Making Cookies for Santa

On Christmas Eve morning, we made some cookies for Santa. I took the easy way out this year and bought a kit to make peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top. I actually really like that the boys can be so hands on with these cookies since they can roll the dough into balls on their own as well as place the kisses on after they come out of the oven. (Please ignore the fact that I have no makeup on and we are all in PJs...why yes I do still wear my circa 1995 Friends sweatshirt.)


The boys are busy unwrapping the kisses while the cookies bake. Who doesn't love getting some extra counting practice in by counting chocolate?!


Time to put the chocolate on the cookies. Westyn needed a little more supervision during this step since the tray was hot. I tried to get a quick picture but Westyn wanted to be silly.


So, then all the boys did a silly face.


Back to business...


Of course, the best part of making cookies for Santa is testing them to be sure they are yummy enough!

LODO Christmas Program

On December 18, the boys performed in their preschool Christmas program.  I took some pictures of the boys before we left the house...it was challenging to get them not being too terribly silly.


Westyn's crazy face...

 
Garytt's crazy smile...


We did manage to get a couple without such crazy faces.


Since Grandma drove in to see the show, I wanted to get a pictures with Grandma and the boys.


Then I jumped in for a silly photo.


Off we went to LODO.

Westyn's class performed before Garytt's class. Doesn't he look so sweet up there?


Oh there's that troublemaker...


He really did do a great job once the music started going. He tried hard to sing (even if it was really softly) and do all the hand motions.


Here are two videos from Westyn's performance.


Pretty soon it was time for Garytt's class to sing. He got to stand next to his good buddy JW (the one with the red sweater on that looks like they could be cousins). They really enjoy hanging out with each other but they also get pretty silly when they are together. (You will notice when they are to point towards the sky Garytt purposely puts his arm in JW's face.)


He sure is a darn cutie though!


Here are two videos from his performance. The one thing I can say is that he is definitely not shy about performing in front of a crowd!


What a fun evening!

Mimi's Visit

In early December, Mimi came up from Texas for a visit. The day she arrived, we decided to decorate a gingerbread house.


The boys were very proud of their finished product.


I think their favorite part was when Mimi let them eat the extra frosting!


It's so good!


We decided to go see Big Hero Six while Mimi was in town, too. It was Westyn's first time seeing a movie at the theater!


We decided to drive to St. Louis to see the drive through lights at Santa's Magical Kingdom with Mimi. We had no idea that the car line to get in would be a hour or more long...but we waited and we finally made it through the Christmas light display.


I had seen an idea for making homemade Christmas ornaments and we decided to try them with Mimi. You use pony beads and metal Christmas cookie cutters and melt the beads in the oven. It was an adventure just to get the boys to not be too silly with the beads. But I think they turned out really fun.


We also had some down time while Mimi visited to just play games and hang out.


Westyn displayed his pacifier addiction as well.


We had a a great visit with Mimi!