santa's almost here!

Christmas is so close...the kids are going nuts!   Here are a few of the ornaments we made this year. We turned their handprints into santas...

 we did some felt tree ornaments...stuffed with cotton balls because we had to improvise!

 we made popsicle stick trees

 and cornstarch ornaments - I love how they turned out so simple and bright white

 we made gingerbread houses...and more gingerbread houses!

and ice cream cone xmas trees

 and...we reached the end of our countdown calendar.  I pin red envelopes with numbers on them to the pantry door every year. Every morning when the kids open them, there is an activity to do. 

 And...we baked gingerbread cookies for Santa because those are his favorite. But...Gage may have snuck in to eat a few of Santa's cookies on Xmas eve ;-)

christmas!

They slept in until almost 7am -- Adam was going crazy! He likes to stay in bed until they come and get him to let him know Santa came.  That's about 2 hours later than he usually stays in bed ;-)

First up...stockings!

 Next up...everything else :-)

Looks like Daddy has a birdhouse to build with this serious builder!

 Yeah....I would not have ordered that Frozen castle if I had looked at the measurements first!  That's a little bigger than I had expected!!

 Oh boy...this just looks like trouble

 Little Woodzeez...and lots of them!

 Octonauts -- he is SUPER excited about his Octonaut toys!

 and his new handsome tie :-)

 and savannah's dogs...or dolls...or dog-dolls...whatever they were...she was excited!

 It was a great day. It just disappeared on us. Suddenly it was 7:30 pm and we didn't know where the day had gone!   We had our traditional lobster dinner with Belgian beer while the kids had baked macaroni and cheese. We built legos. We played games. We played. And they passed out that night. A good day :-)

snaggletooth

Savannah has a really loose tooth, so her new nickname is "snaggletooth"! It's just hanging there and it wiggles like crazy, but it's not quite ready.  I think she will lose it whole we are at Disney :-)

Holiday odds & ends

Gage digs wearing the Santa hat this year. He keeps putting presents under the tree and asking me if I thought he was Santa...

We are crafting like crazy!

Aunt Karen sent us this idea and it came out cute!

We decorated a whole Santa's village of gingerbread houses

And... We have has birthday and Christmas parties galore!

And we still have 9 days left!!

shepherd Gage

Gage had his Christmas program at school today and he was a shepherd.  He said he liked wearing the costume, but it was "a little itchy".   When I dropped him off this morning he asked where I would be sitting -- he was worried about finding me in the crowd.  So, when he came out today he was looking and looking and then he spotted Daddy and his face lit up. I love the smile on his face when he finds us (the first picture) :-)  They sang about 8 short songs, but his favorite was the last one -- they sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and when the say "now bring me some figgy pudding" the kids stomped their feet really hard -- and then when they say "we won't go until we get some" they cross their arms, shake their heads and look stubborn (yes, yes, I know....that's a standard look for him!).

 

 

 

He did a great job!!  And...tomorrow he gets to do it all over again! Since he's in the 5 day program he gets to perform twice :-)   

elf antics

Snowy has been up to trouble again this year. One morning blue toilet papered the doorway, got himself tangled up in toilet paper and sat in a little tree (behind gage). Oh- and he wrote on the toilet paper "snowy was here"!

Well, later that day gage tried to pull the tp off of snowy. Well, the tree fell forward and landed on him. Gage broke down I tears because he touched snowy and you know what that means...snowy loses his magic and can't fly back to the North Pole every night. G was devastated! So, I emailed Santa, and he told us to be on the lookout for an emergency elf recovery kit. He said he also saw the whole thing happen and knew it was an accident, so gage was not going on the naught list (gage was worried).  A while later an envelop arrived at our door with sparkles all around it and a pack of magic medicine inside. We put it near gage and a whole later, we found snowy sitting up, so apparently the medicine was working!

Well...another day I was messing with the lights on the mantle and I touched snowy by accident. But, gage saw me and called me out. So, Santa delivered another elf recovery kit addressed to me this time. Gage took care of giving snowy the medicine (glitter) this time. I really need to be more careful with that elf!!

He got in trouble with daddy one day by hanging on Leonids' spear. 

He wrapped the potty!!

And he also made marshmallow snow forts with the elf and my little Swedish gnomes on one side and the superheroes on the other side.

Yes, snowy reindeer is just as mischievous as last year!!

savannah's field trip

Gage got to have his first sleepover ever recently (he slept at our Greek friends' and did great) because Savannah had a field trip and we had to be at school at 5:30 am and didn't return until 6pm.  We went to Huntsville (northern AL) and our trip started out with our bus getting into a (minor) car accident as we left school. So, we had to wait for the police to take a report, etc. The trip took 2 hours and 45 minutes -- which is just too long away (number 1) and too long to be in a bus with 40 first graders (number 2). But we arrived at Early Works children's history museum (all about AL history). Here, Savannah's class is talking with Harriet Tubman about slavery, her life as a slave, how she escaped to PA via the underground railroad, and then helped to win women's right to vote. She was outstanding.

And...her whole class dressed up in pioneer clothes!

 After we finished up in the museum, we walked across the street to Constitution Village, which was turned into Santa's village for the season.   They had real reindeer

 A sleigh

 THis is most of her class and her teacher, Ms. White

 Since this is Constitution Village (a small group of historical buildings where the AL constitution was signed) and all about history, they had a working blacksmith shop there. The blacksmith's name was Smitty, and he was great! He made the kids a nail, from start to finish, and he was silly -- Savannah laughed her tush off the whole time :-)

 They also had Mrs. Claus read them a story about when Santa was a little boy...

 And...then had hot cider, gingerbread cookies, learned about Christmas around the world, and then sang songs with the instruments. This was the highlight of the trip (other than the car accident!).  THe kids were riled up at this point and our elf guide (Cinnamon) lost her patience. She was not a very cheerful elf at this point. She gave out instruments and the kids went nuts. After two songs she couldn't get their attention, and she didn't have the hutzpah to yell HEY KIDS PAY ATTENTION TO ME...so she just looked defeated and frustrated as the kids walked all over her. The parents were a little naughty...we were all so amused by her reaction and how she was being run over by the kids that we let it go way too long before we intervened to get them in order. 

 

Fish Stix - with friends

Here's the whole group of us hanging out on the chilly beach :-)

Gage always finds sticks on the beach. Always. This day I told him 100 times "DON'T JUMP INTO THE HOLE WHILE HOLDING THE STICK" --you can see what a good listener he is.

I think the only reason he wasn't holding a stick in this picture is because the kids were all holding hands to jump together!

The kids went crazy for a while

But then...they crashed

The next day...we hit the zoo.  These kangaroos were the laziest little guys. They were laying on their backs just like dogs do , but they had their arms crossed -- looking at the kids like they were BEGGING for belly rubs, but the rules are only petting on their backs is allowed. 

After the zoo, we went to the Hangout for lunch. The adults sat in Adirondack chairs drinking mojitos and soaking in the sun while we watched the kids played on the sand pile.   Perfect :-)