Christmas Town

We were full of Christmas cheer at our house yesterday making gingerbread houses.  Haha.  There is a reason why I always glue gun them. She wanted to do it all with icing. Eventually she got her house to stand up.  For once Joel was an angel and didn't do anything to set her off. 

Thankfully Brent came home from work early for us to go to Christmas Town. We had two free tickets under Brent and Colin's passes so we took advantage of that and met up with some friends a little later in the afternoon. 

Colin and Joel were riding the little kid Grover coaster. Colin said as they were nearing the small drop Joel leaned over and said, "Do you think this will be an enjoyable ride? My day is going pretty good. How about yours?"

Pretty good I say! ha!

The only ride we had to wait for was the train.  They only had one train running and sadly the festhaus didnt have a show that day.  We did get to see the Irish dancers and the ice skating show. The ice skating show was worth the whole trip. 

Colin will forever make me laugh on his roller coaster pictures.  

 They have trained the horses to turn and smile on command.  

A great way to end the Christmas Season.

Christmas

Elizabeth is just the sweetest little girl.  It was fun having a little one in the house again on Christmas. 

Santa brought Joel a pocket knife and a whittling book. He has loved it.  He carries it around with him everywhere.  

Norah and Mama-ma were twinsies the day after Christmas. Norah was thrilled they came out matching. 

An afternoon hiking around Pandapas Pond was greatly needed after all the christmas cookies we had eaten. We didn't have snow this year but the weather was really nice to be outside. 

For years I've been telling him I couldn't wait until he could drive so I could sit and read a book.  He drove part of the way home and it still is a little scary but so far is a really good driver. 

These two went right to work on their new lego sets as soon as we got home. 

Christmas Eve

We had our family Christmas on Christmas Eve before we headed to Blacksburg.

How he feels about waking up early on a day off from school and swimming. 

Just kidding. We let them sleep in.  Brent even went early and took my car to get the oil changed before we opened presents. 

Colin had been using my old old phone and it stopped working this summer.  He started not getting service anywhere and if swim practice got out early or he needed to be picked up he had to use someone else's phone.  Since he will be driving soon we wanted him to have a working phone so we surprised him with his new phone. 

We packed up in time for the christmas eve service and then drove to Blacksburg. 

Wilbur

 It all started when Brent took Joel Christmas shopping. Colin had a swim team Christmas party down at the oceanfront so instead of driving all the way there and then home only to turn around and go pick him up, Brent and Joel went to dinner and passed the time doing some shopping. They ended up at Trader Joes with a pet store next to it.  I kept hearing about all these cute guinea pigs for days afterwards. 

Then the last day of school before break I picked up Brent at work and we knocked out some last minute Christmas gifts.  Brent just so happened to stop by this same pet store.  Just to see he said.  And they were cute.  We decided to surprise the kids with one since we weren't sure how to get it without them knowing and putting it under the tree. I've never seen Brent so excited.  I had to go to the car while he was checking out before I changed my mind.  

Wilbur is 2 months old and very cute and sweet.  Joel and Norah were so excited.  Colin just keeps mentioning why haven't we surprised him with a dog yet. Because a guinea pig is all his mother can handle right now. 

They finally decided on naming him Wilbur.

Ugly sweater

Norah had an ugly Christmas sweater contest in Girl Scouts. For two weeks I asked her what she was going to wear. She informed me she doesn’t wear ugly sweaters nor wants to own any ugly sweaters. 

So I told her we can make a temporary one. And she actually won the contest.