Christmas and New Years

I apologize ahead of time for just posting all of these pictures without making comments on each of them (and for not putting them in order)!! I have sooo many pictures to blog, that it would take me forever to explain each one. In an attempt to catch up, I am going to just say that we had an amazing time in Wisconsin for X-mas and New Years! Breezy and I were there for 3 weeks! We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends!

Sledding!!

We thought we should take advantage of the nice weather on Saturday (by nice I mean....sunny and not negative temperatures!!). :) Breezy has been asking to go sledding so we thought Saturday would be the perfect day. We called our neighbor Acacia and the four of us headed out the front door to the hill outside our house. The snow was so deep that Breezy could barely walk! Unfortunately the snow was very fluffy, so we weren't able to make snowmen. But, we were able to go sledding and have a few snow fights! We even buried Terry in the snow! (Breezy really enjoyed this...especially when she started throwing snow in his mouth while he was buried!!). :) We had a great time (and we're sure glad we went on Saturday because the wind chill on Sunday was 15 below zero!!!).




Terry getting ready for the snow fight!












Acacia barely missing a huge face full of snow!

















Acacia is not so lucky this time!!




















Acacia getting back at Terry!












Snow Angels! (now and way back then!)















Breezy making a snow angel when she was 3 years old and 3 months old!!
















Family snow pictures 2006, 2007, and 2008!
















Poor daddy!!


Daddy gets kisses for being such a good sport!


All ready to go inside and get warm!




















I thought this was so beautiful (the pictures don't do it justice!). This is our Christmas lights glowing through the snow after our big snow storm! So pretty....

A visit with Santa!

When my parents were here, we all drove down to Somerset Mall (a huge beautiful mall near Detroit). While we were walking around, Breezy had mentioned that she wanted to see Santa. (on a side note...that shocked us!! In years past, this girl wanted nothing to do with Santa!!). We were all surprised to see that there was no line! So we walked up to the desk and said that we'd like to see Santa. That's when the lady informed us that the next available "appointment" time was at 2:45pm. (Oh....so that's why there's no line!!) Well, that would have been fine...except that it was only 11am!! It was sure hard to look at my cute daughters face and tell her we were not waiting 4 hours to see Santa!! But seriously... a four hour wait!! I don't think so! Breeze was a good sport and let us walk away without any protest. What a good girl!

This past weekend Breezy and I drove down the the same mall to buy a coat that I've been wanting. I felt bad about the last time we were there, so I decided to try the Santa thing again. This time I walked up to the desk at noon. A lady in front of me asked when the next appt. time was and they replied 3pm! Wow! I didn't bother even talking to the lady...I just knelt down in front of Breezy's stroller and explained that mommy and daddy would just have to be more prepared next time and that we would definitely come again (even though it is a 45 min. drive from our house!). That's when....someone with a whole lot of Christmas spirit....made our day so much brighter! Just as I was walking away, one of the ladies at the desk said, "Mom....". I turned around and she motioned me to come over. She whispered in my ear, "We're running a bit ahead of schedule...would you like to just come back right now?" WHAT?? Are you kidding? I was SO excited!! She opened the velvet ropes and I felt like I was 5 again! Whoever this nice lady was...THANK YOU!! All the people that worked there were all dressed in Renaissance costumes. There were only 3 families allowed back there at a time. As each one got called to see Santa, we would all move one bench closer to the entrance. (I was sure that Breeze was going to try and back out...but she still looked pretty excited!). When it was our turn, a helper stood up on the platform and yelled, "Everyone...may I have your attention. Please put your hands together for Princess Breezy!!" Then everyone started to clap! (I was on cloud 9...could this get any better?). Breezy sat on his lap and in her cutest and quietest voice asked him for a baby and a horse! And the best part was that I was able to take my own pictures (as many as I wanted!) for a donation of 10 dollars to their children's fund! And THEN...when we were done, Breezy was led to a huge chest filled with silver coins. She was allowed to pick 3 "magic" coins. Then they handed me a list of 12 places throughout the mall where she could go and "purchase" things with her coins! Wow...this place just keeps getting better and better! Breezy was so excited to go and hand people her money. She got a water bottle at North Face, a cookie at Mrs. Fields and stickers at Pottery Barn. Now I realize why this place was in such a huge demand! It was such a great experience and I feel so blessed that the nice lady let us sneak in ahead of everyone else!

P.S...sorry this post was so long! I was just so excited about the entire experience! :)

3 story Santa's castle!

Santa!!

Picking 3 silver magic coins-

List of where and what she could spend her magic coins on!

So excited to spend her money!!

And...after all of that, I still like her picture with the surprise Sears Santa the best!! :)

Thanksgiving

My parents (Papa and Amma) made the trip out to see us for Thanksgiving! It was so nice to have family here for the holiday! They arrived Wednesday afternoon. Breezy was so excited that she barely took a nap! She sat on our kitchen table just waiting to see their car come down the road! We had a nice quiet night on Wednesday (well....Terry and I did! Mom and dad were quite busy playing with Breezy!). Terry had to work half the day on Thursday, so we decided we wouldn't eat until 5pm. It worked out so nice. We weren't rushed getting the turkey and side dishes done and had plenty of time to all go out for a long walk. Terry did a fantastic job on the turkey and everything else tasted amazing as well! We then went to our neighbors for some delicious pie (and then felt like we were going to pass out from being so full!). The next few days we did a little bit of shopping and visited the worlds largest Christmas store! (it's the size of 3 football fields! I'd try and explain it, but there are no words!). Breezy was sure sad to see Papa and Amma go (as were Terry and I!). But it definitely helped knowing that we were going to see them in a few weeks for Christmas!



Breezy waiting for Papa and Amma-



Helping Amma make pumpkin pie!



Terry working hard on the turkey!



Papa giving Breezy a "boat" ride!



Loving her Amma-



Playing video games with Papa-



Snuggling-



Showing off her b-day present from Aunt Lala! Too cute!