Christmas at the Guinn's

We had a great evening at Michael and Karen's house and celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  It is always fun to watch the children play and laugh. This year Karen bought Pie in the Face and the girls had the best time!  Greyson just wanted to watch from a distance and Wyatt was not a fan of his mom getting the pie in the face:( Poor baby thought his Momma was hurt.  We had loads of fun and yummy food.  

Grandma Etta and Papaw Don with Grandchildren 

Great-grandchildren 

Look who got a pie in the face!

Selfie Great-Grandma

 How many of you guys have a great grandma that can take a selfie?  I officially do!  We had so much for with the new selfie stick and decided to take our family photo this year in a new way.  How much fun?!?!?!  I still love the look on grandmas face!  Loads of fun!

Christmas at the Capitol

 We went on our yearly trip with Zach and Cate to look at Christmas lights.  We have so much fun each year seeing how the kids interact, how much they have grown, and catching up on the year.  This year we went to look at light in North Little Rock and then went to the State Capitol to see the indoor decorations.

Church Christmas Play 2015

Wyatt as baby Jesus
Caroline as an angel

The love each other...

This might change tomorrow, but we have two kiddos that adore each other and cannot get enough of each other. Caroline adores Wyatt and will give him anything and everything he wants.  Wyatt cannot get enough of his Sis and is always saying "rine" which is short for Caroline. 

Baking Christmas Cookies

 MiMi got the three grandkids together to bake Christmas goodies.  Meanwhile, I was in the kitchen cleaning out the bowl of cookie dough:)

My Sweet Boy

 Y'all he smiles ALL the time!  He is such a joy!  Everyone comments on his smile!  I love my little Wyatt....

Wyatt and Papaw Waylon

Wyatt and Aunt JuJu

Morning Selfie with Wyatt

Show and Tell

 Caroline started Kindergarten this year and every Friday she has show and tell.  She has been asking since the third week of school when she could take the helicopter to school.  Last Friday East End had Community Helper Day and guess who got to come to show off the helicopter....Caroline was so proud!  The community helpers got to land and teach the kids about safety, then the kiddos entertained them with a warm cafeteria lunch!

Mrs. Williamson's Kindergarten Class

Christmas here we come...

We started putting up the tree the Sunday after we returned from vacation.  It was pretty slow and steady this year as we began putting up our Christmas decorations.  I am pretty laid back now and realized slow and steady wins the race when it comes to Christmas decorations. Wyatt enjoyed all the sparkles on the ornaments.

Caroline's Kindergarten class had their Christmas performance early December.  She was excited for us to hear her Christmas songs she had been working on the past few months.  The did wonderful! Look for the red bow and you will find Caroline;)

Makayla, Caroline, and Natalie (Best Buds and Table Partners)

Friday was Caroline's class Christmas party.  Mrs. Williamson went all out for those kiddos!  Y'all cannot imagine what this teacher does for her kiddos!  She made sure these kids had a special Christmas party.  Below is Caroline with her best bud Natalie. 

and guess who came to visit at the end of the party...

May the Floss be with You

Our dental office celebrated the opening of the Stars Wars movie this past week.  We all dressed up in our Star Wars shirts.  Let's just get this straight...I have no idea who is even on my shirt:)  It was fun to see what shirts everyone chose and fun to see which patients were going to see the movie on opening night.

Cheer

Caroline decided she was going to cheer this basketball season for her school team.  She has had the best time cheering on her school mates!  Go Rockstars!  

Santa

Santa stayed at our hotel while we were on vacation!  We were right next to Mall of America and at night after Santa was finished with his long busy days he would come to sleep at the hotel.  Santa would stop by the lobby and breakfast area occasionally on his way in/out of the hotel to check on the children and make certain they were being good.  Santa was always dressed in Christmas clothes, even on his off time. He would have on a red and white striped polo shirt with green and red converse shoes.  He told us one morning that he had dirty laundry in his basket, but we all know they were toys he had purchased at the mall;)

Day 7: Jungle Book

Yesterday was our last official day of vacation.  We are sad to see it end, but also excited to go home to start putting up Christmas decorations.  We traveled by taxi to the Children's Theater in Minneapolis yesterday to see Jungle Book.  I did not get any pictures, but here are a few with credits to citypages and startribune:

Caroline enjoyed the play, and we think we are going to start getting tickets to the plays in Little Rock.  She is at a great age with her imagination.  We leave at two this afternoon to head to our home sweet home.  Hopefully we will not run into any bad weather...Arkansas here we come!

