Holiday Fun

This post is going to be a picture overload!  But, since it is your first Christmas we wanted to capture every memory and start some fun family traditions and I would say so far it's been mission accomplished.  Here are some of the things that we have done so far...

Light Up Night at Town Center

The first weekend in December we went to the Christmas parade and Light up Night at Town Center.  You were very interested in the floats and music, but the tree topped it all!  You LOVED it!  The lights switched colors with the music, you were amazed!  We parked your stroller right in front of it and I think you would of sat there for hours.  We hope to continue this tradition for years to come!

Family Fun Night!

You looked adorable all bundled up in your hat and boots!

Daddy's girl

Happy girl in front of the tree!

Brunch with Santa 

Our friend's Katy and Roger invited us over for brunch and Santa even made an appearance!  Even though you weren't into Santa so much this time, it was still a lot of fun!

Scuba Santa

Since we live at the beach, our Santa even scuba dives so we had to check him out.  You absolutely loved the aquarium, I will do a completely separate post on this event later.

Your face doesn't show it, but you had a BLAST at the aquarium!

Scuba Santa!

 

Lights at the Botanical Gardens

We have heard that the lights at the Botanical Garden were much better than the boardwalk display, so we hopped in the car one Friday night and decided to check them out.  They were amazing!  It was really cool the way we drove through the seasons, in lights.  It started out as spring flowers and rainbows, then summer was full of under the sea fun, fall was full of pumpkins, and winter was complete with snow, Santa, and a magical winter wonderland.  You were really into the lights at first, but since it was so late and kind of long between the wait and drive through, you were over it towards the end.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this, but the lights were beautiful and it is something we plan to do for years to come.   Next year, probably with a pizza and hot chocolate for the ride - your dad's idea!

Baking Cookies for Santa

We made and decorated sugar cookies for Santa.  You even ate one and like I've said you have a sweet tooth just like me, so you LOVED it!  You ate every last bit and were in heaven - our cookies turned out pretty good too.  We can't wait to leave them out for Santa on Christmas Eve, I hope he likes them as much as you did!

"Wait, I have to give some to Santa!?!  They aren't all for me!?!"

In order to celebrate Layla's birthday, we decorated some cookies for the Milikan sisters.  The J is for Josie and the angel is in memory of Layla.

The finished product

Somone enjoyed her first sugar cookie

Yayy for sugar!

Helping mommy decorate a candy cane cookie.

Yummy in my tummy!

 

Holiday Clothes/PJ Days at school

We absolutely love your school and they had so many fun holiday themed days planned this month.  Our favorite was every Friday was holiday pajama day - who doesn't love PJ day!  I wish every day was PJ day at school (both your school and mine!)

Checking yourself out in the mirror.

Cutie in her PJ's and Christmas socks...and you HATE socks, but you kept them on ALL MORNING LONG.

Santa Loves You and so do Mommy and Daddy

Mommy and Daddy's Favorite Elf

Two cuties in front of the tree

Holiday Crafts

Your first Christmas would not be complete without some cute hand-print and footprint art!  We made "mistletoes" and "Santa hands" and I can't wait to display them for years to come to remind us of your 1st Christmas!

 

 

Holiday Movies

We love family movie night!  We watched Ruloph, Charlie Brown's Christmas, Polar Express, Finding Nemo and Little Mermaid (not Christmas related, but still cute), but still nothing seems to top Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

Watching Rudolph with Daddy

 

Even Coop enjoyed it!

12 Days of Christmas - Holiday Books

You love to read books!  It's one of your favorite things to do, so of course we spent a lot of time reading holiday books this month.  Your aunt Megan, uncle Mike, and cousins Domo and Gina got you the most perfect gift - the 12 Days of Christmas!  You got to open a new book up every night and you loved it!  It was great practice for Christmas morning and I'd have to say you've gotten pretty good at opening presents.  Now we just have to work on the fact that you like to feed Cooper the wrapping paper as you open them.  Your favorite books this Christmas have been Frosty, Merry Christmas Stinky Face, Christmas Pop-up Peek-a-Boo, your song book, and Merry Christmas Little One!

These 2 are my world!