Christmas Eve pajamas

I really had visions of family matching pjs, but my nine year old doesn't quite fit kids sizes anymore, let alone match his sisters and Jim doesn't want to be seen in pjs, so I had to settle for matching girls. They were so amped after Christmas Eve service, they didn't quite cooperate with pictures... but here is the best one.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we joined the Roddys at Paul and Jayne's house for dinner and gift card exchange. It was nice to get together with family. I share the next two pictures with you to show you how difficult it is to get pictures of my three kids....

First picture... pretty good.

Second picture.... she is already done!

Just Abbie and James!

Gingerbread Houses

Lucky for the kids, I had plenty of supplies from my students gingerbread house making experience to bring home extras for them to build their own. (again an advantage for the kids that I am a teacher) They were very excited to do them. I just enjoyed watching Audrie try not to eat the frosting...... as you can see, she wasn't too successful.

Getting started

Audrie eating frosting again.

James is all set up!

Abbie getting started.

James' finished house.

James and his house.

Abbie's finished house

Abbie and her house.

Audrie and her.... house that she dumped candy on the plate.
She got tired of trying to make the frosting stick, it tasted better on the fingers then on the house.

Jim's finished house, he would kill me if he knew this was on here but since he doesn't look at our blog, he will never know....
He is a big kid at heart and of course I brought home enough for him to do one too. He tried to convince James and Abbie that he was once a championship gingerbread builder and had trophies at his parent's house to prove it, but after a Christmas Eve trip to see grandma, this lie was revealed and James' hopes of following in his father's footsteps were squashed.

Jim's very well constructed house, but not award-winning.

Christmas Trains

At my new school this year, they do a fundraiser for sixth grade camp by putting together kits to make candy Christmas trains. They are only $5 and come with all the candy, frosting, board, and directions. I only bought two kits and decided to do it while Audrie was napping because the idea of candy that you can't eat... well she is two and I didn't think she would understand that idea. Abbie and James had a blast and are really starting to like some of the benefits of my new school. Although they are still holding out for the carnival in the spring... hope we have one. Anyways, it might become a family traditions, maybe Audrie can join in next year.

Abbie's train.

Abbie and her train.

James' train.

James and his train.

Bellevue Botanical Gardens

This is becoming one of our favorite family traditions. We drive up to Bellevue for dinner and then go to the gardens to look at the lights. The kids love the adventure of finding all the hidden/or not so hidden animals. They even had a new part this year, the waterfall. Didn't get many pictures because the battery was dying again. But at least got the family shot. If you noticed the beard in the tree cutting pictures and again here (two weeks later), he is still sporting a beard. In the 18 years I have known my husband, he has not grown facial hair, he must be going through a phase. I don't mind it so much, it looks good on him.

Jim and kids in front of the grapes.

Mom and kids in front of vegetable garden.

Christmas Concert

We love that our kids go to a small community school that still does a holiday/Christmas concert and sing Christmas songs. It was fun to watch James and Abbie with both their classes singing songs. They did such a great job. No shyness or anything. They made us all very proud. Grandma Willa and Grandpa Jim were also able to join us, so nice of them to make the long drive out. We even went to ice cream after.

James waiting for Mr. Prindle the music teacher to give the cue to sing.

Abbie showing her excitement before the first song.

Kids together before the concert.

My darling kids!

Christmas Tree Cutting

We went to one of our favorite tree farms in our area this year to cut down our own tree. Audrie was very interested in what Daddy was doing. We got a great one this year that was tall and thin to fit right into our little nook. We love Nobles even though they can be a little pricey, they always look the best to us.

Audrie checking out what is going on.

My loves!

Kiddos!