Merry Christmas!

Here are a few photos from our visit with Santa at Schneider this week. It was fun to visit him just days before Christmas & we were all waiting to see Maeve's reaction!

Here she is.... 1st time on Santa's lap

She was a bit terrified & couldn't stop looking at him & grabbing at his big, curly, white beard. (He's trying to pry her little fingers off the beard in the picture!) She was good for a minute or two but then her eyes started to well up with tears. Thankfully her sisters jumped onto the couch to join her and that made it a little better.

Marin & Margaux were surprisingly vocal with Santa. They both told him that they are hoping for American Girl dolls & nothing else. Lucky for them... I think elves made one for each! We're all looking forward to all the festivities beginning tomorrow! xoxo

Marin on Wednesday at her Christmas Program. She was so excited to dress up & sing for all of us. (Mommy, Daddy, Margaux, Maeve & Grandpa Jerry)

She did such a great job singing, we were all so proud of her. They sang a total of five songs including, The Little Drummer Boy, Five Little Elves Jumping on a Sleigh, We Wish You A Merry Christmas & Rodolph. The 5 Little Elves was our favorite...so stinking cute! One Little Elf left below...

Marin and one of her friends Laken

And here with Emme & Olivia...

Such a cute program. Glad we were able to capture both picture & video. It will be fun to watch again soon. There were a few little characters in her class that really made the program very entertaining. So fun! xoxo

Here is our 2011 Brown Family Christmas Card for those of you who haven't seen it...

And here are the girls (mommy's) holiday projects from throughout the years...

Marin's foot @ age 1 1/2 (2008)

Margaux's hand @ almost 1 year (2009)

and this year we added Maeve's feet to complete the collection. They are so tiny & cute!

I'm happy to have them to look back at once the girls have grown. Such a fun holiday memory to bring out each year! This year's Christmas tree foot project was a bit of a challenge since it used two colors. I was lucky to get one that turned out well!

And here is Gary's holiday project... the entire picture created with Microsoft Excel! It took him hours but look @ how great it is!

Notice the BP gas station on the top next to the skyscrapers. I could not believe he did it all himself! They had a contest @ work & he was determined to win. Too funny! He does have a little crafting in him!! lol

We've done a lot of baking over the past week...

Cut out cookies & decorating. Look at all those cookies...

They did such a great job & they taste great too! Margaux loved LOADING the cookies with sprinkles galore... we couldn't get her to stop. Lots of laughs.

We also made gingerbread houses with the big girls. Gary got really into it as well. We had so much fun!

I was so impressed with how much the girls really concentrated on decorating & working to make them look nice! I think 50% of the candy/decorations made it onto the house 50% into their mouths!

Next year I'm going to bake the house from scratch. I think it would be fun to make one big one & decorate it together. These were little milk cartons covered with graham crackers. Worked well!

Our friend Merry has been in some crazy places throughout the house lately...

The girls think she is soooo funny! Still super excited to find her each morning. No cookies this day since we can't touch Merry...

Hanging out in the bowl-o-ornaments on the coffee table...

In the tree (one of her favorite spots, she's been there a few times!)

Good thing it's almost Christmas, Merry is running out of places to land each night!

Isn't this the most precious moment you've ever seen? So happy I captured it...

They all look so similar but I couldn't choose just one image...

The big M's were beyond excited to show Maeve the "bonfire" as they call it. The conversation was priceless. Marin (in her baby voice)- "Maeve lookit, it's a fire... it's really hot, we can't touch it. Awww it's your first bonfire."

Margaux (also in baby tone) "Isn't it gorgeous, it's a bonfire." etc.

Just too cute for words. They can be a bit trying at times, but it's moments like this that make them so wonderful. We love them to pieces. xoxo

Cutest.Bell Ringer.Ever!

We volunteered for one hour this past weekend to ring the Salvation Army bell @ Piggly Wiggly. I thought it would be a great experience for our girls & something we can hopefully do each year. So Friday eve was the 1st annual. The girls had so much fun taking turns ringing the bell. Marin was definitely more interested than Margaux as you can see in the picture below...

Margaux had WAY more fun running around the store & being silly than she did ringing the bell. So Marin, Gary & myself took turns ringing. We were shocked at how many nice people stopped to drop money in the big red bucket. (Including our 6 year old neighbor Cooper who had been collecting for weeks. He arrived with $35 in change!) And it may have had something to do with this as well...

