Before Christmas(written after Christmas)

We have been in a Christmas frenzy!  What I can say for certain is that I have not wasted one second of time in the last two weeks.  Clearly I haven’t even blogged.  The kids made a list of the things they wanted to do for the season, and that list has been staring me in the face all month.  We slowly checked a few things off at the beginning of December, and then it was crunch time.  Amidst shopping, wrapping, planning, cleaning, and baking, I felt pressure to make holiday memories as well!  We succeeded in doing everything we wanted(except actually “seeing” the light show-more on that later). 

Mark and I took Lexi and Sof to see “Straight No Chaser” at the Fox theater in Detroit.  It was a chance to wear our festive gear, spend the evening together, and expose Sof to the big theater. 

    

Dinner before!

It was a great night.  Sof loves live theater.  I just didn’t think about the fact that the show didn’t even start until 8:00 on a school night.  In hindsight, leave the 4 year old home.

    

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Sof wrote letters to Santa.  As she was “writing” this one she was saying, “Dear Santa, I love you”.  She also signed her name to lots of cards which was good practice! 

 

I love the first people and letters that kids make.  We need to work on that F though, no capital letters in the middle of your name with a teacher mom!

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Adrienne came to help in my kindergarten room.  We were there about 30 minutes and she said, “Well, I can cross this off my career list.”

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We went to see Santa with the cousins.  I should add that we went the Friday before Christmas to the mall Santa.  Who waits that long?  I figured we’d be the only loser mom’s in line.  The bad news is that there was quite a long line, the good news is that there are indeed lots of loser moms.  To top it off when we got there Santa was on break.  How is that he can get to every single house in one night, but can’t stay on his chair without a break?  It got a little dicey.

Finally it was our time to go in.  The kids like the fake snow dome just as much(probably more) than seeing Santa.

 

 

I refuse to pay the outrageous price for their crappy mall pictures that I never do anything with anyway.  So, my kids’ visit will live in my memory, but I was able to snap one quick pick of Em’s kids before being tackled by an elf.

When we got home Aunt Anne, Joni, and Uncle Rick were waiting with presents.  What’s not to like about that!

 

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Last year we discovered the drive thru light show in the neighboring county.  The kids really wanted to do it again and bring the cousins.  Em and I decided to do it one night(that was dangerously close to the actual Christmas holiday, and could have been spent getting ready).  We made it a pajama and hot chocolate trip to add to the fun.

We headed out around 7:30, stopped and Starbucks, and prepared the kids that we would probably have to wait a LITTLE while in line, but we had the Charlie Brown Christmas playing in the back and it would be worth it!

 

About an hour into the wait we started calculating how far(or not far) we had gone and how much farther we had to go.  Then we debated, would they let the cars go through, or would they really turn them away at 10 when it “closes”.  We were determined to make it happen, so we didn’t give up. 

 

After over two hours of waiting they turned us away.  Yep, 6 kids in the back of a mini van, no lights.  Son of a light show.

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Our first party was the Johnson/Culley Christmas that was at our house this year.  We had a really good time talking, eating, drinking, and watching old home movies and slides!

  

  

It’s impossible to get all these kids still and smiling.  We did a secret Santa gift exchange between the kids.  One of Brian’s kids got Adrienne.  He went to Target and got her a gift card, but hid it in a bucket of cleaning supplies.  He presented it to her after a speech about her issues with cleanliness.

 

On a side note, the cleaning lady loves the new bucket, so it will go to good use.  As for Adrienne, she has been working very hard to keep her room tidy because Christmas is her last chance to earn her iPhone.  You’ll have to wait for the next post to find out if she got it:)

      We ended up in the basement watching old slides of when Mark and Brian’s parents were in their 20’s.  Hilarious!!!!  Then we moved on to videos of Mark and Brian as teens.  Equally as hilarious!

   Mark and his Mom

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Our last Christmas prep was baking the sugar cookies.  Adrienne can do most all of it herself now, which is great!  Actually, she could do it all, but she gets bored. 

  

Lexi had spent the night at Emily’s and they happened to be making cookies also, so she chose to do it with them.  We saved two out that she decorated for Santa when she got home. 

Although the last weeks have felt rushed and frenzied, I am committed to keeping all our holiday prepping traditions.  Each one signals holiday and togetherness to us!  All of that hustle and bustle sets the stage for a peaceful Christmas Eve and morning.  Another post on that later though as this post is getting ridiculously long… 

Gingerbread Party 2012

This weekend was full on gingerbread.  We’ve been decorating gingerbread houses since Adrienne was a baby.  Over the years we’ve had cousins, friends, and parties of sorts.  Last year we totally stepped it up, and it rocked.  This year, we changed it up, and it rocked. 

