Santa Claus is coming to town...

Christmas preparation is in full swing at the Shortall house...the house has been decorated since the weekend after Thanksgiving and Elfy has been hanging around since then too. Hear are a couple pics of what we've been up to!

YMCA's breakfast with Santa...breakfast, performance by the Martin Show Choir, puppet show, and visit from Santa, the kids had a blast!!

Holiday parties last weekend with the Shortall triplets and then the Harvey's

Patrick made this stable as a gift for Bryan's preschool teacher Mrs. Terry...now she'll have a home for her live nativity scene (aka 3 year olds dressed as Mary & Joseph) for years to come. I hope she enjoys it as much as Patrick enjoyed making it for her!!A couple of the places that we've caught Elfy "hanging out" over the past few weeks...

(I should preface this one with the fact that Emma forgot to wear her underwear to school one day- apparently "I" forgot to set them out so she just put on her tights and jumper and went to school commando- thank goodness they were super thick cable knit tights you couldn't see through because she didn't put on shorts either...)

Busy, busy, busy...

Where has this fall gone, I swear we were just starting the school year the other day. Here's a few pics of what we've been up to lately (in reverse chronological order :))

We celebrated Bryan's 3rd birthday this past weekend with a train party on the Forest Park Mini Train

Trick-or-Treating with the Brigg's girls

A couple of the many friend's birthday parties that we've attended...

Emma and Patrick have really enjoyed their Indian Princess tribe this year (it's mainly SMG girls and their dads) from the Fall Camp-out to the Turkey Shoot to the monthly meetings they've enjoyed some good father-daughter times!!

Emma has continued her dance class and had a small performance at the Levitt in October, think she may add a class in the Spring and go twice a week (dance seems to be her favorite activity right now!)

I coached Emma's soccer team this fall, it was made up of mainly SMG kindergartners, was a learning experience for me but I think the kids had a good time (we were undefeated!!)

My first niece was born in October, LOVE her soooo much!!!

Bryan finished out his season with Soccer Tots, think we are going to try for a T-ball league in the spring!

Bryan's bike-a-thon at school to raise money for St. Judes

SMG Kountry Karnival

Uncle Chris and Michele's wedding in New Orleans

We are looking forward to the holidays and some restful time with family!!!

First Day of 3 Year Old Pre-School!

Today was Bryan's first day back to Tate Tots Pre-School after the summer break. Even though he won't be 3 until the end of November they went ahead and put him in the 3 year old class and we're so proud of him!! He was so excited to be going back to his "Tater Tots School" and couldn't wait to see everyone this morning!!

KINDERGARTEN

Cannot believe our little girl is old enough to be in Kindergarten....where has the time gone!! She's been so excited all summer about starting school again and getting to be one of the "big kids" who wears uniforms to school. She's had a wonderful first two days of school, and I'm sure she'll have a great year...if she's anything like her mom she'll love being in school- aka she'll be a nerd!!

Where did the summer go??

Some pics from how we spent July (sorry for the funky mess with the pictures, realized my settings had changed half way through my upload!) ...Shrip Boil with the Harveys, Patrick's restored sail boat, Emma's dance class, Bryan's Soccer Tot's class, Chicago sister trip!!