Christmas Eve (part 1)

We have spent Christmas Eve at Ken and Cindy's home for the past 4 years. This year we celebrated with Ken and Cindy, Zak and Lauren, and Devin. We had dinner and exchanged presents with them before going home to sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn and put out those fabulous Christmas cookies that we made earlier that day. Aiden received an art easel with a whiteboard, chalkboard, 2 rolls of paper and markers and Blake received about 10 boxes of different Lego sets from Ken and Cindy. Zak and Lauren bought Blake Nerf Dart Tag and bought Aiden a gumball machine. Devin and Stephanie bought the boys a super fun Star Wars game. They had full stockings to open at their house as well. Being the only grandchildren definitely has some rewards!!!!! Oh, and if you're wondering about the orange ring around both of their mouths in all of the pictures, that would be the Orange Crush we let them have at dinner....oops!

Frosting anyone?

Making cookies for Santa was one project..... it was an entirely separate project to frost the cookies later that afternoon. If you read the post just before this one you will notice that although it is the same day, Aiden is not in the same clothes... hmmmmm..... I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Cookies for Santa

Christmas Eve morning at our house means baking sugar cookies for Santa Claus. This year I was a lot more hands-off just like the gingerbread house (see post below). There isn't much to tell other than the kitchen was an absolute disaster.... the kitchen table was covered with flour, cookie dough and colored frosting. The floor had to be swept and mopped and the counters with caked with cookie ingredients as well. I can't imagine a better way to spend Christmas Eve morning!!!

Thoroughbred Lane

We have a Christmas tradition with the Surrell Family that has being going on since 2005. We look at Christmas Lights on Thoroughbred Lane. We always meet before sunset so we can get a parking spot, we look at lights on several blocks beginning at Thoroughbred Lane and then we go out to dinner. This is a tradition that our family looks forward to every year. This year the Gossett Family joined us and so did the Stanley family. We had a really good time strolling along the lane looking at all of the lights. I am hoping that in the very near future I will be able to walk along without worrying about Aiden getting hit by a car. I found myself repeating OVER and OVER again, please stay by the curb, please hold my hand, please slow down, AIDEN, AIDEN, AIDEN. Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread House

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The boys and I have made a gingerbread house for the past 3 years. Each year they complete more of the house than the year before. This year I frosted the house and they did all of the decorating. I didn't touch the gingerbread house at all or help in any way during the decorating process and they did a fantastic job! They licked the frosting off of their fingers quite often so there is no way that anyone is going to eat it, but at least it is a nice decoration and a fun family tradition!

School Christmas Parties

Blake's 2nd grade class came to school in their pajamas on the day of their Christmas Party. They had donuts and milk and juice and watched The Polar Express. That afternoon they played games and hung out with friends. Aiden's kindergarten class sang a couple of songs in their Rudolph hats and had a book exchange and decorated cookies. It was a very busy day, but one that they will both remember!

VEGAS BABY!!!!

We went to Las Vegas with Zak and Lauren the weekend before Christmas and had a great time. We had dinner at Diablo's on Friday night and then headed to a brand new hotel that had just opened two days before. It was a little snobby for our taste, but we stayed a while anyway. We had breakfast at the Bellagio on Saturday morning, Lauren and I spent Saturday afternoon at the spa and then she surprised us with tickets to see Jersey Boys on Saturday night. The weekend went by much too quickly and we are so glad that we were able to sneak in a quick get-a-way!