Holiday Break update...

So far I can check the following items off my list
* go see Christmas lights
* make gingerbread houses with the girls
* watch a Christmas movie & eat popcorn
* take the girls ice-skating for the first time
* take the girls to at least one outing (either the Magic House, Art Museum, Butterfly House or Science Center)

Only thing left is the train show and that's planned for tomorrow. Yippee!

Here's how it all happened.
On Friday night, (12/21) after dinner we loaded the girls in the car and went and saw the Christmas lights. This year we went to the "Winter Wonderland" in Tilles Park and it was way better than Santa's Magical Kingdom. Much, much less cheesy and the girls thought it was cool.

On Christmas Eve, while waiting for G's parents to arrive the girls and I made gingerbread houses. Some of the pieces for M's were cracked or broken in the package so that was a challenge. I did get it to stand up so she could decorate it, but it was leaning and the roof was caving in. It kind-of looked more like a gingerbread-broken-down-shack than a gingerbread-house, but both girls had fun and that's what mattered.

Later than night G and I watched "Love Actually" which technically isn't a holiday movie, but it is set at Christmas time, so I'm counting it. Also, the girls went home with G's parent's on Christmas night for a sleep-over so he and I went to the movies to see "Juno", which included popcorn, so I think the combination of the two counts to check that off of the list.

Today my sister, Aunt M, came over and we went ice-skating. It was the first time the girls had been and they had a blast. M keeps asking when we can go again. Both my sister and I are OK skaters, but it's hard to keep your balance and keep a kid balanced. We managed, with the help of the wall and had fun. J did great from the get go, but lost interest fairly quickly and was quite content watching with G. M had a blast, she was really nervous at first, fell a lot, but by the end would let go of the wall a bit here and there and loved with Aunt M and I would each take a hand and go out more in the middle with her. I was very proud because she's much more timid then J and she did great and had fun.

Also, this afternoon we went to the Butterfly House and rode the carousel at Faust Park. At first M didn't want to go because she was tired from skating, but after I mentioned the carousel she was all in. We had a good time looking at the butterflies. J would freak if they got to close because I think she thought of them like big bugs! They love the carousel, they love riding it and watching it. I have to remember to take them back more this year and to the playground when it's warm out. It was much too cold and rainy for me today and they really wanted to play.