We Baked!

You know, I'm not a huge baker, and truth be told, I get frustrated when kids are in the kitchen during the process.  But I really make a point to do both of those things around Christmas time.  Today, it was Jordan's turn to help me, and our goal was about 5 dozen peanut butter blossom cookies-my favorite (though it is unfortunate that I can't eat any, as I am on an extremely clean-eating trend, and don't want to stop given the positive effects I feel like it has had on my overall health.  That's a totally different topic. ;))!  Jordan unwrapped every single kiss/hug for me and then had the pleasure of putting them into the cookies moments after i took them out of the oven.  I finally played around with parchment paper, and appreciated how much easier it made things.  Only one batch of cookies turned out a little darker than I wanted-otherwise, they looked beautiful, and we were happy to hand them out to friends and family later on that evening.  Fun Christmas tradition, and a good helper!

Psuedo Gingerbread Houses

For FHE tonight, we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, frosting, and lots of candy.  Somehow, I didn't get JD in any pictures, but he really was there!  He had to be careful not to lick his fingers at all, but he did great with the graham crackers.  It took us a little bit of work to get the houses to stand, and i put them in the fridge after they were frosted for about 20 minutes to let them set, but thereafter, they were great, and held up very well!  It was fun to see the kids' creativity!  Jordan ended up with a licorice roof in its entirety.  Sara and James probably put the most candy on, and James was especially precise with putting gummy bear soldiers in front of his door.  Karianna was unique in that she made a tall building, and a part of her roof ended up collapsing--but the way it collapsed looking like a drawbridge, so that's what we turned it into!  All the kids ended up saying hers was their favorite.  It wasn't until the last 20 minutes that jackson began to steal the candy-especially the gummy bears-and we called it quits.  JD, Karianna, and Sara ended up going to see Christmas lights with the Hammerquists, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  

We have never done gingerbread houes like this before, and I definitely want to make this a tradition!

A Fun Present to Make....

All right, this is an "I'm so happy with how this turned out" post!  I made this framed scrabble board for the Hammerquists for Christmas.  We had Suzie and Mark for our gift exchange couple, and when i ran across a similar idea on the internet, I wanted to tweak it a bit to end up exactly like what is pictured below.  I love how it turned out, and at some point, will make one for our family.  I told Suzie and Mark perhaps this will help them decide on a name for the new baby-there are only so many places to add in another couple of names!  I also liked that I was able to get Timothy in-I know that is important to the Hammerquist family.  I so enjoyed putting this together!

Val Vista Lakes Lights

We finally made it to the lights display at Val Vista Lakes!  We have tried to go there for the last few years, and they were either closed for a special event, or just plain old closed.  It was quite beautiful, and while not a large area, the number of lights was impressive, especially when set against the little hill and waterfalls.  The kids enjoyed walking around, although the pool admittedly made me nervous!  This was also the first time I tried out my new camera, and I have no idea how to adjust the settings, but the basic point and shoot-as far as I can tell-turned out great with nighttime pictures!  I have a lot of learning to do, just grateful my nighttime pictures no longer have ghosts in them or come out all blurry!

 

  

 

A Circle of Lights

Well, I think tonight solidified for me that I really need to figure out how to use my new camera so I can take better pictures!!!!  Oh well, these will do, but definitely setting some goals for my photography skills!

Anyhow, we trekked out to do our traditional walk around Natal circle, which always impresses with their lights display, especially when you get to the tour of Bethlehem.  We picked a perfect night-almost no one was there :)  Last year it was so busy, it was hard to enjoy!  I think we went early enough this year-both in terms of date and time-that we bypassed the crowds.  We pretty much had the circle to ourselves, and enjoyed strolling around at a leisurely pace.

 The kids love minions, especially Jackson.  He was hard to get him to look up for a picture!

Look, a rare picture of me and Jared! 

 I am ONLY keeping these two pictures in here because they were such fails!  #1, my camera is just crappy.  Pardon my language.  #2, it looks like ghosts are in the pictures because of Jackson's movements!  Sigh.  Such a good opportunity to take a nice family picture with no one else around.  Oh well. We really enjoyed the moving reindeer and the jack in the box figures seen in these shots.

POP goes the Santa!

 Our favorite inflatable-a ginormous snowman!

We tried to catch another lights display on our way home, but it did not work out very well-the line to drive through our target neighborhood was backed up a good mile down the road-not interested in waiting.  We will try to catch it another time-lengthen out our holiday activities!

Don't Break the Ice!

James got this amazingly classic game for his birthday: Don't Break the Ice.  The point is simple-don't let the red skater guy fall!  James and I have played this game time, after time, after time again even just in the few days after he got it.  Today, we had a tournament with the kids that were home.  Everyone played a round, and then we did a sweet sixteen type of a deal and kept track of our brackets.  I am not ashamed to say I lost in the first round. ;)  It finally came down to Sara and Jordan, with Sara winning the whole thing.  It was super fun, and everyone had good attitudes!  Fun night!

No More Baby Beds

It finally happened:  I got sick of Jackson climbing out of his pack and play at night and during naps.  I don't know why I've been delaying this....perhaps, once again, it is the sadness at knowing my last baby continues to grow up right before my eyes.  Sigh.  

In any case, all the baby beds are officially packed up, and Jackson is settled in his new twin bed!

 He loves his "friends", especially his duckie in the picture above, and any baby, thus they are all adorning his bed right along with him. He has always slept in a boppy (though this white one is just the sub, since his normal one was in the wash), so that qualifies as a his pillow.  He is such a good climber-and not a mover during sleep-so I am not worried at all about him falling out of bed or not being able to get into it.  This will be a piece of cake for the boy who likes to scale the bunk beds and jump on the top bunk!

 He wouldn't stop kicking the bed for a picture!

 He still loves this blankie that Jared slept with as a baby.  It is threadbare, just two very light layers of flowered material sewn together with a lace trim, but man, does he love it.  He always holds it in this position and rubs it back and forth with his fingers, completely without realizing, I am sure.  It is quite adorable.

In retrospect, it took Jackson about a week to decide he was okay sleeping in a bed.  Naps were not a big deal honestly...but he did not like being in a big bed at nighttime.  He cried for hours the first 2 nights, woke several times, and just seemed completely unhappy with the new situation.  It got better as the nights wore on until he was finally adjusted and didn't need to sleep with the door cracked open (with a gate up).  It was a bit of a challenging transition, but in the end, a really good one that gives him more independence in yet another kid milestone.  Love this kiddo!