a preschool Christmas...

Brady & I love going to preschool. We have so much fun! Right before Christmas break, we had our Christmas program. It worked out really nice for Daddy & Mommy...they were at the same time. We sang "Jingle Bells," ""Happy Birthday, Jesus," and " We wish you a Merry Christmas." I was an angel...singing so sweetly...

...and Brady was a king, who spent most of his time on stage waving to Daddy (pictured below) or watching me sing.

After the program, we each had a class party. Daddy went to Brady's and Mommy went to mine. Afterwards, Daddy & Brady met us at my party...and played Bingo with us.

It was fun.

We will miss being at preschool, but we are so excited to be home every day for about 2 weeks!

swimming with santa...

For our 2nd year in a row, Daddy & Mommy took us to "swim with Santa" at Ray's Splash Planet in Charlotte. (It's an indoor water park that we love!) We had so much fun. Right when I saw Santa (who I also see this same Santa at our church! :)), I climbed on his lap and hugged him. He even knew my name! I was impressed! So, here we are...Santa and me!

He even let me play with his beard while we chatted about how "good" I've been!

Then, it was Brady's turn. He really likes Santa, but from about 10 feet away. Mommy put Brady on Santa's lap, but he wasn't too thrilled. Brady didn't cry, but he didn't talk to Santa either. I think he finally warmed up to Santa by the end of the evening, but Brady sure loved him from a distance!

Brady loved swimming in the water...

...especially with Daddy!

I loved going down the big water slide.

Mommy & me...with Santa! He was swimming, too!

I also love the "toddler" area...with slides and water sprayers everywhere!

Brady loved it, too. He even went down the slide by himself...we haven't been in about 8 months, and he wasn't sliding by himself then!

So fun!

Our family went with Aunt Helen, Carter, Kaitlyn, & Stephanie. I loved having my cousins there!

Having a great time!

Stephanie didn't want to sit with Santa, so I offered to sit with her. Then, she did it. He was making us laugh a lot!

Meanwhile, Brady is still sliding...and just content to wave at Santa!

Brady also liked the fountains.

What a fun night we had...swimming with Santa.

playgroup christmas party

This past Friday, we had our annual playgroup Christmas party. We had so much fun at my Aunt Helen's house. We played, ate lunch, and exchanged gifts. Here is our annual attempt on a group picture. (The oldest pictured is 5...the youngest pictured is 18 months!) Can you find Averie and me?

Averie had fun opening her gift from her friend, Tucker...

...glow explosion and a Littlest Pet Shop cat!

I had fun opening my gift from my friend, Lillie...

...monster trucks...wahoo!!

We sure had a fun party, and we are very thankful for such a great group of friends!

just like daddy...

I love watching my Daddy...and copying everything he does. One of the things I love watching him do is shave. I call it "ho, ho, ho" since Daddy says that once he puts on all his shaving cream. One morning, I asked him, "Me do it too, Daddy"? and he said yes. So, I got all ready...bar stool, mirror...ready to shave...just like my Daddy!

I start by rubbing my hands together...and then putting it on my face...

I keep doing this until the cream is all over my face.

Still rubbing...

"Me like Daddy"

I had so much fun...and I sure love spending time with my Daddy.

christmas fun...

We love to decorate the tree together. We get our jammies on, Daddy & Mommy have Christmas music playing, and we wear our Santa hats...and decorate. We took a few pics before we started decorating...

Averie ~ 5 years old

Me...Brady ~ 2 1/2 years old

us

Aren't we cute? :)

Mommy with Averie & me

Daddy with Averie & me

And, time to decorate. We actually have 2 trees this year...a real one and an artificial one. We've had the artificial one for about 5 years, and Daddy & Mommy thought it would be fun for us to be decorate that one. So, after Daddy & Mommy put the garland on, we got to put on the ornaments and candy canes. (And, yes, we ended up having to decorate this tree another night since it took so long for us to decorate the real tree the first night! :))

"There...perfect...sharing the same branch." :)

Averie LOVED decorating. Since I kept throwing the "balls" (ornaments), she got to help a little longer and had so much fun! We both had fun putting on all the candy canes.

We are having fun...

...and our tree is complete!

Here is a picture of our real Christmas tree...our "Griswold" tree! We love it!

And, here is the tree we decorated...

making gingerbread houses...

Just for Christmas fun, we went over to Aunt Helen and Uncle Todd's house to decorate our first gingerbread houses. Mommy got these kits for us...and Aunt Helen provided the extra frosting and candies. We had so much fun decorating with Daddy & Mommy...and our cousins, Carter, Kaitlyn, Stephanie, Brayden, & Jackson.

Here I am...ready to start decorating...and eating the candy when Mommy looks away!

So much fun putting the candy on the house...of course, I'd rather be eating it. Thankfully, Mommy let me eat a couple after I used a few for decorating. Yummy!

The decorating continues...this takes some time!

Meanwhile, Averie and Daddy are busy at work on her gingerbread house, too!

This was a first for both of them, and Daddy & Averie had a lot of fun decorating her house!

"What, you mean I can't eat more candy than what I am using to decorate"? "You mean, I can't eat it straight off my gingerbread house either"?

Daddy & Averie...busy at work!

The whole group...decorating away!

Me & my finished gingerbread house

Mommy & me...and my house!

Daddy & Averie putting some final touches on her house.

Averie & her finished gingerbread house...complete with a yard!

Daddy & Averie...and her house!

What a fun night!