FYI

Monopoly is not the family destroyer of choice in our household. I haven't forgiven my mother in law yet. But Alaska kept me safe for longer than I thought it would.

Happy 2017!

Christmas Eve

Getting ready for Christmas. That's Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus while Daddy reads Luke 2.

Gingerbread

It was a little chaotic, a lot of sugar, a bunch of mess, and a lot of fun. One of our favorite holiday traditions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Happenings

It was a busy and fun day. Busier and funner than most.

First, the littles and I went trick-or-treating on the square in downtown Newnan. This really isn't my scene, but a friend I hadn't seen in awhile invited me to go with her, so we did. The best part of trick-or-treating the square is the treats the Carnegie library hands out (IMHO). We didn't leave Madeline's costume on very long. It was designed for, you know, fall weather. Meanwhile, here in the Atlanta area we set record highs for the day. Mid to high 80 degree weather was just a bit hot for Halloween costumes.

Then came Mommy's favorite time of day. I love watching her sleep. And I love getting to nap a bit after I lay her down.

And while she was still sleeping (which was an extra long nap for her, by the way), we finally carved our pumpkins. I'm pretty proud of the carvings. They aren't bad for a non-artist like me. I had to wear gloves because I have this really weird allergy to pumpkin guts. They wore gloves because it's disgusting, lol.

Sadly, I didn't get pictures of only my kids trick-or-treating tonight. We went with friends, but I'm not going to put my friend's kids up on my blog, soooooo...just know that they are quite pleased with their candy haul, aaaaaand with all this trick-or-treating today, we met Mommy's Fitbit goal, and they all fell asleep quite soundly rather rapidly. Happy Halloween, y'all.

Gingerbread, Mostly

We made our annual gingerbread houses in mid-December, the 14th, to be exact (I only know this because my camera dates pictures, lol).  We had bunches of fun and tried out all sorts of awesome things, including a gingerbread mold (going to buy another one next year, so I can alternate them as I'm baking; NEVER going back to cutting out patterns), a shortbread house (making more of those next year, too), and a chocolate house (I didn't like the way the chocolate got a film coating on it, maybe next year try white chocolate?).  And of course, on Christmas day, we participated in our annual gingerbread house smashing.  Except I forgot to take pictures.  I should have, because the kids got way creative.  Rex ran over his with his bike, and Caleb and Hannah shot their with bow and arrows.

Mom's shortbread house.

Mom and Dad's chocolate house.  Completed after all the candy was gone.

Waiting for the fun to really start.

Lizzi was an angel, letting Sam help with her house.  He loved it!!

Hannah with Nana.

Hannah says hers was a Georgian house, as in why put snow around it when the grass is always green here?

After working on Lizzi's house, Sam very studiously added like a million lemon drops to his own house.

Finished products.

Halfway done.

Whoa!  Mucho frosting.  Sariah was very pleased with hers.

You can't see it in this pic, but on Rex's house, Santa was having some serious issues with the chimney.

Santa brought Lizzi's house a gingerbread baby.  Don't ask me why.  Idk.

Santa is falling off the roof on Caleb's house.  Santa had a bad night at our gingerbread house factory.  Just sayin.

Birthday Fun & General Goofing Off

The birthday boy turned 10 and we celebrated, followed by orange-frosting inspired goofing off.  Oh, and Hannah "posed" for pictures with Dad.