Gingerbread Houses 2016

We've been anxiously awaiting Grant, Rachel, Eli and Graycee's arrival for months now.  They're the first to come into town for Christmas and we started things off with a bang making our yearly gingerbread houses together Monday night.  Tanner and Landon did theirs pretty much on their own and Dean did a great job of helping Braddock.  This year we had a minivan by Tanner, an airplane turned truck, turned hover car by Landon, and an airplane by Braddock(and Dean).  Eli and Grant made an impressive house, and Rachel and Graycee made a dog house with one awesome tootsie roll molded dog.  Janna requested a sky scraper and Mom and Dad helped her pull off a great one.  And just in case we hadn't eaten enough candy as we decorated, we topped the night off with ice cream, which Bridger completely devoured.  It was by far the best part of his night.

4th Grade Carolers

About a week ago, Tanner got to go with the whole 4th grade class to a senior center to carol to the elderly.  I was kinda bummed I didn't get to accompany him on this little outing, so I was thrilled when they made plans to have them all carol for the parents at the school yesterday.  We made sure to get there early thinking it would be crowded, especially since it was just in the lobby, but it turned out that we were the only people who bothered to come.  Ha!  We weren't complaining about our front row seats for their little show.  And they were even nice enough to stage Tanner front and center for us.

 Ms. Nancy, the secretary, always spoils the little boys with suckers.  It was perfect to help pass the time until the carolers arrived.

 

Love this cute, little, reindeer caroler of mine!

A long time coming...

Considering we began this project last June and it's now halfway through December it's about time we call it...well, mostly DONE!  We've lived in our house for 6 1/2 years now and the front porch, all the rain gutters, and soffit had been painted to look good enough to sell, but 6 years later they were looking awful!  Like, embarrassingly awful.  The paint was peeling and there was mold and mildew growing on it.  Things hadn't been properly vented so they just got nasty.  We decided to take the plunge and replace it all.  We now have new pillars, siding, soffit, flashing, gutters, porch lights, a new door bell, and a nice new front door.  Man has it made a difference!  We're no longer embarrassed when people come to the door.  We still need to finish up the trim around the door, but even without it it's a million times better.  And now I finally feel motivated to spruce up the front porch for holidays.  This year I managed to snag some trees for cheap at Salvation Army.  As well as some cute white ice skates.  Paired with a few things we already had, and I think it's perfectly festive for the season.  

BEFORE PICS:

AFTER PICS:

Maybe next spring we'll get the shutters painted and some plants in the flower beds, and lets face it, we'll probably still need to finish up the trim!

Ward Party and a Visit from Santa

This year we broke from tradition and had a Saturday morning Christmas Party and served breakfast.  I am officially a huge fan!  The food was fantastic and it left the rest of the day wide open to get other things done.  And lets face it, at this time of year there are always things to get done.  We had a simple musical program and then a fun little visit from Santa himself.  I think the boys loved being greeted by Santa and given candy canes without having to go sit on his lap.  Sometimes that's just too intimidating.  We sure love this Ward family of ours and appreciate everyone who made the morning so wonderful.

Visiting Santa

We've had a pretty mild fall/winter so far, but of course the day we needed to wait in a LONG line OUTSIDE to see Santa this weekend it was FREEZING.  The boys mostly took it like champs but some were better than others.  We finally made it inside to see the big man himself.  We managed to trick Bridger by setting him on Landon's lap so he wouldn't realize what was going on just long enough to snap a picture.  Two seconds later he broke out into tears and screaming.  Landon has come a long way since just a year or two ago when he was deathly afraid of Santa and he chatted his ear off telling him what all four of them wanted for Christmas this year.  Santa also made some comments about our BIG family.  Not sure when four kids became an outrageous sized family, but I guess that's us!  We also got to decorate cookies and grab some hot chocolate to warm us on the long walk back to the car.   

 

Date Night

We definitely don't get out as much as we probably should, or nearly as much as we'd like to, but I'm fairly confident that that's what every couple with kids would say.  This past Friday night we managed to sneak away with two other couples from our Ward.  We had been planning to do an Escape Room for over a month and we were so excited the time had finally arrived.  They introduced us to a yummy new place in Pittsburgh where we ate Mongolian BBQ.  We'll definitely be going back.  Yum!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  After stuffing ourselves silly we headed to our appointment at Questburgh to try our hands at the "Mafia" themed escape room.  After being cuffed and having a pillowcase thrown over our heads, we were led into a room and the door was then locked behind us.  We then had an hour to work together to find clues to help us make our way out.  It was SO much fun and really cool to see how different we all think and how we all brought something different to the table to help us complete the task.  We made it through just in time, so despite our boys fears that if we didn't make it out by the time limit we'd be stuck in there forever, we managed to make it back to them safe and sound.  Thanks to the Giaimos and the Bernards for a fun night out, and to Mom and Dad for taking such great care of the boys while we were gone.

Hanging of the Greens

Last week I got to go to Tanner's class to help with some fun Christmas craft projects to spruce up the school and their classroom.  It was my first time helping in the 4th grade since he moved up so it was all new kids and new moms for me to meet and get to know.  The kids made three crafts and had some really fun and festive treats.  They had so much fun crafting we didn't even get to the game I had prepared.  I always love the chance to sneak away and spend some time with the boys at school.  Landon's class got to do the same thing, and even though I didn't get to help it was fun seeing all their projects when I picked him up.

Angel Moroni

Tanner has been in Cub Scouts now for almost a year, but somehow in that time we've only had one previous Pack Meeting.  So last week's Pack Meeting/Court of Honor was a bit momentous because Tanner was earning some things for the first time.  Bridger was actually asleep in my arms so Dean got to be the one to get "pinned."  Sometimes it feels surreal that I have kids old enough to be doing things like this.  It seems like just yesterday that that boy was fresh from Heaven.  Also for Scouts, Tanner was supposed to make something out of recyclable materials that had to do with the Temple.  He whipped up an aluminum foil Angel Moroni that turned out so good.  I'm continually amazed at this boys endless talents.

 

Decorating the NEW Tree

For the past 7 or 8 years now we've been using an artificial tree that was given to us for free by a family in our Ward.  It was a nice tree but it was just way too big for our tiny little living room.  We'd only set up the front half to try and squeeze it in the corner.  Dean hacked off the bottom of the tree to try and make it fit better but ultimately it just wasn't right for our space.  So after an extensive search and an awesome online Black Friday deal I took the plunge and ordered a new tree that would fit our needs much better.  I was nervous to see if it was as good looking as the pictures online and I'm happy to say I'm thrilled with it.  The boys are becoming pros at helping me decorate it and we really enjoyed putting up our new tree.