Mmmmm...

My hands taste really good!

The raising of the Christmas Tree

Today we officially set out to welcome the "Christmas Season" by finally putting up the Christmas tree. It should have been a 15 minute set up job, but ended up taking 45 because we had to search high and low for the tree base. Have you ever had that feeling of knowing you have seen something 20 million times in a place it shouldn't be, and everytime you see it you tell yourself you should put it where it goes so you can find it when you need it? Well, that was me with the tree base. Jeff finally found it upstairs in the hall linen closet. Don't ask me how it got there...

So after finally being able to set it up, we let the kids decorate the tree all by themselves. We helped a little bit in the places they couldn't reach, but overall they did a wonderful job. We have an ecclectic mix of ornaments that we've collected over the years, so you'll just as easily find a beautiful crystal ornament next to our popsicle stick art work me and the kids handcrafted at home. Can you guess which ones I treasure more? :)

Jeff and all his helping elves.

Elizabeth got into the spirit :)

"Is Santa catching this?"

Ashley loves putting the angel on the tree.

"I LOVE My...

...freeze dried strawberries!" If you think that Kate can't get into mischief while buckled into her car seat, here's proof that it can happen anytime, anywhere. I usually feed her these snacks in a controlled environment (think strapped into high chair, wearing nothing but a diaper) because as evidenced by the picture, they leave you covered in crumbs and color your fingers a blood red that lasts for days. But somehow she was able to reach into her diaper bag, open the package, and proceed to eat the entire thing without me noticing. Of course, only because like every good mother, I was concentrating on being a good driver ;P

"Whaaat?!! So they're a little messy..."