Santa Came!

I guess Lucy gave Santa a good report and he delivered presents to our house this year.  Kaitlyn woke up about 1:30 am to have me go with her to the bathroom.  She didn't want to go by herself because of Santa.  (Normally she doesn't want me to get up with her.) 

Around 7:15 am it was time to go an check if Santa came.  We headed downstairs to check the stockings...

Santa came!

Attempt #1 on getting a picture of the 2.

Attempt #2 a little better.

Attempt #3

Yeah!  A new toothbrush!

Gavin wasn't too sure about everything!

Lipstick!

Games for Kaitlyn's new LeapPad

Later in the afternoon after Gavin's nap we headed to Uncle Randy's parents house.  We had wonderful food, great company, and a few presents!  Thank you to Big Randy and Betsy for having our family over on Christmas!

Brady and his new vacuum. 

My cute nephew Brady making a funny face.

 Family Picture... the best one I could find.

 Kaitlyn and Gavin playing Pac-Man.

 Uncle Nate and Brady!

Aunty Nikki and Brady

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we met Nana and Bapa at Church.  We enjoyed a wonderful service and then headed back to our house for dinner and presents.  Gavin had a blast opening presents this year.  The first present he opened was from Kaitlyn.  He got really excited as he started to rip the wrapping paper.  It was a monster truck and trailer with dirt bikes.  It was hard to get him to open more presents as he just wanted to play with his new truck.

He kept saying... Wow!

Gavin playing with his new truck and trailer.  We had to take the dirt bikes off it as he kept breaking them.

Kaitlyn's turn at opening more presents.

Thanks Bapa for a new LeapPad 2.  She hasn't stopped playing with it since we set it up.

Gavin helping Nana open her present!

Once Gavin realized what happens when he opened presents... he didn't want to stop.

Nana opening her new coffee mug!

Bapa opening his new slippers.

Gavin snuggling with Nana!

In a box!

Gavin wearing Mommy's Christmas Present from Bapa.

After all the excitement we got ready for bed and made a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer and headed to bed!

Lucy our Elf

A little Elf joined our family right after Thanksgiving!  She came all the way from the North Pole to keep an eye on Kaitlyn and Gavin.  Every night she would fly back to the North Pole to report to Santa on if they were Naughty or Nice!  Her name is Lucy.  When she would return from the North Pole she would find a different place to sit during the day.

Every morning Kaitlyn and Gavin would go in search of Lucy.  A lot of time Gavin would find her first!  He would get so excited to find her.  A few mornings she was in the same location as the previous day (oops... forgot to move her)... and Kaitlyn would want a full explanation... except one morning... she comes over to me and says... "Mom I have to tell you something."  I said... "what is it?" - Kaitlyn "Well, I may have or may not have touched Lucy... and maybe that is why she didn't go to the North Pole to report to Santa."  If you don't know... Lucy has special Christmas Magic that allows her to fly to the North Pole at night. She will lose her Christmas magic if you touch her.  I explained to Kaitlyn I would email Santa and explain.  The next night she returned to flying to the North Pole.  Crisis solved!  Good thing Santa has email.  :)

After about 3 weeks of Lucy visiting us... she ran out of fun places to hang out during the day.  Kaitlyn kept track of how many time she visited the Christmas Tree... that would be 3 times. 

Lucy has now returned back to the North Pole to hang out with the other elves until next December!  Now I just hope I remember where I put her a year from now. 

Meeting Santa!

Sunday we heard that Santa was going to be at Finn's Place.  Finn's is a small restuarant/bar about 2 blocks from our house.  We hadn't been able to find time to get to see Santa at the mall, so we figured this would work out perfect.

Kaitlyn was excited to see Santa and asked for a Puppy that walks with a leash.  Gavin wasn't a big fan as you will see from the pictures below.

Gavin not happy we put him on Santa's lap!

My favorite picture!

After we had lunch we tried to get Gavin to stand next to Santa.  Kaitlyn started by having him come and get a sucker.

Victory!  He gave Santa a high five!

First Snow Storm!

We had our first major snow storm!  We got about 12" of snow!  This was Gavin's first time really playing in the snow!  He wasn't too sure about it after we got him all dressed.  It was still snowing when we went out that he did not like the snow falling on his face.  He stayed in the garage most of the time while Nana, Kaitlyn, and I shoveled and snow blowed the driveway.

Nate spent the snow storm plowing! He left about 2am Sunday morning and he didn't get home until Monday morning! Than he ended up plowing the next 3 nights!

Gavin hanging out in the garage.

I love to snow blow the driveway!  I usually don't get to now that we have a snowplow on the truck.  Since Nate would be gone for a long time I got to use the snowblower!  I did the driveway 3 times to keep up with the snow and when Nate got home... he didn't have to worry about it!  Yeah!

Kaitlyn going down the slide!

Gavin playing in the snow for about 5 minutes before he decided he had enough!

Running for City Council

This past September I decided to run as a Write-In Candidate for City Council.  I would be running against the 2 incumbents.  With the help of some friends I did some door to door campaigning... put up signs, handed out fliers and cards. 

I realized a few things during my campaign.

1. It is a lot of work to get your name out... especially when you have to get people to actually write-in your name and not just name recognition from a sign or flier they saw.

2. I am not cut out to be a mail carrier.... Kaitlyn and I attempted to drive around one of the neighborhoods to deliver fliers to the paper boxes... and let's just say I ended up getting of my car most of the time because I wasn't close enough to the paper box to reach from my car. 

Election day came and I did everything I could of to get my name out.  Again... Thank you to everyone that helped with my campaign.  I could not have done that without all of you.

In the end I did not win the election... but I did get about 20% of the vote... which I have been told is not a bad % for a write-in campaign.

I plan on running in 2 years with my name on the ballet.

Carving Pumpkins with Power Tools

This past weekend our friends Steve and Aimee and their kids came over to carve pumpkins.  After some pizza we headed to garage for some pumpkin carving.

Kaylee and Kaitlyn getting ready to carve pumpkins.

The Pumpkins!

The Power tools!

Aimee and Brayden trying the old fashion way of carving with a knife!

Steve using a more effective method with a Sawzall.

Brayden cleaning out his pumpkin.

Nate's turn with the power tool method.

Kaitlyn cleaning out her pumpkin!

Brayden's scary face.

Power tool #2

Aimee and Kaylee

Brayden's reaction to his scary pumpkin!

Brayden's re-enactment of his scary face.

Aimee's turn with the power tools!

Power tool #3

Finished pumpkins all lined up.

.... the other finished pumpkins.

Ashlynn's Pumpkin

Nate's pumpkin

Ashlynn's pumpkin

Nikki's Pumpkin

Kaitlyn's Pumpkin

Brayden's Pumpkin

Kaylee's Pumpkin

Steve's Pumpkin - Thanks for supporting me!

Aimee's Pumpkin

We had a great time and found out that power tools make carving pumpkins a lot easier.  Now we have to figure out a cleaner and faster way of cleaning them out.  Yuck!