Gingerbread Houses

I thought it would be fun to make gingerbread houses this year . . . that is until I attempted to put them together today.  I quickly realized that the assembly part is not one of my gifts and passed over the job to Tim.  I guess all his caulking experience really came in handy on this one.

Here is my cheesy husband working on assembling the houses.

Joel is super excited about decorating his house.

I think Caleb was eating more of the sprinkles than he actually put on his house.  He finally figured out (and informed us all) that "You have to put the icing on to make the candy stick".

Here is Joel's first version.

And Caleb's first house.  They then proceeded to eat all the candy, 

lick off the icing, and redecorate their houses again.

Tim spent a lot of time on his masterpieces.

The best part - eating our creations!

A Trip to Wonderscope

We took the boys and their cousin Jake to Wonderscope yesterday morning.  They love exploring all the different rooms . . . and we always enjoy a good way to get out some of their energy on a cold day.

Josiah charms us once again while playing in the ball room. 

Jake was fascinated by this ball exhibit.

Anything with water is always a big hit.

I love their faces on this one.  They were playing fire boat or something like that,

 and you can see that they have some great sound effects going on.

Joel:  Stay back guys.  We can't escape - it's too dangerous.

I didn't capture it on camera, but at one point they all were attempting to walk around in flippers.  

Quite a sight!  Needless to say, we ALL (well, except for Joel) took naps when we got home.

 

This is so wrong . . .

We had a picture taken at the Merry Morning event . . . a manger scene.  We meant to use Josiah as Baby Jesus in the hay.  As you can see, though, the baby Jesus doll ended up being discarded on the floor.  And photographed so that all could see.  Maybe we can edit that out . . . along with Tim's not-so-Bethlehem shoes.

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

We finally went to pick out our Christmas tree this past weekend!  After attending the early service at church, we headed over to the tree farm, unloaded the boys, and bundled them up for the cold tree hunt.  Since it rained the day before, we even tried out their new snow boots.

Josiah is all decked out and ready for the hunt.

This is actually our 3rd attempt at getting all of them to look at the camera at the same time.

And . . . well, we soon discovered why we were the first ones to the farm.  It didn't open for another 2 hours!  So we went to get Tim and Joel's haircuts and then headed home for lunch before we tried again.  At least the weather was a tad bit warmer the second time around.

After our hay ride was cut short (the tractor motor overheated due to all the mud), we quickly found a tree.  As you can see, our family is now so big that we actually cover up the tree, 

but I promise there is one behind us!

Joel got his face painted - a snowman.

The boys played in a hay maze while we loaded up the tree.

We decorated the tree tonight.

It was a little bottom heavy. 

 I couldn't help myself and secretly re-arranged some of the 

ornaments when the boys weren't looking.

Josiah made sure the lights were not too hot.

Finished product!

And this is the beautiful arrangement my neighbor designed for our front porch.

Now I just need to get some Christmas shopping done!

Merry Morning

We went to Merry Morning at our church this morning.  After a bit of a rough start, the boys had a great time learning about the true Christmas story.

Our first stop was to visit the animals.  Here I am attempting to take pictures of Josiah feeding the goats oblivious to the fact that his finger is being chewed up by one of them.  

Once I pulled his finger out of the goat's mouth, I realized that he had 3 teeth marks and a spot where the skin had been broken.  It was quite traumatizing for Josiah.  

Before long, he was bandaged up and better than new.

We painted some ornaments.

Buried Baby Jesus in the sand.

Made music for the Lord.

Pretended to be a carpenter like Joseph.  

Although I highly doubt Joseph wore goggles as slick as these . . .

Spread the Good News via email, phone, and snail mail.

Made some countdown sticks for Jesus' birthday.

Decorated and ate some cookies.

And watched a short re-enactment of the birth of Jesus.  

It was a merry time by all and a fun way to kick off December.

New Floors

Two months later and we finally have our floors fixed!  Our lives have changed a bit since we moved in . . . so we went with a more kid-friendly finish.  Lighter color and no gloss.  It is taking a bit to adjust to, but we like it a lot!  Later this week, we will have the trim put back on and our kitchen should be completely repaired.

New floors

Pre-kid kitchen floors (w/o scratches, dents, etc)

Bethlehem

Some of my friends are doing a Jesse Tree exchange this week.  In case you have never heard of one (I first heard of them last year), it is kind of like an advent calendar . . . except with ornaments.  Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, you read scriptures/devotion with your family and hang up an ornament that goes with it.  It tells the story from Genesis all the way up to Jesus' birth.  Some people make all their own ornaments (or buy them), but we are doing a swap.  We sign up to make/buy one of the ornaments . . . 28 of them.  We are getting together on Sunday to swap so that we all leave with a complete set.

I signed up for a candle/light and then was asked to do Bethlehem as well, so I'll come home with two sets of ornaments.  The candle/light was easy - I ended up buying little battery-operated tea lights and attached ribbon on them to hang.  Now Bethlehem . . . that took some thought.

I discovered that Tim and I make a great craft team.  I came up with the main idea, and then he took it to the next level :)  Made with cork coasters, construction paper, mod podge, and Tim's amazing art, here are some of our final creations!

Tim got a bit creative and made a creepy 3-horned tower . . . 

Here is his take on the stable . . . 

And his FINAL one - my favorite!

Caleb helped with painting on some mod podge.

So after seeing what an amazing team we make, you are probably now asking yourself how you too can get one of our masterpieces.  Well, we have decided that our retirement income will come from selling personalized city-scapes in Branson.  In 40 years, you will find us at one of the booths in Silver Dollar City.  See you there!

Thanksgiving Tree

I've been wanting to make a "thanksgiving tree" for the past couple of weeks but could not motivate myself to put it together.  This morning, we had  a MOPS meeting about traditions, and I was inspired so Joel and I worked on finishing our tree while the others were asleep.  We found a nice branch out back, cut out paper leaves, and I asked the boys what they were thankful for.  We usually do this each night at dinner anyways, so now I will just write them down and add them to our tree.  Some classics.....pens (Caleb), the whole wonderful world (Joel), God (Joel), Jesus (Joel), leaves (Caleb).....

While I was making lunch, Josiah worked on his "sewing" skills.  

Caleb worked on his letters and was very proud!

Boys' Room

This has been a several month process, but we have finally finished redecorating the boys' room.  We broke away from our neutral walls and painted them 2 shades of blue.  Added some bunk beds to accommodate Josiah who will be moving in after #4 arrives.  And thanks to Uncle Charlie, we acquired some authentic road signs from Houston....even the road sign for Space Center Blvd (where NASA is located)!