Time with the kids.....

It has been a fun and crazy few days....We are officially on the countdown to Christmas now. Santa Claus is mentioned daily at this point (sometimes as a threat...) even by the two year old. We are making presents and doing holiday type things and reading Christmas stories and singing Christmas songs. This for me, is the fun part of Christmas if you don't get all stressed out about it. (and I haven't...) I did some serious Christmas cleaning the other day and it was cold out but nice, so I left the big sliding door open and Andrew played on the deck with Cooper and Thomas for two hours. He is so good about playing right in front of the door where I can see him and he can keep an eye on me. I got the cutest picture of him riding his worm. He is built like such a bruiser, but he really is just a little guy. I wish I could keep him right at this age for longer. I think he is the sweetest little guy ever......Yesterday I took them to a big Christmas light show in Stanwood Washington. It started at 5:30 pm and was worth the drive! We saw Santa Claus and Liv rode a pony and they both went in a petting zoo....Andrew still is very wary of Santa but he wants that bike so in the picture it is the three of us. He just couldn't do Santa alone yet. We were so bundled up, we could hardly move and good thing too! It was really cold and wet. We got home really late and woke up really tired. Today I made gummy candy shish kebobs for stockings and some angel/ shell ornaments. The heads are wooden beads...Pretty easy to make. Then after a nap, I went to Livs school and her first grade class made candy houses. She calls them bringerbread houses.....I love when they mix up words...it is so cute and they grow out of it too fast. This was a great project. They made a base out of the kids milk cartons and then covered them in white paper and masking tape and then using white frosting as the glue, you adhere 5 graham crackers, cover that with frosting, then decorate with candy. She is thrilled with it and even though it is home now, the house is still intact. (because it is out of reach at her request) She is hoping it will stay that way until grandpa gets here to see it!