Santa, snow, and holiday cheer

What a holiday season we had! The last month or so went by in a flash and was filled with all kinds of winter and holiday fun. Here's my attempt to showcase some of the highlights... What's December without a trip to see Santa? We go to the same place every year and love it there. The lady that takes the pictures actually commented on remembering us this year, which makes it special -- she is watching our kids grow up, one December at a time. :) Of course Bellamy has zero reservations about plopping right down on Santa's lap. Will had told us he was only talking to this Santa and wouldn't tell us what he was going to ask him for. Luckily I was able to eavesdrop while I was taking pics...;)

If there are animals anywhere close to where we are, these two will find them! Here there are at our Santa stop, checking out the chickens and goats.

Happy Birthday Jesus! The tradition continues...I found these great plates a few years ago and each Christmas morning we serve french toast breakfast and celebrate Jesus's birthday. It's a fun way to remember the reason for the day in the middle of all the present craziness that also occurs Christmas morning.

Not sure what we're going to do when we run out of the plates...but for now, Happy Birthday Jesus!

Showing off some goodies from Santa! Of course Will was crazy excited about his "Lego Bear Jail" that he specifically requested, but he was seriously giddy about the huge shark that Santa had a hunch he might like too. ;) And Bellamy headed straight for her kitchen to wash her hands and get to work -- Miss Wanda has taught her well. :)

Snow! Probably one of Will's favorite events was the chance to be in the snow! Who would have thought that on a non-Nebraska Christmas year that we would spend Christmas day in the snow? We decided to head up to Dallas for a quick Christmas trip at Eric and Sania's and surprise -- we were greeted with a beautiful snowfall. It was the perfect snow -- it wasn't too cold, there wasn't too much of it, and the best part was that we got to play in it and leave before it got gross and slushy and dirty. :) Will had a blast having snow ball fights with Todd and Eric and it was fun to introduce Bellamy to snow for the first time. I don't think she was crazy about it quite yet...but I remember a little boy that wanted nothing to do with it a couple years ago and this year was a snow angel, snowball throwing, snow lover! Our sweet little lady enjoying her brief stint in the snow...at least she looked cute even if she didn't really want to spend much time out there! :)

So fun!

Seriously -- he had a blast. And who doesn't love a day that you can make snow angels?

Calling a truce after a morning of snowball fighting...

Will got a few fun games for Christmas this year and is finally at the age that he has the skill and attention span to really play them. Quite possibly the favorite? John Deere Uno of course! Yay for Great Grandma Bellamy for sending the newest tractor favorite. Here he is learning how to play with Grandma. He made us all play over and over and over! Soooo glad Grandma and AJ were here for a few days during the break so we could all share in the game playing duties!

Can you say trouble? Will got a Science lab kit from Nana and is having a...well, blast. Literally. We did a few of the basic experiments and he was ready to take it up a notch. So he made me a grocery list (I'm not even kidding) and sent me to the store to get the supplies for a volcano. Thanks to Aunt B coming in with some baking soda, we were in business! I absolutely love this picture because he got SO excited when it really erupted for the first time. I say first because he used up a whole container of baking soda and completed dyed our table red with his volcano-ing that day. But it was nothing that a little magic eraser couldn't cure and was totally worth it.

They DO love each other! A rare sighting of them together and still...this never happens!

It was a busy, but blessed holiday season once again. Looking forward to seeing what 2013 has in store. Hopefully it will be time spent with all of you! :)