Merry Merry, part 2

The holiday spirit continues! We attended some holiday activities at the Arboretum. We decorated cookies (with Miss Minnesota and Miss Outstanding Teen, no less). The girls loved shopping at the kid store (where kids buy their parents gifts with adult helpers). The girls spent almost an hour in the store picking out our gifts and decorating our bags. They took their jobs very seriously and were so excited about it. But the most fun part of the day was when they played a life-sized game of Candyland! They loved skipping through the Lollipop Woods and Gumdrop Mountain.

 

  

 

Willa sang in her holiday program at school. Here they are getting ready to go:

 

Willa and her good bud, Katie, are ready to sing!

  

Almost! There were some pre-concert sillies!

My favorite song is always, "This little light of mine," which was particularly amusing this year as the kids were given flashlights for it.

We also visited the Lights in the Park at Lake Phalen. To prepare, I laid out the girls' jammies along with a ticket for the night.

We then gave them treats and cocoa in the car. Willa had such a long day that she spent a good part of the drive there doing this (notice she is still clutching her marshmallow). Thankfully we were able to rouse her when we finally arrived!

We got a kick out of the "under the sea" Christmas theme this year!

We made our annual gingerbread house with our friends, the Thompsons. Yum!

We also made a batch of cinnamon gold glitter playdough. Our two joyful bakers rolled and patted, and then sold the sweet treats in their shop and served them at the cafe. Later, we baked a few and painted them for ornaments. Such a fun, sweet-smelling activity!

 

 

 

   

Coming soon...Christmas!

Merry Merry, part 1

Time to play a little holiday catch-up and it's not even Christmas yet! We've been very busy with the events of the season...

We visited the Macy's downtown holiday exhibit. It was a "Day in the Life of an Elf" again, but the girls loved it so much we went through three times!

 

They visited with Santa as well. Willa wouldn't really go near him and would definitely not talk to him, and Jia just wanted to know what kind of cookies he liked! The answer: chocolate chip.

 

We also attended the Holidazzle parade downtown. The weather was warm (30's). As a result, it was very crowded and I couldn't get a single good photo! Fun though!

We attended a performance of the Nutcracker as well. It was fantastic! We were blown away by the caliber of the dancing and the quality of the costumes. The girls were completely mesmerized. This will definitely become a Christmas tradition! The girls have since spent countless hours dancing in our living room to the Nutcracker music, and having their dolls perform the ballet as well!

This is not a holiday event, but it was a special one. We saw the Terracotta Warriors at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts! The girls were genuinely interested in learning all about them.

We topped off the night with an excellent dinner and the girls' favorite: lychee bubble green tea!

We had our first big snowfall...finally! It was so much fun! We spent much time sledding down our driveway, making snowmen, building forts and throwing snowballs.

Really, is there anything better than sledding with your friends?

I love how a huge snowfall brings the entire neighborhood together!

Maple syrup on snow and cocoa to end the day!

Gymnastics crazy

Both of the girls have American Girl dolls who do gymnastics (Ivy and McKenna). As a result, we have been a little gymnastics crazy around here. We made a balance beam, vault and springboard for the dolls to use:

We also made an Olympic stand for the winners:

And we turned these socks:

Into leotards!

Willa's doll can use her ribbon wand, and we have the supplies to make uneven bars as a surprise Christmas present. We've had a lot of fun making everything (mainly out of foam, boxes, wrapping paper and duct tape) and it's saved a ton of money too!

We also had a little McKenna movie party, complete with birthday cake milkshakes! So yummy!

And the girls have each enrolled in gymnastics class. It's been interesting to see how much their personal styles differ. Jia is cautious  and asks lots of questions before doing something. Willa gets the general idea and then just flings herself into whatever they're doing. Thankfully, they are both loving it!

The girls each have casts and crutches for their dolls (for their gymnastics injuries) and have asked for a wheelchair for Christmas. Fingers crossed they never need any themselves!