she made.  She put it outside for them so that they would find her.

Riley's first gift from Santa.

Caden loved Santa's bells!

We sang a few Christmas carols.

 Riley got to ring Santa's bells to let the reindeer know that he was coming.

Good bye Santa!

Riley put out cookies and apple juice for Santa.  We told her to ask Santa if he wanted something to drink with his cookies.  She asked him if he wanted some apple juice.  He thought that was super idea.

The tradition continued.  Grandaddy has been reading that book to us every Christmas Eve night for 35 years.

Christmas Morning:

Stephanie's boyfriend Damien is a fantastic photographer.  He took these photos!  I really need to learn how to use my camera better!  Wow!

 

Annie, I love you!

Annie, you make me smile!

Ok Annie, that's enough...

Riley and Pops went out to build a snowman.   They had lots of fun!

I told Riley that I wanted to take a picture with her and the snowman.  Apparently she didn't realize that I couldn't see the snowman!

On New Year's Eve up in Three Lakes we went to a local hotel to go swimming.  What fun!

Riley had her first  little playdate here this week.  The girls had lots of fun dressing up, eating snacks and playing games!

The girls really liked Caden!

Riley lined up all of her Strawberry Shortcake dolls and read them books.

Caden is loving his jumper lately.  I can't believe that he is old enough to be in it!

He is even sitting up on his own for short times periods already!

We went out to dinner with Brian, Kate and the kids last weekend.  Caden needed to eat his Carrots so we tried putting him in the high chair at the restaurant.  He was a bit small for it still, but stuck through it like a champ!

I forgot to bring a bib, so here is our little bandit with a napkin around his neck!

Story time!

Make sure to click "Older Posts" I did a second new post today but because this one was so long it is on the next page.