More holiday fun

 What would Christmas be without empty wrapping paper tubes? Ahh, the memories. Clearly these were a huge hit.

 Good times.

 We also made cute little candy Christmas trees. These were fun, although it was much more fun to eat them and the ingredients!!

Nightmare on Christmas Card Lane

 Every year, we go out to the park to take some pictures for our Christmas card. However, this year was by far the hardest and lamest. Seriously. Check out the series of events... First photo, Lucy and Jonah look cute, but Henry's no where to be found. They I posed them all cute next to a mailbox for Santa. Everyone looks except Henry.

 What is he looking at?  Who knows, but he's kind of happy about it.

 Yoohoo, Henry?  And I'm losing Jonah.

 Now they're just mocking me with smiles.

 Then a train came by and we lost Lucy. As in, she was terrified and started crying. So we moved across the street to this cool, Christmasy looking bush. Not so much better.

 Jonah refused to look up. He said the sun was in his eye. Not eyes. Eye. However, it didn't seem to be in anyone else's eye.

 They're starting to get bored. Threats don't even matter.

 What is Jonah's smile doing? And we've lost Henry again.

 A helping hand from my assistant. Jonah's holding firm to that smile.

And then we start to lose Lucy. She did the best - smiling through the whole thing. Poor kid.

So to punish them, we chose this one and sent it to everyone we know. That'll teach 'em.

Mud - it's not just for boys

 We had a nice rain storm over night and the kids woke up to a wonderful land of mud. Jonah couldn't wait to get outside. He's quite the mud connoisseur. After determining it was worthy, he invited everyone else out. Lucy had a blast and probably put the boys to shame when it came to the dirtiest. See how she's missing her shoes? Well, she went out with cute tennis shoes on. Apparently, she stepped into the giant hole the boys dug before the storm. Except now it was full of water. Like up to her knees in water. And her shoes got stuck in the mud at the bottom of the hole. So she left them there and ran around in her socks. Nice, right?

Getting in the holiday mode

 Christmas is always my favorite time of the year but the fun is multiplied by millions when you get to celebrate with your kiddos! Each year gets more fun as the boys are catching on and understanding what Christmas is. This year I wanted to have the kids make count down strips to do during the month of December. It's fun to incorporate the holidays in with school and this was a great way to get some math in! Of course, Lucy wanted in on the action too. So she made her own count down chain with Daddy's help!

 Even though Halloween is long gone, Lucy still loves those pumpkins! I think she just remembers how fun it was to dress up and get candy from random strangers.

 On another day, the boys decorated these cute gingerbread men. We usually do a house, but it ends up just being me decorating it, since the icing is too hard for the boys to master. This way, I could just outline with the icing and the boys could cover with candy. Fun and easy!

 Jonah and Dan ate them throughout the week. Eww.

 Tree decorating - MY FAVORITE!!! This year was more tricky then the last because Lucy wanted to "help" by breaking all the breakable ornaments. Seriously. I think I lost several this year. Oh well. It was also a bit of a battle making sure the ornament hooks didn't end up on the floor and impaled in someone's foot. Good times.

 Who can say "No" to this face?

 Not sure what Henry's doing. Oops.

 After we decorated the tree, we had Grinchy drinks and Grinch cookies while we watched..... wait for it..... How the Grinch Stole Christmas!!! It  was fun but no one liked my creepy green cookies. I guess I can't blame them and should be happy that they question green cookies. I'll figure something else out for next year. Jonah asked if we could do this every year. Not sure if it's because he liked the movie and the tradition, or just the opportunity to drink soda. Either way, I'll take it!!!

  See my cute cookies? Green with a candy heart. Very appropriate!

 Henry didn't even want the green drink. Just water. He likes to live on the wild side.

Lucy

 I love this girl so much!! Look how cute she is! And then when you tell her to smile......

.....she does this!

My Sweet Little Hot Cheeto

 Jonah was on the best soccer team. Seriously. The Best! His coaches were outstanding. They taught the skills and encouraged the boys but then they stepped back and let them have fun. It was great to see Jonah have so much fun and learn to be a part of a team. He loved it and is an athlete at his core!

 All the boys got an award and a cute little soccer trophy for being a part of the team. So cute!

 The Hot Cheetos were so good, that they made it to the playoffs!! They played so hard and were so tired. Ultimately, they finished second in their league. Not too shabby! The Rec Department presented both teams with their medals.

Those are some happy Cheetos!!

Sweet Girl!