Christmas Adventures

A few (okay, way too many) pics from our Christmas eve and Christmas day...........

We spent Christmas eve at my parents place playing lots of fun games and eating the most yummy of snack foods.  We had T's Mom, three brothers, nieces and sister join in on the fun along with my sister and her family.

T's Mom looking super thrilled with being forced to wear a mask and wash hands obsessively due to her sickness and Baby W's fragile state of recovery.

Let the games begin!

 Minute to win it games

 My sister and I are a dangerous combination for any of these games........the risk of laughing until we pee our pants is always pretty high.......lol

After a fun filled night of games the kids sprinkled food for the reindeer on our lawn and laid out cookies and milk for Santa and then raced to bed (they were certain they saw a light from his sled in the sky on our drive home and didn't want Santa to find them awake when he got here).

Santa did manage to sneak into our house undetected!

The kids had a blast diving into their stockings and gifts.

We then headed to my sisters house for a little gift opening with my family.
My sister and her family just moved to a small acerage this past year and it was the perfect, peaceful retreat for our Christmas celebrations.  Seriously, it was picture perfect and just so cozy! Sitting in the window watching the birds fly all around was so fun for Baby W.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon cooking, visiting, playing and relaxing.  T went and picked up his family and brought them over for dinner and we sat down to a huge feast.  A huge thanks to my sister for including so many people and creating some great memories.

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright too!

Christmas Concert

The week before Christmas was filled with concerts and parties.  Sadly it was also filled with a nice case of RSV, croup and bronchiolitis for W and a really sweet case of Hand foot and mouth disease for JA!  JA was pretty much fine just a bit spotty but he was also in isolation for an entire week up until Christmas eve.  He missed his concert (don't think he was too sad about that one based on how he reacted to the rehearsals) but he was pretty mad at me for keeping him home from school and his party.......a stir crazy 4 year old is FUN stuff.
AL however had a lovely winter concert/activity night that I got to join her for.  There are over 100 kindergarten children at her school and they all performed a few songs at the same time just for their families before the others crowded the gym.  After it was over we got to wander through the school to check out different stations; ginger bread cookie decorating, crafts, christmas story, carolling, hot chocolate and an outdoor bonfire.  Fun.

AL gave Daddy a little concert before she headed to the school since he was stuck at home with the sick boys.

Just a small glimpse of the total kids on that stage!

Decorating her gingerbread man

Spreading Christmas cheer to her brother when she got home.

Polar Express Birthday Party

All aboard!!!!

It is hard to believe that JA is going to be 4 years old in just a few days.  I honestly started counting out 3 candles for his cake and then realized I was totally confused, lol.
JA had been waiting for this day for weeks and was beyond excited.  This was one crazy busy week (especially the last 24 hrs with day home kids, appointments, a Scentsy party, the birthday party and a church Christmas party) but I somehow pulled it off with tons of help from T and my parents.
You all know that I love planning parties and go way over board but despite the fact that there was a bit of stress in the final hours it was still so fun!  JA's excitement made it all worth it. 

A little look at the party details:
JA and I delivered invitations to all 6 of his guests last week. 

 

For decorations we strung together some snowflakes and hung them from the ceiling and hung up a "Believe" banner.  Setting up our Christmas decorations a few days earlier then normal made for easy party decor.

T was a great sport and played the role of the conductor.  As the kids arrived he hid tickets in their coat pockets and then quoted a bunch of lines from the movie and had the kids run back to look in their pockets.  He punched their tickets in speedy fashion (wish I had snapped a pic) and welcomed them aboard!

 

We started out with a little craft making ornaments out of beads and pipe cleaners.

I then had the kids gather on the floor and I read them the classic story "The Polar Express".

The kids then played a game of "pass the present".  We started out with a HUGE present that they were supposed to pass around while the music played.  When the music stops they unwrap a layer.  They were hilarious and all just dove in to each layer as a big group.  After unwrapping box after box, layer by layer they opened up the final package filled with train whistles for everyone.  (Talk about noisey!).  I hid them in the goodie bags real quick ;)

We then headed back to the table to decorate some "gingerbread" trains with treats.  The kids loved every minute of decorating, candy consuming and icing eating.

The kids then headed to the basement to play with balloons on a string and burn off some of the sugar rush.

 

After a bit of play time the kids wrote letters to Santa.

 

The kids then assembled a bag of reindeer food (oats and glitter) to sprinkle outside their house on Christmas eve.  This was one messy activity with glitter flying everywhere (hence the lack of pics).

After a little play time it was time for hot chocolate and cake. 

 I dipped the rims of each mug in red chocolate and sprinkles (I must have seen the idea on pinterest) but didn't really think it through......it sure made for some messy faces!

T saved my bacon this morning and carved out this cake for me, I just couldn't make it work.  Thanks Hun!  Topped with marshmallow frosting it made for a great snowy mountain scene.

 A few red faces!

 We finished off with a game of spin the bottle for presents and then watched a bit of the "Polar Express" movie for the last few minutes.

 

All of the things we made during the party were placed in the kids' goodie bags along with a bag of "Reindeer Noses" (chocolate covered jube jubes and a red gumball) and a bell.

We packaged up the gingerbread trains, cleaned out the mugs and sent them home with some very happy children.
JA had just the best day and loved every minute of it.  We sure do love you Buddy Boy!