Here our the cute little gingerbread houses that we did for family home evening. I totally wasn't planning on doing this crazy little activity this year but it just kind of fell into my lap. Last time I did candy houses, I remember it being a total disaster. The icing wouldn't hold anything up and I think I was pregnant at the time and not feeling well which could be the main reason why the experience was leaving a huge negative sign flashing in my head.So, my girlfriend stopped by the other day with the gingerbread cutouts for two cute houses. (In the past I've always used graham crackers or the kits you buy at the store) She had gotten the houses from an older lady that lives in the next town over. Now this old woman, whom I have never met but want to very badly, has shared some great canning recipes with me that have just been so good. She also has shared some great tips/tricks for all sorts of other things that have really come in handy! From what my friend tells me, she sounds like the perfect grandmother that everyone wishes they had! Well, atleast I do anyway. Both of my grandmothers died when I was a young age so maybe I will just have to adopt her as mine if I get to meet her. So back to my houses - My girlfriend stopped by one afternoon with these houses and told me all about how to put them together, shared an icing recipe that holds them together like glue, and even dropped off a few bags of candy to use. However, the whole time she is telling me how to do these houses I just have those huge warning signs flashing in head saying NO NO NO do not proceed!!!!! Ugh!!! I so did not want another thing to have to do this holiday season. I'm a real scrooge huh? So a few days went by and I kept seeing those darn pieces sitting in my kitchen feeding me all sorts of guilt. I finally decided I'd better get some more candy to decorate them and get the whole thing over with.
As you will see in a few pictures down, I actually have a smile on my face from the whole experience! The icing actually turned out to be the key piece of the puzzle! They went up so smoothly and the kids loved it! I think me and Ryker actually ate more candy than we put on our houses but oh well right? So we made the houses, took the pictures, and the kids smashed the houses with a hammer within 15 min. (so they could eat them) and the mess is all done and over with. Oh, except I keep finding pieces of hard gingerbread with all the candy eaten off it all over the house! Ryker just likes to bite the candy off and then leave the gingerbread. Silly kids!
I think mine and Ryker's house turned out the best! Randy and Rayden's house was tilting quite a bit!
So I was giving my girlfriend a hard time because she still had pumpkins on her front porch a week ago when I went over to help her put up her Christmas decorations. She almost didn't put any up because it is so close to the holiday and then she would just have to take it right back down. I told her she had her Halloween up for two months after the holiday so she could just keep Christmas up for two months. We laughed about it for a minute, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't really laughing inside. Well, I guess I'm not doing much better. If you notice in the picture above I still a pumpkin on top of my fridge! I guess that's what happens when you are short and can barely see the top shelf of the fridge!! Lol!!!
So here is my little princess, Braylee!!!! She is getting to be so cute! I just love this stage when they start to interact with you, but can't move around yet or talk back and scream at you! Although she is getting very close to moving around! She is rolling now! At first she could only roll from tummy to back, and not ever time I put her down, just sometimes. Then, I put her on her back yesterday and within seconds she rolled over to her tummy! It makes me sad to have her growing up so fast.
For some reason she loves looking at this orange car on her exersaucer! Whenever I put her in it, she turns to it and stares. Maybe because it plays music very softly!
Here is Braylee with her little friend Halo! Halo's mommy and I have been friends since High School!! These two little angels are only 9 days apart!!! Aren't they sooooo cute?In other news, our house has been very busy lately with the holiday right around the corner. Santa's little elf (me) has been very addicted to online shopping! I hope it wears off after the holiday or I'm going to be in big trouble! It's just so convenient when you have a little newborn! I went out on Black Friday to get a few things, but other than that, I have done most my holiday shopping at home, in my pj's, listening to Christmas music, and sipping hot cocoa!!! Now that's my kind of shopping!
Rayden has a new look going these days. I got a note home from school saying that he didn't pass his eye screening test. I took him to get an eye exam and sure enough, the kid is blind! Well, not totally blind. It's mostly his right eye, he can't see close up and I can't for the life of me remember if it's nearsighted or farsighted. His left eye is bad too, but not as bad. So ya, he's sport'n the glasses look! luckily he thinks it's pretty cool. We'll see how long that lasts.
Ryker is still being as crazy as a three year old can be!!! He's in this new phase where he doesn't want to take a nap anymore. It's driving me crazy!!! Obviously he still needs one because he falls asleep on the couch every afternoon around 3 or even later. Then, he doesn't want to go to bed at night because of his late nap. He's also been having a hard time sleeping at night because he's been scared. He said that fingers come out of the wall and poke holes in him. Pretty scary huh? If we don't sleep in his bed with him, he ends up coming into our bed every night. In the past, I have had a pretty firm rule of "No kids in my bed with me at night". This rule has completely gone down the toilet ever since baby three came along. I've been way too tired at night to fight with Ryker so I just let him come in our bed. Now I'm really regretting it! I think that will be my New Year's resolution: To take the extra time in the middle of the night to send little Rykes bikes back to bed! I'll let you know how that one goes!
