Christmas Activities - 2nd Week!

I started to not feel good on Saturday, December 7th. I had so much to do that first week in December leading up to the Christmas Dinner I was willing myself not to get sick. Once it was done I was spent. Thankfully I didn't get nearly as sick as the kids. I had the worst headache, my chest felt tight and my body ached and ached! So Sunday and Monday's Christmas Activities were more Christmas movies. 

 By Tuesday everyone was feeling better and back at school! Praise the Lord! After school we went to the Dollar Tree closest to our house to get Christmas wrapping paper. This particular Dollar Tree we had never gone to before because it's in an area that I feel is really run down and doesn't scream safety! Traffic was so bad coming from Des Moines though and I had to get home to make dinner in time to leave again to go to choir practice so I figured it would be okay just this once. The kids noticed right away that the parking lot was a mess....there were even car parts with wires and everything on the ground. We stayed together, went into the store and thankfully the wrapping paper was right by the door. We bought that, some bows and some tape and got out of there. I will say the store clerk was sweet and friendly. When we got back in the van Owen said to me..."That was a one time thing Mom!" 

Each of the kids picked one new design for their presents. Zeke had to get two of the same kind since that particular roll was smaller than the others. I also had them pick another kind of wrapping paper from our stash at home just in case the new rolls weren't enough. 

On Wednesday, December 11th we did not stick to the schedule since all the kids had dentist appointments and Awanas that night. Jack and Zeke also had to go to church for a dress rehearsal for their parts in the Kids Christmas Production. To say it was a busy, crazy night was an understatement. 

To add to the craziness we had to deal with a little situation with our neighbor and his tenants. Since I had to take Jack and Zeke to church in the van, Michael had to take Owen and Ella to Awanas using his little red car.  The easement was blocked though by one of the neighbors tenants cars so this started a good discussion with our neighbor about his tenants and how they cannot park their cars in the easement. Especially if they aren't going to answer the door when Michael knocks on it! Since this time I've only had to text our neighbor once about another one of his tenants parking there so hopefully they have figured it out now. He really is a nice guy and was super apologetic...in the end it was all taken care of! 

On Thursday, December 12th we had the Storer family over for dinner and crafts.

Zeke had been wanting to make gingerbread man cookies, but then I saw these cute houses at Winco. They were only $9 for four house. I bought two packages and thought the kids would enjoy them. Plus since there are only 3 kids in the Storer family if there were any broken parts we would have an extra set. 

Owen did really great getting his house to stay together. I think with him being older he was more patient that the younger kiddos. 

Charlie was not sure what all the fuss was about! 

Jackson my sweet impatient boy kept having his house fall over. 

Andrew did really well! 

Josiah's collapsed so he gave up trying and just started eating! 

Zeke got his house to stay up for a bit. 

I think Micah worked on helping Caitlynn with her house. 

I did the icing work on Owen's house and then he decorated it. After he was done he put it on the mantel to display it. 

I think after a while Jackson gave up. 

I think this might be Andrew's house! 

Of course Ella couldn't decorate with any of the dyed candies so she used chocolate chips instead. 

Caitlin enjoyed eating her house once she was finished. 

In retrospect I think we should have built the houses the day before so the icing could have completely dried and then they would have had better luck staying together. Zeke has already requested actual Gingerbread Man cookies next year so I'll just have to make that happen! 

Friday, December 13th I took all the presents out of there hiding places and organized them by kiddo. Right from the bus stop I took the kids down to Ga-Ga & Pa's house to spend the night. They always go down to stay right around the middle of the month. Pa loves to take the kids to the Spanaway Lights and then the kids go shopping for Michael and I. This year the wait time for the lights was over 2 hours! No thank you! They took the kids out to eat at Red Robin instead. 

When I got back from dropping them off Michael and I went out for a date at Mama Stortini's. Once we got home I put in my typical Christmas Movies and started wrapping. 

The nice thing about the kids sleeping over is I don't have to put everything away if I don't finish. On Friday I got about halfway done and then saved the rest for Saturday. As you can see Amazon was my best friend this year! 

I was able to finish wrapping almost all the gifts. I was still waiting for one gift for Jack and Zeke. Wrapping is one of my favorite things and I got to watch Lifetime Christmas movies that are so cheesy...I loved it!!! 

To top off December 14th we also went to our Youngish Adult Christmas Party at church. We brought all the boys with us...Ella was at a birthday party. It was great fun...we had finger foods, we decorated people up as Christmas Trees, did a flashlight search for candy canes in the Auditorium and we even had prizes for who brought the ugliest coffee mug. Then we played a game to see who got to take home what mug. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard over coffee mugs! It was great fun!!!