Christmas Round 2

A few days later, Grandma BB and Grandpa John came down for a visit. Since Lily still naps in the middle of the day, we stayed at the ho use and played, opened gifts and visited. We did go out for dinner (which was an experience they'll never forget :-) and drove to see Christmas Lights afterwards. John made it home after lights and visited for a short time too. It was so good to see everyone.
Grandma BB being Grandma BB and playing with Abby in her new sleeping bag.
Gift time! The cones were a HUGE hit and will come in handy during lots of playtime. The twins also got Leapster games and Lily got an awesome baby center. The baby center had to be put together so while Grandpa John and his helper (of course!) put that together, the girls played with the new Leapsters and Grandma BB.
Love this one!!
And the finished product! Abby immediatelly started moving in. They all love this and play with it. Lily is the only one who plays with dolls however. Jake and Abby play with their animals.

After Lily went down for a nap, we decided to get out the gingerbread house to decorate. This time, I had an "easy tray" which actually helped alot. The kids played outside with the cones for a bit while the "glue" dried. Although we should have let it dry a bit more.

The beginning...

I missed all the in-between shots here as I added the icing while the kids decorated, but we'll get those from Grandpa John. Just use your imagination for now.

Hmmm, adding a bit too many gumdrops?

Here, I'll fix that!

Oh well, let's just keep going.

Uh oh!

Hmmm.

Here, I can fix that again.

Oh well, let's just eat it. It's a total loss.

Our gingerbread house didn't last long, but everyone had a blast making it.

Christmas: Round 1

We are spreading our Christmas out to 5 different events, lol. It's been nice since the kids only open one or two gifts at a time with different people. They can focus and play with the gifts they receive and not become too overwhelmed. Our first Christmas was with Nana and Grandpa who brought their "big" gifts down since we didn't know if they'd fit in our car on the way back from their place.
We tried to get a group shot of all three, but it didn't go so well. Oh well, two in each shot and if you put them together, we have all three :-).

Time to open gifts!

First up, Abby. She got a FurReal Frenzy (aka Zhu Zhu pet). She LOVES her rabbit and the track but she doesn't like him "on" for some reason. The other two love it as well and will be getting their own pets soon, but for now, it's all Abby's. I love this as her first pet since I don't have to feed it or clean up after it, lol.

Next was Jake. He loves to build things and loves tools. He had a little tool box with a couple of screwdrivers, a hammer and saw, but Nana and Grandpa set him up. He now has his own tool bench with "wood" to build lots of different things. All the kids love this. Abby's especially loves the drill.

After watching everyone else, Lily opened hers. She got her very own Little People doll house. She LOVES it! She sits and plays with that thing all the time. She loves to move the people around in the house (a mommy, daddy and baby) and push all the buttons (phone, potty, door bell). She's in heaven with her very own house.

Nana brought a gingerbread house for the kids to decorate too so the next day while Lily was napping we brought it out. However, my two aren't very patient and couldn't wait for the "glue" to set so it quickly became a 2D project. They were thrilled to have their own house to decorate. Abby spent most of her time eating the decorations however.

Jake was very careful to plan out his house and even used the brightly colored balls as lights (just like our house :-). He is so detail oriented when it comes to things like this. A complete opposite of his sister, lol.

Jake's Christmas Party at school

This past Friday, Jake had his winter party (aka Christmas party :-) at school. I wasn't a volunteer this go around like at the Thanksgiving party so I could actually enjoy everything and take pictures. Of course as I snap the second picture, my camera battery starts flashing and won't take anymore pictures. I turn the camera off and every now and then it lets me grab a shot or two then I have to turn it back off again. Oh well. We had a blast. I love how Jake's face lights up when I walk in the room. He gets so excited when I come to school.

When I got there they were finishing up their storytime and then had a "snowball" fight. I only got two pics, I wish I had more - the kids had a blast!

Getting directions on our craft - a snowflake!

And finally snack time. We made a snowman face out of a cookie. Jake LOVES this kind of thing and is very detail oriented. Our snowman was the only one out of the class with eyebrows. The teachers loved that.

Yummy!

PAMOM Holiday Party

Every year we go to the PAMOM Holiday Party. It's one of the big things I love about my MOM's group - free santa pics and an awesome party for the kids. This year, we didn''t do as many things though b/c we got stuck in a super small space. So, unfortunately we did the Book Walk (super fun and we got 4 new books - YAY!), the balloon artist and the bounce house. The kids still had fun though I think and they love their new books.
Jake loved walking on the number and hoping they'd call his number when the music stopped so he'd get to pick out a book.
Waiting patiently for the balloon artist. Telling the clown what they want. Jake got a FOOTBALL!
Abby helps build her's...what will it be??
A SPIDER!!