Santa Visits

 He's making his list and checking it twice - and the kids made sure to tell all of Santa's helpers what they wanted this year.

Eric took the kids to see Santa Jon again this year in their Little Sleepies pajamas and it was a great set-up (Mom had a work trip and tickets to a suite at Lambeau Field to watch the Packers play the Bears).

They also had a new event called the Northern Express, we saw Santa on the Train and Primrose had a Santa Visit.

Christmas Village and Decorations

 We've enjoyed having Grandma Brigid and Grandpa Ed in town to put up the Christmas village this year. Kyle loves to look at it every day and Maeve really enjoyed helping set it up. We also continued our newer tradition of having our artificial tree and a real tree from OLG since Eric volunteers at the tree lot and unloaded 1200 trees this year. It's not as fragrant as previous years but it's still nice to have Christmas decorations in every room!

Shots

 

Maeve is not a fan of getting shots but Eric got an idea to have them write notes after their flu shot to remind them that it didn't hurt. Maeve did cry for the first shot but was better for the second and Cecilia was a champ for both! We love the note idea so we'll have to continue that for the future.

After the shots, the Mall of America gave them free tickets to ride the rides at the amusement park so that's what we did!

Thanksgiving in Florida

Over Thanksgiving, we had a great time at Grandma Jan and Grandpa Steve's house in Florida. 

Highlights include:

• swimming in the pool
• playing with cousins 
• the train at the Lakes Park with Millie and Brooks
• eating great food for Thanksgiving including all the staples plus Prime Rib!

And before we left, the kids enjoyed school activities. Maeve was the Duck in her Animals Give Thanks play at school, Kyle enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast at school, and Cecilia showed off her great art skills.

Maeve's 8 year stats

 Maeve had a great check up and didn't need to get any shots this time since she had already gotten her flu shot and her 1st COVID shot. She was relieved that she didn't need any more and everything else checked out great.

Height: 50.2 inches

Weight: 54.67 lbs

I believe those are both in the 45-50% range.

Maeve is 8

Wow - 8 years old! Maeve loves to do crafts, read, watch TV, gymnastics, soccer, and is looking forward to ski racing this winter.

We celebrated her birthday early as she wanted a destination birthday like her sister had. In Arizona, we ate at a delicious outdoor restaurant, swam in the pool and opened gifts at the hotel. 

On her actual birthday, she lost a tooth and asked for a present from the tooth fairy (which she got - a cool craft with coloring with sticks). We had donuts with family and fun at the Science Museum watching the Oceans Imax show and playing with the exhibits and trying to catch snowflakes. We then had a nice dinner at Grandma Jan and Grandpa Steve's house. The next day we went bowling with 3 friends - Grace, Ella, and Luella. She enjoyed scoring the highest points at 97 and then loved the arcade, of course.

She sure had her fair share of celebrations this year.