Christmas Festivities...

Well....our Elf's arrival was a little late, but Santa decided that Owen really needed his own elf this Christmas!!

We had recorded Elf on the Shelf and Owen had watched it a few times, so when our elf arrived Owen knew exactly what it was!  We read the "Elf on the Shelf" book and then worked on naming him.  Owen tried to name him Chippy (from the Elf on the Shelf movie), Christie, and Owen....so we decided to give him a few options and let him choose.  In the end, he chose to name him Buddy!  

Buddy watched Owen throughout day and then flew back to the North Pole each night to report to Santa.  It's amazing how well this worked!  All I had to say was "remember Buddy's watching you" and Owen would immediately start saying "I want to be on the Nice List".  And each morning Owen would go hunting to find where Buddy had landed and get sooo excited when he found him!  

Owen's daycare had a Christmas Party so we decide to join the fun.  Owen was so excited to see all of his friends, especially EMMIE!

A pic before we left for the party...Love this pic!!

Huggin' on Emmie

Making ornaments...

We also got together with the Childers and Gearharts just before Christmas.  We all met for dinner and then headed to the Square to see the lights and partake in all the activities.  

Owen and Charley at dinner....playing games

We attempted to get a picture of them with the lights...

And the most fun thing of the night....the camel ride! Owen wasn't too sure about this, but decided he would give it a try since Charley was all about it! Drew was the lucky one that got to ride along!!

TEAM Christmas

We kicked off Christmas at TEAM with TEAM Talent's play.  

The kids worked hard all semester and were quite the little stars!!  They even made a TV debute on KNWA....you can check it out here or at the following link.

 http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news/?nxd_id=291437&shr=addthis

We had our annual TEAM employee Christmas party at the Springdale Country Club.  It was a great time with good food, friends, and of course dancing!!  I love my TEAM family and couldn't imagine a better group of people to work with!!

A delicious TEAM cake from Rick's

Amber, me, and Danielle...

the physical therapist...

A group pic....our group gets bigger and bigger every year!!

Christmas Fun...

Our big Christmas craft project....an Advent Chain!  This was quite the project.  We started just after Thanksgiving with Owen cutting each strip of paper.  I drew lines for him to cut along and held the paper and...after a lot of mini cutting sessions we finally had 25 strips of paper!

I added bible verses to each piece of paper and then we started the gluing process.  

It was a long process but totally worth it!!  Owen absolutely loved tearing off a chain each night and reading the bible verse aloud with mommy and daddy.   Josh would read a few words, then Owen and I would repeat, and at the end Josh would read the whole verse again.  It was so sweet to hear him reading God's word!  It was also really helpful with the countdown to Christmas.  He knew that when we got to the star it would be Christmas and Jesus's (or baby Jesus's according to Owen) Birthday!  He was so excited about getting to play with the STAR! Ha!

We also enjoyed a lot of family movie nights over the holidays.  I think we watched every kid's Christmas move!  Owen's favorites were Elf on the Self, Elf, Ice Age Christmas, and Rudolph. 

 

Another craft project:  A Christmas tree!

The glitter was Owen's favorite!

The finished product...

Check ups...

Ava had her 2 month check up on December 9th.  She was really about 2.5 months old, but it was he earliest we could get an appointment.  

She weighed in at 10 lbs and was 22 inches long which put her in the 25th percentile for both.  She also got her first shot and oral vaccination.  

Owen was due for shots (well over due) so I made him an appointment at the same time.  We saw a new doctor, so he had to get a full exam as well.  

Owen was right on target for all his fine and gross motor skills...and apparently talks (putting 10-15 words together) more than the typically 2.5 year old.  Ha!  I guess thats why we think he talks ALL the time!

He weighed in at 32 lbs and was 36 inches tall, which put him just above the 50th percentile for both.  

Owen also got 2 shots which he was NOT a fan of.  It's soooo much harder when they get older.  I felt really bad for him and as the night went on, I felt even worse.  He was hurting so bad that he just laid on the couch crying and wouldn't walk.  At first I thought he was just doing it for attention, but we soon realized he was really hurting.  Ava was also extra fussy from her shots.  So....lesson learned....don't get both kids shots on the same day....even if it does save a trip to the doctor!

Pictures...

We had family pictures/ Ava's newborn pictures done right before Thanksgiving.  Jennifer did a great  job and was so patient with my children.  Here are a few of our favorites!!!

Mini Vacation...

The week after Thanksgiving, we decided to take a short trip to Branson, MO to see the Christmas lights and parade at Silver Dollar City...and do a little shopping! 

 Owen loved Silver Dollar City last year mainly because of all of the Christmas lights and the parade...but this year he loved everything!  The rides were his absolute favorite, especially the kid roller coaster!  He would ride and then get off and run back to the line to ride again!  

  

Owen got car sick on the ride from Fayetteville to Branson (I think because he was looking out the window at all the cows), so we weren't sure how he would do with all the rides....but they didn't seem to phase him at all!  

We got to see the Frosty show again this year.  Owen really enjoyed it but wanted nothing to do with going on stage with all the other kids!

Dumbo ride with daddy...

 Checking out baby Jesus!!  We also went to the Living Nativity and Owen fascinated but kept wanting to know where baby Jesus went when he wasn't on stage.

 Hugs from Frosty...

Waiting in line to see Santa.  Owen so excited he kept waving at him....

A little fun in the hotel...

 On Friday morning we went to the Branson Landing for a little shopping and another picture with Santa.  If you look closely at the first picture, you'll see that Ava left a little present on Santa's arm...Ha!   He wasn't too excited about it!

 I'm not a huge fan of rides, so I stuck to the small/slow kiddy rides and let Josh ride the roller coaster with him...

 My boys!  I love this pic...

 waving to Santa...

Ava all bundled up watching the parade...she loved the lights!

 Owen also really enjoyed the train ride around the park and seeing the train pass by every 20 minutes!! I somehow forgot to get a picture of this.