We went for our annual Christmas tour of Crown Center and Union Station.

Fitz's Railroad Cafe had this really cute gingerbread town display. We didn't go into Crayola Land this year because the line wound back for about a mile and the kids had already seen Santa at Zona Rosa.

We love the detail they put into their displays!

Playgroup Christmas Party

Playgroup Christmas Party. The kids are doing a reindeer race. They also made a candy cane and snowman ornament had lots of treats and did a present exchange.

Here they are catching snow (marshmellows). We love our playgroup buddies!!

Preschool Nativity Program

We went to Maddie & B's Preschool Nativity Program. It was sooo cute. Maddie is our glowing little angel and did all the hand motions and even some of the singing. We are so proud!

Brayden is the donkey in the red shirt with his ears pushed back. The ears were too long and in his eyes, he couldn't see for the first half of the program so he just stood perfectly still, he finally pushed them back and started singing and dancing.

Maddie's friends Julia and Landon played Mary and Joseph. Aren't they all adorable!

Maddie and Brayden's Debut Performance!

Nutcracker

We had a Mommy/Daughter Date to see the Nutcracker put on by the Independence Ballet Conservatory. We dressed the little girls up and took them out to lunch before the ballet. It was so much fun to see them all dressed up and watching the ballerinas. It is one of our favorite traditions.

KC Ice Storm

We are in the middle of an ice storm here. Nothing like the one that we had in OKC that took down our trees, phone lines, and power lines but still makes for pretty pictures.

It did break off half of our neighbor's tree. I think it's funny that our icycle lights have icycles on them.

Gingerbread Houses!

We made our annual gingerbread houses with the kiddos. We are getting lazy in our old age and decided to buy the kits instead of making them from scratch. It is so much easier!!

December 7th was our first snow day! The kids had so much fun making snowmen, throwing snowballs, and sledding in our backyard.

Happy Holidays!

This is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Click for a laugh!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9550659594

Jamesport & Children's Museum

We went to Amish country in Jamesport, MO for the Holiday Festival. Unfortunately the Holiday Festival (as they call it) is just a big overpriced craft fair and no Amish are involved. To make matters worse Mapquest took us to the wrong redneck town and our 1 hour drive turned into two. But on the plus side, we got really cheap Amish spices (like 1/2 cup of cream of tarter for $1) the kids had their faces painted, saw Santa Claus, and Scott found his dream bedroom furniture set made by the Amish and only $4,500!

For playgroup this week we went to the KC Children's Museum. Cute place in the middle of a huge abandoned mall with a police station at the other end of the mall. Not exactly a place we would want to be alone or in the dark but we felt pretty safe with 10 little kids to protect us. There is also a preschool there and I don't even want to know what kind of parents would send their kids there.

Thanksgiving

We had a quiet family Thanksgiving this year. No traveling and Marie Calendar helped out a lot with the dinner preparations. We went to see "Enchanted" and we loved it. I opted out of the Thanksgiving Trot 5K this year because it was freezing outside. The kids dressed up like Indians and decorated their tree. I spent hours planning out my Black Friday shopping route and twelve hours the next day- Christmas shopping. Scott freaked when I got home and saw the car and trunk where completely jammed full. He asked how much I spent but I told him the important thing was how much I SAVED! But I am done!!! At least I keep telling myself to stop. I saved an average of 45% on everything I bought! I love getting deals!! But if you don't know that you don't know me and probably shouldn't be looking at my blog, you stalker.

Holy cow, you better watch this video because it is taking forever to upload. Come on already! I wanted to post the one of Scott singing in the shower but he threatened the big D so I am settling with this one.

Nauvoo

We met my parents in old Nauvoo for a weekend temple trip.
Unfortunately no one checked to make sure the temple was open and we found out it was closed for two weeks for cleaning. But we still had a lot of fun seeing the sites and being with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Margie twice in one month!
At the play the missionaries put on. It was hilarious!

The mighty Mississippi. Scott and I think it would be fun to take a boat trip from Nauvoo to St. Louis one day.


Pioneer history and fun times.

Halloween

I know it's been awhile, I thought my 15 posts last time would keep you busy or make you sick of seeing our pictures. I just realized people could post comments on this site so sorry that I never responded. Yes to all who wanted to add a link to our post from theirs, and thanks!

We went trick-or-treating around Historic Liberty Square (right by the Liberty Jail) and it was like stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting. All the business owners came outside to hand out candy and most of them were dressed up. They had free cookies, hot chocolate and hot apple cider. The fire department let the kids play on the firetrucks and take pictures with their dogs. It was really cute and a new family tradition for us.

Liberty Courthouse

Jack-O-Lanterns

After the Square we went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with T-Mo and friends.

Ashley's Wedding!

Luncheon, look at that view! Cheese!

Our GQ men. Grandpa Gary and Grandma Margie came to the reception!

Ashley and Brad's Wedding!

Ashley's wedding was a fairytale. It made me want to get married again! Yes, still to Scottie! It was a great day. A beautiful ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple. Luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and a reception with all the candy you could eat :) Oh yeah it was also in a beautiful canyon. The kids were so cute in the Tuxedos and Maddie was a princess in her matching dress and ruby red slippers. She wanted to know why she didn't get a crown like Ashley's. I told her it was Ashley's day to be a princess and she could have her own day in thirty years :) Everyone looked so nice and Ashley and Brad are perfect together. We are so glad we got to come out for the wedding!