Gingerbread Houses!

This was a first for us in lots of ways. Chris has never made a gingerbread house. I have never made the actual gingerbread before. It was an interesting experience for sure and we both learned a lot. I think we both thought.."Let's make gingerbread houses this year. They're easy enough." Little did we really know. Here are a few lessons we learned:

* when making the gingerbread pieces you need to take them off the cookie sheet immediately after taking them out of the oven. If you don't the pieces won't come off...unless you break them into tiny pieces. (that's why there is only one house in the picture.)

* don't use ziploc bags to pipe the frosting...you may end up with more on your hands, more coming out the top, and more blowing out the side seam. Get real bags next time and use real frosting tips!

* Don't let Chris put the house together...it will come out crooked! :)

* Shayla is a control freak...'nuff said!

But overall it was really fun to work on a little crafty project together. I fought my control freak-ness super hard to share decorating this house. But I did break the second house pieces so I had to deal :) It will be fun to watch our progression each year with new ideas and strategies for making better gingerbread houses...if you have any tips PLEASE share :)

Kaycee's Home!

Kaycee finally made it home today. What a journey. We (Chris, Lincoln, Karen and I) got to the airport early and then found out Kaycee's flight was coming in 30 minutes early. Karen got on the phone and tried to make sure everyone got there in time...and they did. While we waited Lincoln practiced holding his sign, ran around, played some games, and got stuck in the chair. 

 Playing the waiting game and making calls

 The group started showing up...Yay!

 We asked Lincoln if he was excited to meet Kaycee finally...this was the expression that followed...PERFECT!

 These two little boys were loving on each other all afternoon...so cute!

 More waiting...

 There she comes!

 First time meeting...

 Lincoln went right to Kaycee and gave her a hug. It was so cute.

 The whole group

 The baggage carousal was the main attraction to the little kids

It's finally looking like winter!

The first big storm of the season. It started snowing super early this morning and hasn't stopped yet. Hopefully Christ can get back into the garage. We haven't gotten a snow shovel yet and there's about 5-ish inches and counting. I'm just glad I don't have to drive in it today. 

Clean, clean, clean

Lincoln is turning out to be  quite the little helper. He litterally throws himself on the floor if we don't let him sweep...drama! I'm wondering if I clean too much. The last couple of days Lincoln pulls out a wet wipe and then proceeds to wipe down everything! The oven door, the floor, the walls, the carpet, and even the chairs. It's so funny. I think we have a miniature Danny Tanner on our hands (we watched a lot of Full House while I was on maternity leave...maybe too much)!!!!

The piano maestro

Lincoln spends lots of time on this piano. Usually its a lot of fun to listen...until he turns the volume up to full blast, then its not so fun. Chris fixed that though. Lincoln can only turn it up half way...Sweet! His favorite thing to do is to turn the sound to the organ and pound away! It's always a show :)

 Having so much fun!

Look at that concentration!

The tree

While I put decorations all around the house Chris took care of the tree! I love that it glows!!! It's just so fun!

And my first attempt at Bokeh. Not perfect but I feel like it's pretty good for my first. I'm so excited to experiment a little this year with Christmas photography. It will be quite the learning experience.

Christmas Lights!!!!!!

It's finally December! Christmas is just around the corner and the festivities are on the way! Every year we dedicate the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas decorating...and this year we had a little helper...mischievous too! We waited to do anything with the lights until it was a little darker because we wanted to see Lincoln's reaction. We put Christmas lights on the house a few weeks ago while it was warm and when we turned them on all we heard from Lincoln was ooo's and awwww's. He loved them. We weren't disappointed with his reaction to more lights. It was a blast! He even figured out how to plug the last strand in and had fun playing in all it's bright glory! Until he found the other end of the plug and we decided him chewing on that probably wasn't a very good idea. I thought that stage would end...nope...everything still goes in the mouth.

 Display space is a little short now. No fireplace mantel, only my two shelves but I have a bar height counter. It is now the perfect home for the Nativity. It really is the perfect place for it. You can see the Nativity from everywhere in our front room and I love it! This is what Christmas is all about. I just hope that I can remember that and be able to teach my kids that too. I love Christmas...everything about it is grand! From the decorating to the candy making to acting out the story on Christmas Eve...it is wonderful!