As I mentioned in my previous post, most of our holiday season was spent at home (or at the doctor's office!).
Despite the fact that we were stuck in the house, we still had quite a bit of Christmas fun right here together. One day when I was able to make a Walmart run, I picked up a couple of gingerbread decorating kits. Later, when Dave was out of town visiting his mom and the kids were sick, decorating cookies made for a great creative outlet for Caleb and Hadley while Reid was napping. My mom, who'd been staying the nights with us while my hubby was gone, even got into it with us that morning before she had to head out to tend to other things.
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| This big boy wanted to do the icing himself. |
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| Nice work, Hadley. |
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| Someone did a bit of tasting. |
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| Mommy's cookie |
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| NaNa gave herself some pretty hair and a nice necklace...getting fancy. |
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| Here is Grandpa and Grandma McKinstry with Reid in the middle. Hadley said Grandpa was wearing a diaper....sorry, Grandpa. |
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| NaNa tried to clean up all the candy pieces that had made their way to the floor in the process. Two little rascals were a big help as you can see here! |
We've attempted to make gingerbread houses in years passed too, but it was always difficult to keep them standing up like their supposed to. I knew from last year the cookies were much simpler and more age appropriate, but when I saw a gingerbread train kit, I thought it might be fun to try. In the end, it was pretty easy to do and the kids did a good job with it.
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| Caleb had been anxious for weeks to start this project with Daddy, but due to all the work and traveling Dave was doing, they couldn't get to it for a while. When the time finally came though, Hadley really wanted to participate too. Thinking this was going to take a bit more skill and that she was too little for such a project, I assumed the cookie decorating would have satisfied her. I'd been promising Caleb that just he and Dave could work together for a little boys bonding time, so I wasn't sure how he would feel about Baby Sister cutting in on the action. He was very agreeable though and willing to let Hadley participate. |
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| First came the assembly. |
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| Dave said it was easier than the houses because you could lay the trains on their side until the icing hardened. The hard part was waiting for everything to set up when the kids were so anxious to put the candy pieces on top. |
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| "What's going to work? Teamwork!" |
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| Once the train was ready and Daddy put a bit of icing on one of the cars, Hadley Jayne was eager to decorate. |
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| Meanwhile, the boys started on the engine. |
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| Doing great, Caleb. |
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| There the little taste tester strikes again. |
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| Finally finished! |
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| Since the gingerbread people were getting old at that point, we almost threw them out. Then we decided they would make good passengers. :) |
Caleb even got crafty making a beaded Christmas necklace with a little set I found at Target. And, guess who he decided to gift it to? His momma!
Reid is not quite at the gingerbread decorating, crafting stage. Instead he just had fun with the new toys and ornaments he found.
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| This little vintage Fisher Price phone is one of my favorite ornaments and Reid loved it too. |
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| Sadly, Rudolph's nose quit working :(...but he's still plenty of fun. |
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| Still got that ornament in hand |
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| Granny got this book for the kids last Christmas. It's the type where you can record yourself reading the story to be played back again and again, and she took the time to tape herself before wrapping it. While playing with it though, Caleb deleted her voice to my disappointment, and Dave rerecorded himself reading for them instead. Reid, our newest bookworm, thought it was entertaining no matter who was telling the story. |
The kids had fun wrapping gifts for each other too. Caleb was more into it than Hadley, but I let them both give it a shot.
As fun as wrapping presents is, there's just no comparison to unwrapping them! Dave's parents and Grandma sent us money for the kids for Christmas - half to be spent on gifts and the other half to go to their savings accounts. Since we knew the kids would have a lot to open Christmas day, we let them start opening one gift a day leading up, which turned out to be a great option as they spent the evenings playing with and enjoying each new item.
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| Tinkertoys from Grandma and Grandpa McKinstry for Caleb |
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| A cupcake set from Grandma Swan for Hadley |
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| Reid wanted nothing to do with opening a present. |
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| He stiff armed it... |
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| ...pouted... |
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| ...and pushed it away as we giggled at his reaction. |
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| Oh, wait! There's a bath toy from Grandma Swan in there? |
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| Everyone was pretty pleased with what Mommy picked out from the grandparents. |
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| Aunt Courtney was a good building partner. |
The next day they knew the drill and were excited to see what was in those wrapped packages!
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| Caleb got a set of giant fuzzy pipe cleaners to make dinosaurs from Grandma and Grandpa, and judging by his face here, I think he was excited. |
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| Hadley got an ice cream set from Grandma Swan that she loved too. |
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| Uh oh! Someone's going to have a bellyache. |
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| I am not sure if it was the shape of the package or what, but Reid was much more excited about opening his present that day. |
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| A new broom! |
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| Reid loves to "clean" with Mommy's broom, duster, and vacuum, so this was great for him. He entertained himself for the longest time with it immediately. The next thing we knew, he went over to the closet and pulled out my vacuum to finish the job. |
By the third night, they were pros.
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