Gingerbread Houses

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making gingerbread houses. My mom actually let me help bake 4 of the houses this year (only because she broke her shoulder 3 months ago and had to have surgery on it). Usually she makes them all by herself, she's awesome! She's been baking our gingerbread houses since I was about 2, so she knows all the tricks about getting the dough rolled thin enough, how to get the dough onto the baking sheets, and how to get the finished pieces off the baking sheets without them breaking. This comes in handy when you are baking 8 of them.

It's always fun to watch how the kids decorate their houses. Poor Halle had to watch from the Pack and Play; she was a good sport.

All of the kids spent a lot of time decorating. And I was actually surprised that Jarren didn't use that much candy (you get to eat the candy on your house after Christmas).

Here's the crew, after all the decorating was done.

Kenadee (niece), Cameron (nephew), Jordan (brother), Esther (girlfriend), Maya, Karli, Jarren, mom, Kate, Jessica (sister)

Siblings are great!!

The Sisters

The Brothers (Jordan just had surgery on his wrist a week ago)

Out of the Mouth of Kate

Somebody rang our doorbell tonight and after they left Kate said, "Was that Satan?"

Maya's Christmas Dance

Maya had her Christmas program for dance on Saturday. She danced to The North Pole Express. She had so much fun up on stage dancing, she was smiling the whole time. It's fun to see her coming out of her shell a little bit.

One of her friends from the neighborhood danced too.

Decorating the Tree

Starting to decorate.

We're Done!

What do we want from Santa?

We were able to see Santa this past weekend. It was fun to see the kids sit on his lap and enjoy the magic of Santa.

Halle didn't like Santa until he gave her a candy cane.

Kate's 3!

Kate had her 3rd birthday right after Thanksgiving. She was so cute, she kept asking throughout the day if it was still her birthday. And when asked how old she was she would say "three" and then hold up a hand of five fingers.

She wanted brown cupcakes for her birthday (brown frosting, but not brown cake). She had fun putting the gummy worms on top.

Kate got a tutu from grandma and grandpa, it's perfect for dancing.

Thanksgiving

I love holidays, because it means time with the family, no work, no school!

This is me and Halle with my great aunt.

We had our annual whipped cream contest, but we had lots of participants this year. Usually it's just Jarren and my sister, but this year almost everyone played, even my parents.

Fall

I love pictures of the kids in the fall.