Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Cookies

Our week changed a little bit. The kids were out of school last Friday which meant we had the WHOLE week before Christmas off - hooray!! We spent our day on Monday cleaning up and getting the house ready for Mom to arrive on Tuesday!! Unfortunately, on Monday, it was discovered (through some collaboration with my sisters) that my Mom's "cold" was a little more severe. We convinced her to go to the doctor and get some meds and she decided to delay her trip until Wednesday. After talking with her on Wednesday, we realized she really still needed another day before making the trip, so she would wait and arrive on Thursday. Thankfully, I had some fun Christmas projects to distract the kids (only somewhat - we were all bummed that Tutu wasn't here yet, but we were trying to be patient!!!)

First up was gingerbread houses! Our neighbors were spending the afternoon with us (their mom was trying to survive Toys R Us for some last minute gifts) so they got to join in the fun! There was a boys house...

...and a girls house...

Then it was time for Christmas cookies! The kids all picked two shapes that they wanted to cut out and we started the process! The hard part is waiting for that first batch to cool enough to decorate them (which is the REAL fun part!)

Caleb even woke up from his nap in time to get in on the sprinkles action! :)

YUM - sampling the finished products!!!

Once every one had decorated and eaten a cookie, they were ready to quit and watch a Christmas movie! :) The rest was going to be up to me to decorate! :)

Caleb wandered back over a little bit later to decorate a few more...and eat a few more sprinkles...

Max even woke up JUST in time to get himself a cookie! It was a fun day and helped pass the time.

Now TOMORROW is going to be really fun! Mom, Aunt Kristen, & Uncle Chris all should be arriving in the afternoon! We can't WAIT!!!