Gehin Christmas....

Every year we head to Madison for the "Gehin Christmas" with Sean's dad's family for the weekend. We always stay at a hotel and have a "swimming birthday party" with all the cousins for Noah, followed by the Gehin gathering at the local EMS building(it's held there because there are soooo many people that no one could possibly host at their home! the kids look forward to this each and every year......

Cousins.....Bradley and Addsion

The kids have to check out the "ambulance" every year.....thanks to Aunt Terry, they can get inside and really check everything out!

Every year we play BINGO and there are an assortment of prizes to pick from...and of course the kids are up there scoping out which prizes they are going to pick if they get BINGO. Ava found a baby that she had her eye on....and I swear if anyone would have picked the "baby" before her...there was going to be a massive melt down and it wasn't going to be pretty! I begged people not to pick the "baby".....when I finally got BINGO and told her that she could run up and get the baby, I thought she was going to cry with excitement! I've never her seen her get off a chair and run to the table so fast to grab it!!

Here's the baby........

What would be Christmas without a visit from SANTA!!!!!

Ava was a little shy...but when she found out SANTA had a present for her....see RAN right up and grabbed it!!

Noah, Ava and SANTA!!!!

Christmas Concert

The kids both had their Christmas Concerts last Thursday.....both of them were soooo darn cute and did an awesome job singing! I love going to these concerts at these ages....you have the overachiever singer, the kid who is screaming at the top of their lungs, the nose picker(thank god not one of my kids!), the girl who is twirling around in her dress, the kid searching and searching to find his parents in the crowd and so on! They crack me up....here's peek at what went on that day/night! We didn't get there an hour early to get the "good" seats, so the pictures aren't very good and clear or close up....so you'll have to look hard for the 2 cuties!!!

Wow....look at those handsome studs!!!

Noah is on the top row...in the middle!!

Oh look....he spotted us! Yes...he was that kid trying to find his parents in the crowd! So Cute!

Nap time....

Ava decided she wanted to sleep in Lucy's dog bed today for her nap!! She's jut a tad too long for it!! :-) So cute!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!!

Sunday morning we woke up to 14 inches of snow in Wausau!!! The second highest snowfall ever recorded in Wausau history!!

Poor Sean was stuck doing the tough job of clearing the driveway and walkway, while I stayed inside(nice and warm) taking pictures of this operation! All of the neighbor "guys" all pitched in to help each other out...and rewarded themselves later with a few beers and a Packer loss! :-(

Noah and his neighbor friend Alli insisted on going out sledding in the backyard....you can't tell from here but there were 35-40mph winds! Crazy kids....they had a blast!!!

Fancy Pants......

Fancy pants (heels w/pom poms, sequin hat, purse and carry on)was all excited to leave to go to the airport to pick up Nana...that wasn't happening with 14 inches of snow......

Elf On The Shelf...

Whoever thought of this is genius......The Elf On The Shelf!! This "special" elf is sent from Santa to your house to watch all the little boys and girls on how Naughty or Nice they have been. Each night he "magically" disappears and reports back to Santa and then comes back the next morning in a new spot that you have to search all over to find him! You get to name your special "ELF"....the kids named ours JACK!!! And there is one very important RULE....you must never touch the elf or he will lose all his magic powers and will not come back!!
The kids have been on their best behavior since "Jack" showed up at our house and has been keeping a close eye on them! This is GREAT!!

Just a couple of the hiding spots that Jack showed up in...........

I was hoping that"Jack" could stay all year long.....would that be wrong???

O Christmas Tree......

Since we moved to Wausau it has always been "tradition" for us to go to one of the local tree farms here in Wausau and cut down our own Christmas tree with the kids! We usually venture out after our BIG feast but decided to go before we ate and had slipped into our 'food coma"! It was COLD but the kids had a BLAST!!


Here it is....our perfect tree! Can you spot Clark Griswald???
Ava insisted that we cut this tree down to put up in the living room....I convinced her that it wasn't BIG enough for Santa to put all the Christmas presents under that he was going to bring her and Noah! That worked like a charm!

Noah sawing away....he was determined to cut this tree down by himself!!

He gave up and just wanted to watch it fall........

That's Noah dragging the tree out....can you see him?? He!He!

Good job NOAH!!!!

The end product! We even cut the bottom part of the tree to make sure that Santa had enough room for presents!!! They can't wait for Santa to arrive........