29 again!

What a fun anniversary of my 29th birthday I had this year!  The kids spent the night before my birthday at Mimi and Duke's house so that Matt and I could enjoy a night out.  We had a fun dinner at Max's Wine Dive {fried chicken and wine, yes please!!}, and then we went to see Alex & Jonathan's band, The Royal Beatdowns, play a show.  Such a fun night!

I only ended up with one picture at the show, but it documents the brotherly man-beards.

We got to SLEEP IN the next morning {my only real birthday request}, and then headed over to my parents' house for brunch, or as Matt likes to point out...technically just a lazy breakfast at lunch time. Mmmmmmm....my favorite.

It's not easy to get a good picture with this crew.

Caroline was very interested in taking pictures with me on this particular day.  :)

Will decorated my birthday cake with 34 candles {he apparently didn't get the memo about me only being 29} and lots of sprinkles!  YUM!

One of my presents was the stable set for my Willow Tree nativity....LOVE!

And that evening we took the kids to Vitruvian Park in Addison, which Matt found.  It's a big open park with lots of brightly colored trees throughout. Such a perfect birthday activity, since I LOVE looking at Christmas lights.  This was especially fun because the kids got to get out of the car and run around the park.  They had a blast running from tree to tree and seeing all the colorful lights.

The pictures can't even do it justice...so pretty and colorful!

We only had one child nearby when a nice couple offered to take our picture, but I promise the other 2 were there too.

What a fun birthday!!

gingerbread fun

One of our fun holiday activities this year was decorating gingerbread {graham cracker} houses and giant gingerbread men.  The kids LOVED decorating with {eating} the icing and Christmas candies. And I was pretty impressed with some of their work!

Our first attempt was making tiny gingerbread houses.  Because it was an impulse activity, and I didn't want to take 3 kids to the store with me to buy the supplies we actually needed, we made them with items we had on hand....graham crackers, store-bought icing {that doesn't really ever harden}, candy, and random halloween marshmallows.  So to say the houses were a bit unstable and odd looking would be an understatement, but we made it work and had a blast.  

And just a few days before Christmas, we busted out the giant gingerbread man kits that Uncle Alex and Tiffany gave the kids at Thanksgiving.  SO fun!!  These came with icing and candy, plus we added some fun Christmas candies we had.  It was really interesting to see the different styles the kids had for making these.  I love how their personalities are so different and fun.

getting started...

Caroline started by piling all her icing and candy onto the gingerbread man's face...and then added a few finishing touches to his body.  :)

 Emily was very diligent and asked me to help her put the icing on specific places while she was decorating.  She wanted hers to be perfect, including eyes, nose, mouth, and hair.

 Will did a great job on his, although he really just wanted to get it finished so he could eat it!

I even got to make one!

And everyone's favorite part....tasting their masterpieces!

holiday fun

Here's my random post of all the pictures between Thanksgiving and mid-December.  What a fun holiday season!

Lunch with the girls on Will's long school day.  :)

Playing in the car while we wait to pick up Will.

Kisses from my sweet boy!

And less fun....sweet Emily fell off a stool and busted her chin on the tile floor in the kitchen.  So we got to spend a morning in the emergency room.  :(  Luckily, no stitches...just glue!  

We also had a super fun night with Blair, Mel, and baby Caroline!

Will loves to build with blocks, these little interlocking things, magnatiles, legos...whatever!

And one of my favorite things to do each year....decorate for Christmas!!

And one more, with presents under the tree!

We also had fun at the FUMCR Advent Workshop!

Will wrote a letter to Santa, with just one request this year: a big kid monopoly set, with ALL the pieces.  :)

 We've had fun taking the kids to ride bikes/trikes at the Pearce parking lot when school is out.

The seniors get to paint their parking spots, and some are so good!  Lots of fun to look at all their creativity.

Will and I got to have a special one-on-one lunch date after school one day when the girls were with my parents.  We were both excited!

This cutie chose Canes, which we eat almost once a week...but he wanted to go IN the restaurant, since we always pick it up from the drive-thru.

Will's class had a fun Christmas party with games, reindeer food, decorating ice cream cone trees, and a Christmas program by the kindergarten class.  I loved getting to be there!

 Modeling new dresses!

Slightly awkward green screen picture from a fun family holiday party we got to attend.

And finally, modeling Christmas outfits!