here comes santa claus ...

Merry {early} Christmas!  We are definitely in the Christmas spirit around here and are excited to spend time with our families and friends in the coming weeks.  The kids have been super excited with all that the Christmas season brings and they make everything about Christmas so much more fun.  Cora is especially in love with our Elf on the Shelf, Sparky, and is usually the first one to spot him each morning.  It is pretty cute.

Another highlight of this winter season is living so close to the ski hill.  It is only about 20 or 30 minutes to the ski lift for us.  Hayden hit the bunny hill for the first time a few weeks ago.  He was super shaky and nervous on his first run but quickly got his ski legs and was soon cruising down the hill.  Nate took him again on Saturday and after his first run, Nate took the bungie off the front of his skis and he skied the rest of the time without it.  I think we will take him on the ski lift next time and see how he does. 

We spent Thanksgiving with my family and it was so great to be able to spend so much time with loved ones.  As you can see, there are a ton of cousins for Hayden and Cora to play with and they loved decorating gingerbread houses together.

We were also able to see my beautiful niece Maddie dance in the Nutcracker.  Hayden was enthralled the whole time and hasn't stopped talking about the awesome Nutcracker/Mouse King sword fight.  It is our new favorite game to play around the house.

We also hit up the {freezing cold} Spanish Fork Light Parade.  We got our groove on to stay warm and I had a great time embarrassing my nieces with my killer dance moves.

Santa Claus came to MD Nursery last Saturday and it was pretty funny to see the kids reactions.  Hayden ran right up and was so excited to tell him his extensive and ever changing Christmas list.  Most recently he wants a flying car and a talking robot, neither of which he is getting!  Cora on the other hand had a very different reaction.  She wanted nothing to do with him, but I was secretly happy to get the classic crying Santa picture!

After she got off of Santa's lap, she stepped way back and had this look on her face.  It was too funny not to capture.

Our friends the Hansen's had us over to decorate gingerbread houses.  I'm pretty sure I did most of the decorating and the kids did all of the candy eating, but it was a fun night anyway!

As for Cora Belle, she is a little handful these days.  She is talking up a storm and cracks me up on a hourly basis.  She loves her green smoothies and spends most of her days undressing herself only to redress in her snow clothes.  What would I do without her!
We hope this finds you all happy and healthy! We are so grateful for all the good things that 2011 has brought for our family and can't wait to see what Christmas and the New Year bring.