North Pole Breakfast ~ 2012 ~ Elf Magic

Our elf, Frisbee, arrived on the first Sunday of Advent and we celebrated with our annual North Pole Breakfast.  I love this little tradition...I love to see the excitement on the kids' faces and feel the magic in the air.  

I have a feeling that Carter kind of realizes that this whole thing isn't "magic" but he wants to believe, he wants to have fun and enjoy the magic of this season.  I know these special times won't be magical forever, so I try to savor each and every moment of joy filled faces and magical innocence.

I found some cute printables online this year and went with an "elf magic" theme.  It was fun to pull together, as I just rummaged around and tried to reuse things that I already had.

It was a sugar filled, fun and special morning.

Frisbee wrote each of the children a little letter...he outlined his expectations for good behavior and also reminded them of the true meaning of Christmas.

Frisbee was our guest of honor

I was able to re-purpose several decorations from Kennedy's birth day party - saved time and money and the table still looked cute.

sugar, sugar...

and more sugar!

and still more sugar! 

It is definitely not a healthy breakfast!

Carter and Kennedy ran down so excited in the morning.

Carter knew what was coming, so he was up several times throughout the night (at one point, I think it was around 2:00am, he was just in his room with his light on reading a book!)..he was so excited, he just couldn't sleep!

love the look of anticipation on his sweet face

Carter went right for the presents

Frisbee always brings an ornament and a Christmas book or two.

Kennedy was a little more patient about diving right into things

Disneyland ornaments this year

Kennedy was amazed that Frisbee was at Disneyland too!

Such a wonderful way to kick off the festive Christmas season!

Happy North Pole Breakfast, kiddos!

a bit of construction, a lot of eating!

Under Construction!

The kids were so excited to decorate gingerbread houses this year.  I had purchased them with the idea that we would assemble them with the cousins during our early Christmas celebration, but we ran out of time.  So we got to them a few days later after a lot of persistent begging by the children.

I bought a mini village this year with four small houses - good idea in theory, but so much harder to construct tiny little structures and decorate with tiny bits of candy.  

Carter and Kennedy had a lot of fun, which of course was most important, but the end result wasn't as successful as I would have hoped.

getting ready, laying out a plan

construction

gingerbread building is serious business at our house ~ look at that face of concentration!

Our finished product - not a lot of embellishments because the tiny bits of candy were so hard to work with.  They definitely lacked any patterns or intentional decorating, but we all had a great time!

O' Christmas Tree

A hunting we will go...

We had the perfect day to head out and hunt for the perfect Christmas tree!  (so much better than the rain storm we braved last year!)  We took our time, the kids ran around and we found a wonderful tree.  It was a tad too tall, I am always drawn to the 10 foot ones, but with a little trimming it looks perfectly beautiful in our living room.

Carter (6 1/2) and Kennedy (4)

Carter was very excited about carrying the saw...he was very careful with it and carried safely the entire time.

I love Christmas!  

And I love this little guy even more!

The kids had so much fun, running free and searching hard for the perfect tree.

We found it!

It was tall and full and lacked any significant holes.

Kyle was thankful that he stayed dry and that he had help carrying it back to the truck.  I took the trunk end and followed along (I only tripped half a dozen times and only needed to stop and rest twice - think we picked a tree a mile from the truck!)

my pretty girl

We got the lights up and started our evening of decorating

cuties

I love pulling out ornaments that represent different times in our lives.  This one was made by my friend Lindsay and given to Carter on his first Christmas.  I especially love these sentimental ones!

Carter wanted his own little "section" of the tree, so most of his ornaments are concentrated in one area.  They were both so excited and really enjoyed putting up their special treasures.

A wonderful life, indeed!

an early Christmas celebration

We celebrated Christmas a little early this year...since Stacy, Justin and the kids are not coming up for Christmas, we decided to have a little celebration after Thanksgiving.  This way the kids could open their presents and enjoy them all month before they get more - perfect!  But even better was having everyone together for a fun, relaxed evening.  The kids love being together and it's a gift to watch them play and have fun together.

Sloane had fun exploring all of Kennedy's stuff - here she is at the art table.

She is such a doll ~ so full of spunk and personality, not to mention seriously adorable!

Bennett, Sloane and Brady banging playing the piano.  Our house was definitely louder!

Presents before dinner

my two littles

four out of five

Our attempts at pictures with all five cousins were laughable.  We attempted to get professional ones taken, too - I think there might have been three to choose from.

Even strapping Sloane into a chair couldn't contain her!

Present time!

A few books for B

Don't think Brady liked his little suitcase much - what a face!

Kennedy, however, was thrilled!

And Carter was pumped!

#1 and #2 in the Harry Potter series (we had borrowed them from a friend when we read them, and Carter really wanted the complete set.  Thank you Auntie!)

Princess Ariel and and fairy movie

A Lego set for Bennett

Another Nerf blaster for Carter

Cute little owl backpack and lunch bag for Sloane

And then the real fun began...

dancing, singing, guitar playing...things were about to get crazy!

one must play the guitar without a shirt naturally

some serious dance moves

Brady got in on things too

Uh oh, sweet Sloane lost her shirt, too!

Carter and B

such good buddies

Bennett wanted to do everything just like Carter, it was sweet to watch his adoration.  When he was home he told his Grandma Michelle that he can eat the crusts of his sandwiches now, because Carter eats his crusts.  I'm thankful Carter was influencing good habits :)

Love these little ones!

turkey bowl

First Annual Turkey Bowl

Our youth pastor, Matt, organized a flag football game the weekend after Thanksgiving.  He encouraged "kids" of all ages to come and play, a time for fun and a connection with our church family.  Well, to say Carter was excited would be a huge understatement - he was pumped!  He wanted to play quarterback and score lots of touch downs.  He wanted to run pass patterns that he constantly practices with Daddy.  He wanted to be a real football player.

Thankfully the weather was decent and a large group showed up to participate.  I stayed home to prepare for our celebration later in the day, so sadly I missed my boy's excitement and determination on the field. 

What a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Our little football player

Kyle was sporting his Shrine Bowl jersey from high school and said he was a bit sore after the game.

Carter said he felt great

sons

and dads

Carter got in on the action.  I think he played one play at quarterback (he was sad not to do more) but was intense during the game.

Fun times!