Grandpa's Christmas Show

My dad sings with a Barbershop Chorus.
The kids enjoyed listening to their Christmas Concert in an audience of over 1200. Z wanted to know "how did they learn to do that?" (:

Ak got a little restless - thus this portrait she took of us.

They were excited to see him after the show.

Ak couldn't leave without saying goodbye, again!

Thanks Dad for the entertainment - you did a great job!

Akili's Party w/ Friends

Akili turns 3 today! So yesterday we had a small party with friends. They decorated "gingerbread" houses.
D pre-made the houses the night before (so they were firm) and I made little stations with 7 different containers with things to decorate with.

They all seemed to enjoy themselves!

Z here decided to stash any of his unused toppings inside his house - I think he actually knows he'll get to eat it later and he wants more than is on the house! Smart!

Then Lunch! Chicken Nuggets and Tater Tots.

Then presents! Ak lucked out with some fun stuff!

She asked for ice cream with NO cupcakes - so we had cones!

Just stuck the 3 candles in the ice cream! Ms. Shy here when we sang to her!

It's always fun to eat ice cream cone with friends!
Thank you all for coming and making Ak feel special!

PS - B should not have been in these pictures but she didn't go to school today. She had to be taken to the doctor this morning and ended having one of her ears cleaned out (she failed the hearing test with that ear) and she has an ear infection in the other ear. Crazy day with Ak being late to her own party - but thank you to my friends for not getting mad at my quick decisions and THANK YOU to my mom for coming and staying with Z and starting my party and then staying to help during the party and even then stayed later so I could run a couple quick errands w/0 kids - esp. B who ended up taking a nap! Although she did not feel or look good when she woke up - she ate no dinner - mabye too much ice cream earlier??? (: I'm glad the day seemed to all work out!

St. Nicolas Day

St. Nicolas brought a foil wrapped chocolate santa and left it my kids shoes - one for each of them!!! I tried to get them to just eat half - but they all really wanted the whole thing - so we bartered and luckily they are used to my techniques:They each were so happy to eat a whole santa - they ate their half a plate of raw spinach!!!! (with no dressing!) Makes me kind of laugh!!! (: I figure the holiday will have sweets - but I tell my kids your belly needs balance!!! You'll feel sick if you just eat sugar!

"Baking" Day

My college friend Rob and his mom have been hosting a Holiday Treat making day for years now and this was my first opportunity to attend! (: (Thank you AJ for watching my kids.) Their kitchen isn't the largest - but they have double of every Williams-Sonoma kitchen item you ever wish you had!!! And good quality pots, etc.! (: Here's Kat dipping pretzels - I think I might invest in one of those melting pots!

We made 14 batches of fudge that day while I was there - I heard more might have been made after I left at 8 PM! (new people had arrived right before I left) My mom doesn't want to know how much sugar we used that day! (: Tonight I let my kids try some of the peanut butter chocolate kind I made - of course they thought it tasted great - so I had to make sure to tell them how not healthy it was! (:

Here I am cutting my first batch of fudge I've ever made!

After about box 6 of dipping these - we realized we were crazy for thinking we wanted to dip all these - although I think we did! (: (although I cheated and only dipped my last box 1/2 way up - D wasn't happy with my choice.)Here's Rob, Mother Hampton, and Paul with the makings of the peanut butter balls! This is one thing I wish I would have put on my list of things to make - I wasn't thinking!

YUMMY!!!

Super fun day of singing and laughing while getting some treats made! And I'll tell you what - these are the people you want to be around when you make mistakes in the kitchen - so calm and nice about it!!! Thank you!!! Next time I hope to stay longer!

M

In Memory of Uncle Ben

On December 1st, Benjamin would have been 27 years old. A family tradition he had growing up was that the Christmas tree went up on his birthday. We decided to start that tradition with our kids this year to give us an opportunity to talk about him and help them remember Uncle Ben.

(when I told the kids what were doing later that day - Ak said, "Uncle Ben used to hang Z upside down." (: Cute!!! The kids were happy to help!

We only had time to get the tree up and the lights on -then we ate pinapple and ham pizza (a favorite of Ben's).

They were excited to add ornaments a different day!

Delayed Gifts

Gpa P and Gma D had gifts for my kids (last Dec - there was so much from them then - that I put these items aside and I guess I forgot to give them and I recently found them - so I decided this was a good time). (: Ak got a stick horse that she immediately galloped around the house.
B got some horse figurines that she loves.
But the hit of the night was an electric guitar for Z. Here he is when he opened it.
Here he is that night when he went to bed.

Here he is first thing when he woke up! It was attached to him for a few days STRAIGHT! (when he came to wake me up - he had it in his hand!) Funny!!! But he's been wanting one! Thank you for the gifts!

Day After Turkey Day

I was a little behind - so we decorated our turkey sugar cookies after turkey day - but the kids didn't care! (:When it came time to eat them - Ak took off the candy corn feathers and stuff and ate just the icing off the cookies with her fingers!