We had so much fun at the cookie swap last night. Lots of good food and most of all lots of good cookies. Yum! Thanks Rebekah for a wonderful night! Here are some pics!
The Good food.
Rebekah and one of her beautiful daughters, Natalie
Visiting
So tomorrow night, my sister in law Kristi and I will be heading to our dear friend Rebekah Porter's annual cookie swap. But the REAL fun began tonight as Kristi and I baked 9 dozen cookies. They are delicious and we would know because we had A LOT left over! I'm sure I will take pictures of tomorrow night but here are some pics to share on the making of our scrumptious cookie.
Introducing the McMillon/Murphy White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookie:
So Kristi had this awesome idea (insert sarcasm) to mix the entire batter for all 9 dozen cookies all at one time. Actually it was a good idea until it came to stirring...I am surprised we didn't break the spoon.
Working Hard! Notice no pictures of me stirring...I was still in disbelief that all those ingredients were going to fit in that bowl.
But they did!
We're ready for the swap!
This is what happened to the last batch because we had SO much dough left. We were actually afraid it would all run off the pan but it didn't and they still tasted good.
So this past Saturday evening, we took Maddie and Wyatt to the Grapevine North Pole Express. Last year, Maddie watched the polar express about a million times and we have already watched it several times this year. We have been telling Maddie about this train ride on Dec. 6th for over a month now, so our home could hardly wait to get there. They had lot of fun things for the kids to do before the train and then walking to the train they had "snow" falling around us as we boarded. They also played the music from the movie, which Maddie recognized immediatly. So we hopped on board a train and set off for a grand adventure. 
Getting to conduct the model trains.
Daddy and wyatt watching the trains.
Nana and Wyatt
Maddie with her polar express ticket.
Maddie singing "Jingle Bells" with the other kids before the train ride.
So excited!
Getting settled on the train.
"Wow, this train really moves!"
The kids in their matching pj's.
Wyatt enjoyed the ride too.
Guess who she just saw get on the train?!
The BIG GUY himself!
Lovin on mommy.
Goofing off with dad.
We saw this statue when we got off the train and Maddie thought she would sit on the army man's duffel bag. We told her it looked like Uncle Jame, so I guess she felt right at home!
Thanks mom and dad for the wonderful weekend. We had a blast! Thank you for making the Christmas season more magical!
We went to my parents home this weekend to take Maddie and Wyatt to the Polar Express. But before that, we let Maddie ride in the Waxahachie Christmas parade with my parents. It was SOOOO cold that morning but she did great waving at everyone and saying "Merry Christmas!"
**I will post the many many pictures from the polar express later.
Bundled up little guy
I had never seen camels in a parade before.
Yesterday when we got home we had a nice surprise in our mail box. My Aunt Sharron sent us our new Christmas tradition. It is called Elf on the Shelf. The kit comes with a story book and a little elf doll. You read the story about how the elf sits in your home and watches how good or how bad you have been though the day and then when you go to sleep at night he flies to the north pole to report to Santa. The next morning the elf is in a new spot and the kiddo has to find it. Part of the story is also that you have to name your elf. Maddie named ours Toomin...not quite sure where she came up with that one. Anyway we read the story last night and placed Toomin in the Christmas Tree. This morning Maddie saw right away that Toomin was not in the tree and began looking for him, he was now on her picture frame above the mantle. Tonight we read the story again and she said goodnight to Toomin, we can't wait to see her face tomorrow morning when he is not on her picture frame anymore. This is seriously the cutest thing and the story is so good and so fun.
Thank you Aunt Sha Sha for thinking of us and getting us something fun for Christmas. And thanks for giving us a new Christmas Tradition. We love you!
The Kit
Reading the story
Toomin's first spot on the tree.
