christmas 2016 part one (creative title, i know)

we made it to the week of christmas!!!  

last weekend, roger had taken the kids to the grocery store and the kids ran into the real santa and mrs. claus!!  apparently he was fueling up for his long trip around the globe.  

monday morning, max went to school, and after patiently waiting for me to edit a photo shoot, els joined me for a starbucks date and yummy hot chocolate.

max teasing ms. mary at his speech therapy session.

monday night, we went to zoo lights!!  pretty lights, music and more hot chocolate.

and santa!!!

els made sure to tell him she met the "real, actual" santa at the grocery store.  but she continued to ask him for a sewing machine and fashion kit (hmm, that changed.  santa's elves will be doing some last-minute toy assemblage) and max (thank you for staying consistent) asked for a hippopotamus.  

tuesday was spent recovering (me.  i a little bit blacked out at orange theory and fell of the treadmill.  thank you jenny, roger, mom and dad for coming to my rescue!!).  hydrating and icing.  AND seeing steve, breanna, cillian, bailey and grandma rose who are in town for christmas.  woohoo!!

lunch at zinburger with daddy.  loved our one on one time with our girl.  

gift exchange with the burt at the screamery.  alora was so cute and walked in and said "max, here's your christmas gift" and grabbed his face and kissed him.  he was pretty happy.

thursday morning, we were ready for our last christmas program at st. paul's.

cillian was so cute during the program!

max made sure to point out everyone in our family when singing feliz navidad.

max, you did a great job with your "N" in the santa song!!!

cookie-making time!!  so so so so happy that i did not have to make a single christmas cookie this year!!

friday morning, we went to the cotters' for their gift exchange and a fun playdate.

then, breanna, cillian, steve, dad, roger, els and max took a nice hike in saguaro national monument - east.

the first of many national park visits

ella did a great job of reading the posted signs!!

we are ready for christmas - bring it on!!

max, my elf and I

another crazy week and christmas is almost here!!!

last tuesday was superhero day at ella's school.  

on wednesday, she had her holiday party at school - hectic hour and a half helping 20 6-year olds build mini gingerbread houses.

later that afternoon, while els went to religious ed, i did a photo shoot for a family friend.  max was my helper - sitting on my back when i was trying to get a shot and taking this pic with my phone:

thanks for all of the help, max!!  you were such a trooper.

thursday morning, ella had her christmas program at school.  it was so so so adorable!!

she had an "ugly" sweater with a sequin cat that said "meowy christmas," a tutu and stormtrooper gloves.  pretty much the perfect outfit in ella's book.

they made elf ears for one of the songs - so cute!

thanks, gigi and poppie, for coming to see her performance!!

and with that, she is officially on winter break!  we spent friday at gigi and captain's, decorating gingerbread boys.

oh miss charlotte and miss ella.  couldn't leave the gingerbread boys, boys.  they connected a few at the hands so they would be "besties" and then ella turned a couple into mermaids by smushing their legs together into a tail.

okay, okay...i'm not the most innocent party.  i may or may not be responsible for a bikini-clad stormtrooper...

saturday, i went back to gigi and captain's for tamale-making!!!  yum!!

then we went to a cowboy-themed birthday party.  

such a great week, wrapped up with dinner with gigi, poppie and grandmas rose!! almost ready for christmas!

hurry, christmas, hurry fast and 19/40: tucson half marathon

last week, els has been working on some art projects in class and also finished her session of kidzart.  in her regular art class, they have been studying the planets:

another session of art up on the fridge; clockwise from top right: koala, [cheetah] trees, octopus in an underwater library, fruit basket (complete with a super hero watermelon slice), [rainbow] tea party, and guitar.

her teacher commented on how creative and advanced ella is.  i so so appreciate hearing that and also that she has teachers that understand our little free-spirit.

beginning thursday, i had the longest 2 and a half days EVER.  thursday, out the door, kids to school, orange theory, met up with mom, picked up kids, 45 minutes at home to shower before running out the door to a retirement party for one of roger's co-workers.  so great to hear how happy people are that roger made the move into program management - we're proud of you, babe!!!  late night...

...then friday, out the door to join els and her 1st grade class on a field trip to see "a southwestern nutcracker."  poor kids were hungry and a bit restless for the 2+ hour ballet, but they did great!

i took 6 kids on a field-trip-within-a-field trip to check out the orchestra pit.

they all clean up so nicely!!

back home to do some work for mrs. thomas in the classroom, brought els home, packed, ran out the door with jenny to pick up our race packets.

in front of the ginormous, walk-in gingerbread house in the hotel lobby.

up early for the tucson half marathon!  we finished in 2:16:20 and placed 582/920 - works for me!!

so...in 2 and a half days, i literally spent less than 2 hours of waking time at home.  so excited to go home and there was one, single goal.  FINALLY get some lights on this tree!

love this note and drawing that els made to have our elf, susie, bring back to santa.

after a weekend of getting stuff done (woohoo!!), we went to winterhaven last night (a neighborhood in tucson that goes all out with their front yard decorations).

in front of our own decorations.

all loaded up in our wagon with snacks and hot cocoa!

jenny also brought awesome "3-D" glasses that turn all of the lights into christmas-themed shapes (snowman, snowflake, santa, reindeer, etc.)  so much fun!

so excited to see santa jack skellington on top of a roof.

dear santa, good luck! love, the bissmeyer kids

the week flew by again!

ella and charlotte, "twinning" it for the second time last week!!  pretty easy to do when the girls are both obsessed with anything cats and cheetah.  we tried a new pizza place for dinner and it was super yummy!  

saturday morning, it was time for the monthly home depot workshop - the kids made a gingerbread man candy dish.

santa didn't show up, but they were able to mail him a letter anyway.

they are both being super tough on us and santa this year.  ella asked for santa to bring her a fashion kit and a "balloon maker."  i think santa can figure this one out.  HOWEVER, late last week, she asked us for an owl toy.  i thought she was talking about a furby.  nope.  she was talking about a hatchimal.  the toy that is completely out of stock everywhere.  ahh!!!!  poor roger has spent a few early mornings waiting in store parking lots...

...and here is max's letter to santa:

ok, max.  i'm super proud of you for sounding out such a long word all by yourself but seriously??  good luck, santa!!

and we got our tree!!!

as of this writing it is still not lit or decorated but it's here!!  let the merriment begin!