Gingerbreads and parties

Last weekend the cold came. Serious make-sure-you-know-it's-winter kind of cold. So to get us out of the house for a while, we decided to check out the other gingerbread house exhibit in town and go to the Mormon Winter Quarter House. There were so many really neat ones. Although, it's probably a bad sign when Parker (the man with the sweet tooth) is really excited to see how many kinds of candy he can name off on each house. Local peeps...this is definitely something to check out.

We also made it through the snow to our party with Respite Care and all our friends. We had giant cookies, did crafts and got penguin tattoos.

They also got their face painted. Payton decided to go with a gingerbread man on her cheek. Parker (who has never let anyone do face paint before) let them do a big snowflake on his cheek. You could tell he wasn't really sure about it, but he hung in there and let them finish. The lady that did it was great and talked to him about what she was doing the whole time which is such a huge help with him getting through stuff. He was pretty proud once he was all done. Huge milestone! Who knew face paint could be so important?!

We finally made it around to see Santa. They let each family go in a room with Santa and have a couple quiet minutes with him without all the noise of a big crowd. We finally got our turn.

A little more than a month ago I told them that their elf, Gary, might not come back if they didn't sleep in their beds. He left them a note after Christmas last year saying they needed to do that. They were so excited for Gary to return and we had a couple days to talk about it, that they started to sleep in their beds all night. Desperate times people. And it worked ;)

At their party, we finally went in to talk to Santa. He asked what they wanted for Christmas. Parker looked at him, pointed at him and said "hey, I sleep in my bed". Payton made sure to throw in there "yep, and Gary came back to our house because we sleep there all night now". Poor Santa had no clue but played along.

They got gifts from Santa - Parker got Captain America and Payton got a Barbie. More importantly they stood right next to Santa and let me take their picture with them. Another year, another great party for us.

Blessed <3 p="">

It's Christmas Time in the City

It's almost Christmas! We've been super busy hitting everything that's going on around town and some get togethers and a few parties...the month has flown by! So this is the dynamic duo's holiday month wrap-up!

This is the first time in 4 years that I've put up a Christmas tree. It's quite honestly a little Charlie Brown type tree so if the kids ruin it I won't be super upset. I bought a pack of plastic ornaments that they helped my put on the tree, along with some beads. They did really goo helping decorate and have done a good job for the most part in not playing with it too much.

We ran around town earlier this month we hung out in downtown for the afternoon with MaMaw going to the police barn to see the horses, riding on trollies, looking at the big tree and Santa at the Durham Museum. And goodies, crafts and snacks all for free. It was a beautiful day out, we sang carols on the trollies with people that carted us from one spot to the other. And getting to talk with the real police horses was a total hit.

We has our Christmas party with respite care which is always one of our favorites. We bowled, made gumdrop snowflakes, and wrote letters to Santa. We get one-on-one time to talk to Santa but that still doesn't go over well. No one was sitting on his lap or talking to him too much. The whole thing is so fun. They love seeing their friends and teachers there. It is truly a favorite thing. And besides mom and dad going with them, Aunt Bo and Uncle Dave were able to go too.

We went to the Immanuel Hospital campus last weekend to see Santa and Ms. Claus land in a helicopter. The Life Flight team cruised the city stopping to let off the Claus's for some pictures, cookies and juice. We had alot of fun watching the helicopter come in and getting some goodies at the party.

We visited with Sarah, Joe, Austin and Christian. They L-O-V-E to play with the boys. We exchanged gifts. The pajamas were an instant hit, especially with the diva. They also love their new toys. They are causing fights over them so I guess that's a good sign.

 This Thursday's storm gave us a snow day at home. This meant baking holiday confetti cupcakes and a little time playing in the snow outside once the wind died down. They are totally fascinated by the snow this year. Last year it was still a little scary and a little hard to move around in. 

Friday night, after work was over and the snow was mostly cleared, we went to play with Kristin, Sydney and Ava. The kids had a blast! Dinner, playing, crafty Christmas stuff, chocolate peppermint cookies and lots of glitter...sounds pretty much like the perfect evening.

We also had a few lunches out, went to visit the gingerbread houses, a few story times at the library, visited the UP museum, and had our annual Christmas get together with my friends and former co-workers. It's been so fun to be out and doing more stuff this year.

Merry Christmas!