Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve came really fast this year.  I think it did for a lot of people.  We were down to the wire on a lot of things.  And we didn't even get gifts sent out in time.  Luckily, they're not too upset :)

A few presents out- gotta test and make sure Lexi leaves them alone :)

 Devan wanted to write a letter to Santa.  This literally took an hour.  He told me what he wanted to say and we had to go letter by letter to write it down.  And we had to go through the whole space-between-words thing.  He still doesn't get it, but that's OK.  It's kinda hard to read, but it says: Dear Santa.  I have been good.  I want a cookie.  From Devan.  (And yes, Santa left him a giant plate-size cookie, complete with his name written in frosting)

 We did a little photo shoot in the morning, while everyone was it good spirits :)

Christmas Eve, we were blessed with some snow!  Just enough for Devan and Dustin and Taylor to go out and play for awhile.  It was so pretty!  But Christmas morning, it had all melted by noon (excpet their attempt at a snowman- that's still there)

Our "flocked" Christmas tree, waiting for the garbage man to haul it away

Pretty lights in the snow!  I was trying to take a pic from the front door- without actually going out in the cold ;)

Then, each kid got to pick one present to open.  Devan took his time and picked out the "perfect" one for himself.  Then he helped Lexi pick out hers- by grabbing the one in front with her name on it.  LOL

Jake and the Neverland Pirates sword!  Complete with a map, key, compass, and magnifying glass!

 And as Lexi is taking her time opening her present.... Devan is running around with his sword saying "Arrrrr"

 

Yay clothes!!!!

 Now it's time to play in the snow!

Can I come too????

 Kinda hard to see.... But by the little bump (aka snowman) you can see Devan with his shovel (he was shoveling the snow- you can kinda see the yellow shovel up in the air).  And the little glow is Taylor's eyes (not sure why, but she thought it was great to lay in the snow). 

All warmed up and ready for bed.  Now time to put out cookies and milk for Santa.  And don't forget his letter!

I thought Devan would have a hard time falling asleep but he was so exhausted from the day that he fell asleep within half an hour!

Gingerbread fun at the library

Saturday, we went to the library for some gingerbread fun.  And fun it was!  Ms Terry read 3 gingerbread stories and talked about where the tradition of gingerbread came from.  (Germans would make gingerbread houses at Christmas time and on Jan 1, they would smash the house for good luck and "new beginnings").

 

After the stories, there were 4 crafts, and a snack (Devan's favorite!)

 

The first craft was making a gingerbread magnet (this was fun and messy with the glitter glue- which ended up all over his jacket).

 Then, on to making a gingerbread ornament

 Then, he got to decorate 2 gingerbread cookies to take home "and eat after lunch" says Ms Terry.  Gotta love her!

 And then we got to color a picture of a gingerbread house.  He started out taking his time, but then once he saw snack being served, he quickly scribbled all over and said "done" as he was headed to the snack table :)

 Yum!  Gingersnaps in the shape of gingerbread men :)

Another successful day at the library :)  Can't wait to see what the New Years Eve party will be like!

DMNH

Last week we took a trip to the Natural History Museum to check out the Rain forest exhibit before it closed at the end of the year.  It was a good day to go- very cold and windy.  And everyone needed a break from hanging in the house :)

 

Lexi had a great time walking around and having freedom to touch everything!  And during the week, it's pretty deserted.  We almost had the place to ourselves!

 Rappelling down the tree

 Lexi wanted a turn too

 We spent a lot of time in the Nature Nook. The lady talked about shells and Lexi took off with them!  LOL.  We had fun in the bat cave, touching different pelts, placing animal magnets all over the wall scape.  And.... they brought the snake out!

 Their favorite place- the fish tank!

 This was Lexi's least favorite room.... She was walking and turned around and came face to face with a big white possum.  She screamed bloody murder.  Guess she's still scarred from her run-in with Jill (boss's Shih-Tsu that bit her a couple months ago).