Our Christmas Tree

Thanksgiving weekend we took the girls got our traditional Christmas tree spot to get a tree.  Natalie helped Claire pick out the best tree.  Emile set it up for us and the girls helped me to decorate it after I put the lights up.  Natalie loved decorating the tree.  She put on about a dozen non-breakable ornaments -- all in one area of the tree.  Claire then crawled around to take some off the tree!  It was a lot of fun.
We've started two new Christmas traditions with the girls - Elf on the Shelf and reading Christmas books.  We got an cute elf that we put on our bookshelf.  The elf hangs out during the day but "leaves" at night to go tell Santa whether the girls were good during the day.  In the morning the girls come down and look to find where the elf is sitting once he returned from visiting Santa.  Natalie loves it.

I've also started reading the girls a different holiday book each night in front of the tree before bath. Right now, Natalie picks out the book each night while Claire crawls around.  I love it!

Thanksgiving and Fall Fun

The end of November was a busy time for us.  The girls went to a friend's 3rd birthday party (Dylan).  Natalie became friends with a little girl a few years older than her and had a great time pretending to make and sell food from Dylan's playhouse.  Claire had enjoyed playing in the sand box.

We have a lot of trees in our yard which are very tall and lose a lot of leaves in the Fall.  Kinsey made a large leave pile for them to play in.  Natalie enjoyed running across the yard and jumping into it, and then laying in the leaves to watch the clouds and airplanes.  Claire was a little more hesitant but enjoyed it nonetheless.  I really enjoyed spending time with the two of them in the leaves after work. 

Claire celebrated her first Thanksgiving -- her last first holiday before her birthday.  We went to Emile's boss' house in Elfand.  Natalie loved it!  She latched onto the older girls there (3 of them) and I pretty much didn't see her much of the night which is not like her (she's usually stays pretty close to me when we're in a large group).  Natalie spent the most time with the oldest (11 years old), Lilah.  She was so sweet with her.  It was great seeing Natalie come out of her shell with other kids.  Claire spent a lot of time hanging out with me which was wonderful!  Dinner was wonderful and the company was even better.

The weather had been pretty nice so we got a chance to spend some time playing outside.

Santa Parade and Baking Cookies

We've started a new yearly tradition with the girls -- going to the annual Santa Parade in downtown Raleigh.  We met up with Emile's boss' and co-worker's families right in front of the Capital Building.  The parade was just like those with have in Wisconsin for the 4th -- lots of floats and marching bands.  I think Natalie's favorite things though were the horses!  And of course, seeing Santa come into town at the end of the parade.  Definitely something we plan to do again in years to come.

Pecan Picking

Natalie and the Princesses

Natalie loves Disney Princesses.  No matter what other things we expose her to, she always goes towards princess things (although horses come in a close second).  They're even her make believe friends :).  We took her to see the Disney Princesses on Ice.  She was so excited.  It was three weeks ago and she still talks about it -- all the princesses dancing together, being an ice skater, etc.  I love it. 

We had first row tickets which I didn't realize when we bought them.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Natalie was thrilled with it at first but unfortunately, she got scared of the Genie, Sebastian, and Ursula so we moved up about half way through the first half.  We went back to our seats after intermission but she got nervous again so we went back up for the remainder of the performance.  Overall she loved it though -- she crashed in the car on the way home!

Claire's first Halloween and time with Oma and Opa

Claire got to go trick or treating for the first time with her big sister.  They were so adorable as a pink bunny and fairy princess.  Natalie did great going up to the houses and saying "trick and treat".  She surprised us by not being that scared even when her and Papa went out when it was dark.  Claire and I went with them trick or treating for about an hour before Claire needed to go to bed.  Oma and Opa got to see them in their Halloween costumes before they left to fly home that day.

The girls had a lot fun spending time with Oma and Opa over Halloween weekend.  In addition to going to Hill Ridge Farm (in last post), they played outside a lot and spent time playing in Natalie's room with all their toys.

Natalie's favorite thing to do right now is color in coloring books or just on paper.  She's now trying to color specific things although staying in the lines isn't yet a priority :)