Getting Ready for Christmas

We've enjoyed getting the house ready for Christmas and pulling out the Christmas toys and decorations for the kids to enjoy.

Of course, preparing for Christmas involves shopping.  Sarah is ready to go and glamming it up in her cool shades with her princess stroller.

 Time to take a break for dancing!

"Yeah, I know I'm cute, Mom!"

I just had to put this one in because my baby girl looks so much older in this.

Auntie PiPi (Steve's sister Diana) got the kids an Elf on the Shelf!  They LOVE him!  SO MUCH!  They are so excited to find him every morning after he has gone to visit Santa overnight.  Also, telling Austin that the elf is going to tell Santa when he's naughty has helped behavior shape up a bit.  Sarah will frequently point out the elf's current location and remind everyone that you can't touch him or he loses his magic.  Too cute!  Here are the kids meeting the elf and learning his story.

Austin named him "Mr. Elf"...real creative, I know.

The kids are also SUPER excited about the advent calendar that Gramma and PopPop brought when they visited last month.  Austin very proudly demonstrates that he has gotten the ornament out of the little door each day and placed it on the advent calendar.  He'll even run downstairs in the morning before we even realize he's up and find the elf and update the advent calendar.

As usual, the Christmas Marching Band is always popular.

Joy!

Check out a video of the kids dancing to the marching band and showing off Mr Elf, the advent calendar, and the Christmas tree.

Time to trim the tree!

Sarah helping Daddy put the lights on.

Austin and Sarah checking out the Winnie the Pooh Christmas snow globe house.

Oooh, stockings!

Sarah with her "Little Engine That Could" ornament.

Austin getting a lift from Daddy to put the angel on top of the tree.

So proud of himself.

Austin and Sarah have also been super excited about the little TV specials called "Prep and Landing" about Santa's elves who get houses ready for him to deliver toys.  Austin flies his new airplane around, calls it "Santa's sleigh" and "lands" it on his toy houses. Here, he demonstrates how the tail hook on Santa's sleigh keeps it from flying off the houses when he lands so he can go down the chimney.  Too cute!

And some more general cuteness!  I've been playing with the camera settings lately and Sarah and Austin have been willing participants in my experimentation.

"Peek a boo!"

Sarah loves to read and now will run into her room and pick out a book, plop down on her floor or try hard to climb up into her rocking chair, and sit there flipping pages and chattering away about the pictures and the story.  Too cute!  I tried out taking some photos with all the natural light coming in.

What a sweet little face!

And a last little bit of Christmas fun...the kids dancing together and being adorable!