Emily and I have been talking and buying gingerbread stuff for weeks.  We get a basic layout in our heads and then we make it happen.  Each girl gets to invite a few friends(we had 11 total girlies), except Sofie and Natty who count as each other’s friends, and Adrienne who crossed over the adult helper line this year. 

The prep for the party is just as fun as the party itself.  We enlist the help of our friends with bribes of pizza and beverages, and we banish men and kids to basement as we ready prizes, bake, and put houses together. 

Before everyone got there, girlfriend was getting restless.  I invited her to help with the first cooking project, tiny gingerbread cakes.  She got out her stool and dug in like a big girl.

      I really love seeing her do bigger girl things.  I love including my kids in everyday domestic tasks, and she’s finally getting mature enough to handle it.

Finally the gang showed up and it was time to get to work. First up was getting prizes ready for the scavenger hunt.  There was assembling, sorting, and organizing to do!

  

While that was going on in the dining room, we had a whole ‘nother crew in the kitchen attempting making the big gingerbread guy.  Like last year, it required 2 tries:)

The good news is that Alison is a whiz at making “pops” out of anything that crumbles up.  Seriously, she can use anything!  She immediately started crumbling, mixing, and dipping.

That’s her in the back, in the red.  Ooooh, what’s Mark doing you ask?  Well, that’s a jigsaw in the kitchen and he’s cutting gingerbread house cookie pieces.  We don’t mess around here. 

Let me tell you that was genius.  Those houses were perfectly cut!  I may leave the jigsaw as a kitchen appliance.  It might be handy for vegetables or cheese.

Em started putting the houses together, but your hand gets tired doing that frosting so she handed it over to Joni.  I was integral as an assistant holding her straw.  Luckily the use of heavy machinery was over by then.

Historically Anne does not have a good record of putting houses together.  Just think blow driers, canned goods, and leaning towers.  Everyone deserves a second third fourth fifth chance though, so we gave her the benefit of the doubt.

Yep, not a lick of improvement.  If you put her on Survivor and there was a gingerbread challenge she’d be voted off.

By the time I went to bed the house was starting to look like a Gingerbread party was going to happen the next day(actually it was the next day ‘cause I like me some late night hours when I’m doing projects:). 

The next morning it seemed like I had a lot of time to get ready.  After church I had to run into Michaels for some last minute things, then I was feeling so chill I told Mark to head up to Ulta ‘cause I needed shampoo.  Seemed important at the time.  Why do I tell you all this?  So you can appreciate the fact that I was working my a** off about an hour before the party!  By the time Anne and Joni arrived I was sweating, but ready.

 

  

With just a few minutes to spare and I looked around and surveyed the fruit of my labor.  Then I realized Sof was still naked with un-brushed hair in her bed napping.  I bolted up the stairs and woke her.  It wasn’t hard, she’s been talking about this party for a month.  She came down and looked for her spot at the table.  Then she wanted to know if she could eat the candy.  Girlfriend has a serious sweet tooth.  Like mama like baby:)

  

Finally Emily showed up with 6 of the girls, Lexi’s friends were all there, and it was time to get the party started!

We had the kids decorate bags first.  This would be where they would store all of their prizes!

 

     

Once the bags were decorated, the groups took turns going downstairs to complete a scavenger hunt. 

“Under the stairs you’ll find a door.  Open it up and look on the floor.”

“Run, run all the way to the fridge.  Open it up just a smidge. 

Your prize is sneaky, he might jump out.  You’ll have to grab him fast no doubt!”

“While hanging in the bathroom with friends, take a peek in some drawers, where you go next depends…”

“Now to the playroom to finish the hunt.  This one is tricky I have to be blunt!  Don’t just grab the first prize you see, if it doesn’t have your name put it back where it be.  Keep looking and looking till you find the one right for you, better get going there still lots to do!”

 

Once everyone’s prize bags were full, it was back upstairs for the main event.  Finally, decorating gingerbread houses! 

  

Natty Bug finally got dropped off by daddy.  She sat in her toddler chair at the table with the big girls.  She figured out what to do pretty quick!

“What candy?  What are you talking about?  I didn’t see any candy.”

 

The amount of sugar we let these children eat was almost child abuse.  For the record, no one puked(that I’m aware of).

 

We’re not totally irresponsible.  We played musical chairs to burn a few calories.

Adrienne was in charge of music.

My mini me…taking pictures!

Audrey, Savana, Lexi, and Mila

Taylor, Livy, and Sophia

Claire, Madelyn, and Kaitlyn

So what does it look like when this is all done?

Long after this mess is cleaned up, little girls will have sweet memories of their day of fun.  It has become one of my favorite events of the year.  There’s nothing I love more than little girls and sugar.  Just ask my dentist.