we kicked our December off on the right foot with a swing through the Target dollar spot for all the cold weather essentials.. which included these $3 cat earmuffs that has made a permanent place on Baker’s head. especially important when it was 70 degrees on Friday..AND most importantly, these Santa hats for our trip to the North Pole over the weekend! I bought tickets back in October for the Polar Express on the Texas State Railroad and the day finally came to board the train and meet Santa, Mrs. Claus, and their elves. our train was scheduled to leave around 6:30pm and we arrived in Palestine around 4:30pm to eat dinner before cookies and hot chocolate. downtown Palestine is darling and had some really cute store fronts decorated for Christmas already.. to which we decided to snap a few pics before it got dark 🙂

these kids make me SO happy. and the joy that spread across their faces anytime we reminded them we were on our way to see Santa on the Polar Express was priceless. we’ve never done the Polar Express, so we were all extra excited! this season is SO fun. Brady.. three things give him life. trains, trucks, and planes. he spotted a plane in the air while I was snapping this picture...and BAKER. the child that gives ME life every single day.shout out to Jordan for his idea of capturing this photo that has become my most favorite holiday picture ever. you’re too good, hubby.we ate dinner at a pizza place called Switch about 10 minutes from the depot. their pizza and homemade chips were really delicious (we had the pepperoni and “the cluck”)!

after dinner we arrived about a half hour before departure and picked up our golden tickets at will-call and loaded onto the car. we opted for tickets on the Dome Car ride (the double-decker car) and when we arrived we were seated at tables with keepsake mugs, cookies, and hot chocolate for everyone! the girls were SO ready to meet Santa!   the first part of the ride was complete with an overhead reading of The Polar Express and enjoying the sweet treats while we rode to the “North Pole” to pick up Santa.  it was dark on our trip, so pulling up to the North Pole was pretty magical- the girls were going crazy with excitement!  when Santa boarded the train he spoke individually to each child while he and an elf handed out jingle bells to everyone on the car. the train ride back to the depot was filled with more cookies + lots of dancing in the aisles with our jingle bells. the kids had so much fun and 100% worth the trip made to get there. Jolie is still carrying around her golden tickets and bells in her purse during the day and putting them under her pillow at night.we started our Saturday morning early with a jingle bell serenade 3 inches from my face but I was glad they were already up and moving because the big girls had a busy day ahead! the drill team of our town’s high school hosted a winter dance clinic for the younger kids.. the twins have never officially participated in dance or cheer but I’ve been wanting to put them in something as they’ve both shown some interest recently. I got an email about a one-day winter clinic and figured it would be the perfect opportunity to let them try it out before we fully committed to a program. they had the BEST day learning the routines and dancing with several of their little friends from school. Parker has been asking me non-stop when they can go back to dance class.. so it looks like I’ll be enrolling the girls into dance for the Spring season!  while the girls were at dance, we ran some errands- including a much needed Costco + Sams run as we were to the point of rationing the toilet paper 🙂  these two never mind when it comes to snacking on the most amazing cinnamon pretzels while we shop!we arrived back at the middle school later in the afternoon to watch the girls perform what they learned- I cried a few hormonal tears of joy watching my girls just being BIG and so proud to show us their routine! Jordan took off after their performance for his shift at the hospital and the kids and I headed back to the house for lunch + nap time. we ended the weekend with a couple fevers and all of us with some kind of head congestion junk. we had grand plans to take cookies to Jordan and his guys at the fire station with some friends, but Brady ran fever through the night and Baker cried about her ears most of Sunday afternoon. so we laid low in our pajamas and didn’t leave the house outside of curb-side grocery pick up.

hoping we all wake up feeling better this morning but if not it looks like we will be starting our week with a pediatrician visit.

happy first Monday of December, friends!