Christmas Day!

The girls were nothing short of spoiled on Christmas Day!  

Santa left both girls a HUGE Barbie house (it's up to my shoulders in height), AND he left a note reminding the girls that sisters always share (yeah right!).  Alice's sharing tactic is to follow Audrey around stalking the toy she wants to play with, then, as soon as Audrey sets it down, Alice "dines and dashes" snatching up the toy and running to the other room.  At least she doesn't rip it out of her sister's hands (probably because she knows Audrey will pinch her!).  

 After Christmas morning at our house, we headed down to Nana & Papa's for more of Santa's surprises.

 Papa's pig flashlight was Audrey's favorite gift.

How many adult men do you know with a Jets pillow pet (and how many have to have it with them in bed at night?!?)

 A pony AND a purse.  The perfect gift!  Thanks Aunt Marianne!

 

 By lunchtime, we were headed to our 3rd and final stop, Grammy & Grandpa Bean's house!

Uncle Bob & Aunt Lisa joined us 

with their new puppy, Cricket.  Alice was carrying it around in Audrey's new baby toy carrier (yes, she dined and dashed this gift too!)

Nana sat through all the gifts so patiently not realizing she had the biggest gift of all (sitting right behind her in that big green box).

We all pitched in for her first flat screen!

 

MINE!  

Traditions

I love traditions, and with having little ones, we are beginning to set our own family traditions to carry on for years to come.   With Christmas Eve,

comes making Christmas cookies,

getting the girls dolled up for Christmas Eve mass, pizza for dinner,


new Christmas pajamas (thanks Nana!),

family pictures in front of the tree, and new to this year . . . sprinkling reindeer food in the lawn for Santa's friends, chocolate milk for Santa, and reading Twas the Night Before Christmas before bedtime.

Here's to traditions, family, and counting our blessings this Christmas.  

Merry Christmas!  

Love,

The Kingsley Family

Christmas at the Zoo!

We headed to the zoo the night before Christmas Eve.  It was our first time going to the Zoo for the Christmas lights, and we weren't the only family with this idea!  The zoo was packed!  We got there early, and by the time we left at 7:00, the lines to enter & park were ridiculous.  Nevertheless, the zoo was beautiful.  We had a great time, spotting the animals, drinking hot chocolate, and getting into the Christmas spirit.

 

The Star of the Stage!

 

Alice has been performing on her pretend stages for quite some time now--asking us to close the curtains, sit in the audience, and watch her show.  Her preschool Christmas concert was her first chance to be on a real stage.  It was also Nana's birthday so we spend the day pampering the girls and preparing for the big night.  We took Alice to the nail salon where she sat still in her own chair and had her nails done (bright red nails with Christmas decorations on each thumb).  We curled her hair and put on her new "Christmas Princess" dress.  She looked adorable.

Mrs. Christian had all her classes combined for the performance - of course they've been practicing at school for nearly a month, but it was the first time they sang together. 

 I'm not sure what I was expecting, but there were lots of family members filling the Middle School Auditorium.  It took Alice a few songs to warm up, but one she warmed up, she soaked up the attention (would I really expect less from my little prima donna??!?).  After every song, a bow to the audience with her saying, "thank you very much."  And as you will notice, she was so excited during the performance, she couldn't control her jumping!). 

The preschoolers were very serious about their Christmas music with many simply shouting to see who could be the loudest (and most off key for that matter:). 

I think this girl is destined to be a performer (hmmm. . . not sure where she gets that from?!?)

Happy birthday, Nana!

Santa's House

Did you hear the big news?  Santa flew in from the North Pole for a special visit to downtown Noblesville!

A chance to visit with Santa that didn't involve the mall sounded like a great idea!  Last year, Alice was shy & Audrey was terrified. This year, Alice really warmed up to Santa Clause (& Audrey was still terrified!)

 

Take One

Take Two!  

(aren't we terrible putting Audrey through this torture just to get this shot!?!)

 Alice sat right down on Santa's lap and pretty much recited her entire Christmas list verbatim. . . everything relating mostly to Barbies and Princesses.  She was definitely not shy this year!

Alice wrapped it up with a big hug for Santa while

Daddy spent his time calming down Audrey.