Visit to the American Girl Doll Store in Dallas

To celebrate both Avery and Alivia's birthdays, Mimi has started a tradition where we head to the American Girl Doll Store in Dallas and spend the night at the Westin Hotel. It was so fun! Mimi, thanks for such a special time.

Along the way we stopped for a lunch and a sundae

Mama T had been with us for Christmas, so we met Uncle James 1/2 way so she could return to Fort Worth

Upon arrival, we checked into the Westin and then went to the AG store so Alivia could buy Marie-Grace, the doll she had been wanting for some time.

Mimi treated all the girls to high tea in the AG Tea Room

The girls were thrilled to eat with their dolls (and Mimi!)

With our oldest daughters

Alivia tucking in Julie and Marie-Grace for the night back at the hotel

With the special AG Package, they deliver beds for the dolls and cupcakes and milk for the girls

Waiting in line to get the dolls hair done (notice Mimi has her credit card out and ready!)

One last picture after the dolls got their hair done upstairs in the doll salon

Alivia with Marie Grace

Christmas Day

Alivia and Will set out their dolls, Julie, Rebecca and Jack to wait for Santa

Leaving cookies for Santa and an apple for the reindeer

Santa's loot

Trying out the new rocking horse

One of Alivia's favorite gifts, a Lollaloopsy doll from Nana and Pop Pop

John was excited about Will's electric ATV

Jesus' Birthday coffee cake

Trying out Alivia's Easy Bake Oven (those were the smallest cupcakes I had ever seen!)

Our little Easy Bake Oven cook, Alivia

Will slept in until past 8 am on Christmas Day - I think it was a combo of him not feeling well and not really understanding the whole Santa thing yet. After we had Santa at our house, we headed over to Mimi and Grandpa's and met Emily and Peyton and their clan. We had loads of more presents and brunch. Then we headed home for a rest and returned for a fabulous beef tenderloin dinner. Yummy!

Christmas Eve Gumbo

Every year the Kendall's have the holiday group over to their house for gumbo and a visit from Santa. It thrills the kids so much. The Sessi children were all with their own in-laws so the group of kids there was smaller than usual.

I was so disappointed that I did not get some better pictures of the kids with Santa. John absolutely freaked out and would not let us get him within 5 feet of Santa. And Alivia looks like she is flipping us off in one picture and possessed in the other. AHHH! She is actually holding these neat balancing birds that Santa handed out.

Next year I am going to just take the kids to the mall to get a pic with Santa. I am trying to get one every year.

The Risinger clan all had terrible colds and coughs but still managed to have a good time.

Cookies with Mama T and Mimi

My mom makes the most amazing sugar cookies every year. They are beautiful and tasty and everyone looks forward to them. As the kids have gotten bigger, she has involved them in the decorating aspect. Although a bit stressful (you can imagine trying to control sprinkles and frosting) the kids had a blast. Even John "decorated" a few. Mama T was here visiting and enjoyed seeing all the chaos and joy the event brought on.

Merry Christmas!

Photos by Jill Bee Designs

Remy's Eye Surgery

Poor Remy. . . sometimes we even forget he is around. My mom comes over and just shakes her head when she sees that his food and water bowl are completely empty.

Along those lines, our babysitter, Emilee, noticed that his right eye was really red one day when she was here. I began to actually look at Remy for the next few days and noted that she was right. How long had it been going on! AHHHH!

I scheduled a vet appointment and Matt took Remy, Alivia and Will. It turns out Remy had a large mass growing underneath his eyelid and needed emergency surgery (for $800!!!) because it was scratching his cornea. The vet prepared us that it may be cancer, but thankfully, the pathology came back negative.

Remy has to wear a cone for the next week which he absolutely HATES. And his eye still looks very red - I hope his eye and vision will return to normal soon.

End of Semester Performances

Whew! This last week was crazy with lots of end of the semester performances. We started off with Alivia's dance recital. She loves showing us what she has learned over the semester and really seems to enjoy ballet (like her mama!)

Next up was Will's Christmas chapel. He looked absolutely adorable in his choir robe and crown. He sang some of the time, but mostly looked around at all the people and took his crown on and off.

And to end the week, Alivia had her Christmas Assembly at Veritas. This is a way for all of the Grammar School electives to showcase what they have learned over the semester. From music class, to drama, to Spanish, they all performed. It was interesting to see what each group did. Alivia's music elective sang a few Christmas carols.