"I know him!"

"10 AM tomorrow...Santa's comin' to town!" "SAAAAANNNNTTAAAAA!!! I know him!"

If you're confused, I'm not sure how we're friends. It's only one of the best quotes from the best Christmas movies ever! A couple of weeks ago, Ray got to meet Santa for the first time and Lilly got to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas for the first time. Pancakes, sausage, holiday crafts and a meeting with St. Nick himself. Talk about a fun-filled morning!

Catching our breakfast (note the flying pancake!)

I'd call this a great success!

'Tis the Season

While this weather we've been having doesn't feel like Christmas, it definitely feels like Christmas inside our house. Per usual, we spent the weekend of Thanksgiving getting the Christmas decor up. My personal favorite...the Christmas tree and all of our meaningful, memory-filled ornaments! Lill was very excited as she got to stay up "late" (a whole 30 minutes past her bedtime!) to have hot chocolate with Mom and Dad and help decorate the tree. She was so excited and alternated putting ornaments on the tree and sneaking sips of the delicious chocolate goodness. This is certainly a tradition I look forward to continuing (and including Ray in next year!)

A quick shot with the tree and cute jammies before bedtime

Minnie was her chosen first ornament

"This is Michigan State!!"

Very excited to show Ariel the ornament to Ariel the doll

Another favorite holiday activity is going to see the Christmas lights at Tilles Park. If you are on top of things, you can purchase tickets for the opening weekend where you can walk through the park rather than drive...soaking in all the ooh's and aah's with your kids without the concern of accidentally crashing into the car in front of you :-) We bundled up on arguably the coldest night of the year thus far (of course!) and enjoyed the lights with MawMaw, PawPaw and our cousins Carter and Taylor :-)

10 months

The last month or so has been busy, busy but oh, so fun! Hence, the very delayed updates :-)

Ray reached the 10 month milestone over the Thanksgiving weekend. He's finally, officially sleeping through the night. He has a tendency to wake up early, but happy-as-ever, and ready to start the day. At least mom and dad don't have to get up during the night, too!

He's a crawling machine and pulling himself to standing. He loves riding in the wagon, opening and closing doors and drawers, knocking over block towers, picking up things with his teeth (I think he's learning from his big "sis", Tyler), participating in our family dance parties and generally getting into everything and anything that he shouldn't :-)  Keeps us on our toes, for sure. He's not showing any interest in walking like his sis did at this age but I know that can change overnight.

Oh, he also loves cheering for the Spartans! ;-)