Evers Family: 2012

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We got a major snow storm today! We got somewhere around 10 inches, although it's not quite done snowing! What a great way to start Makayla's Christmas vacation! Our YMCA classes and Makayla's dance class were also cancelled, so we enjoyed the snowday at home! The kids were SO excited! And it was great packing snow!

We went out in the morning and I helped Makayla make a fort. However, ever since Chad made her one with a roof last year, she is no longer satisfied with one that does not have a roof! I attempted to add a roof, but had to quit because Lydia didn't want to play outside and I didn't want her inside alone for long! Lydia didn't understand that if she sat in the fort, the wind and snow would not blow in her face!

Chad got home later in the afternoon, so the girls had fun riding in his truck while he plowed the driveway! Then, they both went back outside to play with Chad! Lydia figured out that if she stayed in the fort, it wasn't so cold! She had a blast scooping snow with her sand shovel!

Chad helping the girls add a bigger roof to the fort!

Here's Chad's final roof addition for the evening! I'll have to help Makayla some more tomorrow and see how much more of a roof we can add!

Other December Fun

The kids love to play Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii. However, they totally do not get how to play it, so it's rather amusing to watch!

Lydia has always been my picky eater! She refuses many fruits and pretty much all veggies. For lunch one day I put the grapes and cantaloupe on a stick and she gobbled it up!

The kids put a ton of pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals in the basement shower one afternoon!

Then, they moved on to a tea party with all the animals!

We visited Kristin and Emma and Lauren one day for a pajama party! Makayla loves baby Lauren!

The girls dressed up as princesses! Note Lauren at the bottom of the photo...she wanted to get in on the action too!

Time for a princess dance!

We went to Kidztown in Green Bay! One of the owners makes balloon animals for the kids and does some magic tricks too! Makayla loved this floating tissue!

Here's our fort that we built one day in the basement!

Makayla's Christmas Party at School

Makayla had a little Christmas sing-along at her school! Here are some photos! We had fun watching all the kids sing such cute songs!

Christmas is getting closer

We are continuing our countdown until Christmas! Here are some more fun things we've done to prepare for Christmas! In addition to the photos below, we've rented some Christmas DVD's, read some Christmas books (especially ones about baby Jesus) watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", made more gumdrop Christmas trees, visited Santa, and wrapped lots more gifts. We are continuing to light our advent wreath candles and take the links off of our paper chain (we only remember to do this about every 3rd day)! I've very proud to say that both of my children know who baby Jesus is and know that he was born on Christmas day!

Here is a candy cane made from strawberries and bananas!

Here are my meatball snowmen! This was inspired by looking at all the fun food creations on pinterest...I know, I'm no artist...but the kids loved them!

We hung candy canes on the tree one day! I bought the fruity flavored ones for our house, but the girls also got mint flavored ones as a gift from Makayla's dance teacher. Makayla said, "This tastes like Nana and Papa's house!" (Because my father-in-law uses a cream on his sore knees that has a strong minty smell)

Banana flax Christmas tree muffins!

Not only does Lydia love these muffins, but she also loves M&M's...lucky her!

We attempted to make cinnamon Christmas tree ornaments. Makayla loved mixing the dough with her hands...

but she loved doing dishes even more!

Here we are putting hangers on the cinnamon ornaments as well as stringing beads and jingle bells!

Here's Lydia intently stringing her beads! This was the most focused she's even been at stringing beads!

The girls insisted on tasting the cinnamon ornaments, even though I warned them that they wouldn't taste good. But I let them try it for themselves...both ended up wiping their tongues with paper towels! LOL!

Singing jingle bells with their jingle bell bracelets!

A close up of what we made!

Santa visited Wisconsin early!

Santa visited our house early due to our travel plans this year! I did not tell the girls he was coming early, so they were not up at the crack of dawn trying to open presents! We actually had a nice leisurely morning and breakfast before they wandered downstairs! Makayla immediately noticed the gifts under the tree and shouted for Lydia to come and look!

Here's the tree the night before!

The Dora chairs were a hit!

Lydia has been asking for lip gloss for quite a while...she even told me that's what she wanted to ask Santa for (although she was too shy to tell him more than a baby doll) She also told Chad that she wanted to ask Santa for diapers because she doesn't want to potty train! I almost wrapped some up for her...

New chairs for our art table! Now Chad needs to make the table taller!

Makayla was excited for the big gifts!

Wow, look at all these blocks!

Okay, got those blocks out...on to the next gifts!

Lydia was with me when I bought these baby dolls...she just LOVED the doll so much at Kohl's that I gave in and bought one for her and Makayla. I told her we had to save them for Christmas, so she's been waiting and waiting for Santa to give her this baby doll! Luckily, she isn't old enough to figure out that I am really Santa!

Fairy costumes! Makayla cried because she wanted the blue one and tried to get Lydia to trade. But Lydia is now old enough to say, "no" so Makayla can't just get her way all the time! And of course, if Makayla wants it, there is no way Lydia is going to give it away! Slight drama, but we moved on quickly! The castle was a good distraction!

Lydia was much slower at opening her gifts than Makayla, so Makayla hovered and wanted to "help" her. Of course, Lydia did not need or want any help, so again, slight drama!