Christmas morning

This morning we were surprised that everyone slept until their regular time. We were expecting to have kids in our bed at 4am. Once they were up the excitement began. They couldn't wait to get down the stairs and see what Santa had brought. Emme found her pink car and spent the rest of the morning sitting in it and honking the horn. She had no interest in opening presents, however Finn and Kenzie were ready to shred some paper. Finn's reaction was priceless. Every present opened was followed by "HEY look its a ..!". It didn't matter if it was socks or a helicopter, he was just excited. Kenzie found her moxie girls and was happy to set up the stable and play with them for the rest of the day. We spent most of the day in our jammies napping and hanging out. We ended the night with a big ham dinner with the whole family. 

first glimpse of the tree

new trash can & trash bags

domestic bliss

water table

Christmas Eve

Tonight was Christmas Eve and Anne & Levi came up for dinner and a sleep over. They wanted to be here for Christmas morning and we were pretty sure our crazy crew would be up early. I decided to cook paella and try my hand at making tiramisu. Something I always love to order when I'm out, but never want to make for just us, knowing I would probably eat the whole thing! Some of my lady fingers floated to the top but otherwise I thought it was a success, and tasted yummy. Now what to do with that almost full bottle of brandy I have left?

chicken nuggets at the kids table

After dinner we worked on making cookies for Santa, and then Jim, Jeanne and I took Kenzie to a candle light service at the local Presbyterian church. The service was nice and the music was beautiful.  When we got home we quickly got into jammies and put out our cookies for Santa. We decided that this year Santa might like a glass of red wine. All that milk gets old and we wanted to make sure this house stood out for Santa!

Lucky for us we got to bed just in time. While we were reading stories we heard the sleigh bells from Santa's sleigh! Santa was really good to the Malcolm's again this year. We are truly blessed.

Time to see the lights

Mum Mum is in town for the holiday so we thought it would be fun to take a drive around town and see the Christmas lights. We made it a fun even with hot cocoa and marshmallows in the thermos for the kiddos and Durham even got to tag along. We went to see one of our favorite houses "The Rombeiro" house to take a tour. There was a line but it was worth the wait. The kids had fun looking at all the decorations on the lawn. Then we headed inside and Finn was in heaven. They have an entire room dedicated to toy trains. He would have stayed there all night. After we completed the tour we got back in the car to take a drive around some of the neighborhoods. It was a really nice family evening. I wish the Christmas season could last longer.

hot cocoa

Daisy Investiture Ceremony

Tonight we had our daisy pinning ceremony and the girls got to wear their uniforms for the first time. We read the girl scout promise and the meanings of the daisy pedals. Then each girl received their daisy pin. We placed it on upside down and each girl was tasked with doing 3 good deeds before they could turn it around. After the ceremony we had a celebration dinner. Lucky for us one of the troop Moms is a caterer. She made us a turkey feast, that was awesome, not what one expect at a girl scout meeting! We all agreed that she should be in charge of our holiday party every year! After dinner the girls had fun roasting marshmallows in the fireplace.

trying on the new uniform

Abby & Kenzie

making smores

After the ceremony Kenzie decided that her first good deed would be to help me bring in the garbage cans. She's really excited doing her good deeds, and I think I will be too!

Winter Minis Dance Recital

Today Mackenzie's winter dance recital. She has been working every week in class on her routines and was excited to show off. The first performance was her tap number "Poodles in Paris". This was absolutely adorable and had everyone laughing. My little poodle did a great job!

Mackenzie's second number was her ballet routine "Chapel of Love". The girls all looked like little brides carrying bouquets. This routine was equally adorable and sweet. We are so proud of our little dancer!

Holiday Party

Today was Mackenzie's last day of school before the winter break. We ended the day with a holiday party. We set up two tables with Christmas crafts, one table with snacks and treats and the Dad's took turns doing wreath toss with the kids outside. It was a fun way to kick off the Christmas break.

Gingerbread Houses

With everyone's busy schedules this winter its been hard to find time to get together and do our holiday crafts. Tonight we were finally all together, so we got out our gingerbread houses to work on. Finnegan made his house out of stickers and foam while Kenzie decorated a traditional house with candy and frosting. Both kids did a great a job and it was so much fun watching them get creative.

Haircuts

Tonight Jim and Finn got matching buzz cuts...my boys are too cute!!

California State Railroad Museum

This weekend Mackenzie and Jim are visiting the Baysdens in Alaska so I wanted to take Finn and do something special. I decided to take my little man to Sacramento to see the trains. From the moment we entered the museum he was in heaven. "Hey Mom there's another train!"

After we walked around and saw all the big trains, we headed to the upstairs to see the model trains and play with the Thomas train sets. Emme liked this part, because she was able to get down and run around. Finn could have stayed all day and played. Everyone crashed when we got in the car and Mommy had a very quiet ride home.

The Nutcracker

Today Mackenzie and I had a special Mommy, Daughter day. We got dressed up and headed to San Rafael to see The Nutcracker. Mackenzie was so excited to see the ballerinas. She couldn't wait to the end to see the sugar plum fairy.

After the show we headed to the mall to have lunch and then we walked around visited Santa. Mackenzie sound next to him and told him all about Moxie girls and twinkle toes. She never gets tired of talking to Santa! It was so much fun to spend the day with my special girl.

Christmas Photo Shoot