So this is Christmas

My sweet baby boy Lucius with his stocking stuffers!

 Opening stockings and matching PJ's.  Then for a great big brunch made by Snuffy!

 Rayna loves her new scrapbook and has already completed almost the entire thing.  I'll have to post some pics of her pages soon.  Loads of stickers and glittery stuff - very girly.

 Skyler gives her new dolly a hug.

 Serenity is overjoyed at her Reindeer and even more excited when she realizes that the nose LIGHTS UP!  Wooooo!

 Skyler is not so happy but the rest of the gang are at our Christmas on Boxing Day (aka Xmas II).

 Oh how Skyler loooves her "Nic-nic" - WTG Auntie Jen.

Ryan needed some dude-stuff and gift certificates, he's a teenager after all.

 Lucius loves his new trucks so much he can't put them down to open another gift.

 Nana looking good in her new "flirty" apron.

 The tea party is a HUGE hit.  Skyler is in LOVE!

 Can't get Lucius to smile?  Get his sister's to RAWR at him! LOL Then he roars back.  With his new Godzilla shirt and city rug he really is into the monster of destruction theme.

 Soooooooooooooo Cute!

 Woo hoo - crafts!  We love crafts!  Sock Puppets!

 A cuddly blanket and pillow - that his sister's are about to abscond with!

 Serenity loooves her new Tag - anything to keep their interest in reading!  She spent the rest of the day reading with it.  She still loves it (Rayna loves hers too).

 Lucius thinks that his new carpet is a blankie and loves to lay down on it.  Definitely softer than our hardwood floors!

 Here Serenity is with her new Tag and Lucius's new pillow.

Having kids so close together is a bit of a double edged sword.  They all love the same things so it is like they get 4x the toys.  However, they all like the same things so they want to fight over them too.  Oh well, they are working on their sharing skills. LOL (Skyler needs the most help!)

Rayna sung "So this is Christmas" at her Christmas concert and couldn't have been cuter.  They gave the kids candles and angel halo's and made everyone laugh when they couldn't sway together.

"Another year over and a new one's just begun...."  Here's hoping the new year is the best one yet!

Happy New Year

Baking with Auntie Sarah

Everyone KNOWS that I cannot bake to save my life!  If you need a refresher, look at THIS!
Soooo, sweet sister that she is, she came to stay and help teach my girls how to bake.  She also swears that it is NOT me that can't bake, it's my oven (and I love her for it! LOL)  They made Reese Cookies (the best), sugar cookie star sandwiches and snowmen.

 I love that Serenity and Rayna wore their Home Depot aprons - they totally work!

 Serenity makes some frowny faced snowmen.

 Rayna got her chef hat at a birthday party where they went to a cupcake store - great party idea btw.

 Check out Model Skyler - she ate most of the decorations.

 Sarah's cookies looked the sweetest.

 Lucius just wanted to EAT them!

 These are the ones the girls decorated.  Love that they made the noses stick in the air.  See the 3 eyed one?  That's Rayna's!

This one was Serenity's Reindeer Snowman - the obsession continues!  Do you bake for Christmas?  Love it or hate it?

Oh Christmas Tree

It's our family tradition to cut down our tree.  It is always an adventure and this year we tried a new place (the old place was closed)

Reindeer Rayna!

Reindeer Serenity

They all watched Snuffy intently and then each got a turn to try the saw themselves.  Very sweet!  We trimmed our tree with the help of Auntie Sarah.  It is the most fun mish mash tree ever! LOL

 Later Lucius gave this ornament a taste!  I think he was trying to decide if it was a cookie or not!

 Man, I can never get her to look at me these days!

 Rayna in her "Beauty Sleep" mask - so cute!

 Auntie Sarah helps with the high ones!

 My giggle pus!

Guess who is gonna get the bear first?  Do you have a real or fake tree?

Gingerbread Houses and Fountains

We went to see the gingerbread house display and several old Woodwards windows. 

While the first Woodwards window was a bit of a snoozer, the other 2 we saw were a hit with the kids.  Anything with a duck in it is sure to be Skyler's favourite.

The sweet thing is that the kids were just as excited to see the waterfalls and the wishing wells (oh how they love to make wishes - in fact, they call pennies 'wishes.') as they were to see the gingerbread houses.

What simple thing do you love?

P.S. This was the winning "house"

Downtown Christmas

It was an awesome crisp cool December day and we decided to go Downtown to see all the Christmas trees!  Ohhhh, we wanna touch it ALL!

Serenity is obsessed with Reindeer this year - so she spotted this little guy right away.

"Fishy - Gwub, Gwub" says Skyler

My angel Lucius loved all the trees but was dying to get out of the stroller to touch all of them. 

The land of the misfit toys and Rudolph, the favourite of all!

The gang outside freezing and giggling the morning away.  Part 2 - the gingerbread houses is next.  

What is your fave outdoor Christmas activity?

Seeing Santa

 Rayna showed Santa her Kilometer club ribbon and they talked about running and being healthy.

 Serenity wants a REAL reindeer for Christmas.  Yup, she says we could keep him in the backyard.

 Lucius buzzed out on the beard.  How cute is that?

No one wants to look at me LOL!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Y'all! Do you have any funny Santa stories to tell?