christmas train

Christmas Train and Hanukkah Party

Our Christmas season kicked off with our annual visit to Irvine Park Railroad to ride the Christmas train with cousins Noah and Hailey.

Waiting not so patiently to board the train.

All aboard.

Meredith asked the twins if they could pretend to be reindeer pulling her sleigh.

The girls had already written a letter to Santa, and after much deliberation and browsing the Lakeshore Learning catalog, they decided they wanted “puppy purses” (stuffed animal dogs inside a plush purse– 19.99 for 3 at Lakeshore, so DONE). Meredith also asked for candy, and Samantha and Amelia asked for new play doh and new shoes.. nevermind that they already have plenty of pairs each. They are both in love with the glittery Sketchers Twinkle Toes kind that are colorful and light up, but I don’t buy them because the light ups aren’t allowed at school and I like to buy neutral shoes that can go with any outfit. Nevertheless, they are total girls and love getting new clothes and shoes, so they decided to put that on their Santa list this year in the hopes that Santa would bypass mom’s preferences for shoe buying.

Christmas Train in years past:

Storytime with Mrs. Clause.

Meredith ran up to meet Mrs. Clause, but then had second thoughts.

We let the kids use their tickets to choose a few activities. Their favorite is always “ice fishing” and “winning” the cheap stuffed animal prizes.

Getting so tall.

Amelia and Samantha raced each other in the jeeps while Meredith went crazy in the bounce house.

Our other adventure with the cousins was hanging out at Auntie Lynn’s Hanukkah Party! It was a good thing Auntie Lynn made approximately 12,000 latkes, because the girls gobbled half of them up. Latkes with applesauce, yum! They were equally excited about the delicious blintzes, cute Hanukkah cookies and playing dreidel/winning gilt (we didn’t tell Meredith that they were chocolate, and it surprisingly took a while for her to figure that out).

Zack gave my biceps a rest from holding Eleanor.

Eleanor loves Great Grandpa!

Lots of love,

Maple’s First Birthday and Irvine Park Christmas Train

Can’t believe we’re only six days away from Christmas! Catching up on some beginning of December events…

Maple’s First Birthday party was a a chic Winter ONE-derland party and the birthday girl was stylin’ on her big day!

This year flew by! We were so happy to celebrate sweet Maple.

Parker was a wonderful co-host and helped all the kids at the craft table.

The beautiful decor, dessert table and macarons were to die for… Maple is already such a foodie!

After celebrating Maple’s big day, we took our annual ride on the Christmas Train with the Kagels and Gerins.

Christmas Train in years past:

Let’s get this party started!

Noah is a little outnumbered by all his girl cousins.

Looking festive with their hot cocoa.

The line to see Santa was crazy ridiculous, and the Gerins/Kagels made the right call by heading back on the train to do some activities while we waited in line so the girls could talk to Santa. It was Meredith’s first time seeing Santa, after all, so we stuck it out for the picture opportunity, even though our time was probably better spent elsewhere. It may have helped that Santa had called them on the phone (I signed up through our city to have “Santa” call one night and ask the girls if they were being good sisters and ask them to clean up their toys!), but this was the first year the twins actually wanted to talk with him in person.

Samantha and Amelia kept themselves entertained while we were waiting.

Meredith was jealous and kept trying to figure out how to get up that tree.

Meredith’s first time seeing Santa!

First: nonchalance.

Second: Confusion.

Third: Betrayal!

The progression of Meredith’s reaction is classic:

Once we hopped back on the train and got some food in her belly, Meredith was in better spirits, having forgotten the terrifying old man with whom her parents so negligently left her. She watched the girls win the inevitable inflatable animals at the carnival and giggled as Noah and the twins ran around the park chasing each other. Baby Hailey was so cozy and snug in her Baby Bjorn while Meredith chilled and took in the lights from her stroller.

We can’t escape any holiday activity without getting roped into cookie decorating by the twins. It’s like they have an internal sensor that starts beeping whenever we’re within a three-mile radius of sprinkles and toxic food coloring.