Decorating the Gingerbread House (12/23)

I bought a gingerbread house kit complete with premade house, icing and candy.  I bought one last year but this year we had a harder time with it.  Not sure why...

How many people does it take to build a gingerbread house? 

Meanwhile the kids are eying the bowls of candy and pleading, "Can I eat just one?!".

Doc engineers some support for the roof and then we finally think it's ready for decorating.

They carefully place their candy on the roof.  

One piece at a time.

Everyone helps and Mr Mustache feels the need to add reindeer poop on the roof (chocolate jimmies).

And there it is...our finished gingerbread house.

Afterwards we read some Christmas books.  The boys are really good at sitting still and listening to stories.  It's one of my favorite activities to do with them.

Christmas Town and Williamsburg

One night, while in Williamsburg, we went to the Busch Garden's Christmas Town.  Each section of the park was a different country and had themed rides and shows and decorations that pertained to that country and it's culture.  It was so beautiful and we all really enjoyed ourselves.  I was surprised at all the rides there were for kids Simon's age.

The entrance starts you off in England in what appears to be a village.  

We had the boys spend some time in the stocks there...it's funny because those signs fit them well!

We heard some carolers who were really very good.

Over in Italy, Joshua and Caleb got ready to ride their first amusement park ride.

I wish I could zoom in on Caleb's face here but this is one of Doc's pictures and I can't edit his.  But if you click on the picture it will enlarge it in another screen and then you can see what I am talking about.  He's got his mouth wide open!

The rest of the ride he has this face.  I felt so sorry for him!

 This was the expression Caleb wore the whole way down the walkway after getting off the ride.  He could have caught a lot of flies.  Josh liked the way it "tickled" his tummy!  He's the thrill seeker.

Simon rode his first ride with Caleb and Caleb said this was his favorite ride. 

Here are we are getting ready to ride another ride.  I got talked into going on this one. 

I think I was telling Troy that I was going to kill him if we made it off alive...

Riding another ride.

Nana rode this one with Simon.

Simon loves his Nana!

 There was a beautiful nativity as we were leaving Italy.

There were lights everywhere and here they put some on the train bridge.  I love the way it's reflected in the water too.

Simon and Caleb rode a mini version of the swing ride.  It was very tame but I think they enjoyed it.

It started getting too dark for pictures but here the kids flew bomber jets.  

There was a giant tree in Germany.

We rode a train all around the park and there were trees lit all along the way.  It was very pretty.  We also rode a carousel, and saw a Sesame Street show.  It was lots of fun and I hope we get to go back this year!

We also spent some time looking in the shops in historic downtown Williamsburg.  It has lots of charm and character. 

We visited a fun toy shop where the boys tried on Tricorn hats.  They were more interested in the guns though.

We really enjoyed our stay in Williamsburg and there is so much that we didn't get to do.  We will definitely be going back again.

Making Christmas Cookies (12/18)

One of the Christmas traditions that my Mom started with me and my sisters was to make and decorate sugar cookies.  That is a tradition that we have continued in our family and we all really enjoy it.  I like watching them pick out what cookie cutter to use and then drowning an iced cookie in sprinkles.  Of course eating them is the best part!

Josh learned that rolling out his dough too thin could keep him from being able to get his cookie off the mat.

Another sheet ready to go in the oven.

Time to decorate.  We pinched the sprinkles with our fingers and then sprinkled them on the cookie.  

Simon kept eating the sprinkles off his fingers so he had to wash his hands many times.

Simon just needed more sprinkles.

"Yummy!"

The cookie team. 

Christmas Concert at the Inn (12/11)

The Inn at Virginia Tech held a Christmas concert and we went to listen to the music and see lots of Christmas trees decorated for a contest. We walked around and looked at them all and then voted on which ones we liked the best. The boys wouldn't sit still for the whole concert so it was good that there was something to walk around and do.  These are some of our favorite trees but there were many more.

Snowman tree.

Mardi Gras!

Patriotic 

Gardening

Sweets

Hokies

There was a table stacked with poinsettias but these boys were not really in the mood for pictures.

Breakfast with Santa

On the 2nd of December we went to have breakfast with Santa at the Christiansburg highschool.  We didn't really get to eat with Santa but the boys had their picture taken with him, just a little reluctantly.  I don't think they even said "Hi" to him.  But the last time the boys sat with Santa was in 2008, when we were at Uncle Darrell and Aunt Audra's house.  So I could understand their being a little cautious.  We enjoyed a good "cafeteria" style breakfast and watched elves (choir students dressed in costume) skipping around.  It was a fun morning and I hate to say it, but it may be their last photo with Santa.  Their getting too big and too smart!

Trying for the Perfect Pose (12/2)

I thought I would be able to take a good picture for a Christmas card but it just didn't work out. I already had a family picture (which is what we went with) but I wanted to see if I could get a good "Kids Only" option. I loved the personalities captured here and it's a good view of what it is like whenever I try to get them to take a picture all together. At this stage they just have to move, make crazy faces and smack each other.