Winter Fun- Sledding and Gingerbread Houses!

We decided to make gingerbread houses as our Family home evening activity before Christmas. It was lots of fun for the kids. These pictures will give evidence as to why we let them make and eat their OWN. Some things should not be shared! Here is Kian about half way through and his face already has a good amount of frosting around the mouth!

Maybe licking the graham cracker makes it hold together better!

Ashlee worked very hard on her little house! Of course I think she sucked as much icing out of the bag as she put on her house!

Very intense work!

Even the older children do their share of licking! It's half the fun, right! Like I said, as long as everyone is eating their own creations, all is well.

JJ thought the table was a bit crowded apparently.

Camerons finished product, and he is clearly quite satisfied with his work.

And... this is Kian's finished product. Most of the house had already been consumed!

Ashlee is giving the thumbs up for taste! Her cute little house kept falling down so she decided to just start eating.

Tori's house, with porch and all!

Braxton's final outcome!

JJ's house was quite unique! He was uncharacteristically patient!


SLEDDING!

The day before Christmas eve we went sledding with some friends. It was freezing, but of course the kids didn't mind!

Kian

Ashlee

Cam

The Hill!!

JJ snowboarding!

Ashlee!

Braxton on his way back up!

Tori and some friends, Maddie and Kacie.

Braxton isn't holding this sled. The wind is just blowing that hard. BRRRRR!

What we've been up to....

So, since the kids are on Christmas break, I thought that I would let them play as they wish so that I can catch up on some blogging! This decision will likely allow for a new story, or mess, to blog about! So here is what the kiddos have been up to in the last couple months! 1. Playing with Dad's paintings. This took place just before Thanksgiving. John had done a practice picture and then left it in the office( which does have a "child-lock" on it, by the way). The next afternoon I heard sounds coming from behind the closed doors of the office, so of course I ran to get the camera, and this is what I found. Kians' face says it all.

Here he is explaining what happened.

Here is the damage the oil paint did to him. It actually only takes about a day after you wash for all the color to fade off the skin.

and here is the damage the oil paint did to the carpet. It does not fade quite as easily as the skin. John went over it several times by hand and with the steam cleaner and you can still see it faintly unfortunately.

Here is the canvas which we had planned to actually keep with all the cute little foot print all over it, however Cameron decided to try his hand at it, literally, a couple days later and erased all those cute little prints. Sad.

2. Sleeping in strange( creative?) ways or places. On this particular night we took this picture of Ashlee since she was the only one sleeping in "normal fashion, although her head is at the foot of the bed and not exactly on the pillow!

Here is where we found Victoria. Yes, she actually got in Kians crib and went to sleep. Why? I have not the slightest clue, other than it probably just popped into her head and so she thought that she would try it, and since Kian had gone elsewhere, the opportunity was available!

Here is the view of Cameron on this same night. The boys built a fort on their bed and had apparently even snuck Kian down to join in the fun!

JJ and Braxton,and Mickey Mouse in the background there!

Funny stuff!

Here is another night we decided to break out the camera because it was just funny. Braxton is actually sleeping on one of their reading chairs, because as you see in the picture below, only so many people can fit in a twin bed, even when you are little people.

Once again, Kian had been sprung from his crib and joined his brothers for bedtime. And clearly, JJ was very excited about Christmas. It would probably be very humorous to leave a camera in the basement one night and see the funny things they do before bed!

The silly, but cute, boys!

3. Helped cook. I was in an extra nice mood this day or something and so I allowed them to "help" make the dumplings for Chicken and Dumplings. They had a lot of fun, so it was probably worth the clean-up. But only because it was a rare occurrence of course!

4. Opened, drank, and spilled 12 Kool-aid drinks that were for Braxton's last soccer game. Clearly the guilt is written all over him. Again after a good washing and 24 hours, the kid (Cameron) was virtually stain free.

The carpet was not so lucky, and still looks pretty much like this despite several different times and ways of washing. Can you say "carpet allowance" when it comes time to sell this place!

5. Color on ourselves and our brother( and the carpet of course, but I didn't even bother taking pictures of that.)

W thought we should at least make them clean up their mess. Never mind that JJ sat and let them do it!

6. Breaking lamps(Cameron did this while doing gymnastics in the family room) and glass coffee tables. Because of our momentary disbelief and loss of presence of mind, we do not have a picture to show of the glass table that was shattered in about the same place a few weeks before. Still not exactly sure how it happened. But it did. And we sent the kids away so that we could pick up the pieces. Again. We never get sick of this drill.....

