HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS

We went to visit Santa in downtown Noblesville. It's the first time we've gone to see him there. He was SOO nice. I think he might have been the real thing ;-)
My son----when we were walking out Wyatt said, " Did you see the NOSE on that guy?" Too funny.
Is that a sweet face or what?

The all school caroling in the library.

Lily with some of her friends at her class party.

Playing games.

Here's an awesome website the kids have been enjoying. Lily wrote a letter to Santa on here and today she got one from him! It was personalized just for her with her name all through it and it even mentioned the activities she likes. She was very impressed. It may be too late for the letter this year, but I highly recommend it for next. The site also has lots of great games and activities---and it's all free! The checkers are hard to beat!!
northpole.com
I have pics to post from today but haven't loaded them yet. I'll try to get them on tomorrow.

JINGLE BELL ROCK

Jeff got to go to gingerbread day at Lily's school. They get to invite 2 "helpers" to make their houses. She was SO happy to have him there!
The finished product. Like the black eye? She ran into the stair banister the other night. I actually thought it would look a lot worse than it does!
Lily's dance class did a holiday performance for the parents. The video is above.

The above pics are from our ice/snow storm last weekend. You southerners, can you believe the only thing we got out of this was a 2 hour delay? It would have shut our schools down for at least 2 days in the south!

CATCH UP PICS FROM A BUSY WEEKEND AND WEEK

Lily a biography project in which she had to make a poster and give a speech. They also got extra credit for dressing like the person. She chose Martha Washington. I was able to sneak in and watch her(a perk of the job) and she did a great job. Like the hat I made in 2 minutes from her shepherd costume? Looks OK from a distance ;-)

Lily's Brownie troop did Jazzercise at one of their meetings with a troop from another school. They divided up into groups and made up their own routines---right up her alley!
Our first big snow.
Wyatt practicing his guitar. He's learned to play Sweet Home Alabama!
Lily's dance studio performed at a local nursing home. Her class did Jingle Bell Rock.
Lily was a shepherd in the church Christmas program. Here she is with her twin friends Elaine and Katie. They did a great job.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, as it always is this time of year. I don't know where December has gone!! Above are some of the highlights of our last couple of weeks. I'm sure the next couple will prove to be just as busy! Jeff and I actually got out to nice dinner without the kids last night. We've had a gift card to Eddie Merlot's since last Christmas and decided we'd better use it before it expired! We had the Chateaubriand for Two and it was awesome! Then we did a bit of Christmas shopping afterward. It's been forever since we've had a nice, adult night out---and it was great!

We were supposed to be heading to Kentucky this afternoon for a family get together, but it's snowing like crazy right now and Kentucky is supposed to get it tomorrow. Not sure if we'll be going now.

BIG WEEKEND

We had a busy, fun weekend. Lots going on, but the main event was, of course, the Hannah Montana concert this afternoon. It was really great. The girls were just in awe--it was so neat to see how they reacted. They loved the Jonas Brothers also. We went to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe before and they loved that. It was packed with little girls going to the concert. The Jonas brothers played for about 30 minutes and then Hannah came out. She went back and came out as Miley. The Jonas brothers came back out and sang with her also. The whole thing lasted about 2 1/2 hours-I was surprised it was that long. The sets and lighting were really cool---and, of course, the clothes she wore! Lily loves that part. Definitely worth the effort I went to to get the tickets! I think it's something they will remember for a long time.

INSPIRATION

I'ts been several months since I've been in a regular exercise routine. The longest I've gone in 20 years, including during 2 pregnancies! And I've just felt crappy! I'm just out of the habit and want to get back to it. Soooo, yesterday I laid out my exercise clothes on the bed with intentions of getting on the treadmill as soon as I got home from school. When I got home,I walked upstairs thinking, hmmm, sure would like to read for a while. Then I noticed something on top of my pile of clothes. It was a note of encouragement from my wonderful hubby. That's all it took. I was on the treadmill within 10 minutes and did my 30 minutes plus weight exercises. I felt so much better afterwards and I really hope this will get me back into it. It's been a long time coming.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL ON ICE

We went to see High School Musical on Ice today. It was fabulous!! What else would you expect from a Disney production, though? They really know how to do it right! We had awesome seats--just a couple of rows from the floor. The first half was HSM 1 and the second half after intermission was HSM 2, so they covered every HSM song. We made a day of it and had lunch in downtown Indy and then Starbucks after. We tried to go to Hard Rock Cafe but the wait was 45 minutes. We're gonna try to go there next Sunday before Hannah Montana. Can't wait for that one!

Wyatt and Jeff had a great day, too. He wanted to make it special for Wyatt since we were doing something special. They went to a nice lunch and to see Fred Claus. They liked the movie. I've heard it was funny.

TRIMMING THE TREE