More Christmas Fun

It has been another week full of excitement, fun, and Christmas parties! School is finally out and we are so excited that Christmas is so close!

Monday, for Family Home Evening, we went to Festival of Lights. Gwen was amazed and we loved hearing her squeal at the things she recognized. She loves Santa and Frosty the Snowman this year. When she saw Santa, she yelled, "Hi Santa!!" and waved like crazy at him. 

 We all loved the pink tree they had this year.

 Tuesday, we played a gingerbread man dice game.

 Wednesday we made reindeer art. Gwen is so proud of her picture. She loves showing it to people. Tessa wanted to be a rebel and do her picture opposite from the other two. 

 We find him asleep in his hat every night. I wonder how many more years we will be lucky enough to have him do this. It makes me smile every night!

 Thursday was Adam's big Christmas Program for all the 2nd Graders. They prepared 6 songs to perform, all with choreography. They did such a good job and it was so fun to watch him. Daddy and Aunt Katy were able to come watch him too and he was so happy to have them there!

 After their program, all the second graders got to have their parents stay and make gingerbread houses with them. Our house is full of decorated gingerbread houses this year!

 The final product! He did a good job and only ate a minimal amount of candy in the process. 

 Friday was another big day at school for both Adam and Tess. Adam got to wear his pajamas and (finally!!) his Santa hat. His class had a Polar Express party. Tessa's class had an Elf Party and she was so happy that her Aunt Dee made her a costume for her party. She told people that she was going to be the best looking elf ever! And she was!

 She loved her jingle bells and her elf ears.

 Tessa the Elf and her Kindergarten class. 

 I got to help with her party. Some of us mom's got together and made elf food for their party. We served it on tiny Frisbee's and made hamburgers, pizzas, waffles, eggs and bacon, grilled cheese sandwiches, doughnut holes and mini doughnuts. The food was a hit!! Those elves ate and ate and ate! They also got chocolate milk served in tiny cups.

 She said it was the best Elf Party she has ever been to!

We finished off the week with a trip to the movies to see Frozen. We loved it and the kids can't stop talking about the hilarious snowman.

We only have a couple of days left on our countdown, Mary and Joseph have almost made it to Bethlehem, and Christopher will on be here for another couple of days. It's an exciting time to be a kid around here!!

Christmas Countdown

We have been keeping up (sort of) with our Christmas Countdown activities. I am finding that this was much easier to do when I didn't have kids in school. But, we are doing our best and cramming in some extra fun when we have time.

 Last week we had our 2nd Annual Grinch Party! We have been excited to do this again. Adam and Tessa made some Grinch masks, we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, played Pin the Heart on the Grinch, and had our Grinch feast-complete with a roast beast, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, green pudding salad, green vegetable salad, green punch and green rolls. 

 This week we also made and decorated sugar cookies. This is a must for us around any holiday!

 Gwen was a good little taste tester. 

 They did a good job decorating them!

 We made reindeer pancakes for breakfast one morning. Tessa wanted her pancake to be Comet, so she didn't get a cherry nose. 

 Saturday afternoon we spent up at Spring Haven with all of our Nielson Family. As always, it was fun to get together with everyone and laugh. Our kids had tons of fun playing with all of their cousins!!

Visiting Santa

 Yesterday we went up to the mall to visit Santa. Gwen was so excited to see him, she was calling, "Santa!" before we even got to him. When it was their turn to sit on his lap, Gwen ran right over to him and jumped onto his lap. Such a difference from last year!! Adam and Tessa both got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas and then we got a couple of cute pictures. They were happy kids!

Gingerbread Houses and Hot Chocolate Party

Last night for Family Home Evening, we had the Riley's over to make gingerbread houses with us!

 Tessa helped me get all the candy ready. We had quite the spread! I made all the houses ahead of time and the frosting was ready to go in bags, so the kids just jumped right in!

We have some creative kids! Their houses all tuned out amazing! We enjoyed spending the evening with our wonderful friends. Actually, we consider them family more than anything! We filled our bellies with yummy hot chocolate, the kids played, and the mommy's and daddy's got to catch up on life. We are so thankful for the Riley' and are glad they came over for a fun evening!