the week before Christmas

The girls have been having so much fun this week, being out of school. Here they are jumping on some bubble wrap that came in a package from my parents. Notice they each put on one shoe to help them pop it.Ben got these littel masks for them to color. Kara is a reindeer.Kiersten is a snowman. Evie had an elf one, but I didn't get a picture.We also made little tiny gingerbread houses. That was a huge hit.Ben also got them these ornaments. They colored in the area meant to put a picture, but I'll probably add pictures in later. This is the one Kiersten made.There's usually quite a difference in Kara's coloring, and Kiersten's. Kiersten is getting better lately, though. This is obviously Kara's.On another day we decorated stockings for Papa and Grams. The girls have just been thrilled about them coming to spend Christmas with us this year.Kiersten tried so hard, but her decorations all turned into blobs. Papa and Grams loved the stockings when they arrived yesterday morning. The girls were very eager to show them.Here is some of the candy the girls helped me make. I didn't remember to take a picture til it was already mostly gone.making chocolate suckers. Kara did a very good job on some of hers. Good enough that I put some of them on the plate I sent to work with Ben.Here are some cute foam ornaments the girls made. Kiersten actually wrote "Anna" on her snowman, because that was what the picture on the packaging said. Kara kept making fun of her for it. I just had her write her own name on the back, and we decided her snowman is named Anna.Kara's santa and snowman.Yesterday they got to help me bake a giant snowman cookie. We did chocolate chip. They haven't decorated it yet, so I don't have a picture of the finished product. They were great at helping me clean off the spatula and beater. Who needs a dishwasher?Since Kerry and Lana are here, we decided to go to zoo lights last night. It wasn't nearly as cold as the last 2 years. It was crazy busy though. Here's our little group, sans Ben.Notice Papa is smiling while being smacked in the face by a light wand. He's a great sport!Evie really enjoyed the lights. She was so cute running around and pointing and jabbering excitedly.Our annual picture in front of the purple and green tree.The girls are so excited for Santa to come tonight. Kara keeps pestering me about the gifts under the tree that say, "Christmas Eve". You really can't sneak anything past her. We have 3-4 more projects to do today, and I also need to get the girls running around a lot so they'll be extra tired tonight. Kara is on a kick of trying to stay up all night. She tries it at least once a week, and resists going to bed almost every night. I think she'll be willing to go to bed tonight, but I do suspect she may try to stay awake in her room. So I especially want to get her super tired.

Happy Christmas Eve!

here are a few pics of what we've been doing this week.

I didn't want to do a gingerbread house this year, but I changed my mind, and bought one. They loved it, so it was worth the mess.

I did the icing, and the girls put on all the candy.

love this little Christmas baby!

making sugar cookies with the girls.

we also made a half bathch of cupcakes. I let the girls look through my cupcake books and pick out a Christmas one to do.

they chose ornaments. they were fun and easy. Ben did the 2 at the far right and bottom of the cookie sheet.

this morning I let the girls decorate the sugar cookies we baked yesterday. Kara always wants to use all different colors, and do it like coloring a picture. I made her stick to white or brown, with a few sprinkles options.

happy girls. We have been watching SO many Christmas cartoons the last few weeks. Yesterday and today were no exception. (excuse the chocolate stain on my sweater. I was making a pie, and didn't notice it.)
I don't think this kid could be any more excited about Christmas! We are just trying to keep them busy so they wont nap. We don't need them staying up late tonight. Hopefully a long drive in the car to look at lights will get them tired later.
I wish everyone could hear how cutely she says. "Kwissmiss" and "thana kwas".
Karalee and Kiersten have been dying to wear their new Christmas dresses forever. I now realize I need to get a good standing shot of them wearing them. Kiersten loves to dress up and be "fancy". She was thrilled to get her hair curled.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas tomorrow!!!

thanksgiving and zoolights

We decided to have our thanksgiving dinner on saturday this year, so we could have it when Ben's dad was here. So thursday, we just relaxed. Ben had wednesday and thursday off, so he was able to help with the girls and other things around the house. thursday night, Kiersten went to bed early, so Kara got to help make a biscuit wreath. I saw something similar on food network, so I just did a simplified, more kid friendly version. Ben helped us get started. Here she is cutting out the leaves with cookie cutters.

the finished wreath.

the girls were able to easily rip up the vinyl I used to cover the stools. so I bought some fabric for outdoor funriture. It is not rippable, but still washable, so hopefully this will last longer.

Ben worked friday, and took Kara with him, so Kiersten got to spend the day helping me get things ready. Ben needed to leave by 9, so I had to get all the christmas shopping done by 8. I got most of what we needed. So I will have lots of wrapping to keep me busy. Here is kiersten after eating a treat she got for being so helpful with cleaning.

She loved helping me bake. Here she is smashing crackers for a cheesecake crust.

and here she is helping me with pumpkin pie.

smelling the baked pie. When she woke up this morning she asked if she could have some for breakfast.

Ben picked up Kerry from the airport on his way home from work. The girls have been having so much fun with their Papa. Here they are doing a puzzle together.

getting ready for dinner. We like to eat ham for thanksgiving, so someone has to dress like a turkey.

the crew ready to eat. Karalee set the table. I helped her roll the napkins.

Kara and I made these place cards from ice cream cones. I wanted to fill them with candy corn, but couldn't find any, so I used runts instead. It's hard to think of ideas that will be cute, but that the kids can help with. This one was pretty successful.

full of rice cereal, and ready for a nap.

Even papa wore the turkey hat!

After dinner, we went to see the zoolights at PDZA. I love Kara's pose in this picture.

Ben spoiled the girls with these glow batons.

Kerry rode this camel with the girls. It was pretty exciting for everyone!

This tree is always purple and green. I like seeing it every year.