Preschool Christmas Party

We had a preschool Christmas party at my house this week. It was fun, we played games, read Christmas stories and ate some Christmas snacks.

This was a fun game. I wrapped up giant marshmallows to resemble snowballs and the kids had to try to throw it threw the snowman. After we did the snowball toss, we played "Santa Says".

Then we made snowflake quesadillas

All you do is take a spinach and herb tortilla sprinkle with cheese. Fold a white tortilla in thirds and cut shapes to make a snowflake. Bake or fry until cheese is melted.

Making Christmas bracelets...

Here are some snowman cupcakes I made for the kids.
Here's how you make them...

• Frost a cooled cupcake, if you like coconut you can sprinkle that on top.
  
• Flatten a large marshmallow with the palm of your hand. Cut a second marshmallow in half horizontally, then stack the halves on the first marshmallow to form torso and head.
• Push a thin pretzel stick down through the snowman(this helps him stand up) then set him on the cupcake.
• Use decorators gel to create a mouth, eyes and buttons, then add pretzel sticks arms and a wedge cut from an orange slices candy for a nose.
  
• Accessorize with a candy hat(a junior mint secured to a thin mint with icing) and a fruit leather scarf.

**After I made these I realized I forgot to put the pretzel sticks on for the arms**

Preschool field trip to Krispy Kreme!

YUM!!!

Making our gingerbread house...

Wednesdays...

The boys in my house sooo look forward to Wednesdays because the Burk boys come over all day to play while their mom does bookkeeping for her husbands dental office. In our last neighborhoood in Utah, Brooklyn was the lucky one because she had lots of little girlfriends to play with in our neighborhood. Weston didnt have that many boys his age to play with, so he usually tagged along with the girls. Since we've been in Albuquerque, Weston and Blake have more boys their age to play with, it's been really nice. My house is loud and crazy every Wednesday, buts it makes me happy that they have made some friends here. I have officially set Wednesday as my treat making day too, I have a serious sweet tooth. So when my friend Lisa comes to pick up her boys, I usually give her half of what I make because I have very little self-control when it comes to sweets. Last Wednesday we made Christmas cookies, I think I know why I only make these a couple times a year. A lot of work and such a mess! But sooo good!

Blake's best bud is Caleb.

Brady and Weston

Weston is 5!

Our little Weston is 5. I can't believe he's going to be in school next year. Crazy! Weston is a tenderhearted little kid. The past couple of years Weston has changed a lot. He's not nearly as stubborn as he used to be, he is A LOT better at eating meals with everyone. He used to be extremely picky with food, it was a constant battle everyday to try to get him to eat. Weston loves baseball, the picture below he is holding his t-ball trophy. He carry's it everywhere. The morning of his birthday, we had a special breakfast for him before church. I stayed up the night before to make a Ironman cake that he requested, lets just say that I never want to make it again! It took forever to make, and it doesn't even look very good. He liked it, I guess that's all that matters.

Mickey Mouse pancakes, fried ham and eggs.

Blowing out the candles...

The following Saturday he has his 1st friend party! He would not stop talking about this party the entire week! The theme of the party was "Superhero's". All the boys dressed up as their favorite superhero. It was a crazy loud two hours but fun to see Weston so excited.

I bought a store bought cake for his friend party, the frosting on the cake tasted like tar. It was really nasty! The black frosting turned all the kids mouths black.

All the boys showing off their strong muscles. We sent out 10 invites thinking a few boys might not be able to make it, but all 10 came!

Opening presents...

Musical squares...

Pinata'

Eating pizza...

Ready for Christmas

The tree is up and we're ready for Christmas! I love this time of year. Everyone seems to be happier, except for the man I saw at Costco yesterday. He was pretty grumpy, I felt bad for him. I love Christmas music, my radio station is set permanently on a Christmas station for all of December. I enjoy using Santa as a leverage when my kids fight during this month. Anytime they fight all I have to say is "Santa wont come to our house if you act this way" (very powerful words to a kid), their attitudes instantly change when I say those words. It's wonderful. I love going to church in December, singing Christmas songs as a congregation and hearing Christmas messages is something I look forward to. It helps me remember why we celebrate this season and to not get caught up in the hustle and bustle that Christmas can bring. Here are a few pictures of the kids helping with the tree. They were actually pretty helpful this year, no major fights or melt downs about who got to put what on the tree. Samantha is not crawling yet, thank goodness. I hope she stays planted on the ground until Christmas is over:)

And we're DONE!

Family Pictures 2010

My friend Heather took these pictures for us a few weeks ago. We had these taken at the Botanic Gardens. My favorite pictures she took are the candids of my kids. She really got their personalities to come out in the photo's. It was a chilly morning so she started a leave fight with them, and that warmed them up and made it fun for them to get their pictures taken. We tried to get to the gardens early enough in the morning so we would have good lighting, but the sun here in Albuquerque is soo bright! It was hard to dodge the sun and get the best lighting, but she was still able to get some great shots of our family. Here are some of my favorites...