It was about 3am Tuesday morning when I decided to start this post. I was in early labor with Lottie and could not sleep. Looking back I wish I had just headed to the hopsital. Unfortunately, I waited too long and didn't make it in time for the epidural (which is more the hospital's fault than mine but that is another story) So this is officially the Cartee's last blog post without Lottie! Cartee Family 1st Annual North Pole Breakfast! Thursday December 1st I decided to have the family's 1st North Pole breakfast to welcome the holiday season and the arrival of Casey the Elf! I set the table with our Christmas dishes and I got the kids their 1st Christmas goodie bags! We had chocolate milk with marshmallows and candycanes! The girl's got a cute new "big girl" Santa cup filled with juice! I made Rudolph doughnuts ! These were my favorite! So easy and cute! They are just chocolate doughnuts with red peanut M&M's as noses, pretzels as antlers and icing for eyes! Nixon Grace really liked them! I got the idea off of Pinterest for Snowman pancakes. I of course improvised with items I already had! Two pancakes, chocolate morsels for eyes and buttons, bacon for a scarf, and a sliced orange gumdrop for the nose! I have NEVER had success with making pancakes so Jared generously offered to be in charge of the pancakes and bacon! (also, "No Shave November" carried into the beginning of December) The kids were so excited to see the arrival of Casey and the breakfast surprise! Nixon's favorite was the Rudolph doughnuts and the chocolate milk! Isla loved the pancakes! And Roman just ate all the chocolate and dipped his marshmallows in the syrup! He did finally try his pancake! Jared read the story of "The Elf on the Shelve" during breakfast! The kids received their 1st present of the season! I got cute Christmas bags and filled them with Target $1 items for the kids to prepare them for December fun! Roman got a Christmas coloring book, Christmas pajamas and socks, and a water gun! Nixon and Isla received Christmas pajamas, (Nixon wore for the next several nights!) Christmas coloring book, Christmas lipstick, Christmas socks, Christmas headbands, I love how excited Target $1 section makes my girls! If only this would last forever! The funniest moment of the morning was after breakfast. I dressed the girls for MDO and Isla came in screaming. We asked her what was wrong and she said "We were lying to her. Casey the Elf was not real! He was fake and he does not come to life" She was so serious it was hilarious! I immediately looked at Jared to see how I should respond. We simply told her (like we have told Nixon) that she was right. Casey the Elf is just for fun and pretending. I thought that might be the end of Casey and Santa but both girls have had a blast "pretending" that Casey and Santa are real this past week. Nixon reminds me daily that we are pretending but thinks it's really fun. Isla I think has forgotten she doesn't believe. :) We had a wonderful 1st annual Cartee North Pole Breakfast! It was full of fun memories and new traditions! Next year we will have one more plate of snowman pancakes! (I think we are going to have to buy a bigger table!)