Movies and Another Gingerbread House

Frozen!! We loved it! The kids have been singing the songs since we left the theater. I think I'll be buying that soundtrack! K calls the theater "the popcorn place" and can't wait to go back.

We figured out that pushing the couches together is much better than a floor pallet for movie watching in the living room. I wish I had thought of this earlier. Now we are going to want two couches at our house!

We had one more gingerbread house so Daddy got to help with this one. He mainly supervised because by now J and K are pros at this! But I think they were more excited about getting to sample more of the royal icing. Yuck!

More Christmas Crafts

Fingerprint lights

Hand print snowman family...I didn't get a picture of the finished ornaments.

Foam gingerbread houses

Letters and Ornaments

Santa sent some very special mail to our house today. J and K each got their own letter from Santa along with some other surprises. They were super excited because Santa assured them that they were both on the nice list!

A North Pole dollar, a sticker, and deed for one square inch of the North Pole, and an autographed picture of Santa

They each got a different letter.

We also decorated the tree tonight. I hung the breakable ornaments but they did everything else. A lot of them are on the same branch but it still looks great! They did a wonderful job helping and it was fun looking through all of the ornaments together.

New ornaments

Movie Night

We read The Happy Elf tonight and watched to movie together. We made hot chocolate and s'mores. What a fun, cozy night!

Chocolate mouth!

Play Dough and Letters to Santa

If you haven't made your own play dough, now is the time! Peppermint scented play dough is wonderful. It smells delicious and is so super easy to make. I like THIS recipe. I just adjust the flavorings to match the occasion. 

The kids wrote their letters to Santa tonight. J has a list that could go on forever but I gave him a limit. K only asked for one thing. Then she made a request for her sweet cousin. J helped her think of one more thing to add at the end. 

K added stickers and it took two pages to fit in all of the "k"s she made. 

J wrote his letter all by himself. I am amazed at how much he has learned this year!

Gingerbread Houses

We broke tradition and decorated our little houses early this year...without Uncle Luke. But we still had fun and I think J and K ate as much icing as they used on the houses! They decorated them almost completely on their own. I helped K a little but once she got the hang of it, she didn't want my help. They are getting too big!

K's finished house

J's finished house.

Countdown to Christmas

We are ready for Christmas at our house! The kids are excited to open a book every night. Some days have activities and others are just silly Christmas trivia and jokes for the kids. December is starting out just right for us!

The first books! We are reading a chapter book this year. 

They loved their elf names...Puddin Pickle-Pants and Cookies Jazzy-Hands!

I brought back the felt trees. 

J and Mamaw helped me make a paper chain for the mantle. 

Elf hats

Day 25: Christmas at Granny's

After spending the morning enjoying all of the fun things Santa brought, we went to Granny's to spend of the rest of the day with our big family.  We had lunch, the best ever!!  And dessert, the most important ever!!  The littles drew names at Thanksgiving so they all swapped gifts.  Granny also stockings for all of the kids.  She had gotten them all flashlights for the hay ride we didn't get to have because of the rain. 

The kids played so well together.  They are all so much fun!  We have a seven year old, two five year olds, two two year olds, three one year olds, and a three month old. 

J is using G's new head phones.  Can you say eighties!

K loves her new mixer from cousin K.

After the kids and Granny opened their gifts, Granny gave Henrietta Chicken to Ashley.  It was emotional and funny yet again.  I think I told you I would share the chicken story with you last year and never did.  Maybe someday.  I really think it deserves to be a children's book! 

Granny had a hard time reading her poem so Amelia did it for her.

Ashley is holding the book of poems written from years past.

Meet Henrietta...the pink, polyester chicken!

After napping, playing games, and looking through old photo albums, we broke out the church song books and sang.  I remember singing at Granny's when I was a little girl and it was wonderful to bring back that tradition this year.  It was beautiful!  We obviously missed singing so much that we did it for two hours. 

J and A are in the corner on the right.  They sang along to almost every song. 

Wrestling twins is hard but Memaw is up to it!

Sweet baby A.  We haven't seen her in a while because she lives so far away.  She is beautiful!

It was a good day!