Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees at the convention center was not quite what we had in mind, but the kids didn't seem to notice. They had model trains, a craft area, face painting, Santa pictures, very amateur singing and dancing (and baton twirling!), an ambulance (the event was sponsored by a health system - not Legacy, the OTHER health system), and a teddy bear hospital. Teddy Bear hospital was the favorite. This picture belies how crowded in there it was. 

Michael rescued the twins from the chaos of patiently waiting to bandage, mask, and prepare for surgery Olivia's newest best friend, Harry (his name was later changed to Rudolph for seasonal reasons). Poor little guy was covered head-to-toe in bandages and band-aids by the end. While Livvie enjoyed all the kiddie events with her cousins, friends and Aunt Deb, the twins spent much of their time crawling around in the corner of the room or ruthlessly pulling their parents hair whilst being carried on shoulders. Goldfish, a couple bottles of milk, a chance to get out and walk around, staying out well past their "normal" bedtime - actually, it was a banner night for them. I'm not sure what I'm complaining about. We met a bunch of friends there and every single kid had a great time at this event, it's worth the four bucks.

Ok, Olivia wasn't really happy at this moment in time, but the girl was just told that she had to leave this magical wonderland. You'd be grumpy, too. Even if you had a lovely commemorative snowman on your cheek.

Some days things work out really well with the twins. After staying up that night for the Festival of Trees, the twins slept in until 9am the next morning.  They were awake by 8am actually, but they hang out in the crib talking to each other softly.  It is really sweet to lay in bed and listen to them, there are worse ways to wake up.  We went in to get them when Olivia hopped out of bed and came upstairs to briefly snuggle and then harass us out of bed.