Getting ready for Christmas!

 We got a little bit of snow before Christmas that allowed for some Sunday afternoon fun outside!  Maddy had been begging to wear her snow boots, so she was absolutely thrilled to get bundled up to play outside.  We had just bought a couple new sleds and even though our backyard is mostly flat, we got a little bit of fun out of them!  On a side note, I had Lasik surgery early in December - yippee!  However, it made the bright snow and cold air a bit harder to handle while playing outside with the kids.  Luckily, my eyes are feeling a lot better now.  I'm hoping for a snow day soon.  At least one good snow day home with the kids is a special treat!

This was our first year with our own Elf on the Shelf.  We named him "Timmy" and the kids had a blast looking for him every morning.  I got a lot of great ideas off Pinterest.  But to be honest, December was such a busy month that I only pulled off a few of the really creative ones.  Bryan had a good time with it as well and came up with some great places for Timmy to hide each morning!  

One of Bryan's best ideas had to do with Jack having his very first loose tooth.  Jack didn't get his first tooth until he was 13 months old, so now he losing teeth fairly late as well.  A lot of his friends have lost teeth, so he was extremely excited to have a loose one!  Bryan teased Jack that Timmy was small enough to climb in his mouth and pull his tooth, so one morning Timmy had a pliers and a special tooth sign for him (bottom middle picture)!  Jack was a great sport and thought it was pretty funny!

Here are a few other fun December happenings:  Maddy & Jack got some fun Mickey Mouse Santa ears to celebrate Christmas!  /  Jack lost his first tooth, but swallowed it while eating a Rice Krispie bar at school.  He wrote a letter to the tooth fairy instead of leaving it for her.  /  Tonka celebrated his 13th birthday.  The old boy is getting up there in years!  We're happy to have him with us for another birthday!  /  Jack decided he wanted to have his very own tie and be able to dress up fancy like Daddy!  He looks so handsome in his tie.  /  We put up our Christmas tree in the family room downstairs again this year, but it didn't feel right to be tree-less upstairs, so we put up a small tree that the kids got to decorate themselves.  They had a lot of fun with it and I believe it may become a tradition at our house!