So sweet!!!

Last week I made the genuis mistake of taking the children(all dressed-up) to visit Santa on a day that he had off. Here are a few attempts at a picture in front of the tree.

Darin and I enjoyed watching Ellery "perform" during a Chrismtas sing-a-long at her school. O.K., so she did more pouting than singing, but it was still entertaining all the same. She was more interested in the cookies following the performance, rather than the actual performance. . . .hhmmmm, I wonder where she gets that?????

Taking a break from shopping to check out the koi fish. The people who planned this shopping center must have had children in mind when they added this lovely feature.

While out doing some shopping, we were fortunate enough to "run into" Santa at a small toy store. This saved us the always fun hassle of standing in a long line while the children grow cranky in anticipation of Santa's arrival. We quickly snapped a picture and Ellery told Santa her Christmas wish--"An Ariel book, please." Have I mentioned how much I love this child???

Darin and I enjoying a much needed night out at his company's Christmas party.

This morning we had the distinct pleasure of watching Ellery's first dance recital. We were unsure of how she would perform, considering she was up most of the night before with a bad cough. Despite her lack of sleep and crankiness, the performance was precious! Darin and I watched as our baby girl danced her own dance and watched us, rather than her teacher. Despite her lack of following direction, she did manage to master the art of the curtsy. We are so proud!!!

We had a fun weekend which included the Christmas parade in downtown Encinitas. It was quite adorable and included homemade floats, decorated bikes and scooters, and even boat floats! Naturally, we forgot to bring the camera, but here are a few pics from our beach park outing today. We did not stay too long, as it was a chilly 62 degrees(wow are we spoiled)!!! Is Ellery trying to lick her brother on the slide???

"See, Dane. . . .these are called ornaments--they stay ON the tree."

A month or so back, I wrote about the lack of gentlemen left in the world. Today I was both shocked and relieved to find that I was absolutely wrong!! While on a trip to the post office(always a dreaded trip in December with 2 young children), not one, not two, but three different gentlemen stopped and went out of their way to hold open the door for myself and my children. I was overwhelmed and thrilled to find that my previous sentiments were wrong. Ho, ho, ho and merry cheer to all!!!!!!!

"Mommy, look at this poor, lonely ornament on the tree. . . .maybe it is time to put up the rest." Check out the stalker in the background of this picture!!!