Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve this year we went to Ryan's Uncle Kevin and Aunt Kay's house.

Typically the only times we all get together with Ryan's aunts and uncles are for holidays

and the kid's birthdays, so it is always good to see them.  We enjoy spending time with

them, and they love seeing the kids.  What a great way to start the holidays!

 

Christmas Cookies

Today we made our first attempt at cutout cookies.  The boys loved helping me cut out
the various shapes, and especially loved decorating them.  

I would say we were pretty successful for our first time.  They were delicious!!  And not

every house can say they have Christmas Mickeys and tractors.  Enjoy, Santa!!

Dear Santa....

Yesterday I helped the boys write their letters to Santa.  Owen was so sweet asking to share

his toys with Simon (his best friend in preschool) and just wanting Mommy, Daddy and Joe

for Christmas.  And Joe's list is pretty easy wanting tractors, trucks and Disney characters.

 Today we took them to Santa's mailbox to mail their letters to the North Pole.

 My mom pointed out that Joe is much happier to let Santa know what he wants

when Santa is not actually present.  ;)

 

School Christmas Gifts

Some of my favorite things at Christmas are the cute gifts the boys bring home.

Owen even made his own wrapping paper and wrapped my gift this year.

 These are and will always be some of my favorite ornaments on the Christmas tree.

 

Merry Christmas Munchkins

Today was Joe's Christmas party in his Munchkins class.  It always humors me the amount of snacks that are brought to these parties.  The parents walk around and put the snacks they brought on each kid's plate.  Regular size Oreos, mini oreos, jello, watermelon, candy canes, Annie's bunnies, Speculoos cookies...the perfect start to any morning. ;)

 

Santa Visit

We took the boys to see Santa this morning.  One of them was super eager to tell him

everything he wanted, one was not.  I'll let you guess which one was which...

 

I knew going in that Joe would most likely not be super excited to see Santa.  When we first

got there however, he started walking towards him and I thought he might surprise us.  

He quickly came to his senses however and stopped leaving himself a good 5 feet away.

Santa being the wise old man he is, calmly lured him over with a sucker.

 

Joe took the bait, but quickly walked away as soon as he had the sucker in his hand.

 

 Owen on the other hand wasted no time jumping up on Santa's lap and sharing his list.

 I managed to get Joe on Santa's lap and that is where all the fun began.

He did finally calm down at the end, but he was more than happy to jump off his lap

and run into my arms when it was time to go.  

 Probably not Joe's favorite thing we've done this Christmas season, 

but it definitely made for some hilarious pictures.  Thanks for being a good sport Santa.

Gingerbread Houses

Today we took our first stab at making gingerbread houses.

I think Ryan and I had just as much fun as the kids did with it.