Christmas 2016

I managed to capture a few photos on my camera over Christmas! 

Putting out our cookies for Santa!

Christmas Stockings!

The nerf guns were a hit with ALL my boys!

Nathan was pretty excited about his scooter too!

Gingerbread House Decorating 2016

I love decorating a Gingerbread House with the boys each year! The last few years we have been spoiled since the administrative assistant at my school also created Gingerbread house kits on the side.  She was always super thoughtful by making sure all the ingredients were peanut free for Nathan.  This year when I started looking for one to buy I couldn't find one that didn't have any peanuts in it and then we stumbled upon this kit from Starbucks:

We even managed to get it at 40% off!  One of the perks of our Gingerbread Houses in the past were that they came pre-assembled.  (This administrative assistant was pretty talented!) This one did not so I did a little research and learned that hot glue is the trick to keeping a gingerbread house from crumbling!  (Assuming you don't plan on eating it later...) I assembled it prior to letting the kids decorate it:

Then the fun began! I was in charge of the frosting while Nathan and Silas put candy anywhere and everywhere they wanted.  

It was fun to see Nathan's imagination come alive this year.  He wanted specific candies in specific spots to function as lights and door knobs.

I kept telling Silas one candy at a time.  He would grab a large handful and hold it up to me and ask, "One?"  Hilarious!

I don't know how I got so lucky to capture this last photo on my phone. Getting these kids to smile simultaneously while also holding still is pretty much impossible!

I love Christmas Traditions!

Jesus is my Very Best Friend 2016

Nathan's preschool put on "Jesus is my Very Best Friend" tonight for their Christmas program.  Nathan seemed to think that since he did this performance last year in Bakersfield he didn't need to do it again.  But luckily for us he still agreed to wear his costume (He was a Shepherd this year) and get on stage! 

For most of the performance Nathan's face was blocked by the cute little Angel's halo who happened to be standing in front of him. 

Nathan is a very serious performer.  I couldn't hear him singing but for most of the night his lips were moving so I know he knew the words!

Aren't these Angels adorable?!  For most of the performance Nathan was staring at them!

You never know what will happen in a Kids Christmas Musical.... 

like a fight between the two shepherds.  Maybe they were fighting over who got to stand closer to the cute angels?!

Doing the hand motions. 

Loved this grin I caught from our handsome boy on stage!

Fall I mean Winter 2016

When you live in Southern California the leaves don't start falling off the trees until Winter! Ha!  We took advantage of our gardener not coming this week to play in the leaves.

Christmas Tree Decorating 2016

We decorated the Christmas Tree tonight! And only broke two ornaments in the process! Ha!

It's always fun looking at all the handmade ornaments from the past! Nathan made this one his first year at Miss Cindi's daycare in Bakersfield in 2012! 

I have pretty much given up getting a picture of both boys looking at the camera!

All done! (Mommy may be up late spacing out the ornaments-Ha!) 

We lit our first fire tonight too! 

Halloween 2016

Believe it or not this is the first year we have taken our boys Trick-or-Treating!  Each year we are usually busy hosting a Trunk-or-Treat event at our church! We just moved into our neighborhood on Saturday so we had fun meeting our new neighbors.

Nathan the police officer and Silas the monkey!

We participated in the Teal Pumpkin project this year.  Due to Nathan's peanut allergy most of the candy he receives he cannot eat.  We made sure to have non-food items to pass out to those kids, like Nathan, who have allergies.  

Ready to go door to door! All night long Nathan kept saying "Trunk-or-Treat" when we knocked on doors.  This Pastor's Kid is confused having never trick-or-treated before! 

Back home and in our skeleton pjs! 

We passed out candy and toys after trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.