Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread houses! Every year it seems like Christmas time would not be the same without putting them together...but it's definitely not something that I love to do. This year Cirdan and I decided to do a candy lane house. We just piled on a bunch of colored candies. Not the usual green and red. It's kind of funny because we have a gingerbread bag that we collect candy throughout the year for our house. Candy from V-Day, Easter, birthday's etc. I can't remember the last year that we actually bought candy for houses.

Jett loved eating the candy. It was hard to keep him away from it.

My little red nose kids

Our house

This was the house my dad made. Very creative. I think my brother put the tree together for him. It was a Hawaiian/beach house.

Stacey's...

The annual gingerbread pictures

Santa Pictures

Here are the 2011 Santa pictures. I was shocked when we had no criers (Jett)!! Every other year is so nice to get pictures taken. Since Ava is here for Thanksgiving odd years, it makes those years nice...with no long lines. The even years usually take a minimum of an hour and with little kids that hour or longer is a LONG time. We love Santa!

G6 and I5

We got together with our friends, David and Sheree a couple weeks before Christmas. David and Cirdan have been friends for many, many years. I get along really well with Sheree and their kids and our kids love playing together. We went a couple years not seeing each other but in the last 6 months we have already gotten together 2 times. Hopefully we will be seeing more of them! (they live in Edmonds, which isn't close to us)
That night David went to coach a soccer game for his daughter Isabella and Cirdan went with. Kaiya and Ella stayed and made some Christmas crafts with Hannah and Madi. When the guys came home, they made dinner and we ate. It was a late night but we had a ton of fun and next time the G6 need to come out to Covington!!

Happy Birthday to ME

I had a low key/fun birthday this year. My birthday landed on a Monday so the day before my family gathered at my parents house to celebrate. I wasn't feeling very well but my mom and sister made mashed potatoes (my usual favorite) and turkey rolls. We ate and had some birthday cake that Cirdan brought. Afterwards, we played a new game (Truth Be Told). It was really fun! We had some good laughs. The kids sat around the tree with Papa and Meema to watch the train. Wow...I am old!

Jett photo bombing...

On Monday I didn't have anything planned. Cirdan told me he was going to grab some lunch and bring it home. When he arrived he walked through the door...but my good friend Sandy was following him. She had just come from work so she had to change. I still had no idea what was going on. I soon found out that she was taking me out to lunch and Cirdan was home to watch the kids. What a surprise! Cirdan set the whole thing up....awwwww. Still not feeling really well I chose to go to Chipotle. We then went to Sandy's sisters house to pick up her little boy Kash. When I got home the kids had made a cute sign for me and put it above the fireplace. Cirdan printed out a couple of pictures for them. Such sweet kids!

Sandy knew I needed a cookie scoop...and I love candy!

She also made me this really yummy birthday cake from scratch. It was super delicious.

That night Cirdan was going to take me out for dinner. He even surprised me and arranged for my sister Stacey to come watch Ella and Jett. The problem was though that Jett hates my sister. He screamed and cried until I threw in the towel and said that we can't go. That little stinker!!!! He is such a mommas boy. I really wanted lasagna very badly so I asked Cirdan if we could go get takeout. We ended up getting some calamari at the Cheesecake factory (one of my favs) and right next door was an Olive Garden where I got some lasagna. We ate the calamari in the car and saved the entrees for home. It was a nice relaxing night. Despite having 2 kids in the back seat.

Thanksgiving

This was the first year we celebrated Thanksgiving with Ava. It was so exciting to have us all together....especially since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Amy was nice and put together some crafts for the kids to do. They made a book and some really cute turkey hats. It also kept them quiet for a while which was an added bonus!
Brad, Gram, my cousin Allison and her husband Cory also came for dinner. I think I ate way to much, as usually, but isn't that what Thanksgiving is for?
I have so many things to be thankful for this year. I have a wonderful, caring husband and beautiful, fun kids. Cirdan is such a hard worker. His business is going as perfect as it could go and we have been blessed so much. I am thankful for our health. I am also very thankful for the ability to stay home with my kids. Sometimes they drive me nuts but I look at their little faces and I feel so lucky.

Ready to eat

Grandma and Grandpa Imbler sent Jett this cute bib

The things I love most

One of the tables

The best part. Dessert! Looking at the picture makes me crave a pie.