Gingerbread House

The kids have been wanting to make our gingerbread house for a week now and we've been so busy that it just hasn't happened.  After church today, I was ready to do something to get my mind off the Primary craziness that I'm dealing with.  I pulled the pre-made house out that we'd bought from Costco and I don't think I'll ever go back!  It was great!  The icing was already made and in a piping bag, the kit included all the candy and there were two gingerbread people for each kid.  Perfect!

Lennard got home just in time to work on it with us.  I love that Ben and Lennard are still in their Sunday clothes and Emma is in her pajamas.

The finished product.  The kids loved it and that was all that mattered.  It helped me decompress from church and focus on what really matters - my family!

Birthday Party Time

Emma got recognized at school today for her birthday and then got to come home and get ready for her birthday party with friends!

 I had the table set up with about a dozen different kinds of candies to decorate gingerbread people.

 The girls showed up at 3:00 and started playing right away.  In about half an hour, we started some games.  I split them into two teams and had them try to make an 'Olaf'.  It was quite entertaining to what them.  One team just kept having the toilet paper rip.  Finley definitely got it figured out and had Emma wrapped up just like a snowman.

Then we played 'Pin on Rudolph's Nose'.  They took turns being blindfolded and trying to put the nose on right.  They had more fun putting the noses on themselves!

Such a fun group picture!

 We then had a game where they had to roll a '6' on the dice to get a turn to unwrap a present.  Of course we made it a little tougher by making them put on a touque and gloves before they could start unwrapping!

 After the games were done, they got to decorate gingerbread people.  Some were very detail oriented, but most just wanted to see how much candy they could actually get on the plate! (like Emma!)

 We sang happy birthday to Emma with a candle stuck into her gingerbread man and then she got to open presents!

She has such good friends and got spoiled rotten.  Everyone left at 5:00 and I was glad to have a bit of a break!  It's been a busy day!

Preschool Christmas Party

I was asked to be a parent helper for Ben's preschool Christmas party today.  He was excited to have me there and I was happy to see him at school.

Our first station was decorating cookies.  He was so proud of his creation!

After cookies and a story, we got to go for a wagon ride.  It snowed the entire time we were out, but it was so pretty!

Once we got back to the school, the kids got to watch a Christmas cartoon while having a snack and then Santa came for a visit!  Ben was at the very back and had a hard time waiting for his turn.  He eventually managed to work his way up to the front and was excited to get his treat bag from Santa.

It's been a fun morning getting to see the other kids that Benny goes to school with.

Fondu Party!

Ever since we had a fondu party last year, we've been looking forward to having another one.  We had Jensen's, Henline's and Toone's over tonight (while my parents took the kids for a sleepover at their house!).

 It's never dull with Ryan around... the things he put into one egg roll wrapper... yikes!

We were all so full by the end of the evening that we could hardly move, but it was all so delicious!  We had egg roll wrappers with pepperoni/salami and string cheese; wonton wrappers with a spinach filling or a chicken/cream cheese filling; mushrooms and hot dogs to dip in a batter; tortellini with a home made marinara sauce, etc.

This will definitely be one Christmas tradition that we'll keep going!

Ward Christmas Party

We had a delicious dinner for our Ward Christmas party tonight.  The kids and I were asked to participate in the program portion, so the kids got to dress up in their pajamas and we did the actions to 'Up on the Housetop'.  The kids loved every minute of being up on the stage with everyone looking at them.  I was ready to disappear!  Definitely not my comfort zone!

 Ben loves playing with Landon and Nash and tonight was no exception.  They played X and O's on the paper table cloth!

 The kids were so excited to go sit on Santa's lap.  I love seeing their excitement for everything Christmas!

Parent Night

For Emma's last dance class before the Christmas break tonight they had a parent viewing night with treats.  Lennard ended up getting stuck at work a little longer than planned, so he came out by himself a little later.  Emma loves her dance class and loved getting to show of her 'moves'!

Tree Lighting

Ever since last year when we went to the tree lighting ceremony at the Remington Carriage Center, the kids have asked us if we could go again.  It ended up being on the same night as our Ward temple night, so Lennard took the afternoon off work and we went and did some temple work in the afternoon so that we could take the kids tonight.  

The weather ended up being so perfect tonight.  It wasn't windy and the kids loved getting to see Santa arrive in a carriage.

We were very lucky to be standing in just the right place and the kids ended up being the 2nd and 3rd kids to sit on Santa's lap!  Hooray for not having to stand in the crazy line up!