Santa Visit

The girls visited Santa at the Zoo, like previous years.  Unlike previous years, we actually got a good picture of them talking with him.  It's a Christmas miracle!!

 

Megan's big wish this year is Saige, the new American Girl doll.  Hannah's biggest desire is a Pillow Chum, and oversized pillow-pet that we found at Costco.  Both of them need these things like they need a hole in the head, but I guess that's what Santa is for.

 

Grand Haven - Jingle Bell Parade



We headed out to our Grand Haven house one COLD winter's night to enjoy the Jingle Bell Parade.  After catching dinner downtown, we walked right out to Washington Street and grabbed a great seat on the parade route.

 

Bring on the candy!

Score!

Nearly frozen, but still having fun

Little Sis tells us how it is

Festive Coast Guard vessel

What a guy

The girls love to be lugged around, despite the fact that they are a) no longer babies, b) walk just fine on their own, and c) are not getting any lighter.  They have learned not to ask Mom, but somehow they can convince Daddy to haul them around like this...

 

 

That's just shy of 90 pounds of child he's hauling around there.  Go Daddy, go!

Playing with Penguins

The girls stayed overnight with Grandma Dee in Newaygo.  She surprised them by getting out her penguin-disguised bowling pins (which she is in the process of getting rid of, after discovering she had no use for 30 bowling pins dressed as penguins).  They may not be particularly practical, but they do make good snow buddies!

 

 

Toothless!

Megan has been waiting to lose her first tooth since shortly after her fifth birthday.  At her semi-annual dental check-up that July, her dentist mentioned that kids generally lose their first tooth between the ages of five and seven.  As she approached the ripe old age of 6-1/2, and is surrounded by many toothless first-graders, she was becoming quite concerned with her own mouth's failure to keep the pace.  Near the end of October, we got our first real wiggler.  By the third week of November, she was chasing me around the house wiggling it with her tongue and relishing the fact that it totally grossed me out (like seriously the WORST thing I've experienced as a parent thus far, and we have had some real doozies in our collective ten years of parenting these gals).  Finally, on Black Friday, the tooth had shifted for the last time, and she agreed to let me pull it.  We both prepared ourselves for what turned out to be a complete non-event.  The minute I touched the thing, it just popped out (please note that I am in no way complaining that it was not more involved).

TOOTHLESS!

There's a tiny little tooth in that hand

Official Tooth Fairy Receipt

O' Christmas Tree(s)

We spent Thanksgiving night and Black Friday getting our Christmas decorations out, starting with our various Christmas trees.  This year, for the first time ever, we got a fake tree (Megan had an allergic reaction to our real tree last year, which prompted the change...not to mention Mom hates pine needles all over the place).

She takes her role as Christmas Decorating Coordinator VERY seriously

Team Christmas (Mom just takes the pictures)

Who says fake trees can't be as fun as real ones?

Decorating  her tree

Hannah did her own tree this year, too - note all the bulbs hanging on the floor

Very proud of her efforts

Thanksgiving

I come to appreciate Thanksgiving more and more every year, as it is the holiday that (for us, at least) requires the least amount of prep work, is minimally celebrated and gives us a nice, relaxing stretch of time afterwards to enjoy as we see fit.

Megan's Thanksgiving art project.  Kid art makes me smile.

I got to join Hannah for a Thanksgiving feast at her school

Her definition of "feast" is eating two dinner rolls

I sprung her from school a couple of hours early, disguising her as a turkey to make our escape

Gobble, gobble