If I had a hammer...

I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all! The holidays have been wonderful for the Indianapolis McCains thus far. It started with the baking of hundreds of Christmas cookies, followed by a trip down to Grammy's for her Christmas Eve party, and finally the Christmas morning explosion!

Mommy's little helper / cookie taster

Lisey in her Christmas dress at Grammy's party

Lisey and Mac discuss the finer points of the Little People castle

Grammy reads the Night Before Christmas to a captive audience

The calm before the storm

Santa didn't put name tags on the doll house or the slide, so the girls decided to share them

Hazel specifically asked Santa for ChapStick, and the Big Guy came through!

Lisey helped me put together her new Little People Stand and Play Rampway. It is pretty awesome.

Uncle Kenny thought it would be a good idea to get Elise hammers (yes, there is another one not pictured)

And I have the best wife ever. She got me an XBox360!

And Lisey showing off her mad sliding skills

Christmas Party at the Children's Museum

This past week the girls started to decorate for Christmas, and the family took a trip to the Children's Museum for Lilly's Christmas party. The girls were beautiful, and we had a great time!

Cinderella and Tinkerbell helping set up the tree

Hazel rocking her new Christmas dress

Our little Who

They are so pretty!

They are very excited for the Christmas party!

Hazel's favorite part of the museum: the carousel

We met Santa and Mrs. Claus!

And by the end of the night, we were ready to head home!

Trick-or-Treat!

Just wanted to share a few photos from our Halloween Trick-or-Treat Adventures. Hazel has wanted to be Alice in Wonderland all year, so Grammy made her a costume in the spring. (You may have seen the sneak-peek in our Disney photos, as she also wore it to EPCOT.) Elise thought it would be really cute to go as the Cheshire Cat, so the girls and I drove down to Grammy's last week so I could sew the Cheshire Cat costume. (My sewing machine was broken.) I think the results speak for themselves, except to say that we got lots and lots of compliments on our adorable girls.

"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire Cat in a tree..."

"Trick or Treat!"

"Treat, definitely, treat."

A Little Fall Fun

This fall has been lovely; temperate weather and no rain. And although things have been crazy around here with the birthday marathon, we have taken the opportunity to get out and enjoy the season.

We bought these great (matching) outfits for the girls and couldn't wait to get them on!

Since last weekend was particularly beautiful, we thought we would head over to Beasley's Orchard for a hayride out to the Pumpkin Patch.

While we were waiting for the hay wagon, Elise had fun playing in the apple crates.

Elise thought this one looked good...

But Hazel taught her that you can't really tell a good pumpkin from a bad one until you sit on it...

These were ok, but Hazel thought she might see some better ones over there.

So Hazel and Elise took off in search of the perfect pumpkin.

"Gee, Dad, this isn't how I thought a pumpkin would taste."

Picking out pumpkins is exhausting work. Good thing Elise was around to snuggle with a sleepy Mommy on the hayride back to the car.

The girls have also discovered one of the classic joys of the autumn. When the leaves start falling off the trees, it is fun to jump in the piles that are formed when Grammy rakes all her leaves into one place.

The girls had fun...

So much fun...

So so much fun...

Here's hoping the warm weather continues for another few weekends!

Hazel's Birthday Weekend

When one turns 3, there is only one way to properly celebrate: Princesses and parties. And, if we can make it last the entire weekend, that would be even better!

To begin with, we need a cake. When asked what type of cake she wanted, Hazel said a princess cake. To many people, this means a sheet cake with a picture of a princess on it. Not to Megan. To Megan, it means, well, let's take a look at the pictures:

The decoration process

The detail work

The finished front

The finished back

And the look of awe!

Friday evening we decided to go out for the first party. We went to Red Robin where we had a tasty dinner. After our burgers, the servers came out, sang to Hazel, gave both girls balloons, and Hazel got a sundae. Not too shabby.

Hooray! Ice cream and balloons!

Lisey got her own fancy cup of milk

And the balloons made it all the way home (they did pop a little later)

Saturday morning, we went to swimming class. It wasn't one of the official birthday parties, but Hazel and Elise still put on a good show for Grammy!

Hmmm....that doesn't sound like much fun...

Ahhh, appropriate foot placement got rid of that problem.

And, this is how we spent the last 20 minutes of our 30 minute class.

When we got home from swimming class, we had a little lunch, and cut into the cake...

and then attacked her presents. She was not left wanting...

Hazel starts slowly...

Then really gets going with a boxful of beads

And culminating with a chest full of dress-up clothes. Her she models her new Snow White dress

Even Lisey is got in on the act with her own princess dress (Thanks Aunt Ann!)

Does this give you an idea of what we have to play with now? Anyone who is interested can come over and play whenever you like!

For the final party of the day, we went to one of Glenn's coworker's house who was having a princess party for her two-year-old.

A fairy godmother and beautiful little princess.

Snow White riding on a royal pony.

And they had a bouncy-castle! Snow White is an expert when it comes to bouncing!

And she is willing to teach her little princess sister!