7. Playing with toothpaste and smearing it all over beds and pillows (pictures are out of order as this first one is Kian running away after I'd taken a couple pics!)

8.Giving ourselves baths in sinks without moms prior knowledge( or permission, whatever that is). Ashlee had just crawled out of this sink while I got the camera. This is our small half bath on the main floor. She apparently enjoyed herself!

On the exact same day, I found Cameron here! He is watching TV while bathing in the kitchen sink. Where do they come up with this stuff? So the kids have been busy( this is seriously just a sampling of thing I had actually taken pictures of) and of course we have kept ourselves busy just keeping up with them( or rather, cleaning up after them!)

Halloween!.....and New Orleans!

New Orleans, Louisiana November 1-5 2009

Here is JJ the morning that we left on the shuttle bus to the airport. He was already having a good time!

" New Orleans - Starring JJ!"

I love this kid!

Beautiful buildings in the French Quarter!

A wrap around porch on an apartment building that is probably 250+ years old

This was a very amusing moment. This man was playing as we walked by and he stopped and asked JJ to come here and told us to get out the camera. This is the picture John took. JJ's face is priceless. He would not make a good poker player. The man chatted with JJ for a moment and then had him " help" play a quick song for us!

JJ was obviously a bit uncomfortable but it definitely made for a lasting memory!

A little farther down the street we saw this car and then JJ was more than happy to pose!

JJ and his Dad at dinner. Clones!

When we were walking home from dinner on the second night, JJ found this newt on the sidewalk. He kept it for about 36 hours and then let it go in a bush where he had found another one. He was glad it would have a friend!

One day, JJ and I went to an aquarium which was very fun. JJ especially enjoyed the stingray touch pool!

Yes, I realize that everyone else posted their Halloween posts a week or more ago, but the day after Halloween John, JJ and I left to go to New Orleans, LA where John was attending a CME conference. John and I had decided that we don't like to be apart, so that I would try to join him whenever possible on these trips. We then thought that it would present a unique opportunity for one on one bonding time with our children from time to time. So, we started our new tradition with our oldest, JJ. It was a fun time and and there were some really old and beautiful buildings there. The French Quarter was a very cool thing to see (except Bourbon Street((appropriately titled by the way)) which was a very scary place even at 2:30 in the afternoon). For those of you who know JJ, it will make sense to you that he loved the music there! It seemed like no matter where we were there was music playing somewhere, and my JJ was dancing right along to the beat. John told him we probably should just get him a hat so he could join the rest of the entertainers! This is the kid who used to crawl to the dishwasher at 6 months old and bounce to the beat of the swishing! Rhythm is in his blood! The weather was sunshine and between 70 and 74 degrees the four days we were there. Perfect! We are of course very grateful to my wonderful mother-in-law for caring for our other kiddos at our house and for cleaning every edge and corner of my floors and even organizing some of my children's drawers! What a joy to come home to! She is awesome and we love her! So that is the explanation of why my Halloween blog post is happening in the middle of November!

Halloween 2009

I'm not sure why exactly, but once again some of these pics are out of order even though I tried to prevent that. Oh, well! We had a Star Wars theme among our boys this year. Kian was our YODA. I think this is him sending someone away after giving sage advice.

This is a clear expression of what he thinks about having a candy bucket in his hand!

Here is Miss Ashlee as Super-girl. So sweet and innocent!

She must be watching her older sister and picking up some attitude poses!

A classic super-girl pose!

A random moment caught-they love each other!

Something had made him upset, but I can't seem to remember what. I still thought the picture was too cute not to include. Kian has a great "pout face".

My Brax man who was Luke Skywalker along with Cameron.

Here are my skywalkers posing as if they had light sabers, because I wasn't brave enough-or maybe naive is a better word- to actually let them have light sabers to run about with while I was trying to get everyone dressed and ready. They were disappointed, but I was quite sure that would have ended with someone needing stitches. That seems to be the odds at our house.

Cam was really trying to get into character. He cracks me up!

It was fun to watch them bond over being the same thing for Halloween. That's the good stuff! I think Cameron really enjoyed feeling like an equal.

Tori did all of her own posing, I just kept pushing the button. She was enjoying herself and it is always fun to watch her personality. I ended up with at least 15 shots of her but only included a few here.

She was a princess (what else would she be! If the crown fits.....)

And finally my JJ. It seems a little strange for someone so sweet to portray someone who's not, but he was excited to play the part! He was Darth Vader to round out our Star Wars group.

With the mask and and voice box! We can't wait until next year!!