birthdays, holidays and more

Back in November my baby girl took one step closer to becoming a teenager. We kicked off Olivia's birthday weekend with a fun sleepover at the house. Between dance, soccer and school Olivia has some pretty awesome girlfriends. Her besties came over for a evening of games and girly fun to celebrate Olivia turning 12!

We kicked the evening off with the saran wrap game. A huge ball of saran wrap littered with fun little gifts. You unwrap as fast as you can as the person next to you rolls dice until they hit doubles. Once they do, you pass the ball to the next person. Whatever gifts you unwrap during your turn, you keep. It is a fun and silly game that the girls just loved!

Next it was onto presents, cake and then girl time watching movies. Each year we try to think of something different to do for Olivia's birthday, but we always settle on a sleepover. What's better than an evening with your girls?

When I asked Olivia what she wanted to do on her actual birthday, she said she wanted to go to SkyZone with Audrey and her sister. The day after her sleepover was her birthday, so that is exactly what we did. For an hour the girls jumped until they couldn't jump any more! The birthday fun continues!

Twice a year, when the girls birthdays roll around we go to Takaoaka for dinner. Todd's Mom takes all of us on their birthdays and it is a tradition we really look forward to. The food is delicious and the show is always entertaining. It may be the same thing each time we go, but we love it!

We were blessed with some pretty mild temps this fall. It was the middle of November and we were still walking around without our coats. One particular weekend day was so beautiful we decided to walk down to our neighborhood pond and do a impromptu photo shoot. The sun was shining and the leaves were beautiful. Add my beautiful girls in the mix and that makes for some lovely photos!

At the end of the month it was time for the annual Festival of Trees. For as long as I can remember our dance studio has performed at this event on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. For the past few years both girls have performed, which makes it even more fun! Cute dances, cute costumes and an official kickoff to the holiday season!

After the dancing we always take time to walk around to look at the trees. They are beautiful! It's also our first time to visit Santa for the season. The past few years the girls have done this with their friends Audrey and Avery, so it's become another one of our fun holiday traditions. The Festival of Trees is something I did every year as a kid and being able to watch my girls follow in those footsteps is pretty neat.

The girls continued the holiday fun with their besties, Audrey and Avery with an evening of Christmas crafting. My Mom had the girls over and they jumped right into the cookie decorating. They all took their time crafting the perfect cookie, loaded with tons of icing and sprinkles of course. I think this may become another Christmas tradition, that is if my Mom is up for it.

The holiday season is never officially underway until the girls make their official visit to Santa. We changed things up a bit this year and visited a different Santa. Olivia reluctantly came along, mainly to appease her sister. At the age of 12 she is no longer interested in sitting on the old man's lap. Not that I can blame her. Regardless, our annual Santa photo was adorable as ever.

Our Santa was a hoot! He took time to talk to the girls and ask them about their Christmas wishes. He made jokes and showed a genuine interest. He wanted to take lots of photos. Here are some of the outtakes...

Everything is extra fun during the holidays, even dance class. It's a time wear Christmas sweaters, Christmas socks and be silly with friends. These girls work hard each week in their classes, so goofing off a little every now and then is allowed.

Cece had some fun of her own leading up to Christmas break. Her friend Phoebe invited her to a party at their family's country club. This wasn't just your ordinary Christmas party...it was a Grinch themed party!

She had the time of her life! There were Grinch characters, tons of food and treats, Grinch themed crafts and the movie playing in the background, of course. When I picked her up at the end of the evening she was flying high. It was a crazy fun night!

A few weeks before the Christmas my Uncle Larry came into town for a visit. We saw him earlier in the year, but we were thrilled to have him back for a few days. The girls have really enjoyed getting to know him better and having someone they can be close with on my father's side of the family.

Uncle Larry may be Jewish, but he was so interested in hearing about all of our Christmas traditions. The girls were so excited to share everything with him, and he was so excited to hear about it all. It was a short, but lovely visit with Uncle Larry and we hope to see him again soon!

There is nothing I love more than Christmas lights. One of my favorite things to do each year is drive around and find some of the best displays in town. We have some favorites we try to visit each year, but we also try to find some new cool displays too. On one cold winter evening we drove around and even got out of the car to check out some of the cool lights!

After weeks of fun holiday traditions we found ourselves on the eve of Christmas. This year we passed on Christmas Eve church and just went over to my Mom's. The girls still put on their beautiful dresses so we could take some time family photos.

One of the things the girls look forward to the most on Christmas Eve is opening their stockings at Nana's house. The quickly tore through all of their goodies, getting a taste of what was in store the next day. After a relaxing evening it was time to head home and prepare for Santa!

As much as it breaks my heart that Olivia has abandoned her belief in Santa she kept the charade going for her sister. I think she still loves the idea of Santa, but clearly understands now that Todd and I were behind it all along. The good news for her is that Santa still brings her a gift on Christmas morning! Early the next morning the girls rushed downstairs to see if their Christmas wishes had been granted. Cece asked Santa for a gymnastics mat so she could work on all of her tricks at home between classes, and Olivia wanted a new bedding set. One of our Christmas gifts to her was to re-do her bedroom, so the bedding set from Santa helped to pull that together.

The girls were thrilled with their gifts from Santa. Next it was time to open our family gifts. We try to keep things simple for the girls. They get so much from everyone else that a ton of gifts from us just isn't necessary. A few special gifts made for some big smiles and a fun Christmas morning.

After a morning of playing with all of their new loot it was time to head over to my Mom's. We always start with a nice brunch before diving into the next pile of presents. We try to take things slow and each open one gift at a time, but slowly opening presents is not how Cece prefers to do things. Her excitement is hard to contain, which is understandable when you have so many wonderful gifts to open. The girls were blessed with some really wonderful things this year. I think they know just how luck they are.

Our busy Christmas day continued as we wrapped things up at Todd's Moms. Christmas is one of the few times each year when the majority of the family is together at the same time. This year things were less hectic. There were not tons of presents to rip through because everyone's gift is a big family trip to Hawaii this summer. I will take that over tons of stuff any day!

After a long and exciting day we were finally back home. The girls quickly reminded me that we had yet to open our family stockings. Despite being beyond exhausted, I gave them time to open the last of their gifts.

Christmas day is always full of joy. It shows us just how blessed we are. For one short month, between Thanksgiving and Christmas there is a different feel in the air. Everyone seems just a bit happier, and all of the wonderful traditions that we enjoy each year allow us to continue creating special memories. It's always sad to see the holidays pass, but it's also exciting to see what a new year has in store.