Rugrats

These little stinkers are just precious and sweet and I loved catching them all sorta sitting together in the same way on our un-made bed. Sweet babies!

Bradley's Pre-school Christmas Musical

Levi, Mark, Bradley

(okay at first)

Logan- the innkeeper

(One of Bradley's classmates)

"Joseph"-middle boy

(played by Jackson, another of Bradley's classmates)

not enjoying this too much

pretty much ready to cry



Bradley's preschool put on a great musical called "The Last Noel". There were speaking parts, lots of cute songs and even a solo by a talented violinist. As you can see, we were VERY close to the front of the stage, which is where Bradley was seated with his class. I think this made it very difficult for him to be happy or excited, seeing his whole family just out of his reach and him not sitting with us. He looked pretty miserable throughout the entire production. He sat next to his buddy, Mark, who also has a "less than thrilled" expression throughout the whole thing. It was kinda comical to watch. After the "stunning" performance, we celebrated with some yummy Cracker Barrel thanks to Gege and Papa! As for Bradley's explanation as to why he looked so sad, he said he didn't have fun and that he wanted Rachel. Sweet boy...he just loves his big sis so much!

The Elf on the Shelf

our elf, hanging out on a candle on our mantle
close-up of Snazzy

We have whole-heartedly gotten into the elf on the shelf this year! We named our elf, Snazzy, and every night, he finds some place to hide around the house. Occasionally he leaves a note on the front door and the kids love looking for him. Snazzy's cute and it shouldn't be that big a deal moving him to new locations, but I find that it's about as easy to remember as the tooth fairy some nights. Our elf isn't too creative, mostly just hanging around, but the kids don't seem to mind. Snazzy will be here till Christmas Eve and then he'll return to the North Pole till next year.

Tree Pickin' at Jack's Creek Tree Farm

3 little stinkers in a sleigh
little miss lovely

mr silly

in front of our tree

my lovely family

The Milligans have a long-standing tradition of going to Jack's Creek Tree Farm and picking out a Christmas tree. They used to cut a leyland cypress and bring it home. Nick and I (of course) continued the tradition when we got married and now that we have kids, the tradition is even more fun! None of us actually "cut" a tree anymore...it's just more sensible to buy a pre-cut Fraser fir and enjoy it's sturdy branches. The smell is so strong and woodsy and definitely gets everyone in the Christmas spirit! The tree farm has a petting zoo and some cute things to look at and do, if you want. We actually went on a weekday, so they didn't have the hayride going, but it was still fun!