gearing up with excitement, as this is the last week before christmas week! jon's taken off the entire work week of christmas, and the following week he'll be off 3 days for the new year. AND at that point, we're just one month away from my due date! eeeek! so many exciting things happening & lots of fun stuff planned for the girls in the meantime :) 

today is our third "pajama day" of the week- it's raining & dreary outside, and the perfect day to watch christmas movies & light holiday candles. before this week, i actually have never had a pajama day with the girls, but it's been really nice to hang at home every couple days in between the busy activities we have planned. 

more than anything, i am so grateful for all of our health this year. we've seen & heard of more illnesses this season than we ever have before, and the health of our immediate family is something i'll never take for granted. 

christmas tree bingo! teaching lucy how to roll dice was pretty entertaining- [notice her nutcracker, which she's been holding onto for dear life, so much so that she broke his head off... twice]

waiting for sis at gymnastics class- my little miss christmas cheer :)

we spent one afternoon this past week crafting thank you's & homemade christmas cards for the mailman, neighbors, dance teachers & gymnastics coaches. we traced hands & feet, made these reindeer cards, then stuffed masons with candy cane rice krispy treats. watching lucy deliver her goodies to our neighbors' homes was priceless. so much christmas spirit- she has such a sweet, giving heart in that tiny little body of hers. 

miss cinnamon enjoyed a sugar scrub & bubble soak one evening, in preparation for the girls' pure excitement upon discovering her each morning-

wednesday was pajama day #1 for us. it was actually a christmas pjs & cookie party at the library- i just extended the attire to the rest of the day :)

we made these candy canes wednesday evening & i've gotta say, i am so thrilled about how well eloise sits & focuses for art projects! it's so much fun! she's generally such a busy bee, but will actually sit & create. she loves buttons, glue, ribbons scraps & being big like lucy :)

thursday morning, jon's parents had the girls over while i ran as many errands as i could possibly squeeze into that amount of time without loading 2 kids in & out of the car + lugging them into 5 different stores :)

we read the christmas star & made popsicle stick star ornaments for the tree with meme later in the day-

friday was pajama day #2. i wasn't planning on it, but we had nothing on the schedule for the day, my energy is fading the bigger this baby gets & jon was flying home from his all-week trip, so we stayed home & had some fun holiday cheer-

hot cocoa with marshmallows was lucy's special advent treat of the day :)

to go along with our star theme from the previous day, star snacks-

& lucy matched these paper plates with different colored stars. she had to match colors to their pair, then put them all in rainbow color order [which she has memorized thanks to a little song we sing]. it was nearly 70 degrees [definitely doesn't feel like christmas weather!], so we brought the fun outside :)

friday night, meme came over after we'd put the girls to sleep & jon took me on a shopping spree at the mall. he filled my closet & we stopped by sar-ko-par park on the way home to check out the gorgeous light display-

& miss cinnamon was ready to bake come saturday!

ready for dance class!

eloise spent the dance hour at meme's-

& a little no-mess ziplock baggy painting activity with some christmas shapes afterwards-

during the girls' naps yesterday, meme came over & we BAKED- our annual cookie bake day! we tried to tone it down this year, just making peanut butter with reeses, shortbread with chocolate drops, peppermint bark, chocolate chip, oatmeal chocolate chip, fudge [& snowballs, which were a flop due to a new recipe that clearly has never actually been used by anyone!] the girls woke up in time to taste-test & wreak havoc on the already disastrous mess of a kitchen :)

last night, jon & i went on our annual [although if we have a baby who's nursing often, it doesn't happen annually!] christmas date on the plaza to see the lights & have dinner. it was 70 degrees outside & just a gorgeous night to walk around with my favorite person-

& oh hey! look who i recognized in the kansas city business journal-

looking forward to the week ahead, with more counting down to christmas! i have an ornament exchange with girlfriends tonight & some [more!] stuff planned for the girls to get in the holiday spirit over the next few days. maybe some snow?!

-ivy