December!

This is going to be a crazy busy month, which means I'm going to take a crazy amount of pictures.  So, be prepared for a handful of blog updates this month.  :)

We went and had breakfast with Santa at a restaurant here in town.  We figured it would be a good way to let the kids warm up to Santa before sitting on his lap….we were wrong. :)

It worked out for Reese though.  She was very hesitant at first, and then asked if she could sit next to Santa, on Daddy's lap, to tell Santa what she wanted.  She spoke very nicely to him and very politely asked for a dollhouse.  However, she told my coworkers this week that she also asked him for a jumprope…which I'm pretty sure didn't actually happen, but I'm going to cover my bases just in case. :)

After a whirlwind of 3 wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations, we got the Christmas decorations up last weekend.  Reese was SO excited to decorate the tree.  She did a really great job.

Charlie was SO excited when he laid eyes on the tree for the first time.  It melted my heart to see the gigantic smile on his face.

And then, he promptly reached in, yelled, "BALLLLLL!!!!" and took off with one of my favorite ornaments.

And the rest is history.

On Sunday morning, the doorbell rang, and we found Buddy the Elf back on our front porch--straight from the North Pole!  (And he brought along the donuts covered in snow, just like last year.  Reese specifically asked Santa for those as well, haha)

We even let Charlie try a donut.

And then he cried when we gave him a banana.

We went to the Ringling Brothers Circus that afternoon.  We sat up in the skybox, which was absolutely perfect for our wiggly little boy. 

Reese thought the view from the 8th floor of the United Center was pretty cool.

Before the show started, we took the kids out on the floor to meet some clowns and watch the performers.  They were mesmerized and only slightly freaked out.

The suites were pretty empty for the circus, and the kids loved running through the hallways.  In fact, Charlie kept trying to sneak out during the show to get some extra laps in. :)

The kids got to play during intermission, which was a lifesaver.  Matt's cousin and her family were there as well, and the kids had fun playing together.