Goddard Christmas Program!

The boys daycare had their 1st Annual Christmas Program this year and we were sooo excited!  Only the 3 year olds and older performed so Brady was just a spectator.  Chase had been practicing his songs for months and was so excited to be on a "real stage!"

Ms. Amanda opening up the performance

Here comes our star!

The little girl to his left is Cayden....she absolutely LOVES Chase and Chase gets so embarrassed about it!  Cayden's Mom and I have fun joking about it :)  I wasn't too surprised when they walked out and had somehow ended up next to eachother!

Singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

Chase did so great!!  He would find us, smile, and then turn away and keep singing :)

Switching spots to sing Rudolph  - Chase belted out "You'll go down in history" at the end of the song - it was awesome!

The 2 pre-K classes singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" together

Pretending to do a little solo after it was over

Chase & Sam playing around

Chase with his teachers, Mr. Josh & Ms. Stacey

The 3 Musketeers! 

Chase, Carson & Sam

Family shot on the way out.  What a cute and fun night!  Brady even sat super still while the kids were singing and clapped after each song :)

Little Man

A few Fridays ago, Chase got sick at school and was home with me the rest of the day.  I felt bad because I had to work all day so he was mostly just watching movies.  He felt completely fine from like 10am on so he was so bored by the afternoon.  Around 4pm I was done with my calls, so we headed out on a little afternoon date before picking up Brady from daycare.  We went up to a shopping center near us and shared some frozen yogurt and enjoyed the beautiful lights and decorations.  I love my one on one time with my boys and this hour long date is a memory I will cherish :)

Special Deliveries!!

With the rise in online shopping (I hate shopping in real life anymore - lol) the Hoelting house had a lot of packages delievered over the last few weeks.  Included in these deliveries were some VERY SPECIAL ones made out to Chase & Brady!  My Mom and Dad are so generous and spoil my kiddos with all kinds of packages and goodies and this Christmas has been no exception.

About a week after Thanksgiving they received their first very special delivery...an amazing GeoTrax Christmas train!!  They were so excited about it and couldn't believe all the pieces, lights, sounds and fun!  We put our old train away and Craig got this awesome new one set up.  They were obsessed with it the first few days and still love to play with it everyday :)

Chase pointing out all the fun features to Brady! (sometimes they can be really cute together!)

All set up! 

At first Brady would only watch it if he was sitting in someone's lap, not sure what that was about - lol.  But now he loves it and does the remote control on his own.

Hours of fun!

A few weeks later the boys received another special Christmas delivery from Grandma & Papa T!  Cards, clothes, Mickey jammies, stuffed animals and a new ornament for each of them!!  Brady got Mickey and Chase got a submarine, they love them and always point themn out on the tree!

So excited about Mickey jammies!

Loving his Mickey ornament

Showing off his jammies again that night :)

Thank you Grandma & Papa T for helping make our Christmas season so special and exciting!  We love you!

Cookies with Santa

We attended our 2nd annual Cookies with Santa party on Sunday, Dec. 9th.  One of our neighbors started a tradition where she invites a ton of neighbors over and her Dad dresses up as Santa.  All of the parents bring their kiddos gifts to her house throughout the week leading up to it and then Santa brings in big bags of gifts for the kids when he arrives!  The kids always play around for about 30 minutes and then Santa arrives!!  It is so magical to watch the kids faces light up as Santa calls their name and they go up to collect their gift - such a cute tradition!!

Gathering the kids because Santa is on his way!

Here he comes!

Look at all those presents

The kids listening so closely :)

One more try with Santa this year...nope, not happening - lol!

Much safer in Daddy's arms

Lego's for Brady

Poor Chase was the very last name called (there were about 20 kids so he was so patient waiting as each kid had a turn).  Chase crawled over to me right before his name was called and said in a real quiet voice, "When do you think it will be my turn?"  I think the poor kid was seriously worried that Santa forgot him.  I have to admit I was a bit worried too :)

But then Chase was called and he was all smiles!

Lego's!

Back to give Santa a hug

Brady saying goodbye to Santa :) 

Brady walked him to the door and watched him walk all the way down the street...

Santa Visits Grandma & Papa H

For the past 2 years, Marvin & Carol have entered a raffle with their city's fire department to receive a home visit from Santa.  And for the past 2 years, they have WON!!!  We were so excited to hear that they won again and Santa would be visiting their house on Dec 2nd.  The fire dept gives you a 2 hour window of when they will arrive so we all went to dinner at their house and played around until they arrived!  It is such an amazing experience because Santa arrives on a fire truck with the lights flashing, he comes inside and gives the kids little presents and they each get a picture with him!

Brady & Marae at the door watching the firemen come in before Santa

Here he comes!

Chase with Santa.  He loves Santa this year...such a fun age!

A hug for Santa

Ashlyn

Carson

Drew

Austin

Kyler

Marae

Poor Brady!  Not a good year for him with Santa :)  Next year buddy...

Group photo.  Brady wouldn't take his eyes off of Santa - lol!

There he goes!  He hopped into the fire truck and they drove off with the lights flashing

We will keep our fingers crossed that we win again next year!! 

I'm still so amazed that the fire department offers such an amazing experience!  I'm sure they enjoy it though, I mean what could be better than going around to all these houses and watching little kids faces light up all night!