American Girl Sleepover

Madalyn followed up her American Girl present with a sleepover that included all of her friends that have a doll. The sleepover included miniture pizzas for the dolls while the girls had regular pizza and mini-muffins in the morning for breakfast. they watched two of the American Girl movies, roasted marshmallows in the fireplace and ate what was left of the gingerbread house. The girls also did a fashion show with the dolls and stayed up until 3 am. Ah, sleepovers are so much fun.

American Girl Adventure

Santa sent Madalyn a letter on Christmas morning that he wanted her to go to the American Girl store in Dallas to pick out her doll and have the whole experience instead of just giving her the doll. That didn't go over so well, there were lots of tears, but it ended up being okay. Tara and I took her to the store first thing this morning to get the party started. She picked out one of the 'Just Like You' girls where you pick out the one that looks the most like you (duh) versus one of the character girls from the books. She picked Kylie Claire out pretty quickly and then she chose outfits, hair accessory kit, and a matching shirt with her doll. (Kylie was our other choice for her name, Claire is her great-grandmother's middle name). Santa had a gift card delivered to her by one of the employees and she was ready to go. Here are some pictures of the fashion show that ensued later. Needless to say, she is thrilled and is hosting her first American Girl sleepover tomorrow night.

Burleson Christmas

We headed to Burleson on Sunday, the 27th and celebrated Christmas with Jeff's family. They had some ice left in the front yard from the snow they received on Christmas Eve. So after a quick snow ball fight, we are and then did gifts. Bristol loved the sweater/hat/penguin set from MeMe Pat and Paw Paw got him, Beck has been a bit obsessed with the Nerf gun set from Aunt Gay Lynn and Madalyn liked her new sequin phone and fuzzy chair for her room. They played a mean game of Canasta and the kids helped Lea decorate the rice krispy house.

Christmas Day

After a nap from the morning festivities everyone came back over and we added Brandy, Beau and Brenah into the mix. We ate a turducken, ham, and all kinds of stuff. We then did the second round of gifts which was capped off with new bikes from my parents for the kids. They were beyond excited, but the best reaction was Beck's who exclaimed, "Whoever did this, very thanks!" Funny kid, but I agree very thanks!!

Christmas Morning

Mom, Dad, Cody and Marcia came over for Christmas morning and watched the kids open their presents. It was a very fun morning since Santa redecorated and put up stockings at the fireplace. Most importantly he found us in the new house- a huge worry for the kids although Elfonso (our elf on the shelf) had been updating him daily. We had some drama with Madalyn because Santa left her a letter that she should was going to get to go to the American Girl store to pick out her doll and accessories. Well, that didn't go over so well - note the tears in the top pic. It all worked out eventually, but I have to remember the drama factor with that one. Wow. Beck got Lego Indiana Jones for the PS3 and Bristol got a monster truck track.

Christmas Eve in Uhland

As is our family tradition, we rented the Uhland Community Center for Christmas Eve and had a big celebration with the Nelson family (my maternal grandmother's side). It was awesome. The food was great, almost everyone was there and it's so much fun to see the new additions. This year Ace and Elliot joined us and we're looking forward to another new addition next year. Santa came to visit and give the kids gifts, we did a White Elephant gift exchange (Larry got a purse hook- classic), and one of the cousins made it very clear that my ham wasn't to her liking. Again, classic. I love the holidays and am so thankful that we all got to spend it together.

Class Parties

Jeff, Mom and I were able to hang out at the school for most of the day on the 18th to attend the Posada, help with the pinata, class parties and eat lunch with the kids. We also were able to sneak away and get lunch at Los Vega, one of our favorite places to eat in Kyle. It's nice to be around to hang out at the school and absorb some of that great kid energy.

Posada 2009

Madalyn and Beck both participated in the Posada at Blanco Vista on December 18th. Beck's class sang All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth and Campanitas in Spanish. Madalyn's class performed a play that was all in Spanish and had angels, devils and Sherpas. Madalyn was the narrator and did a great job. Still crazy to hear her standing in front of a group and throwing down on the spanish so well. The Posada is always a lot of fun and this year I volunteered to run the sound system for the PTA. Don't I look thrilled? :)