Disney on Ice and Hibachi

Yesterday was the big Disney on Ice show.  It was pretty good.  Our seats were not great but what we saved by buying cheap seats we promptly spent on souvenirs and food so sometimes the cheap seats are worth it...sort of.

The girls seemed to really enjoy it as did Parker and I. The main focus of the show was three stories, Princess and the Frog, Cinderella and Tangled (Rapunzel) with the required appearances by Mickey and Minnie and all the other princesses. All Rowan wanted to see was Belle and all Lily wanted was Cinderella so everyone was happy.

 That night we went for a treat to Mt Fuji for some hibachi.  We love it and the girls have never been before.  After the initial flame up in the air they both enjoyed the show and let me tell you how impressed I was with both of them.  They both tried all the new foods (except the sushi Parker and I got) and they both ate with chopsticks for a little bit!  Colour me really impressed!

Christmas 2011

It came, it saw, it conquered and now it is 362 days til next Christmas and I bet it sneaks up on all of us again even though we see it coming plain as day :)


Sunday the 18th was the annual trek around Hatboro for Santa with the fire company. We swore we heard the sirens - the other kids heard the sirens - and the kids all waited outside for more than an hour just waiting and waiting and waiting...and finally he came!

My parents rolled into town on the 22nd so the girls got to go swimming at their hotel on the afternoon of the 23rd which thrilled them to no end.

I decided to do Christmas dinner on the 24th again this year because it is just so much easier the next day. I can relax and make a leisurely brunch and the kids can play with all their new stuff if they choose and we have yummy leftovers we can munch on all day.

After dinner the girls got in their new Christmas jammies and got cookies and milk ready for Santa.  Rowan heard on the radio that Rudolph was getting all the carrots instead of sharing with the other reindeer so she decided to mark them all so everyone would share and get their own carrot.

Daddy got his phone out then and he and girls pulled up the Norad Santa tracker so they could see where in the world Santa was and when he was getting ready to cross the ocean the girls decided that would be a good time to get to bed so would be sound asleep like good girls when he got to our house.

While they slept - Santa did indeed come to our house.

Lily was beyond thrilled with her new bike.

Rowan could not wait to bake something with her new oven from Mom Mom and Pop Pop.

Both girls loved the karaoke machine Santa brought them - Jazz was not so sure - there was an awful lot of singing and microphone playing.

Parker got his new beloved Kindle Fire and promptly lost it to the girls.  Guess they will have to ask for one next year!

My parents headed back home on the morning of the 26th and we slowly tried to get our house back in order and all the fun new stuff put away. 

Parker took the girls up to Joe and Diane's for a couple of days this week while we work.  Parker and I took advantage and went to the movies two nights in a row!  The girls come back today and tomorrow we cash in their Christmas present from us and go to see Disney Princesses on Ice!!

Letting the tree decorating commence

Finally - our tree is up and so far Jazz has left it alone.  Of course the dining room tree went up a couple of weeks ago and she pulled it down almost right away.  Thankfully it is a smaller tree with non breakable decorations on it.  She has investigated the living room tree but seems to understand to leave it alone....we'll see.

This weekend was the annual Crooked Billet Breakfast with Santa.  Parker and Johnny worked it again and had to be there at 6am this year!  We wandered over around 820am but stayed until it was over at 11am. 

Joe and Diane came over that afternoon to celebrate Joe's 65th birthday and between dinner and cake we went over to Shady Brook Farm to check out the light show.  Become kind of an annual thing for us but was a first for Joe and Diane.  They added some new things so it was fun to see those instead of the same things we are used to.

And then today after some general tidying and grocery shopping we finally got the tree up!  The house is now ready for Christmas.  And that's about all that is ready....baby steps...

Sunny Days Chasing the Clouds Away

This years big Christmas outing - A Very Furry Christmas at Sesame Place.  A wonderfully terrific time.  We took Kenzie with us as well.  Hired Murph to take care of Jazz for us and were gone from 1230-900.  To say we made a full day of it would be an understatement.  This is the first year Sesame Place has done this and I hope and assume it will be back because we had a fabulous time and it seemed everyone we saw there did as well.  We met characters, we saw stage shows, we watched a parade, we rode rides and we marveled at thousands of lights.  A magical day.