The Polar Express

Two years ago we went on the Polar Express, which is the Grand Canyon Express that they transform into the Polar Express for a couple months at Christmastime. It was such a blast and even though the kids were little, (Kate was almost 2 and Matthew was 3) we all enjoyed it and I knew we'd be back. This year I decided it was the perfect time to go because Matthew and Kate are at that completely magical-at-holidays age. (Kate is almost 4 and Matthew is 5.) Josh was a little too young to fully get it, but I knew he'd like it too. So, even though it's expensive, we splurged and booked our Polar Express experience for late November. (Right before Thanksgiving.)

I was SO EXCITED. We went on a Friday, but Michael was able to get off work early so that we could give ourselves plenty of time to get to Williams, which is where you board the train. Williams is the cutest little town just past Flagstaff and one of my favorite things about doing the Polar Express is getting to stop for dinner there. We ate at Pine Country, an adorable diner with good food and absolutely delicious pies. I was SO bummed that Josh hadn't napped at all on the way up but he was in pretty good spirits once we got out of the car and got some yummy food in our bellies!

This dutch apple pie was straight from heaven.

And then we headed to the train station! They have lots of elves walking around saying hi to all the kids. They also had some characters from the book/movie walking around. We'd read the book and watched the movie a TON before we went up there, so the kids were so excited to see the movie come to life.

Tickets!

Boarded!

Once the train took off, the staff (dressed up like the characters in the book) danced and sang, brought us cookies and hot chocolate, (the cookies are delicious but for some reason the hot chocolate is always nasty) and read the book. Matthew and Kate were soaking up every second. Josh did pretty okay, though he was getting pretty antsy. Once we got to the "North Pole" we all enjoyed checking out the lights and driving by Santa on his sleigh..... then the train started going back the other way, and when we passed the sleigh, Santa wasn't in it. ;-)

On the way back we all sang Christmas carols. We were one of the very last cars for Santa to get to since we were at the front of the train. Matthew and Kate were SO excited and Matthew kept his eyes on the door, waiting for Santa to come. Joshua had pretty much turned into a total mess at this point, flailing and crying. That whole no-nap thing had really caught up to him by then. Luckily the noise of the singing/excited passengers drowned him out a bit so that he didn't bother anyone else too much. :)

Here they are catching their first glimpse of Santa!

Santa was super friendly and gave each of the kids a bell. He gave one to me and Michael too, which was nice so that I could make it into an ornament keepsake. The kids all loved Santa. Even Josh calmed down for about 10 seconds when Santa handed him his bell. Ha!

We got back to the train station and then got back into the car for our drive home. We'd considered staying the night in Flagstaff, but there wasn't much snow so the only reason we'd stay longer would be to avoid the drive one more night. That seemed like a waste of money, especially since Kate and Josh do NOT do well sharing one big room with the family. :-) The drive home was slightly miserable since Josh is not a good car seat sleeper, but we did get some quiet moments so that was nice. :-)

Anyway, it was SUCH a fun thing to do and I'm so glad we did it at such a magical age for Kate and Matthew. Totally worth it!

November

November was packed full of fun! At the beginning of the month Michael scored some awesome tickets to the Suns game last minute. He called me from work to let me know he had tickets to the game that night and I knew that since it was a school night and there was no way I could get a babysitter, he would have to take a someone else. :-( He then suggested taking Matthew and at first I was hesitant because the game didn't even start until right around Matthew's bedtime. But Michael suggested getting Matthew to nap so that he could go and enjoy it. After I hung up with Michael I sat Matthew down and asked him if he wanted to go to a basketball game with Dad that night. He wanted to so badly so I told him that he could go, but only if he took a nap. (I would've let him go even if he hadn't napped but I was trying my best to get that nap!) He hasn't napped for over two years unless he was sick so I was kind of worried he wouldn't be able to nap, but he was determined and fell asleep! Woohoo! The boys had an awesome time. 

