Christmas # 2

We celebrated Christmas with my Dad and Jackie with brunch, presents, and fun with all the cousins.  The girls had a great time playing with the Fern, Petitgout, and Mulgrew cousins!

 Kelly LOVED getting a "real" gift card for JUSTICE!!!!

 Molly opening her Swimming Ariel doll for the bathtub....she also got a kids hanging organizer for all her Princess dress-up dresses, shoes, crowns, etc.

 Kelly watching Matthew with his new book

Some of the grandkids singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus!

Christmas #1

We had our first holiday celebration with Grandma Peggy & Papa Michael.  The girls were very excited to see the Mulgrew cousins!  All the kids were spoiled....and it was a great beginning to our holiday season.

Grandma and Papa with all the grandkids

 Grandma Peggy reading "The Mitten Story"

***Note how all 4 of the older grandchildren were watching closely.....

 ....while Matthew was doing somersaults around the room at the same time!

Molly was very excited for her light-up Cinderella dress!

(She put it on and wore it the rest of the day!)

 Molly opening her Barbie cash register - another favorite present!

The Mulgrew's gave Molly two more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!!!  I love her smile in this picture!

Kelly LOVED her new sleeping bag from Justice!!!

                                  The Mulgrew's gave Kelly a Crayola marker airbrush machine!

 The older grand kids all received new Leapster cartridges

 The girls got a big Lego Friends set - Olivia's house

 Kelly made lots of things for Grandma and Papa - two snowmen, a potholder, and a Santa picture.  Kelly loves crafts!

I made them a Shutterfly picture calendar for the second year.

 They loved it!

 Grandma and Grandpa gave all 4 kids FURBYS!!!

**This picture is great...I love the expressions on Kelly, Daniel, and Ben's face...while Molly is still opening.

 My girls have their favorite colors - Kelly (pink) and Molly (purple) Furbys

 Furby Fun!

Thanks for a wonderful Christmas Grandma Peggy & Papa Michael!!!!

Holiday fun.....

....Rice Krispie Trains!!!

Grandma Peggy bought two rice krispie train kits for the kids to make & decorate.  The four older kids had a great time shaping the trains and decorating with frosting, candy, etc., while Matthew took a nap.  It was the perfect way to start our holiday celebrations!!!

Each family decorated a train!

 Molly & Kelly both had fun!

 At times....Mommy helped the girls....

 ....and Daddy helped too!

 Hard at work!

 Molly really got into it....she was the last one decorating of the 4 kids....and she was the youngest!

 Kelly had lots of great ideas!

 Working together!

 Ben, Daniel, Molly, and Kelly showing off their creations!

 The Mulgrew boys!

 Thanks Grandma Peggy!

 Our family rice krispie train

 Both trains!

You better watch out....

....Santa Clause is coming to town!!!

Molly has been singing this ALL morning.....she learned the actions in preschool yesterday!  Too cute!  I hope everyone is getting ready for the holidays!

"Worst day of Kelly's life!"

Kelly had a ROUGH DAY!  She woke up with a headache and sore throat so we gave her some tylenol and she went to school.  I checked on her twice during the day (a bonus of working at school) and informed her teacher that she wasn't 100%.  I saw her teacher around 1:30 and she said Kelly had been great today!!!  So.....I thought all was well.....

....that was until 2:05pm when Kelly came to the office.

She said she had a REALLY bad headache and a REALLY bad sore throat and she was FREEZING!  After the nurse took her temp (100.4) and I looked in her throat....I just knew she had strep.  I called the doctor and they couldn't get her in until 5:30pm.  Kelly laid down in the nurses office for the last 45 minutes of school.  The doctor confirmed that Kelly had strep throat.  (On a positive note...at least it didn't progress into scarlet fever this time!)  By the time we got her medicine, some supper, and got home, it was 8pm.  My Dad (Papa Bear) stopped to drop some stuff off and the girls showed Papa all the Christmas decorations, etc......including Doodle Elf (our Elf on the Shelf).  The girls pointed him out and Papa Bear (not knowing anything about the Elf and his magic) PICKED HIM UP!

The tears started FLOWING from Miss Kelly......and didn't stop for about 45 minutes!  Kelly was devastated (to say the least).  We assured her that Doodle Elf's friends would help him back to the North Pole.  It didn't help that Kelly was tired and sick....on top of her Christmas Magic Elf being touched!  Brian finally got her calmed down enough to read a book.  Kelly says to us "This is the WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!"  After asking her why she said she missed the last part of school today, has to take YUCKY medicine for 10 days, misses school tomorrow on an ART day, and now Doodle Elf has NO MAGIC!

Wow...it is hard being a 6 year old first grader!

Needless to say....I didn't want an entire day where I was home with a sick kid....and our elf was not here!  So.....Brian and I came up with this....

Our Elf has his magic back and all is ok in the Snyder house!

***Kelly doesn't think so as she has to take stronger medicine three times a day for 10 days, she missed her friends and art class today too!***

Christmas Caroling

Kelly and I attended Cocoa, Caroling, and Crafts today with the Dyersville Girl Scouts.  The weather was great and the 1st graders had a great time singing Christmas Carols at different homes this afternoon.  After and hour of caroling we met up with all the Dyersville girl scout troops for some hot cocoa, cookies, and the girls made a craft.  It was a fun afternoon!  Kelly enjoys being a Daisy Girl Scout!

The 12 girls from our troop that went caroling today!

A short video clip at one of the houses!

ENJOY!

Visiting Santa

The girls visited Santa at Hartig Drug in Dyersville today.  They have been waiting to give Santa "THE LISTS" that they made!

 Kelly is always ready to show Santa some of the things that she wants!!!

 Molly enjoyed pointing out things that she wanted this year too!!!

No tears this year....but Molly doesn't look so thrilled in this picture on Santa's lap!