Day 6: Thanksgiving Day at Water Park of America

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Water Park of America.  I did not get any pictures because I did not want to carry my phone around all day.  We splashed and played and had the best Thanksgiving.  As always, this was Matt and Caroline's favorite part of vacation.  They cannot get enough of the slides!  Best water park we have been to so far!

Day 5- St. Paul Children's Museum and Dick's Last Resort

 Wednesday we traveled to St. Paul's Children's Museum by transit.  We had a low key day and we excited for Wyatt to be able to roam, crawl, and play as he wished.   He has been a wonderful baby, but we feel so bad because most of his time is spent in his stroller on this trip.  He had a blast at the museum being able to roam as he pleased.

Wyatt playing outside the castle with Daddy

Caroline with a shell

 We left the Children's Museum in St. Paul and took a short walk to the overview of the river.

 That night we decided to eat at Dick's Last Resort.  The restaurant is known for the intentional wacky and obnoxious staff.  The seating is picnic style seating with other families.  You get to wear funny hats, which Caroline was not wearing her hat!  She didn't even know what her hat said which made it even more funny.  Fun atmosphere for those who can take a joke.  If you do not want to be teased, then I would choose another option for dining.

Sirron's hat said: not his kids
Matt's hat said: voted for Obama
Caroline's hat said: future Denny's waitress
Wyatt's hat said: poop factory

Day 4-Minneapolis

 We rode the Transit into Downtown Minneapolis on Day 4 to explore.  We used the skyways to walk from building to building.  We went to Nicollett Avenue, a major street in Minneapolis, known for the shopping, restaurants, and where most the business takes place.  While waiting on the transit to arrive you will see these buttons everywhere.  You push for heat and look what you get!  Heat!  Minneapolis is not the warmest place, but they sure know how to make you feel cozy and warm.  We found ourselves overdressed most of the time.

Downtown Minneapolis

Transit that we took for most of our transportation

 We took our longest and coldest journey to the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, which crosses the Mississippi River with St. Anthony Falls. It is the only arched stone bridge that bridges the entire way across the Mississippi River.  It was made in 1883 as a railroad bridge, but now serves as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge.  I did not get a full picture of the bridge because we were not about to walk to the other bridge just for a picture, it was a little cold and windy for the picture.

Guthrie Theater and Flour Mill from Stone Arch Bridge

St. Anthony Falls taken from Stone Arch Bridge

Beginning of Stone Arch Bridge

Caroline and I decided we were going to have our nails painted.  She has been wanting to have her nails painted for quite some time, so the boys went back to the hotel and napped while we had our nails painted and did a little shopping.  

First morning on our way to the Transit Center

New US Bank Football Stadium under construction

Happy Thanksgiving from Our Little Turkey

 Caroline celebrated Thanksgiving last week at her school, and isn't she the cutest little turkey!  We are so thankful for her school and teacher.  She is learning and loving school.  Our little Running Puppy had a great Thanksgiving!

Day 3- Mall of America

 We spent the day at Mall of America, and look who we got to see!  Santa was at Mall of America!  He has been there for the last three days and Caroline made the comment that it was a good place for him to be because he can purchase any toy he wants at the mall.  Good thinking;)

We visited the Amazing Mirror Maze, which has been one of Caroline's favorites so far.  She wanted to do it over and over again and I must say at first you think this is no big maze, but after a bit I was seeing multiples of my kids.  My two kids turned into six quickly!

 We visited the Lego Store in amazement at all the extensive Lego work.  The prices amazed us that people pay the amounts they do for Lego kits. Kits were hundreds of dollars, and I am sure a lot of time spent.

 And everyone needs to make a wish...

 ...and ride a few rides

 Santa!  Caroline told Santa what she wanted for Christmas and she told Santa what Jensen had asked him for this Christmas.  Wyatt enjoyed playing in Santa's lap.  Both walked away with smiles and treats, and one little girl's winter trip was filled with Christmas joy.

 We spent the afternoon at Mall of American Aquarium.  Our favorite part was getting to feed the stingrays.  It took Caroline a bit to get warmed up to the idea.

Ready for the next day...