Great Wolf Lodge

We continued our stay in Grapevine and went to The Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of nights.  They are VERY family oriented and we had a blast!

The kids did the Great Wolf Stuffing Station…

 

They wrote their letters to Santa and mailed them…

Chilin’ with Curious George and the Great Wolf…

   

The water park is AWESOME!

 

The big bucket at the top fills up with water and dumps…Sarah and Dewey enjoyed getting drenched by the “waterfall”!!!!

Carson’s favorite part was the water guns and Sarah’s favorite part was the lily pads…

  

Story time in the evening was fun in our pj’s and…

it even snows in the lobby!

 

ICE! 2011

To start off Christmas break, we headed to Grapevine for our stay-cation. 

   

Their manger scene was breathtaking!!!! 

Toy Solider, Curious George (who is staying with us over Christmas break from Mrs. Foster’s class), and the O’Neill’s give ICE! two thumbs up!

Nutcracker 2011

Sarah was a candy cane in the Nutcracker and this has become a holiday tradition that is dear to my heart.  Even thought we are EXHAUSTED by the end of “Nutcracker week”….we have so much fun.  The friendships that are created in the late night practices and back stage are magical.  Sarah giggles, dances, and talks to her friends and it makes my heart smile. 

This year, the head princess of the candy cane scene was one of my former fifth graders.  And Sugar Plumb was the assistant in Sarah’s dance class last year.   {On a side note…Sugar Plumb has been accepted into the exclusive SMU school of dance and she has been offered a combination of $183,000 in scholarships from across the country….she is AMAZING!}  Both girls Sarah loves and both girls made her feel special.  Nutcracker takes on an environment of its own between the older girls and the younger girls…VERY SPECIAL!

  

Sarah had a cheering section of her own…

Having fun backstage…

 

Carson’s favorite character was the Nutcracker because he is “like Luke Skywalker with his sword.”

Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child.--William Saroyan

Every year, I write a post about my favorite decorations around the house that we put up for Christmas.  This year I’m going to write this with a new twist.  Sarah and Carson are totally into Christmas and I love seeing Christmas through their eyes.  It’s the simplest things or the smallest task that warms my heart….to hear them talk about Christmas or play with their holiday decorations makes my heart smile.  To honor them, here are a few of my favorite decorations around the house through their eyes.

1. Elf On The Shelf-The excitement of the kids in the morning to find Candy, our Elf On The Shelf, is so fun to watch.  They run out of bed to try to find her first. 

 

2.  Pictures Through The Years-I love to add the new pictures of the kids over the years.  The kids love looking back on the pictures and seeing how much they have grown.  Can you find our Christmas card from this year?

 

3.  Nativity Scene-The kids play with the Nativity scene every night.  Sometimes hearing the “Silent Night” song makes my day. 

4.  Nutcrackers…Our new Nutcrackers for this year are the ballerina and the number “beleven” (Carson’s soccer number) football player.

5.  My backroom table has two of my favorite things….my childhood stocking that my grandmother made and my snow globes.  The kids love to “make it snow”!

 

6.  Our Tech Tree…Our ornaments are not hung even and neither are the lights….and I’m totally okay with that because the kids decorated it.  The angel on top was added this year by Sarah and I love it!!!