Over the last few weeks, Christmas carols have been ringing through our house as we started to get into the Christmas spirit! This is one of our favorite times of the year, and honestly, I wish it lasted more than a month! (I have to admit, if I was willing to have a fake tree, it would be up through Valentine's Day! However, being that I would never agree to that, nor would Phil want it, I guess we'll have to cherish the short time we have to enjoy all the glory Christmas has to offer!)
Amidst the Christmas decorating, we took a break to create gingerbread trees! Last year, during the after-Christmas clearance, I was able to get a few kits to put away for this year.
The kids LOVED everything about them!
Emma did a fantastic job stacking her tree!
A job well done! (John's is on the left, and Emma's on the right!)
Now came the lesson in patience as we waited for them to harden so decorating them wasn't so tricky! As it worked out, the following day slipped away from us so it was a couple of days until we finally got back to the trees, but they were worth the wait!
In the meantime....
Life is never dull with Emma around, and lately, she's enjoyed dancing on anything she can find that will support her, such as coffee tables, stools and even plastic bins! The house became very quiet one morning and I knew she was up to something! I peeked around the corner and there she was! It was a dance party! She was all giggles and full of smiles, as she was incredibly pleased with herself!
Play time together on the train table!
(John was trying to get every last minute in his pj's that weekend!)
So cute!
I have a feeling Emma will be musical in some way when she gets older!
Who knows, maybe even playing percussion is in her future....
Phil's parents were in town over the first weekend in December, since they hadn't gone up north, so we enjoyed some time with them that Sunday evening. Emma once again was drawn to the plastic bin that was still awaiting her clothes to be stored away, so they took the opportunity to use it as a train to play in. Emma loved being pushed around and was sure to give Clifford a fun ride too!
The decorating continued throughout last week as we finally put the ornaments on our tree. We had gotten our first tree right after Thanksgiving, but after bringing it in the house, we were concerned because it didn't take much water in the first day. After watching it for another day, we took the tree out, re-cut it just to be sure there wasn't any question about having it out of water too long and then continued to watch it for the next few days. After 4 days and it only taking a few inches of water, we knew there was a problem with the tree. Thankfully, we had decided to wait to decorate it until we knew it was taking water, since I didn't want to do it twice! We took the tree back and were given another one, so finally the decorating could begin!
This year, Emma was more than willing to help decorate the tree! However, since then, she's also been more than willing to take down the decorations as well!!
John also LOVED decorating the tree this year and did a nice job of spacing out the ornaments and hooking them on the branches. Because of Emma's willingness to undo the tree, we chose not to put up all the ornaments this year!
High-five, Dad, on a job well done!
Like father, like son!
A few final ornaments...
By then, it was almost bedtime, so both kiddos went into silly mode!
What a ham!
Hmmm... I haven't seen this view since last year when I laid under the tree to watch the lights twinkle!
The next day, it was finally time to decorate the gingerbread trees! Emma could not have been more excited... to eat the frosting, sprinkles and coconut!! As fast as I was putting the frosting on and John was trying to help put the coconut on for the snow around Emma's tree, she was grabbing it and popping it into her mouth!
At least she was willing to share!
Emma loved the sprinkles!
The final trees! (Emma's on the left, John's on the right!)
Last weekend we enjoyed some quiet family time together! Life has been more chaotic than normal as we prepared for the holidays and work was much more time consuming as I tried to finalize my report cards in a new computer system. Many nights were spent working late into the evening to accomplish multiple tasks, so by the weekend, we all needed some downtime together! On Saturday morning, we were thrilled with the anticipated snow, but knew we needed to get some shopping done, so the kids and I headed into the mall. Before we left though, I had to take this picture of Emma! Rather than just telling me that she was done eating breakfast, Emma tipped her plate over and stacked her remaining cinnamon roll in a pile in the middle! By the time I got the camera out, she had eaten part of the pile off the upside plate, but was still incredibly pleased with herself!
On Sunday morning, we woke up to a beautiful, white winter wonderland! The kids were so excited to be able to go outside and Phil and I couldn't wait to head out either! After breakfast, we all bundled up to enjoy some play time in the fresh, new snow before the wind started to howl and the temperature dropped!
Emma's all ready to go!
She was so patient watching John outside while I finished getting ready!
John was thrilled to be outside! He enjoyed shoveling with Phil, having a snowball fight with both of us and even made a snowman, which he lovingly named Emma!
Sledding fun!
Hmm... what am I supposed to do with this stuff?
Snow angels!
And..... Emma's done! She had reached her point of no return and it was time to head inside. However, once we did, she didn't want to go in either and had a complete meltdown because she wanted to stay out! Thankfully, there will be more fun in the snow in days to come!
This week we were able to visit with Santa, which John could not have been more excited about! He had a thorough conversation with Santa about where his reindeer were (to which Santa explained that they were behind the parapet wall on the roof so that people didn't bother them going in and out of the stores) and that Rudolph was in the North Pole still resting before his big trip on Christmas Eve. John could not have been more thrilled with his time with Santa!
Emma didn't mind Santa while Phil was holding her, but then it came time for the picture...
After snapping a quick picture, she was immediately fine once she was in our arms again! Being that she's almost 18 months old, we expected an uneasy response from her! Santa didn't seem to mind though!
This weekend we are excited to celebrate our Gunville family Christmas with time together and a chocolate chip cookie bake-off contest! We can't wait to see who will win the ultimate title of best recipe! Next week, we're looking forward to wrapping up school before Christmas break, as well as celebrating Phil's brother, Matt's, wedding and welcoming Beth to the family! In this time of stress, shopping, baking and decorating, we are trying to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and time as a family! Before we know it, Christmas will be here!
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