We have a fun park here with a few kids rides (Freestone) and my friend (who holds a season pass) was able to hook me up with a good deal so I took the kids one day and they all had a blast.

These 1 year olds had us cracking up at how cute they looked:

Train ride!

We have a tradition of making a Thankful Tree. I love hearing everything the kids are thankful for.

My parents came to town in the middle of the month! The kids were dying of excitement and didn't leave them alone the whole time they were here. My mom made her delicious (and beautiful) sugar cookies and the kids were enthralled with watching them be decorated.

Those pie ones are my favorite!

My mom bought Josh a Snow White book and he loved it as much as we predicted he would. Haha!

As usual, we put my dad to work. This time I had he and Michael install a new sink. There was no point in me having a double sink and I was dying for a giant single one. I LOVE IT!!!!

Me and Michael were also able to sneak away one night for a date (my parents are always amazing about babysitting for us) and we decided to head to the shooting range so Michael could try out his new handgun. I took a shot at it (HA) as well but  I wasn't as good a shot as I was hoping. (I'm actually the best with a rifle.)

It was a fun visit!

And then... Thanksgiving! We have a fun tradition of going to Waffle House on Thanksgiving morning. I'm sure this is something that we won't be able to do every year, especially when we are out of town or when I have to host, but we were able to do it this year and it cracks me up how much the kids love it. It makes me happy too since it reminds me of our brief time in Nashville.

We went to Michael's grandparent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. He had a lot of extended family there, including some people that we don't see very much or that I'd never even met. The food was great and we enjoyed our time there. I only wish I'd taken pictures! Darn! I did, however, get a great picture of Kate's VERY cute Thanksgiving outfit-

Oh, and we decorated our tree the day after Thanksgiving. It's so magical to get to see it through my children's eyes. I buy each kid an ornament every year and here they are holding their respective ornaments. Matthew chose a ninja turtle, Kate chose Snow White, and Joshua chose Dopey.

Love love love the holiday season!

To finish off the month, I took Matthew and Kate to see Moana. They both absolutely loved it, even though the lava monster scared Kate a bit. (She got over it pretty quick!)

Halloween

I soak up every moment of the holidays with my kids at this magical age. SO FUN! It was a long and crazy day, but we all had such a blast.

I decided to throw a kid Halloween party that day. I invited over some of Matthew and Kate's best friends and told them to wear a costume if they wanted to. We played Halloween Don't Eat Pete, colored Halloween pictures, decorated Halloween cookies, and just played with toys. The kids all seemed to have fun. I'm not the best host for adult parties, but kid parties are pretty easy! :-)

Michael usually has to work super late on the last day of the month, but his work did throw a big Halloween party and invited families to come enjoy the festivities. The kids loved getting to play a few Halloween games and getting some treats at daddy's work!

And then we headed home and got ready to Trick-or-Treat! Michael was able to join us just in time for the fun.

Matthew was a ninja turtle. More specifically, Leonardo.

Kate was a bumblebee! She picked out her costume the year before right after Halloween (on clearance) and I was a little nervous that she wouldn't be interested in it anymore but she loved her costume and totally rocked it!

I had originally planned on Joshua wearing one of Matthew's old Halloween costumes (the Batman one) but then I stumbled on this apple costume and couldn't resist buying it!!! Joshua was completely obsessed with apples at the time (mostly because of the poison apple in Snow White) and got so excited when he saw the costume that there was no way I could walk out of the store without it. He even kept the hat on, which is basically a miracle.

I had Kate put on her Snow White dress so she could be a cute prop for Josh in this picture. Ha!

And one more picture of them before we took off for Trick-or-Treating. So fun! 

It was Josh's first time Trick-or-Treating and he did amazing. He got so excited every time someone put candy in his bucket. Whenever it was a lollipop (his favorite) he would immediately try to eat it. He and Kate got tired after about an hour so I brought them home (and put Josh to bed) while Matthew stayed out with Michael a while longer. All the kids got lots of candy and enjoyed every bit of the day.