This and That

Wow, it's been almost a month since I updated the Blog.  We had a wonderful Christmas and are embracing the start of a new year.   Today will be a little bit of this and that, trying to recap our last month.

I actually need to back up even more than a month.
Before Thanksgiving we spent a weekend visiting Jenny and Dave at the lake house.  We had such a wonderful time.  Jenny used Dream Big Tents to come out and set up sleepover tents for all the kids.  It was so cute and the kids loved it.

Look at the camping set up for the boys.....

Hannah got her baby Luke fix in.....she loves babies

These three were deep into coloring......

 What a fun crew....

 The boys (including Scott) got to play a little Nintendo

The little girls

.....and the big girls

We had such a fun night.

 I never posted any pictures from Nora's birthday party that was the next day.  We  celebrated at Climb Bentonville.  She loved it.

 Since it was a climbing theme we thought a water bottle filled with a Clif bar and Pop Rocks would make a good party favor.

 It was an easy party.  We just had to set up a few decorations and bring in some snacks and cake.

 Charlotte is part of the family now......

These kids have no fear and it is fun to see them conquer these walls and see the expression of pride on their faces when they get to the top.

I had lunch with Evan right before Christmas break and he was one happy camper when I brought him pizza.  I love to have these lunch dates with them.

We always joke that Nora is a little garbage disposal....she eats everything and she can eat a lot (not sure where she puts it all).  We went out to eat Mexican one night and we were all done eating and got up from the table and she starts eating the leftovers from our plates :)

She is by far the best eater and loves to eat everything I make including all the vegetables :).  I made a mushroom sauce last week and Nora asked if I could please start making that for her for her school lunch.  Sorry girl, I am not making mushroom sauce at 6am to pack for your school lunch

After getting back from Cancun the day before Thanksgiving we celebrated turkey day at Matt and Casey's house.  Thank you for letting us crash the party.

We also celebrated Cameron's birthday at the skating rink.

 Evan fell about 25 times in the beginning, but kept getting right back up and by the end of it he was doing great.

And a little photo booth fun at the party.

Moving on to some pre-christmas activities.  Cutting down our own tree.....

 It was SO cold and windy that day and that took away from the experience little bit  and we just wanted to get it done.

 We ended up being really happy with our tree selection.

We made a list for our winter activities.....

We started with making Gingerbread houses....I think we ended up making some at least 3 times.

Evan and Nora went to a birthday party, so Hannah and I went ice skating.  It was nice to have a little one on one time with her.

We also hosted a little Christmas party for some of Hannah's friends.  We decorated gingerbread houses (that's the second time) and played some Reindeer games and had Spaghetti for dinner.  I think everybody had a great time.

 The Reindeer games are always a big hit.....

The Oreo game involves some acrobatic moves :)

 Evan had some cookie crumbs left tin his forehead.....

 This game is always fun and calls for a lot of laughs......

 We had a little gingerbread house decorating competition with voting and prizes.....

There is a lot more to recap, but I am going to stop here for today.