Christmas (Part 2)

We made it to Nebraska for Christmas.  At Thanksgiving we didn't even get to stay for lunch because they were calling for an ice storm!

Ava woke up excited for more gifts.

 

 

She got lots of fun stuff including light up blocks, doll furniture, trucks, books, and a cute Christmas dress.

Our Christmas princess!

Annual Santa hat picture

Ava and Jemma

Ava and Grandma

 



Best family picture we could get, lol

 

Ava also enjoyed playing "Beanboozled!"  Basically, there are a bunch of jelly beans.  Some of them taste good, some taste horrible!  You spin the wheel and pick the color and see what you get.  Some of these jelly beans are downright disgusting!!!  Rotten egg, canned dog food, stinky socks to name a few.  Luckily Ava kept getting the "ok" ones.  Like toothpaste vs blueberry or pear vs lawn clippings.  She only spit one of them out.  She liked it so much she wanted to take the game home, lol!!  I only took ONE spin and thankfully I got caramel popcorn (vs rotten egg)!! 

 

 

Jon taught her this little tune, lol

Rocking out to Daddy's metal on the way home.  Jon is so proud, lol.

 



Christmas (Part 1)

Christmas was so fun this year because Ava's starting to understand more. She is also at the age where she totally believes and its SO cute!
 

Check it out, we caught Santa!

The Elf got into the cookies

Ava got lots of fun stuff this year.  Walkie Talkies, puzzles, books, princess stuff, shadow puppets, make up, etc.  Her big gift this year was an Elsa Castle.

She took over my "adult" coloring book!

Leo had fun on Christmas too!

Marshmallow the Snow Monster!

 

Playing with her makeup

Digging for treasure

Other Holiday Tidbits

Ava had a great time at her school Christmas Party.  They has a short concert for the parents, snacks, and a book exchange.

The class sang "All Around the Christmas Tree" (to the tune "All Around the Mulberry Bush"), The "Rudolf Pokey", and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."

Gingerbread man decorating.  

It only took one bite to realize she doesn't like gingerbread!  I don't blame her, I think it's nasty!!

So she just licked off the icing and candy

Christmas lights!

Ava loves the lights so much.  We usually take the long way home and go around the block to look at them in our neighborhood.  We've also been to a few light shows as well.

We went to this place called "Paulie's Penguin Playground."  This is at someone's house and they have over 100 of these Christmas inflatables!  They do it to raise money for childhood leukemia.  I thought Ava would love it but after a couple minutes she said, "Mom I don't like this place."  I think she was a little creeped out and it is a bit noisy with the fans keeping the decorations inflated.  Maybe we'll try again next year.

Holiday Express

We managed to squeeze in one more Christmas event. This was another first for us, a visit to see the Holiday Express Train!  Every Christmas the Holiday Express makes a stop at Union Station.  Since it was last minute, we didn't have reservations.  We had a whopping 1 hour and 40 minute wait before we even got to Santa!  My Mom and I took turns holding our place in line while the other tried to keep the kids occupied.  Even thought the wait was long, seeing the kids excitement to see the train was worth it.

There were lots of mini train displays.

Meeting Santa and Mrs Claus

Inside the holiday express.  It was decorated beautifully.

Fairy Princess

We went to visit the Fairy Princess this year.   This is a Kansas City tradition that has been around since 1935!  The kids had story time, Christmas songs, crafts, treats, and of course got to meet the Princess.

 

The event was held in a beautiful historic building! 

Some of the Fairy Princesses of Christmas pasts.

The 2015 Fairy Princess

 

Next to the Princess you'll see some treasure boxes.  The kids got to wave the magic wand (Gavin is holding it) and the boxes magically open all by themselves!!  The kids were amazed!  Inside was a gift from the Princess.

Telling the Princess their Christmas wishes.

WhoVille Holidays

We tried something new this year and went to the City Market for WhoVille Holidays!  The kids got to ride the WhoVille train, do some crafts, jump in the bounce house and meet the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who!!  I thought Ava might be scared of the Grinch but she wasn't!

 

 

Ava Lou Who and Gavin Lou Who!!