Brandaddy & Co.

December 27, 2011

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent going to Mass at 4:00 at Ste. Gen. The kids did amazingly well considering it was so packed that we had to stand the whole time! Then we headed to Algonquin to have our traditional dinner with the Auffenberg, McCusker and Tessier families. The food was great as usual! Then it was back home to put out cookies, milk and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer. Bennett thought she needed to leave a note with the goodies informing Santa that they were for him and not for kitty! The kids went to bed pretty late that night, and were so incredibly excited for Christmas! It was really fun to experience Christmas through the eyes of a 4 1/2 year old and an almost 2 year old!

Family photo op!

Mommy and the kiddos

Cute Daddy and Bean photo

Dr. John was sharing lots of Christmas secrets with Bennett, like how Rudolph has small hooves, and Prancer and Blitzen have really big ones. So if you hear reindeer on your roof, you are probably hearing Prancer and Blitzen. Who knew?!?

Bennett writing her note to Santa.

"To Santa

No Kitty

From Bennett and Miles"

Bennett with her note, milk, cookies and carrots!

Merry Christmas Eve!

December 26, 2011

Magic House

On Thursday, we went to the Magic House. Bennett's friend Anna was supposed to come with us but woke up sick that morning. Bennett was bummed at first, but quickly realized she could still have a great time with Meredith, Miles and me. We all had a lot of fun there, and the kids loved exploring all of the areas!

Bennett's favorite part was the giant 4 story tall beanstalk. She went up and down it a few times!

Bennett being a librarian and scanning books

There's also a Children's Hospital area where you can dress up like a doctor and take care of babies. Here Bennett is checking the baby's heart.

They were both excellent doctors!

Both kids had a great time playing in the water table, too.

They were pretty funny jumping into the ball pits!

Meredith and Miles decided to build a tower.

Bennett crossing a bridge above us

Miles's favorite part was the sand table. He would have stayed there for hours if I'd let him.

We are touching the electricity ball that makes your hair stick up!

Meredith's turn! (Bennett decided against this activity...she didn't want to mess up her hair!) ;)

Bennett's School show & Beauty and the Beast

Bennett also had a show on the last day of school before break. They sang many Christmas songs and then had some refreshments! She did a great job! After her performance, Meredith and I surprised her by taking her to the Fox Theatre to see Beauty and the Beast! She was in awe of seeing the show with "real people" instead of animation! It was a lot of fun to see how excited she was about it!

Meredith and Bennett during intermission.

In our seats waiting for the show to begin! Bennett asked, "do you think Belle can see me?" Grandma Joje had also given us some binoculars so that Bennett could see Belle up close, and she used them a lot!

Dancing

Bennett had a little Christmas performance at dancing last week. They did a dance to "It's Christmas time for teddy bears," where they sang and danced. Very cute. I have a video, but I think it's too long to post on here. However, here are a few pictures of her dance performance and from the rest of dance class that day.

Warming up at the barre

Singing and dancing her heart out!

Time for a little tap!

Little brother doing his part being a good spectator at dancing!

Cookie Party

Our friends, the Brinkleys, once again had a whole bunch of kids over to decorate cookies and have snacks. Miles got into it this year, which was much different than his participation level last year! It was fun to see all of the little brothers and sisters into decorating too! The kids had a blast as usual!

Miles even wielded 2 paint brushes for some of the time!

Bennett busy decorating

Some of the kids hard at work!

December 11, 2011

Breakfast with Santa

This morning, Joje and Pa took us to Breakfast with Santa at Algonquin. The food was delicious as always, and Santa arrived in a golf cart! The kids did great! Bennett was excited to give Santa her letter, and Miles did fine sitting on his lap.