Christmas with my side...

On Saturday, December 20th I hosted a few members of my family for Christmas.  I served shredded turkey sandwiches, loaded hash-brown potatoes, and a jello mold.  My sister brought a kale salad, one appetizer, and the pies.  My Mom and Dad handled the rest of the appetizers and the buns.  It was all so delicious!  I was also happy that Matt's girlfriend could come for her first time, and my parents even picked up my Grandparents!

The boys loved picnicking on the floor...

We recently purchased a new dining room table, and so we were excited to sit at it fully extended with family!

My parents got the boys big stuffed animals.  They were so happy!

Emmett has been wanting a big teddy bear for so long, but I couldn't justify spending money on something like that.  Luckily for him, my mom felt differently.  He has sleeps with every night, and walks around the house with it all the time.

Nathan took this picture.  Pretty good!

So cute!

Daycare Christmas Celebrations...

Being that I now have the daycare blog, I am only posting a few pictures of the daycare Christmas celebrations.  These activities spanned across many days.

Here is the photo I used for Nate's homemade ornament craft this year...

We made homemade peppermint and gingerbread play-dough!

The kids made the cutest fireplace/stocking craft...

Whose there?

What a cutie!

After two attempts, luckily my train cake turned out!  We had a Polar Express day!  The kids decorated train cakes along with many other fun activities and surprises!

What a goof!

Just after snack time, the doorbell rang.  Emmett answered the door, and discovered this bag!  Santa's elves left a bag full of stockings for each of the kids!

In each stocking there was a REAL reindeer bell, an elf notepad with matching pen, Christmas M&M's, and a candy cane!

Just like in the Polar Express movie, the bells read "The bell only rings for those who truly believe!"

Santa also left a personalized letter to all the kids!

I set up a Christmas card making station...

I am so impressed with Nate's writing!

The kids colored their own Santa puzzle...

We painted a Santa craft...

We laced stockings...

We made reindeer food with oatmeal and glitter!

We went fishing for candy canes!

The kids opened up gifts for the daycare!

A new puzzle rack with all new puzzles, two new computer games, a Pop for Numbers game, and a Popcorn Letters game!

We made Christmas trees with sugar cones, green frosting, and M&M's...

Christmas Jammies!

The boys got their Christmas jammies as an early Christmas present again.  This year Emmett got Elf on the Shelf jammies, and Nate received Olaf jammies.  They were a bit obnoxious looking, but the boys absolutely loved them!  Emmett was in a size 10/12!  I am not sure I will find any cute Christmas jammies that will fit him next year!

Christmas at Dave and Sandra's...

We celebrated Christmas on December 15th at my cousin Dave's new house.  It was a smaller group, but it was such a nice time together!

The boys attached quickly to my cousin Mark's girlfriend.  I think we will hear wedding bells soon!

We enjoyed singing Christmas carols along with Grandpa on his clarinet.

Of course, the men had to sing "We Three Kings."  It still remains tradition!

Gingerbread Houses...

I bought foam gingerbread house craft projects from Micheal's.  Paul elected to help the boys.  Unfortunately, it ended up being one of those projects where the parent did everything and the child stood by and watched.  The project was a nightmare!  It took hours, and it was such a headache!  I even had to hot glue everything together at the end because it still kept on falling apart!  The boys loved having the finished product, but lesson learned - I will not be buying these again! Ha!