Band Concert

Last night was the big band concert. Daniel was in the beginning band and Sarah was in the advanced band. It was really nice to have all the grandparents come to listen to the band concert. This kids enjoy having them participate.

Downtown Disney

After such a late night at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, the kids and I slept in a bit while Bill went to his conference. Once we got going, we headed to Downtown Disney. It is so nice to be able to hop on a bus and go.
Daniel really wanted to check out that Lego store. They have just about everything Lego. They also have many figures made up in and around the store. Here is Santa and then Daniel outside with a group of dogs.



Sarah has always loved Cinderella. Almost as much as Eeyore.

We also got to try a new restaurant. It just opened in October. The ambiance was so incredible and other than it being absolutely freezing at our table, the lunch was lovely. Here are a few photos of the restaurant.


Do you see the hidden Mickey???


They even have a Build a Dino store on the side. Very cute, it is made by the Build a Bear Company.


A normal tradition for the kids when we are at Disney is to have a Mickey ice cream. Of course you have to start by biting off the ears.
As we were leaving, we spotted these window displays with dolls for the skirts on the dresses. They were beautiful. It was hard to take a photo of them, though. This one is for Cinderella. There was also Belle and Sleeping Beauty.

Here is Mickey at the hotel we stayed at. I think it is called a Freedom Mickey. If you look closely you can see things painted on Mickey. Fireworks, words, etc.

Whew!

Whew! This past week was one BUSY week! It started out like a normal week, but ended up with a trip to Disney, a work Christmas party, some Boy Scout activities for Daniel and then a dinner out on Sunday night.

Here are the kids in front of the Christmas tree that was in the lobby of our hotel. It is a real tree! It was so beautiful!!


Here is what they have done to Cinderella's castle for the holidays. It is beautiful and I am afraid that my photo has not done it justice. They have nets of LED lights all over the castle and then they put lights of blue, purple and pink on the castle as well. The colors change throughout the night.

We love to go to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Here are some photos from the parade.

We caught up with my sister and her family. We got to walk around together for bit and even rode some rides together. Here are Sarah and Ashley on the Buzz Lightyear ride. They were having a blast together.

As we came out of Pirates of the Caribbean, we found this singing troupe of pirates. They sang songs and embarrassed this poor lady in the audience. Then they brought out these handbells and they were amazingly GOOD at ringing them.
We found Woody and Jesse to take photos with. The kids are not willing to wait in long lines to get photographed with characters, but if the line is short they will oblige their mommy. Bill got in on the act this time, too!

They decorate the Magic Kingdom so beautifully at Christmas time. Here are a few photos of the prettiness.

It's Beginning to Look a Little like Christmas

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas around here. Yesterday, Sarah put up our new tree in the living room. We bought this 9 ft. tree at Target last year after Christmas. We bought all new decorations just for this tree. It looks so pretty in the corner of the living room. Sarah did a great job!

One of my most favorite Christmas decorations is this nativity set. I bought it years ago and it has made it through many moves and even small children. I think that one donkey ear may have broken one year, but a little glue took care of that.


The kids love it when we have outdoor lights up, too. Bill borrows the neighbor's ladder and gets to it. I am nervous when he is up on the roof, but he doesn't seem to mind. I'll try to pop a photo of the house once they are all up.



We still have to complete the tree in the family room and there are other various decorations throughout the house that need to be addressed, but this is a huge start.

Cookie Day

The day after Thanksgiving we were not shopping, we were baking cookies! Kathy brought the girls and Mom up to bake several batches of cookies and a batch of fudge. We had a lot of fun, made a big mess and sampled some yumminess.

Thanksgiving

Bill decided that this was the year to finally use our turkey fryer. We received it as a gift about 5 Christmases ago and never used it. It has been patiently waiting in the attic. Dad helped Bill get the turkey into the hot oil.


It sure did bubble, but they were careful and there were no casualties.


I actually thought that perhaps the turkey was overdone because it was so brown and crispy. But it was VERY juicy and quite tasty.

Here we are getting ready to eat...minus Dad in this photo. We'll see Dad in another photo soon.


Dad had some help eating his dessert from Chelsea!


We also celebrated Daniel's 12th birthday while we had dessert.

Advent Calendars

Here are two Advent calendars that I just finished up this morning. I made three. I will be giving two of them away. I am happy with the results and now need to fill the little boxes.