Eve and ICE!

After a week of respiratory infections and the stomach bug, we put our illnesses behind us (all except for those persistent coughs, of course) to enjoy the magic and wonder of Christmas. Christmas Eve went as smooth as can be as the two Melker elves laid out the remaining gifts under the tree.

We had spent that afternoon at Gam & Grandad's house where the kids went on their much anticipated golf cart ride. If only we could find the key... 

Madison, Hayden, Nunie and cousin Addison were ready for take-off.

The key was located and Uncle Brandon, with cousin Avery and Payson, took the kids for a spin as the mist drizzled upon them.

If only I had video instead of photos to capture the squeals of delight when the girls opened their 7-set Barbie-doll sized Disney princess set. It was the sound of every gift-givers dream and was the ultimate Christmas gift for two 4-year-old princesses-in-training.

Following our Christmas Eve church service we headed home to decorate cookies for Santa - a very popular tradition in the Melker house!

Followed by another tradition of opening new jammies on Christmas Eve!

The kids had made personalized glass plates at school so this year we had three plates of cookies for Santa.

Daddy carefully guided the kids to the fireplace in an effort to avoid having any broken plates, ruined cookies or massive Christmas Eve meltdowns!

That'll do it! Now all we need is the milk!

The day prior we made our first visit to the famous ICE! exhibit at the Gaylord Texan.

This year's theme, Shrek the Halls, was the perfect fit for our triplets as Shrek and Fiona's triplets were also on display! Hayden is both warm natured and not a fan of restrictive winter clothes so it was all I could do to get her to commit to a hat and her own jacket. She wanted nothing to do with the parkas that EVERY. OTHER. PERSON. has worn in the history of the exhibit!

 And as you may remember, we also had Three Little Pigs for Halloween two years ago!

Payson wanted a photo in front of all of the various ice sculptures. He is always so good to his Mama!

Our brave little Madison was the first to go down the ice slide. That girl loves adventure! With some encouragement (we'll use that word) from Dad, Payson tried it too. Hayden opted out. Add that to the list of battles that we choose not to fight. :)

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the final ice sculpture was of Jesus and the manger scene. The kids were so excited to see it and point out the various characters.

The kids also enjoyed this large Gingerbread house of the Gaylord Texan Hotel.

And Hayden liked these decorative gingerbread men.

Speaking of gingerbread, the kids decorated their own train and houses again like last year but this year we took it to another level with mini gingerbread men and snowmen made out of marshmallows. Not surprisingly Hayden's house was picked at quite a bit over the days that followed!

We had a great visit with Keith's family while they were in town for the kids' 4th birthday party. Here are ALL of the grandkids (I think Marshall officially completes this generation of the family tree) with Grammy and GP at our church.

We braved the Texas cold (ha!) to attend a local evening holiday event. The band was a big hit with the kids and Hayden danced so hard that she eventually took off her jacket and danced in her short-sleeved t-shirt! I'm sure other parents thought we were crazy but, after all, it is just a myth that you can catch a cold from the, well, cold! (Battle count: 0)

The weekend before Christmas we also hosted and enjoyed a Christmas party with our Life Group at church which included a fun family "Dirty Santa" gift exchange. Such a special group of people!