Pancake Breakfast with Santa

Ruth's retirement community had a pancake breakfast with Santa this past weekend. The girls got to do a craft, eat pancakes and visit with Santa again. So much fun!

Visit with Santa

We finished up Thanksgiving Break with a trip to see Santa, Build-A-Bear and lunch at CPK.

We have seen the Santa at Oak Brook mall the past few years and it's always a hit with the girls.

Afterwards, the girls got to put together their bears. They got to pick a sound and a scent for their bears. Morgan chose the Lion King music and Avery chose cat noises since her stuffed animal was a cat. Here they are stuffing the bears.

Then, they take the bear's heart, make a wish and spin around.

Here they are with the finished products!

Visit with Santa

We visited our favorite Santa at Oak Brook mall again this year. He is the best! He really interacts well with the kids and plays the role perfectly!

Waiting patiently for our turn to see Santa...

This year, Santa was in an Airstream camper that was all decked out with Christmas decorations. Avery surprisingly warmed up to this Santa super fast. We spent a lot of time talking with him and they loved it!

And in the biggest surprise of all, Avery even gave him a hug on the way out! Morgan could have stayed and talked to him forever. These girl are so different! Ha!

Pancake Breakfast

The place where Ruth lives hosted a pancake breakfast with Santa for the families to come enjoy. The girls took their lists to Santa and we got a few pictures with him. Avery still has her aversion to Santa and won't sit on his lap or stand too close to him. She stands next to Morgan, who has no problem sitting on his lap or hugging him or telling him her life story. :)

Christmas Lists

The girls wrote their Christmas lists for Santa. Avery's was alternating red and green and she had to make sure she had an even number of items so there would be the same number of red items as green items. :) Morgan wrote out a big story for Santa. She asked for superhero toys and then told him that she would draw a picture to help him out.

Thanksgiving

We had a busy few days during the Thanksgiving holiday! My parents came up for the long weekend. The girls enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa staying with us. G and G got a makeover when they arrived! I think my dad's face looked sunburned for a little while after this makeover! Ha!

The girls helped Grandma make an apple pie for Aunt Erin. They really love helping out in the kitchen. Luckily, Grandma is very patient! :)

On Thanksgiving, Matt spatchcocked the turkey in the green egg. Here he is getting it all ready to go!

We all got dressed up in our Thanksgiving outfits and took a few pictures. Morgan loves this silly turkey hat and wanted to wear it for a while, while gobbling of course.

The finished product and the proud chef!

That's pretty much the extent of the pictures I have from Thanksgiving. I forgot to take any pictures of the table or cute place cards Avery made for everyone. Whoops!

On Friday morning, we went to Oakbrook mall and had a visit with Santa. We also grabbed snack at Stan's donuts - hot chocolate and assortment of yummy treats! We tried to explain to the girls that Grandpa's name was also Stan.

At the Santa experience, they have the "naughty and nice book" that you can pre-register for. The kids put their hand on it (and you enter their special code) and they find out if they are on the naughty or nice list. The girls got a kick out of it and thought it was really neat that Santa "knew" what they wanted for Christmas and what their favorite colors were. :)

Avery started off as usual being a little scared of getting too close to Santa. She didn't want to sit on the chair, but was ok standing next to him.

This Santa was really calm and nice and Avery warmed up to him really quickly. It also helped that we were the only ones there at the time. So, we had plenty of time. In fact, Santa even did magic tricks for the girls while I was checking out.

 Morgan talked Santa's ear off! She had a lot to say and is never shy!

On Friday afternoon, we had the entire Wilken crew over for the Iowa game and some brisket - our green egg got a lot of use over Thanksgiving! Since it was nice outside, the kids got some outdoor time while it was still light.

Then, when it got too dark to see, we headed inside and the kids took over the basement. Lots of craziness!

There was a steady game of Euchre going on for most of the night. This was Matt and Brian vs Spencer and Barry.

Erin kept the kiddos busy in the basement playing a version of charades.

Sabrina and Ella loved all the costumes, make-up and jewelry the girls had.

More Euchre... this time Ross and Brett vs Brian and Spencer. I think the turkey hat brought Brian good luck!

We let the kids eat first... this may have been the only time it was quiet the whole time!

Then, the guys all inspected the brisket. I love this picture... it's like they are all ready to dig in!

Aunt Erin got out the face painting kit and all the kids got some pretty fun faces!

Here they are showing off their faces (L to R: Grayson, Oliver, Avery, Sabrina, Morgan and Ella).

For most the night, it was Grayson, Oliver and Morgan (here playing trains) and then Avery, Sabrina and Ella (playing dress up). The kids had a lot of fun playing together... and surprisingly no one was hurt or bleeding during the night!