Merry Christmas!!

We are without my computer for a few days(it's been acting up)so I will have much to share as soon as it returns....hopefully by the weekend! have a Very Merry Christmas!

"Live Fish Inside"

Yesterday we got an interesting package in the mail. When we brought the box inside we weren't sure who it was from. It had Brookstone on the box which I recognized. I was a little unsure what to do when I read the side of the box and it had "Handle With Care...LIVE FISH INSIDE". I was a little nervous about opening it. I did open it and found the packing slip that read "Merry Christmas". It was from Chad's Aunt and Uncle who live in Texas. I started to look through the box and found several things including a small aquarium, some rocks, a piece of bamboo, and some food pellets. Still no fish though! In the bottom of the box was a package that had been wrapped several times in foam wrapping. When I picked it up I could tell there was something in water. Crazy!! I unwrapped the foam stuff carefully and found not a fish....but 2 FROGS!! They sent the boys a FROG O SPHERE for Christmas. I'm still amazed that they shipped frogs through the mail. I guess that happens all the time. I've just never had a creature shipped to me before. After reading the instructions I finally got the thing set up and the frogs out of the plastic bag they traveled in. The package was overnighted so they hadn't been in there too long...but still...I'm sure they were happy to get out! The boys (actually all of my extra kids too) were thrilled with the new pets. Now if we can just keep our new pets alive we will be doing good. So far they seem to be adjusting well to their new home!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.....

COOKIES!
The kids and I made reindeer cookies yesterday. They were super easy and the kids had fun helping with them. Our first batch actually came out looking pretty rough but they were very yummy. We used the sugar cookie dough that was already prepared and I cut off pieces and shaped them into triangles but as you can see they didn't stay in that shape when we baked them. For the second batch I actually took the time to roll the dough out and used a cookie cutter. They turned out much cuter! Pretzels were used for antlers and M&M,s were used for eyes and nose. We used peanut M&M,s for the nose (until we ran out of red or brown) because they were bigger. It was a super easy but cute snack idea.

Cooper adding the pieces before we baked them. They are in a somewhat triangular shape.

but did not stay that way!!

Here's Cade showing off his reindeer from the second batch that turned out better.

and here's Chance's

Much better shape!!

Elf Training

This morning the boys spent time at their first Elf Training workshop. It was really neat. They got to make elf hats, decorate cookies, wrap presents, make reindeer food and reindeer ornaments, eat snacks, have books read to them by Mrs. Claus, and visit Santa Claus himself!! They really enjoyed the morning. Before they left the workshop they were each given a certificate stating that they had completed their training. Cute!

click to enlarge

Ornament Swap

Last night was our yearly ornament swap. This was only my second year to attend. Last year I did the Dirty Santa swap where you buy an nice ornament and then play the game and hope you don't get the ornament you really want taken away from you. I actually did get the ornament I really wanted taken away but still came home with a nice set of ornaments that were much more kid friendly than the one I really wanted and they were much louder...jumbo sized jingle bells! Worked out fine! This year I did not get an ornament bought for that swap but did the "make it" swap! In this swap we each make a certain number of ornaments and swap with the others who made ornaments. There were 9 of us in this swap this year which means I came home with 9 handmade ornaments. It was a lot of fun. Next year I'm going to try to make and buy so I can be a part of both swaps!
Here is our group of ornaments swappers for this year! Thanks to Adana for opening up her (new) home to us all!
This is the ornament I made this year for the swap!

Big Fun in a Small Town!

Last night was Henderson's Christmas Parade. The boys and I (Chad wasn't able to be there) made it just in time to see the start of the parade. Cade had a end of fall baseball party so I wasn't sure we would be able to make the parade but we did make it. The parade itself wasn't anything spectacular...it had the usual floats, tractors, a few bands, fire engines, etc.. but watching the boys and hearing them you would have thought we were at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! The parade was fun and I love that our small town comes out and supports things the way they do. We saw lots of people go by that we knew which made it really fun! The boys yelled "Merry Christmas" the whole 45 minutes we were out there. They loved it and it was so much fun seeing them love the parade that much and hearing the people in the parade yell Merry Christmas back at them! It was GREAT!!
Ready to watch..we hear the parade coming!!
Just a few of the things we saw. Chance's favorite was the Piggly Wiggly float! :-)

Now those are some big Hands

Chad's mom came across this book of Chad's about Michael Jordan. The boys love to pretend they are Michael Jordan or that they are on the Bulls team. In this book as you can see there are pictures of Jordan's hands...actual size!! They are HUGE! When I looked in the den Cade had the book open to this page and was holding his hands up to Jordan's. What a difference. Even Chad hand's were quite a bit smaller...although Cade said."Dad your hands are almost the same size as his!" Not quite but it's cool that Cade thinks that. He loves hid dad and thinks he's as great a basketball player as Jordan. He even asked Chad one time if "he just forgot to sign up for the NBA"! Funny! Cade plans to sign up when he gets big:-) If it was only that easy!!