Gingerbread Men

I am attempting to do some type of Christmas activity with the boys. Last year I did an advent calendar with activities but I found it ineffective. Plus the boys didn't seem to notice. Maybe next year I will try the calendar again. Anyways, I decided we would make gingerbread men to go along with our Christmas book that we opened for the day.   

I did this during Ollie's rest/nap time.  (thankfully)   

Brody & Colt loved it. 

Ollie was done with his rest in time to decorate the cookies.  

They did a surprisingly good job.  I think next year I might invest in some more recent frosting and decorations (I am not quite sure how old this stuff is but so far no one has gotten sick) 

I let them eat their gingerbread men and half way through I realized it was a BIG cookie.   It was also close to dinner time.   Oh well, a mom can't be successful all the time. 

First Lost Tooth

Brody's two bottom teeth have been loose for a while. Every morning I have asked to look at his teeth because they were always in different places. It finally got to the point where it was so loose it was almost perpendicular to his gums. I asked Brad to check it out. In his attempt to get it out Brad told Brody he shouldn't eat his dinner until the tooth came out. I think this started to scare Brody rather than help him. We didn't get it out before dinner and it took Brody a very long time to eat. 

After dinner was all cleaned up Brody came up to me with a very sad face and said "I really want my tooth out."   Since I don't like the idea of pulling out teeth I asked Brad to come help. 

Brad sat Brody on his lap and barely touched the tooth.  It came right out. 

 

Brody was so excited and so happy his tooth came out.

He wrote a letter to the tooth fairy (I forgot to take a picture).  The tooth fairy left him a note and a fifty cent piece.

 

A video before the tooth was pulled.

And we are still waiting for Darby to get her first tooth..

Clapping

Darby finally has her clapping down. She also likes to point and wave hello. It is so fun to watch her especially when her big brothers get her to do it. 

Boots

My sisters are my fashion and decorating experts. I think they also feel a little bad for me that I don't have any fashion or decorating sense, or really don't care about it as much as they do. So, Jessi has bought me a few things, just because including a cute little cardigan that I would wear every day if I could. Of course I had to have the right shoes to go with the cardigan so Jessi gave me some boots that she didn't wear any more. 

Ollie found the boots and decided to put them on. I don't know how he didn't fall over. 

He was all smiles and more than ready to pose for a picture. 

Colt wanted a picture so he put on my slippers.  

(My sister has also given me all her jeans that she doesn't wear....and I wear them almost every day.  I would be in sweats and t-shirts every day if it wasn't for her) 

Ornaments

It took a few days to get our tree set up and straight with lights on. But once they were on we let the boys hang up the ornaments. Brody did not like waiting "forever" to decorate. Hopefully he won't be as impatient with the actual day of Christmas. 

It's so fun as they can be more involved and more excited about Christmas traditions. 

(Ollie decided it was too cold and had to take his shirt off -- and he still doesn't understand the concept of warm/cold)  

Christmas Tree Hunting

Well we didn't exactly go hunting for a Christmas tree. Instead we drove to Home Depot. Brad took the big boys in to look for the perfect tree and I stayed in the car with a sleeping Ollie & Darby . It didn't take them to long to find one. 

We went to start the car only to discover a dead battery. Fortunately Brad's brother came to give us a jump and I passed the time by taking the kids to the Christmas section at Home Depot.  After about 20 minutes our car was working again.  Brad tied the tree to the top and we drove home. 

As we were making the last turn we heard something and Brody started to have a little panic "Daddy, daddy, daddy our tree is going to fall off."  

My first reaction was to tell them that our tree was fine, it was tied to the top.  Then I looked over and saw that our tree was indeed about to fall off.   

Thankfully we were only a block away and made it home.   

We had to take a picture. 

 

Dam Building

The boys went outside and started to build a dam. They had to get the dirt from our flower bed but we made sure they put most of it back. I love their creativity even in something as simple as building a dam.