Gary & his dancing Christmas Tree hat. Yes, this was not only an ugly sweater party accessory but it also made an appearance while we rang the bell! He found it necessary to push the button to play  the tune "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" each time he saw someone coming. It got a little old but people loved it! Maeve even enjoyed the experience. She is so happy to just watch people & be held, so this was right up her alley. We're looking forward to ringing again next year! xoxo

Here they are... pictures of the Ugly Sweater Bonanza (aka 1st Annual neighborhood Ugly Sweater Party.) There were a total of 8 couples there & we had sooo much fun. Here are the guys...Gary not only looks goofy with his silly facial hair & dancing hat... but he also looks SO small standing next to Bryan the biggest guy @ the party!!! haha

And the ladies... My mom made the headband for me just hours before the party started. (Thanks mom!) It was a great accessory. I got a lot of "Sara! You are wearing mistletoe on your head??!!!" The guys thought it was so funny.

Julie & myself...

A couple of the girls....

Gary and one of his neighborhood bffs Andy (on the left) and Steve (right). Gary definitely was over-served at this party. He was still nursing a headache Sunday. (The party was Friday night!) We left around midnight & I think if two of the guys didn't have an important game to play in on Sunday (Go Packers!) they would have partied all night!

We have such an awesome group of neighbors! Can't wait for next year... xoxo

She's laughing so hard & thinks she's soooo funny. So did we the first time, but I can tell you we were not laughing when she did it about 10 more times! I think after a week or so, I've finally managed to tell her that it was funny once but mommy would really appreciate it if she didn't unroll the entire roll each & every time she sits down on the toilet!

And here is Maeve with her Sophie the Giraffe teether that St. Nick brought for her. She loves this thing so much & really loves shoving Sohpie's entire head in her mouth. We have now learned when playing with Sophie, Maeve must wear a bib. She completely soaks herself!

What the pictures don't show is the loud sqeaking noise Sophie makes each & every time Maeve bites down on her. It resembles a dog toy!

14 days until Christmas... CAN.NOT.WAIT! xoxo

Here are the girls with their good friends Ellana & Avelyn. They stopped in for a visit a week ago. We sure do miss living closer to them. Although, the girls picked up right where they left off & had a great time playing together.

We were sad to say goodbye but hope to see them again VERY soon! xoxo

Last weekend we went to Lambeau Field for their annual tree lighting event. The girls just love it & even though it's a bit crazy, we always have a good time. This year we went straight to the cookie decorating station... the girls were pretty excited to decorate & eat their first sugar cookie this holiday season. Although I'm not sure they could even taste the cookie with all the frosting & sprinkles they loaded on...

Then after we sat & listened to the carolers for a while we found a nice stranger to take our picture in Santa's Locker. I couldn't wait to see the picture since I knew the girls had no idea the lady was even taking our picture. They were WAY more interested in getting to see Santa himself.

We didn't actually get to Santa's lap (we never do!) both big girls were too afraid. We did however, stand back & wave from afar. They told me they'd much rather send him a letter with their wish list. They definitely sat much better with me behind the camera for this shot...

It was a fun evening. We made Christmas cards, missed out on a gingerbread cookie because they were sold out & were on our way. We only saw the tree briefly because it was raining, but the girls were amazed with how big the tree was outside Lambeau. We will def. go again next year. xo

Look who got her first taste of solid food...

Her initial reaction looked like this...

Marin & Margaux thought it was soooo funny to see her pushing it out of her mouth with her tiny little tongue after each bite. Gary & I really enjoyed watching all of the reactions. After she finished a bit of the rice cereal we spent an hour or so watching home movies of Marin & Margaux's first time eating solid foods, as well as many other firsts. It was such a fun morning.

And here are the girls with their advent calendars from Aunt Katie. It's amazing how a tiny piece of chocolate can make them so happy after dinner each night. (It's a great motivator to get them to eat as well!)

Their faces are so silly. I think they get sick of me in their face with the camera all the time... I don't blame them but I can't stop. They are all WAY too cute not to photograph. xoxo

This is our new friend Merry. (Marin says "Like Merry Christmas") She is our Elf on the Shelf & the girls named her upon her arrival to our house. She came a few weeks ago, a bit early since she's not supposed to arrive until around Thanksgiving time... but that's ok! She sits & watches the girls all day long & then flies to the North Pole each night to report to Santa on the girls behavior. Which means...every morning the girls come running out of their room sooo anxious/excited to find where Merry has landed. (She lands in a new spot each night when she returns from the North Pole!) Gary was a bit skeptical at first, but I think he's come around. The girls have been surprisingly better!! It's amazing how much they love her & talk to her each day. Such a fun new tradition at our house!!! xoxo

    We had a little Thanksgiving craft/treat time with the neighborhood girls earlier this past week. we made Rice Krispie Turkeys! Here are all the girls...

(Margaux, Ella, Keira, Aubrey & Marin)

Margaux dipping her rice krispie ball...

Marin & her turkey...

Margaux making a mess of her turkey...

Here are the finished products... this one stuck into a sweet potato!

All the turkeys...

So much fun for the kiddos... can't wait to do Christmas cookies!!