Adding to Santa's Jelly

It's up to us to keep Santa rockin' that belly of his so we had to make a few cookies for the man

as a thank you for all of his hard work...

 A few shades of frosting for our sugars and quickly realized the kids would promptly ruin whatever clothes they were wearing

So...off with the shirts!

I snapped one photo of our shirtless wonders and Dad-O spoke up and reminded me that the kids might be a bit to old to be shirtless, so we found our only two child-sized aprons

and...

and a PHOTO OP was born

(oh, how I love that little boy!)

Sweet Emme was so focused on her cookies, wanting them to be just right for Mr. Kringle.

AND THEY WERE!!!!!!!!!

The art of GIVING

Once again, the kids had a hard time making it passed the threshold

before digging out their gifts to give each grandparent

"Open mine, Open MINE!" with a smile stretched between the ears

candy jewelry and gummy worms for the mimi and papa

{our guess it that they knew who was most likely to share the goods}

potato masher and drink stirrers 

for Grandpa's famous cheesy potatoes and grasshoppers

lipstick and bath gel for grandma

who exclaimed, "this is just my shade and scent!"

A look back.....

The next few posts will be a little look back at our merriment....

the week of holiday happiness...

Enjoy!

Thank you Santa

Somehow the hustle and bustle all becomes totally worth it

When you see these precious faces....

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Spirit.............

They couldn't even get past the front entry before they were ripping into the bag of goodies we brought to GIVE as gifts

What amazing children we have!

They had been visiting their gifts at Nonni's for weeks,

asking when they could open them, shaking them

and in wonder as to what was under the beautiful wrapping paper.

But we arrive

and they are so excited to give their gifts

The SPIRIT of Christmas

Yeah, I think they get it!

Of course, we didn't have to beg them to open their gifts.

{and PS...my daughter perfected the art of opening the gift around the bow which she could not get untied}love it!

Thanks Nonni and Poppy for starting things out just perfectly!!!

Let the SPIRIT continue.........

A little holiday Bokeh

The house that BE built

Tonight we powered through the sickness

{Emme had it first, Ben just getting over, and poor Dad-O now has it!}

and built a house for our gingerbread babies

(if you have not read "Gingerbread Baby" by Jan Brett, I highly recommend it)

{I was trying to take a picture of the line of gum balls and my sweet poser in the back had to ham it up}

I loved watching their sweet and sticky fingers work so deliberately.

Each year the houses get better,

and they eat less each year too.

Coming to the realization that more in the tummy means less on the house?

(and may have to do with a memory of what eating too much does to the tummy:)

We built a great house for you sweet babies.

Stay warm until Christmas, okay?

A little Rockwell

Last year we visited the window displays downtown

and this year it was one of the handful of things I was sad to think we would miss

{living in another city}

but we are here and we had a chance to go back in time for the evening

It is a quick visit with the combination of cold and attention spans

but well worth it

We made an evening out of it and went to Red Onion with the Grandparents

we ordered hot chocolate at the end of the meal 

so our tummies and our bodies would stay warm for the adventure

This is the first picture I snapped while I was fussing with the question of "flash or no flash?"

but I had to share the priceless look on Emme's face:)

Ben could have watched the train until his face stayed numb with a smile

and the cold could not have taken me from this moment

in a little Rockwell painting

for a spot of time....

School Program

I understand what people mean when they say bursting with pride. 

I was doing just that at first glance to my Shepard and donkey during the school program.

They sang with glee, did all the hand gestures with a smile, and were so thrilled to see the 

crowd that gathered just to catch a glimpse at their talent.

How cute is it that the "I am a bit shy but oh, so proud"

face is the exact same on both our babes?

What a great program with beautiful message 

a sweet reminder to us

what Christmas is

all about

Reindeer Pancakes

Right now we are "borrowing" internet from our neighbor somewhere out there in cyberspace. {thanks neighbor}But it is not very reliable at all. In fact, this is the first time we have had it in a few days, and the last time we had it, I had just enough time to load pictures, but no writing. So, I am doing my best to record advent, but I may have to do some looking back when I am allowed by the internet gods. 

This will be an advent tradition for years to come. 

The cherubs love food that resembles elements of christmas,

And so, we gave them reindeer pancakes

A BIG HIT!!

Campfire Smores

We built our first fire a few nights ago

and no matter where the fire, it always calls for smores

or so says the Dad-O and Ben.

and so we ate smores in front of our {second} first fire on Euclid Blvd.

 and this time the littles were big enough to share

lights

Always a tradition in Carthage

The Vietnamese Lights

Ben calls them the "BENEMMES" Lights

(say it out loud....too funny)

We hop into our pj's with hot chocolate and marshmellows in hand

and it's a date!