it's the most wonderful time of the year!

     The day after Thanksgiving we woke up and headed to the donut shop.  Cruz's face in the picture below cracks me up.  And his hair.  Oh boy.  He needs a trim really bad.  I love his hair some days, but other days I think I'm nuts for leaving it so long.  He is going to ask me what in the world I was thinking when he gets older and looks back at his pictures.  After getting donuts we headed to Lowe's to get a tree!  Woohoo!  We have been getting our tree there for the past several years.  We always find good ones there...and it is super close.  It was bitterly cold that morning so we made our selection pretty quick!  Normally I make Tyler hold up about every tree in the place. Just because he loves it so much... :).

     The rest of the day was spent putting up lights, decorating the tree, pulling out Christmas decorations, making soup, putting up lights outside, and other fun Christmas-y things.  It was a great day.  I was soaking it up.  I love decorating for Christmas...oh, it just makes me so excited.  It brings back so many memories, and I love making new memories with my kiddos. Cruz was having a hard time understanding why we were decorating for Christmas if it wasn't Christmas Day.  I had to explain to him quite a few times that it's "Christmastime" and that it won't be Christmas Day for awhile yet.  So fun to have a three year old taking in the wonder of the season!

Always so exciting to put up the train!

Oh this face...

Eva did not want to sit still...story of her life these days.  It is so hard for me to get pics of her now.

Cruz man helping me put up ornaments!  (the same ornaments my girlfriends and I bought for our tree in our house we rented during college)

So excited!

He told me that this was his new smile.  Pretty cute, I'd say. :)  (Please don't mind his hair here...I guess I forgot to comb it that day!)

Cruz got a special delivery from SANTA CLAUS!!

It was a special elf, and he came all the way from the North Pole!!  A book came with the elf, telling Cruz all about him all about elves and what they do.  Cruz decided to name his elf Pancho.  :)  Pancho hides in a new spot every day, and every night he goes back to the North Pole to tell Santa if Cruz has been being a good boy!  Mommy is going to miss Pancho when he's gone. :)  It sure is nice to mention his name when someone is having a hard time listening.

And there you have it...our November 23rd.  Oh how I love my little family and our times together.  Thank you, Jesus, for such a special day together.