{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

Sophia loves being in the kitchen and loved making cookies for Santa. We made our favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and added chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and m&ms. Sophia wanted to make sure Santa would enjoy them. She certainly did.

Christmas 2015

Another Christmas is in the books and I am loving how magical Christmas is with little ones. Sophia was so excited and opened presents in record time. Emma enjoyed her first Christmas and just soaked it all in.

On Christmas Eve the girls and I opened our matching pajamas and new Christmas book while Dave was at work.

We left cookies for Santa (and ate some too!) before heading up to bed.

Sophia woke up early and we snuck down to check out the presents under the tree. Once Emma and Dave were awake we all headed downstairs together.

Sophia was thrilled with everything she opened, but my favorite reaction was when she opened a hershey kiss candy cane. She had seen one in the store earlier in the month and was so happy to get it!

Emma wanted to check it out too.

We opened about half of the presents and then ate breakfast. We had ham and cheese quiche, yogurt berry parfaits, sausage balls, and bacon. Oh, and peanut butter cookies make good breakfast food too.

While Dave and Emma took a nap, Sophia and I broke in all of the new toys and then made pancakes for lunch. Sophia really wanted "christmas tree" pancakes. We will pretend that mine turned out as impressive as my inspiration.

Mine were not quite as pretty as these.

Favorite gifts for Sophia were her Merida dress along with a bow and arrow (and every toy that Emma got).

Emma enjoyed the wrapping paper along with flashlights and a new toothbrush. She may not have any teeth yet, but it is easy to carry and chew on. Santa brought her a vtech walker that she likes to play with, but hates to stand behind. Anytime you try to get to her to stand with it, she pulls her feet up and refuses to stand. This picture was taken just before she realized that it moved.

We lounged in our pajamas all day and dined on carnitas for dinner. Once the girls were in bed, Dave and I both fell asleep watching a movie. A simple Christmas, but pretty perfect. The only thing missing was our extended family.

Holiday Card Pictures

I am thankful that taking pictures for our Christmas card this year wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was getting a little crazy and was going to attempt a second photo shoot with Dave and I in the pictures as well, but the weather didn't cooperate. Luckily I ended up with more images than we used - here are some of the extras.

This was my favorite from the 'blooper reel'. I laughed a little too hard after seeing both of their zoned out faces. 

Our 2015 Christmas Card

Here are our 2015 Christmas cards. I love how they turned out this year. Thanks to some great coupons and promotions, we ordered some through Tiny Prints and some through Shutterfly. We used the same pictures and a similar design for both.

Tiny Prints

Shutterfly

I even attempted a little envelope art, nothing too fancy, and the preschooler added her special touch too.

See our past cards here:

{2014}

{2013}

Sadly, no more digital proof of cards before then.

Linking up with Faith for the Christmas Card Carousel.

Wordless Wednesday: bubbles (may 15)

Festival of Lights 2015

The unseasonably warm weather made for a perfect evening to head to the Festival of Lights at the zoo. We arrived early and were able to park close and check out a few of the characters before it got too crowded. Highlights were visiting with Santa, riding the carousel, the MadCap Puppet show, Anna & Elsa, and of course, checking out all of the light displays. 

We wandered over and stood in line to meet with Santa. I think the zoo Santa is our Cincinnati favorite. They take the picture package images and then they let you take as many pictures as you want. The pictures they took turned out so good, but we will stick with the free pictures that we captured. Our girls love Santa. I am hoping that Dave was able to get both girls looking at the camera since I missed it on the fancy camera.

We skipped the line for the train and headed over to the carousel and then checked out the reindeer and Gingerbread Village. Each little house had a mouse hidden inside along with all of the decorations that Dave and Sophia enjoyed looking for.

New this year were Anna and Elsa. I would have to say that this was one of Sophia's favorite moments. She was beaming after meeting the real Anna and Elsa. "Mama, I know they are the real Anna and Elsa because they are not a cartoon."

We were out past bed time and paid the price for it, but I am hoping to make another trip before the lights are done for the season. Hopefully the weather (and the girls) cooperate.