Minnesota Museum of Science- Ancient Egypt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great day at the science museum!  The Egypt exhibit was amazing!!

CUTIE 2012 {our elf on the shelf}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where has your elf been this year?

Wild Rumpus Bookstore & Heartfelt {2 of our favs!}

While in Minneapolis for our quick pre-Christmas trip we had to hit up our favorite spots in Linden Hills.  Wild Rumpus Bookstore(above) and Heartfelt(below).  Isn't it adorable??

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course- the best perk of our hotel:  Manager's Reception!!  Free booze and snacks for 2 hours every night- how can you beat that???

The Holidazzle Parade!

We finally saw it!  The downtown Minneapolis Holidazzle Parade.  And let me tell you... it was COLD!!!  Very cold.  Not just Missy being dramatic cold but real cold- to the point that John even admitted it was cold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was worth it though.  The parade was really cool and the kids loved it.  Afterwards we sprinted a few feet down to our favorite English pub:  Brit's Pub  for fish and a beer.  YUMMY!

 

Then we ran over to Macy's for the famous 8th floor A Day In the Life of an Elf display.  We enjoyed it just as much as last year.  It ends with a visit with Santa of course!  Fun, fun night.

(These pictures were all taken with my phone so excuse the poor quality.)

Homemade Christmas Playdough and Snowglobe

 

 

We wanted to give the kids' good friends down the street something special and homemade for Christmas so we came up with a big bag of Christmas-y smelling playdough with cookie cutters and a really sweet snowglobe.  They turned out so cute I thought I'd share them!

Our Christmas mantle- 2012

 

 

 

This year I used some antlers, greens, white tree cones and some assorted "junk" from my stash as well as some new finds- I love how it turned out!

Christmas with Nonna & Nonno {part 2}

look at how adorable this is!

my mom made this amazing present for the kids-
it started with a little tree they put together

and then some sparkly garland went on

then they opened this box which contained the sweetest animal ornaments that she had glittered herself!
She used those small plastic animals you can get in themed packs(for kids), screwed in little jewelry loops(is that what they're called?), and then glittered each one a different color.  It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

The kids absolutely LOVED it!

 

Jammie time!  Mickey went CRAZY over his new angry bird pajamas.

this was his reaction!

another gorgeously wrapped gift!

Mary Beth LOVED this special gift- another handmade one from my mom... so precious!

 

She painted and glittered this little house(it is Mary Beth's "dream house" that she always talks about) and cut and made those tiny window boxes out of wood!  There's a Christmas tree inside the house too- the roof comes off- and she even painted the bird bath and wheel barrow pink!

 

It is way better in person- these pictures don't do it justice.

The kids also got a basket of all the materials they need for a unit study on Egypt and the boys got some archeological Egyptian activities.  We can't wait to start on it!

 

Here they are modeling their new jammies!
There are many more pictures and many more great presents- I realize I didn't get any of John though!
THANK YOU THANK YOU again Mom and Dad- we loved everything and you made all the presents so special!  We were so happy that we got to celebrate Christmas early with you both!