Oh, sweet baby Rose!  We adore you!

 

Mike and Noelle had a blast on her field trip last week!

A black bear skeleton!

A room to match Noelle!

Noelle should’ve been born in Japan.  Talk about loving the peace sign!

Laying on a bed of nails!

(The exclamation marks throughout this post are dedicated to Mike!  You know you love them, lol!!!)

 

To catch up a little, I don’t know where to start.  I guess I’ll start with my first love; Mike is such a wonderful father to our girls!  Two days a week, this fall, I’ve been out of town at the doctor.  It’s been really hard on us, but Mike has been amazing with the girls!  He’s literally my hero… and theirs.  Although things have gone very smoothly, last week was the hardest week so far, mostly for my heart.  To give context, I’m at everything the girls do.  That’s just one thing I’ve always managed to figure out.  I don’t call in sick, ever.  Well, this week, Noelle’s grade from her school got asked to perform at a city-wide Toys for Tots event.  They have been working on this performance ever since their “Go Fish” play.  Noelle has been beyond excited about it!  However, it fell on one of my out of town days.  I’m in a program that is helping me manage my fibromyalgia, and I’m paying it forward to take advantage of this opportunity.  I was 45 minutes away, stuck in traffic, when the performance started.  My heart was aching, even though deep down I knew I wouldn’t make it in time, I kept hoping that I would.  I just couldn’t stand not being there.  It literally broke my heart.  However, Mike fed and got all 3 girls dressed for the cold weather and to the Christmas event.  Not only that, but he recorded the whole thing for me so that when I got home, we could watch it and celebrate Noelle and her sweet enthusiasm for life together! 

After I spend a day out of town, I am literally dragging the next day.  It is all I can do to keep the littles safe, clean, and fed… just the basics.  Well, as the schedule turns out, Noelle had her 2nd grade field trip the very next day after this performace.  I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to drive to Ft. Worth to meet her group, so Mike took a vacation day off of work to be with Noelle and enjoy the day at the Ft. Worth museum with her (picture on the right).  It was so awesome for them to get to spend some one-on-one time together and experience a field trip together.  Things have a way of working out even better!  It’s always so important for Mike to be at work, while I take care of the girls, but this day for them was meant to be.  It melted my heart to see all of their pictures together of all of the fun they had.  You know, being a super mom, means filling back up your “bucket” so that you have something left to give or “pour out.”  I’m sacrificing a few things now, so that I can do even more in the future.  That has been a tough lesson for me to learn, but I’ve been running on E for quite some time.  I’m always so proud of my sweet, good, and kind family and how we work together to make it work, but last week, we seriously rose to the occasion.  I’m proud of the way we all worked together to be there for each other.  The girls are learning to be a little more flexible, Mike is rocking it out, and I’m using all the energy I have to get well. 

As far as this video of Noelle’s Toys for Tots performance, it kept me going and smiling all last week.  We’ve watched it so many times!  I hope it brings a big smile to your Monday!  Noelle is the diva wearing the shiny silver boots on the front row, to the left of the center.  ‘Tis the Season!  You go girl!!!

(If you can stick it out through the 12 minutes, they sing a Feliz Navidad song and rap song, creative choreography included!  I was so impressed their amazing teacher thought all this cuteness up!  They all knew they were so stinkin’ cute too!)  Oops!  We put two of the middle songs on the video twice.  My favorite song is the last one and starts at minute 10:45.  I’ll never hear, “We Wish you a Merry Christmas!” without thinking of these cute little jolly fists!

 

Upon arrival, the girls burst open the door and met Santa with such excitement!

Although Rose was a little bashful, she quickly warmed up!

Let the tea party and busy conversation begin!

Noelle made Santa Claus a drawing that said, “Love, Believe.”  She also made a bead charm with a bell on the end.  She taped the word “WOW” to the bottom of it.  Such a sweet gesture of friendship!

 

Lots of lively conversation!  What’s discussed with Santa, stays with Santa!  He knows our girls so well and motivated them to reach all of their current goals before Christmas!

 

Love the little pinky and eyes filled with wonder!

Santa chatting with Anna Kate!

 

Rose licked every last crumb off of her plate.  She’s 2 and so innocent.  This was adorable!

This is one of my favorite pictures.  Noelle was so very happy to be having tea with her friend.

Anna Kate deep in thought.  I’m so thankful to Mike for this beautiful picture that he captured!

 

Anna Kate and I were talking about how much fun she was having!

After tea, it was on to story time with Santa.

 

About half-way through, Rose got really sleepy and went over to the big chair to cuddle with Daddy.

But the big girls were deep into the story!

Santa had one more surprise up his sleeve, our very own Elf on the Shelf!  He explained all of the rules and said that if the girls were good, the elf would report back to Santa, and he would honor their Christmas wishes.

 

Santa Chuck is our friend.  He has been there for our family through many difficult times over the past few years, in prayer and in presence.  He has blessed us more than I can say.  We are so grateful that we have a real Santa who loves us and takes good care of us!  His genuine heart and caring spirit are refreshing and delightful.  Thank you, Santa Chuck!  We love you!!!

If you would like Santa to come surprise your kiddos for tea, story time, a party, Christmas eve, or anything you can think up, he’ll be there with bells and whistles.  To contact Santa for more detailed information, email him at Santa@santachucklee.com. 

The girls have been looking forward to having a tea party with Santa all fall, and the day was finally here!  The anticipation was so much fun!

  

The girls made cupcakes for the special tea party with Santa.  Santa got to pick from the cupcakes that did not already have fingerprints, lol!  He’s almost here straight from the North Pole!

 

The table was set!

 

The girls were so giddy!

Although we have only used our china a couple of times over the past 10 years, we took our chances today!  If this wasn’t an occasion to get out the china, I don’t know what is!  The girls did so great.  They drank their tea and ate their cupcakes like little ladies, so prim and proper (minus Rose licking her cupcake plate clean, lol).  I was so proud!

This filter is called pencil sketch.  I love it so much because it looks like it was drawn for an old Christmas storybook!  This experience was different than any I’ve had in my life.  It was like it was not even happening, but a dream instead.  I told my friend Santa Chuck, that this is what fairytales are made of right here!  Such a sweet memory!

 

Here’s some pictures from our fun in the Texas ice!

 

Outfits chosen and coordinated by Noelle.  I love all of the patterns and colors she picked out.  The tights on the littles are super cute too and something I probably wouldn’t have thought of.  Getting ready was twice the fun for her.  She did a great job!

 

A Daddy and his baby. (or as he calls her, his Rose blossom)

 

  

What’s up, girl!?! 

  

This is our Cutie Kate!

  

 

 

 

In this picture, Rose is saying, “I tuck!  I tuck!” (stuck)  Here comes Daddy to the rescue!

  

Snowball!

 

 

We dug a screwdriver into the ice to start cracking it off of our driveway, not for practical purposes, just for fun.

Noelle and Anna Kate were joking around, but Rose was all done with the ice!

 

Fun in the ice headed your way soon!