Happy Birthday!

Elle turned four a couple weeks ago and we had a family party for her at our house.

She was SO EXCITED for the party to start and kept asking when people would start arriving. Unc and Aunt Paige were the first to come and she ran as fast as she could to greet them at the door!

The Voss family was out with a stomach bug and when I told her they couldn't make it she said, "Well, can Unc at least still come?"...these babies love their Uncy!

A princess cake for our birthday princess!

After dinner, cake and presents we headed to the trampoline park for some jumping.  She has been talking about climbing this rock wall since the summer.  She is a tad short and doesn't quite me the height requirement but Eric was able to sneak her in. 

She didn't get far but she tried!

Ollie ran NON STOP.

And the person who may have had the best time is Will. He was in heaven.

Oldest Hylton cousin and youngest. 

I love this picture so much!

Elle adores these two!!

Her Wellie Wisher doll Ashlynn had to come with us and poor MawMaw got stuck carrying her around for most of the night.  Here they are getting ready to leave. 

When we got back home we thought the kids would crash but Elle, obviously,  wanted to play with all her new toys!

The next morning was her actual birthday so the celebrating continued!

Ollie's hair is out of control!!!

After presents we ditched the boys and headed out for some girl time.

First up, mani's and pedi's!!

She had so much fun!

Then a quick stop at the American Girl store.

We were getting ready to leave to take her out to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings when MawMaw and PawPaw made a quick stop at our house to deliver one more present to the birthday girl.  They spoil this girl!

After dinner we went to Target so the kids could do their Christmas shopping for each other, I loved this and want to keep this tradition every year.

After dinner we came home and wanted to light a lantern like off the movie Tangled. Well the one I bought was defective and literally crashed and burned. 

Better luck next year!

We ended the night with a tea party hosted by the birthday girl.

Cheers to our sweet girl!!!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We couldn't let Christmas arrive without a trip to see Santa and let him know what Elle and Ollie are hoping for!

We headed to Von Maur and waiting in line for a little over an hour before it was our turn.  Elle was excited and walked right up to him and asked for a "baby unicorn that flies and eats purple strawberries and a yoyo"

When Eric put Ollie on his lap his face turned bright red, he covered his eyes and after a minute he started crying.

3 days until Christmas!!!

Pre-K 3 Christmas Program

Elle's first year of school has been going smoothly.  I have been SO EXCITED for her first Christmas Program.  Leading up to it we kept talking about singing "LOUD & PROUD"...girlfriend did just that. :)

The Program is for PK3, PK4 and Kindergarten but the church was so crowded! We arrived 30 minutes before it started and quickly realized that wasn't early enough.  We grabbed the closest seat we could and I went ahead and let Eric know he would be at Church mid afternoon next year to save us a seat. :)  

The night was already so special but to make it even more so, Elle wore my Aunt Colleen's coat from the 50's.  Aunt Colleen had given this to me when I was pregnant with Elle, I remember thinking how long it would be before it fit...here we are already.

We were so lucky to have picked seats with a pretty clear view of our girl.  They sang a few Christmas songs and Elle did so great!!

Ollie attempted to steal the show by clapping and cheering as loud as he could after each song.  Absolutely adorable!!!

So proud of her!

After the program we went to Stefanin's with my mom and dad to keep the party going.  Sissy was on cloud 9 all night!

St. Nick's Day

St. Nick made a stop at our house in early December.

These were two excited kiddos getting ready for bed.

By chance, Elfie arrived the same night. :) This year he brought a second Elf, a girl named Coco. 

Elle had been hoping for this since this past summer!

When we walked out to the kitchen I made a comment about the snow that was all over the kitchen table, Elle said "Mommy, that's just from the donuts."

:)

Goodies from St. Nick

Ollie wanted this "guy" opened immediately.  I don't think he had any idea it held candy. 

Fun morning with my babes.  Elfie and Coco have been having fun flying through our house, eating marshmallows, digging through the candy jar and sometimes just staying cozy in the same spot they were in the night before. ;)

Life Lately

We have been doing a lot of Christmas shopping, preparing for a very special girls 4th birthday and listening to Christmas music practically nonstop. :)

We've just been hangin' around enjoying the Christmas season and all the fun it brings. ;)

We made cookies one night.  It was a really neat Frozen box set where you made the dough, rolled it out and cut out the cookies into snow-globe shapes.

Truth by told this was our first time rolling out cookie dough and using the cookie cutter for anything besides fun sandwich shapes. :)

The kit came with Frozen edible stickers to place on each cookie and little edible paint palettes to paint them. 

Big hit with my kiddos.

Sidenote: Elle picked out her own outfit, girlfriend has her own unique style and I love it.

Ollie loves to read, love love loves it. 

His favorite book is Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups.  We have read it so many times he knows what pages say, "1...2...3....BOO!!" and he will sit and "read" those pages out loud to himself.

Even when flipping through this Olaf book he was saying "1...2...3....BOO!!" over and over again. :)

Terrorizing MawMaw's pantry after Mary's birthday celebration. 

My mom keeps this pantry stocked to the brim with goodies for these 4 and they loooove going in there to pick out a treat. Or spill a bucket of pretzels in Ollie's case. 

Christmas music playing and gingerbread house making with my girl.

Give us all the hot cocoa in December. :)

Out Christmas shopping with the Voss crew.  The kids are all looking down on Santa.

About 40 minutes after this was taken Elle had a massive meltdown over pushing the buttons on the "alligator"....elevator.

That TV tray is her desk and  she is being the teacher and I am sitting on the couch as a student. Love that she chose to have the Eifle Tower as a decoration on her desk. 

She forgets the name of it sometimes and will ask me, "Mom, what is the name of that thing that is in Paris?".

Rocking the man bun!

Keeping his hair long and the curls extra wild. :) 

Letters to Santa!

Sissy wants a unicorn that eats purple strawberries, she randomly found this on Kids YouTube and a YoYo. That came out of left field.

Ollie just wants to use the pen he is writing with to color all over his hands and clothes.

:)