December 12th - Providence Rockin' Walk

Tonight we participated in our community's Jingle Bell Rockin' Walk. A bunch of neighbors got together and we all had t-shirts (that were covered by jackets) and jingle bells and glo-necklaces and walked the streets of Providence looking at the Christmas lights. We stopped at one group of homes that has there houses all set to music and had hot cocoa and cookies. Grandma and Grandpa came along to join in the fun too. I think the highlight for the kids was throwing the necklaces and the chasing after them and doing it again, and again, and again. If I would change anything about the event for next year I would probably make it caroling along the way instead of just walking...but it was still fun to be out enjoying one of the nicer nights we've had in awhile.

Getting hooked up with the glowing necklaces and jingle bells to make noise along the way

Family picture before the start of the walk...I think Brandon needs a beanie

A picture of the really cool houses that have their lights all set to music

Messing around the the light sticks and fussing to get out and walk themselves...they walked most of the way back

Grandpa and Grandma (you can see what all our shirts looked like by seeing my dad's)

Just the two of us...how long it has been since we've had a photo of just us??

December 11th - Holiday Lights at Safety Town

Tonight we took the kids to see the Holiday Lights at the Frisco Safety Town. It is a miniature town with streets and buildings set up at the fire station so that the kids can learn about fire safety, bike safety, etc. It was so cute! All the buildings were lit with Christmas Lights and most of them had people in them doing projects or giving things away to the kids. Our kids LOVED seeing Santa - the pictures don't do it justice. Brody rattled off his list of requests and Ella sank into his arms and looked like she could have gone to sleep. No tears this year...she has a thing for any old man she sees. Just as an example, she batted her eyes and called the old man sitting next to us at a restaurant Grandpa. She does this often...she loves her grandpas. Both kids got "reindeer noses" and ran around so excited to be like Rudolph. The kids climbed all over a firetruck and had a story read to them too. It was a fun night to be outside enjoying the holiday spirit.
Fun in the fire truck...
Santa Babies

Riding in a one horse open sleigh...

Our cute little reindeer

December 10th - Christmas Tree Cones

Today's project was decorating Christmas trees. We invited a few friends over to make it more fun and we turned a sugar cone upside down and frosted it green and decorated with candy and licorice. Ella is just like me and has a sweet tooth. She liked putting the candy on the tree, but liked taking it off and eating it a whole lot more! Brody was meticulous and methodical and took a long time to decorate his tree. You might be able to tell that all his ornaments are organized by color. He cracks us up...

Working on their trees...

Miss Whitney and Taelee (one of Ella's friends)
Ashlyn, Miss Lesli and Grant (two of Brody's good friends)

Ella and Brody with their decorated trees

Gingerbread Day at Preschool

This morning we had preschool at our house and it was all about Gingerbread! We kicked off our day by reading "The Gingerbread Man" which got all the kids into singing the song...then we baked some gingerbread, made gingerbread men and decorated Gingerbread Houses made from graham crackers. The kids were so cute and into doing everything.

Our class taking turns putting in the ingredients to make gingerbread

Brody and Drew working on their houses

Brody's house

Drew - sneaking some frosting from his bowl...

December 9th - Glitter Art

We used glue tonight and red glitter to draw Christmas shapes on wax paper and then sprinkle glitter all over them to make them sparkle. Brody is quite the little artist. He is a perfectionist when it comes to his coloring pages lately and he can draw a pretty sharp looking gingerbread boy.

December 8th - Hand & Footprint Reindeer

Tonight we painted the kids hands and feet and put them on posterboard to make reindeer. The project is still drying, so I'll update with pictures tomorrow...blogger isn't cooperating right now!

The top two (with blue noses) are Brody's hands and feet & the bottom two are Ella's.

December 7th - The Giving Tree

We have a service project at church that helps provide people in need with Christmas gifts and clothes that they might be in need of. I picked out a couple of gifts that Brody would specifically like to have himself. Today we went shopping and I let Brody pick out the remote control car that he thought this other little boy would enjoy. He was very happy to do that and also pick a few clothes items. I was so pleased that he had listened because when we went to check out he looked at the lady at the register and happily said..."These are not for me, they are for another little boy, so he will have toys to play with and clothes to wear."

This wasn't a particularly "fun" Christmas activitiy, but my little ones say "mine" an awful lot. We are working on this at home. Between sharing with each other and sharing with others we are hopeful that they will someday soon truly grasp that it is better to give than to receive...so hopefully this at least plants a seed for the future.