Electric Safari

   On Tuesday night, the weather was supposed to be fairly nice.  We decided to go to the Electric Safari at the zoo.  We went once before when Ashlyn was only like a year old.  As zoo members, we get in for free.  Since the kids enjoyed the church lights so much, I figured they would like the zoo.  We had such a great time!  We got to see a bunch of the animals.  It was neat being at the zoo at night instead of the day.  The kids loved looking at all the different lights.  They had a lot of neat animal ones. 
     The best part was that Santa Claus was there. The line was very short to see him.  They had an area where you could make a list before you went and saw Santa.  Ashlyn was getting concerned that she hadn't had a chance to get her list to Santa yet.  She wrote a nice list for him. We saw Santa when we went to the North Pole this summer.  Dawson wouldn't get near him then.  We were thinking he would do the same this time.  We are very surprised when he walked right up to him, and said, "My name is Dawson".  Ashlyn gave Santa her list and he looked it over with her and then took it with him.  They had a great time seeing Santa. 
    We had such a nice night at the zoo.  We decided that we will definitely be adding the Electric Safari to our yearly Christmas traditions. 

The entrance with all the pretty lights

Ashlyn and I

In front of one of the lion lights

This light was really neat.  The elephant would use his trunk to shake the apples from the tree. 

The city views were amazing at night!  Our zoo seriously must have one of the best views in the world!

In front of the Christmas tree. 

The giraffe lights

Meeting Santa.  Dawson was introducing himself. 

Santa looking at Ashlyn's list

My angels with Santa

Ashlyn got to see Mrs. Claus too!

We saw the lions before we left.  I thought cats were supposed to be active at night?

Dawson and Joey in front of the tree.

Eddie Buddy Part 2

   Here are some more of Eddie Buddy's recent antics.  We will probably do one more post to post the final pictures.  We are having so much fun with the elf this year.  I love this tradition! 

We woke up one morning to discover that he had dyed the milk different colors!!!

Joey decided to use the milk in the waffle mix that morning.  The kids got blue waffles which they loved!

Yummy!  Blue waffles

One morning, the kids discovered that Eddie Buddy had brought a train to go around the Christmas tree.  Dawson is in love with this train!

Taking a train ride

I think this might be one of my favorite things he has done so far.  We discovered Eddie Buddy built a snow man in the freezer!!!

What a cute snow man!

One morning, we found Eddie Buddy having a cookie party with a bunch of wrestling guys who decided to play dress up. 

Yum!  Cookies!

Ashlyn came downstairs to some wrapped presents.  When she opened them, she discovered that silly elf had wrapped her backpack, lunch box, and homework folders!

Eddie Buddy found the perfect spot to hang out in!

Eddie Buddy was at it again with the marshmallows.  He build a little snow man family out of them. 

Christmas Lights

   Another one of our Christmas family traditions is to go and look at lights.  Every year we go to a local church that puts on a spectacular display.  You drive slowly through all the light displays.  They have dancing gingerbread men, the Grinch, Santa.  When you drive by Santa, he always some how knows the kids names.  The kids always get such a kick out of that one!  Since we are just driving through the church parking lot and very slowly, the kids are allowed to ride on my lap while we drive through.  I think that is one of their favorite parts.  This year Dawson really, really got into it.  He was amazed by all the lights.  They had a light up train which really got him excited.  They only put on the show on weekends, so we will be going again this weekend to enjoy it one last time.  This is honestly one of my favorite things we do all Christmas.  We tried to take pictures this year, but it is nearly impossible to capture on camera. 

All ready to look at lights

Waiting for our turn to go

Some of the lights

You get to drive through candy cane tunnel

The light up train

Gingerbread House

   One tradition we all really look forward to each Christmas is decorating a gingerbread house.  It's always so fun to see the house go from plain to full off candy and fun.  This year Dawson really, really had a great time helping Ashlyn.  I think he ate more candy than he decorated with, but he was a big help.  We were really happy with the way our house turned out.  We also had such a nice timing laughing and enjoying each one another's company.  To me that's what Christmas is all about. 

The before

Getting everything ready

Dawson so excited to get started. 

Decorating away

They seriously did a great job putting the candy on. 

Ashlyn really gets into the decorating. 

Our finished house. 

Eddie Buddy

      Our dear elf, Eddie Buddy arrived again this year.  The kids just absolutely love him to death.  We all have so much fun waking up every morning to discover what antics he pulled the night before.  This is also the first year that Dawson has been able to understand the concept and he really likes looking for him too.  We've been taking pictures in the morning to post on the blog.  I will post another blog post after Christmas with the rest of the pictures. 

Sitting on the clock

He hung all of Ashlyn's underwear on the Christmas tree! Such a silly elf.

This was one of the best nights.  The Ninja Turtles some how captures Eddie Buddy and tied him up. 

He really must have done something to make the turtles so mad. 

One morning, we discovered that he had packed Ashlyn's lunch full of candy! 

Eddie Buddy was sitting in a chair in the corner.

He likes licorice like Ashlyn.

The next night, Eddie Buddy was free and all of the turtles were tied up.  He got his revenge!

The naughty little elf drew on all of our pictures one night!

With the evidence!

Silly pictures!

He left a message on the clock for the kids. 

One morning, we found Eddie reading a book to all Ashlyn's animals. 

Ashlyn was excited to get a new Christmas book.

Eddie LOVES to make messes.  One night he got into the sugar and made snow angels. 

He had a great time with Dawson's trains and made the letter "A" for Ashlyn. 

Eddie had a great time with the ladies one night.  Ashlyn and Dawson were delighted to find him in a marshmallow bath.  They helped themselves to a few. 

I never buy sugar cereal for the kids.  So they were thrilled when he brought them a box of Cocoa Puffs one morning.  The funny thing is they each had a bowl for breakfast that morning and haven't asked for any again. 

Eating cereal with the girls.

The little tricky guy hung all of our stockings above the window.