December happenings...

Wow, it's been a busy month around here. We've been busy enjoying eachother, mostly. The month started out by putting away the fall decorations and bringing out the Christmas and winter ones... The boys LOVE all the traditions we've started. Here they are setting up the Nativity...
The house was a disaster, the Nativity...well, it looked like a 3 and 5 year old set it up, and they enjoyed looking at every Christmas ornament we own. Our tree is a dreaded "fake" one...10 years ago I would've been appalled at myself at not having the "real" deal. But, it was free, there's no mess, and with lots of lights, ribbons, and sparkly decorations, it doesn't look too bad. :)
William was so concerned that there wasn't a cow in the Nativity, that he sorted through our toys and found a plush one that moos, and put it in there. He and I were looking online at the Willow Tree Nativity set that I have...and the pieces we were missing. Sure enough, we are missing the cow. He said, "See Mommy, there WAS a cow!"

After the house had been decorated and mostly cleaned up, we popped popcorn and drizzled butter, honey, and sea salt on top. Yes, I think that will become a yearly post-decorating treat! :) **Sticky**
Daddy's Home for the Winter: The boys' favorite barber, as well. Samuel's mohawk lasted for maybe 12 hrs. I was ready for that to go! It was promptly shaved off right before all the boys headed out to Rural King to spend their chore $$. :)
Samuel's audience while he was practicing piano...
My piano playin' boy. :)
Madeline going shopping...how did she know to get her shades and her purse?
We made cousin Gracie a craft box for Christmas. We made a double batch of playdough. William and Madeline had a blast creating, while I made cut-out cookies...

More crafts...we've done some glitter crafts. Here they are with the Nativity pictures we made.
Today we made some ornaments for Christmas gifts. I set out all the items we needed to make our craft. When I wasn't looking, Madeline had started her craft project by dumping all 4 pristine glitter colors together on 1 piece of wax paper. When I found her, she had several cookie cutters pressed into her mountain of glitter. We still had fun making our crafts, but they didn't look exactly like I had pictured. :)
And last, but not, least, here are a couple pictures from our few days away. My husband spoils me when we do "get away" We're not big shoppers, but did have a few more Christmas presents to buy, and I actually enjoy browsing when I don't have children w/ me...plus we were at a big mall w/ stores like Pottery Barn Kids, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel, etc... :) We couldn't get over how packed "Toys R Us" was on a Wednesday morning.
We ended up going to 3 different "Toys R Us" before we found a particular lego set someone was asking for...that is so, not us. :) We didn't win the ebay bids, so store hunting was the last resort. :) Justin also needed some clothes...the last time we bought clothes for him was almost 3 years ago. Ha!! So, we did have some "work" to do...finding clothes for him. :)

Anyway...we belatedly celebrated our 6th anniversary at a fun fondue restaurant called "The Melting Pot" Looking rather tired after a long day of walking and shopping. :)

I'll have to say that the dessert course was my favorite. The cheesecake and the strawberries were my favorite, dipped in milk chocolate. Yum!


We've also been busy w/ other things...but these are a few pictures from the past few weeks. I forgot my camera last weekend for Justin's family Christmas...and haven't taken too many of us here at home. They'll be more opportunities for pictures here in the next few days. My batteries are charging right now. :)