Our Family Christmas 2013

12-19-13

Our family Christmas day! We spent all day celebrating together; opening some gifts in the morning, baking and decorating sugar cookies, doing a Christmas craft, opening more gifts in the afternoon, putting together toys (Matt), making snowmen pancakes for lunch and snowmen pizzas for supper (Julie), and playing with new things.

The first thing the kids opened was a Little People North Pole village. The loved it and got to work right away! I love the two pictures with matching smiles, matching sitting positions, matching wrapping paper, and then matching technique while opening the gifts. :)

The kids helped Matt make the cookies, and they were some of the best sugar cookies I've ever had. Unlike when I roll them out, I try to make as many cookies as I can by rolling them really thin. Matt kept them really thick and cut out two cookie sheets worth out of half the recipe. We later frosted and decorated them to eat for a snack in the afternoon. Thicker cookies also meant less cookies to decorate! Make sure to take note of the cookie that Charlie decorated - he dumped about half a container of sprinkles on his cookie!

Charlie has only written his name 2 or 3 times, including the one on the wrapping paper of my gift. He did pretty well considering it is something totally new to him. I need to be better about practicing writing letters with him.

The last gifts the kids opened were a new bike with pedals and training wheels for Charlie, and a purple plasma car for Alanna. We got done with gifts about 4pm, leaving enough time to head outside to try out the new bike and plasma car. Putting together the plasma car proved to take longer than expected, but we still made it outside. The beautiful thing about living in Canon City is that the kids don't have to wait until spring to ride bikes outside. :)

I probably should have taken pictures of the snowmen pizzas before I baked them because they look a little scary. I also usually bake the crust for half of the baking time before putting the toppings on, but I totally spaced that out and did it all at the same time. They were cuter before they went into the oven!

We ended the day with a foam picture frame craft. It was a super busy and really fun day for all of us! Matt and I were so tired by the end of the day; I'm so thankful that we decided to leave for MN the following evening instead of the same night as our Christmas celebration. What a memorable, wonderful day!!

 

Belly Picture

12-15-13

32 weeks and getting bigger each day... Grow, Baby, grow!!

Another Sewing Project

I made this cape for a special nephew who is part boy, part super hero. I asked Charlie to model it, and Alanna wanted to do whatever Charlie was doing - which is why she's standing facing the wall, too. I had fun putting together the cape. I borrowed a cape of Caleb's (that his grandma made for him) and traced it to use as a pattern. I added the K and called it good! Boy, do I have a lot to learn when it comes to sewing, but one thing I HAVE learned is that the iron can be used to press down a fair amount of wrinkles and bumps. Not that it makes it better, but at least it flattens it out!! :)

More Countdown to Christmas Activities

12-6-13 - Salt Dough Ornaments

12-7-13

Canon City Parade of Lights

It was SOOOO cold out that night; we got really bundled up and were at the parade for exactly 20 minutes. Out of the car at 6:07 and back in the car at 6:27!! The parade floats were moving pretty quickly and attendance at the parade was pretty slim. We had a good time for the little bit that we were there! After the parade, we drove around looking at Christmas lights since we were all bundled and the car was warm. :)

12-9-13

We made pretzel/almond bark wreaths. One was made by Charlie, one by Alanna, and one by me. Let's see if you can match them up! (In case you can't, Charlie did the one on the left, I did the one in the middle, and Alanna put together the one on the right. FUNNY!)

 

12-13-13

We did candy cane ornaments using pipe cleaners and pony beads. The kids had fun, and I loved the mess-free activity. They were pretty proud hanging them on the tree!

Later that evening, we went to Electric Safari at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We invited Kubes to join us since they have a zoo pass and hadn't ever been to Electric Safari before. It was a really nice night to go; not too cold and not windy. The kids wore double pants, boots and winter jackets, but it was a good amount of clothing for the weather. We all stayed warm and had a really fun time walking through all the lights! We were there for 2 1/2 hours. This was definitely one of my favorite Christmas activities. 

12-14-13

Gingerbread houses!! I put together the actual houses a few hours before we decorated so they were ready to hold loads of candy. Alanna and I worked together as a team, and Charlie and Matt worked together on theirs. The kids shoveled a lot of candy into their little mouths while we decorated... one for the house, one for me. One for the house, one for me. :)

12-15-13

Matt and Charlie did a Christmas tree snack one night while I took my turn at the Young Life Christmas party. (Alanna had a fever that day so we cancelled the babysitter we had lined up. Matt went to the first half of the party and I went to the second half.) Matt spread the frosting on the sugar cone and Charlie decorated it with sprinkles. It was a special activity for just the two of them since our feverish girl headed to bed early.

Family Fishing Day

Today the whole family went on a fishing trip to DeWeese Reservoir.  The weather was sunny and calm with a temperature of 40+ degrees.  We arrived at 11:00 AM and were on the the ice for more than two and a half hours.  Everyone had a great time, Charlie caught some fish, Alanna played with with the ice scoop and ate a truck load of snow, Julie enjoyed the sun, and I enjoyed having everyone with.  I hope we can do a few more outings like this before the year is out.

My little helpers were never too far away from the holes while I was doing something.  Charlie and Alanna were very curious and interested in what was happening.  They mimicked what I was doing from cleaning the holes, to jigging the lines.  It was fun to watch.

 

The first fish of the day.

Alanna was very amused by a fish on the ice.  She played with that first fish for nearly a half hour, picking it up, dropping it, carrying it to a different spot, telling us about it . . . she was having a good time. 

This was the moment when she said, "Say cheese fish!"  So cute. 

Charlie was very excited to reel in fish.  I would hook them, then ask him to come over and start reeling.  He would be beaming once a fish was on the ice.  He reeled in three all by himself.  I would still hold the rod, just in case it slipped out his hand. 

Charlie being very proud of a fish he reeled in.

It was a very fun to have the entire family out on this adventure.  Because we have so many warm winter days here, I am sure we will be doing this again.

Our little adventurers out on the ice.

Julie and I were fully expecting both the kids to fall asleep on the way home.  Well, that didn't happen.  Instead, Alanna turned into a non-stop chatter box and wouldn't let Charlie fall asleep.  Julie and I had to laugh at the things being said in the back seat.  Charlie was making Alanna laugh with silly faces, they would have foot wars between the seats, Alanna would give us her "I'm so sassy!" routine.  The most interesting discussion was Charlie arguing that and animal we saw was a horse and Alanna arguing that it was a pony.  All we could do was laugh.