Making Christmas Cookies

It's so much fun for me to watch these guys have fun doing things like making cookies. They were so excited to get started and could barely wait for each pan to cool to put the new cookies they had cut on. They cut out all the dough, watched a Christmas special between the cooling and the decorating and then went to town with icing and sprinkles. They were so covered in flour and icing by the end of the night - Rachel kept saying they were all snowy, and "Why, Mom, are you not all snowy too?". It was funny. After they were all done with the cookies (after eating a few too!) while I was cleaning up, Rachel asked Noah to read her The Night Before Christmas. It was one of those moments you just want to keep forever - Of course, Noah can't quite read the book himself yet, but he sure did try and told her the story as best he could. It was so cute. We finished the night off with that book, the First Christmas Story and several others. It was a really nice night. =)

Letters to Santa

The kids wrote and mailed their letters to Santa this morning. It was so cute to watch them both work on their letters and then run them out to the mailbox and raise the flag. The kids both worked hard on their own letters - Doug helped Noah and I helped Rachel - well, she 'wrote' all over the front and I translated on the back for her as she told me what to write. Noah knew exactly what he wanted from Santa and just needed help spelling a few of the words. =)
The kids made and decorated sugar cookies tonight but that's a story to share for tomorrow (blaming it on a tired mama here...) .

Christmas Party!

Noah had his Christmas party at school yesterday and Rachel and I got to attend all day. The kids began their morning in their jammies (they wore them all day) watching the movie Polar Express while enjoying hot chocolate and popcorn. Noah sat with his little girlfriend Erika and as soon as we got there Rachel marched right over and hit it off with her too. It was cute to watch them all together. After the movie was lunch all together in the cafeteria - we had breakfast for lunch. It was actually really good. ;) After lunch the kids did their present (book) swap and Rachel even got to participate and recieve a book as well. They girls and the boys all sat in a big circle and played hot potato to music. When the music stopped on them they got to pick a present from the pile and when all the kids had a present they got to open them. They all had a blast with it. After that they had a story and a short rest period. Noah got to chat with Daddy during that time before he headed home. Rachel snuggled in with one of the girls under her blanket. After rest while the kids headed to art we set up their party. They had lots of good party food and finished off the day by opening their boxes (presents) from their teachers. It was a very good day! I think both Noah and Rachel had a terrific time.
Today was Noah's last day of school until January 7th. He is excited to be out for a while and when he goes back the school year will be just about half over. We also spent a good part of the day getting ready for Amie and her fam's arrival. We are so excited about their visit!! The kids are just squealing with excitement about their visit and then heading up to see everyone else in Tennessee. Tomorrow we'll mail their letters to Santa and make Christmas cookies. Busy, busy, busy! =)
Tonight we went out looking at the Christmas lights. It was a bit disappointing this year with not many houses lit up. There was one place that just went crazy though, we had to snap a picture of that one to share.

Someone got a new big girl bed....!

...and she is very happy with it. She tested it out, gave it a bounce or two and even checked out the great hide and seek hiding place underneath it. I'm just glad she's excited and happy to make the transition out of the toddler bed (crib).

Gingerbread House

The kids enjoyed decorating a gingerbread house today. They were so cute and careful this year. It was kind of funny after the last few years of hurry, hurry, and eat as much of the candy while sticking a few pieces on helter skelter. I put the icing on and let them go with the candy. It cracked me up that each piece had to be just so... Rachel even told me that last year when we made our house she was just a baby and this year she is a big girl and has to do a good job. She's so funny and takes getting bigger so seriously... I think they did a great job and upon stating that they were finished they both dug into the left over candy. =)

Towers and Black Eyes

Rachel has been sporting a black eye for the last 10 days or so. It's finally getting better, thank goodness! I got a lot of funny looks the first couple of days after she banged her face. =( I'm so glad she is just about back to her norm. The bottom picture is the day after her accident (her lid kept getting a darker and darker purple).
The kids had a lot of fun building a huge tower the other day with our megablocks. Rachel was so excited when it got to be taller than her. They used every block in the bin except the ones with wheels. Good stuff. =)

Decorating the Tree

Rachel and Noah had a lot of fun last night decorating the tree. We had meant to do it the night before, but due to Rachel having a pretty bad headache and trying to make her comfortable, we waited for last night. They were so excited. We got home a little later than I had planned after a bit of Christmas shopping and after a late dinner we got started. They actually did a really good job aside from several ornaments hung on the same branches - it was cute to watch them put their ornaments in just the right places. It took a bit for them to realize the heavier ornaments had to go on sturdier branches. I think they liked putting the candy canes on the tree best of all though. As always I love going through the ornaments and thinking of the memories that each one sparks. We have lots of them from places all over the country that we have visited and all the kids ornaments too that mean so much. I know the picture of the two of them is blurry, but they were both smiling so good (at mom who had candy canes stuck in her ears) that I had to put it up here to share.