Luke has been enjoying his time with Harris. He even got her a Christmas gift – 3 different flavors of cat treats.

Harris has (mostly) been enjoying her time with Luke. The cat treats help.

Poor JoJo wasn’t thrilled about being woken up before she was ready on Christmas morning.

She was a little happier when she got to sit next to Adam (or “Ah” as she calls him).

And of course, her mood improved immensely when they started opening gifts.

The big three went full festive for school on Friday.

Luke’s class performed a play for their kindergarten reading buddies and Luke was cast (to everyone’s surprise) as The Grinch. We all thought he’d make a perfect Max.

Maggie asked if I would take a picture of just her “doing a fancy pose.”

Annie helped me wrap the other night. She was a big fan of sticking the labels on the gifts.

Maggie danced in The Nutcracker on Saturday night. She worked so hard to get ready for the show and did an amazing job.

We were all excited to see Maggie perform. My boys looked handsome and Annie wore a special nutcracker shirt.

Maggie was a battle mouse (the “battle” part is apparently very important and she corrects me if I leave that out).

She was the cutest little battle mouse and did a great job scampering around the stage and staying in character.

Afterwards we surprised her with flowers and a ballerina mouse.

Annie helped me make the mouse (she did the stuffing) and it turned out great.

Maggie named the mouse Bella and has already asked if she can go to school on Friday for show and tell.

Mags was super excited that Bella can wear some of her doll’s clothes and that the two of them can match.

Enough about the non-battle mouse though, here’s a link to the video of Maggie’s time on stage.

And a cheat sheet in case you need help keeping track of her:

• Maggie is the second mouse on stage (after the first one is shot by the toy soldier).
• Then she’s all the way on the right side of the screen when the soldiers come back.
• And all the the way on the left when the big girls are dancing.
• Then all the way on the right again after they dance in a circle with the soldiers.
• And Maggie grabs the Mouse Queen’s left arm (so her back is to us), before going off stage.

Maggie adores the girl that danced the part of the mouse queen. Her name is Bella, which is why Maggie named her mouse Bella. I think that’s pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

The past couple of times I’ve gone to get my hair cut, Maggie has asked to go with me. So this time I made her an appointment for right after mine.

Maggie loved getting her hair shampooed and being pampered by Miss Sam. Sam cut and blow dried Maggie’s hair and then asked if she could curl it. Maggie was thrilled. Maggie even got to dig through Sam’s stash of hair goodies and pick out two sparkly barrettes (and a pair for Annie too).

Afterwards the two of us went to lunch at Taco Bell (Maggie’s choice). It was a great way to start our day.

Adam was working on some extra credit today for English. The assignment was to pretend to be a Christmas tree and write a letter to someone convincing them they should pick you. Here’s what Adam came up with:

Dear Family,

Hello, I am Troy the Tree. Not to brag, but I am the best tree in the lot, and probably everywhere else too. I already know you will buy me. I mean who else would you buy? That shrub Sherman over there?

You those know those tree air fresheners? They wish they smelled like me. I am the perfect shade of green. I have full branches, perfect for holding garland, ornaments, and lights. Of course, I would look more than fine without all that. I think we all know that I’m the best tree.

Your future tree,
Troy

P.S. I can guarantee that I am bug free.

Annie and I went shopping for supplies for a special project and ran into some of that famous Buffalo snow.

No, we didn’t buy any.

Thursday night we took the kids to Cabela’s to see Santa’s Wonderland.

We got there at the perfect time, there was no line and Santa was able to spend time talking to the kids. He also gave them each a mug. He said was perfect for dunking cookies in milk.

After visiting with Santa, we went into the craft area and the kids got cute penguin backpacks that they can color. There were more goodies inside too.

Annie was also excited to see the fish – possibly even more than Santa, but don’t tell him that.