Final Push to the Holiday-Craziness

It's the final push as Christmas quickly approaches. We have a lot of plans coming up this week - Disney on Ice, the last week of school before Winter Break, Hadley's music performance, Auntie Shawna & Auntie Aryn are coming for a surprise visit, the church music program for both kids, and real-life in between. Breathe. One day at a time, it's all fun.

Two posts, one day early. A quick re-cap and a separate post with our family pictures / outtakes from October. Posts might be sporadic for the next two weeks.

Finley's school hosted a holiday sing-along for families. We brought a blanket to sit on and sang Christmas carols.

Finley & I participated in the 12 Days of Christmas, we played the tambourines for the five golden rings. (The man in the red sweater is Finley's principal)

The kindergartners were called up to dance to My Dreidel. I love that Finley was excited to go up front. I love that Finley raised his hand to volunteer for The 12 Days of Christmas. Mostly I love that he's little enough to want to participate.

The kids got in line to see the special visitor...

...SANTA!

See Hadley's hand?  That's as close as she would get. She's actually lifting her arms to be rescued.

Hadley was much happier making an Elsa crown.

I'm happy Finley's school hosts family events. Finley loves school and it's a nice opportunity for us to be part of it.  

I ordered this chair in fall and it finally arrived, I couldn't remember what pattern I picked. It matches everything perfectly. It's comfy enough that everyone fights to sit in it.

She's starting to write her name!

Hadley was excited to wrap presents. Unfortunately for her, she can't rip tape and wrinkled paper frustrates her. She had fun with a few and quickly moved on.

This present is for that baby at daycare we know. In translation, she wrapped one of her toys and wants to give it to Hannah (Stewy & Jess's daughter).

Happy wrapper.

Chippy's been hanging around. The kids stayed at Grandpa & Grandma's one night, I did a drive-by and left Chippy in their mailbox. Naturally Chippy would be hitching a ride on a dachshund. 

I cringe when the kids drag out Cash Crazy Monopoly. It's Monopoly with an ATM machine - no joke. Finley's starting to catch on, but really they just want to land on the "cash machine" spot so they can stick the mini credit card into the mini cash machine and get mini dollars.

He's getting better at remembering the rules, it's similar to 'real' monopoly, but different enough that I reference the directions multiple times. 

Finley cracks me up though. He'd rather save his money than buy hotels...

...and he's meticulous about organizing. He's SO mine!

The week didn't end how I planned. We had a sickie in the house and it s-l-o-w-e-d us down. One kid was sick, one kid was pretending to be sick. If you've been following along, you know which one is the copycat.

Our fall family pictures below, say cheese. Or not, Finley ;)