Christmas Eve

We had a Christmas treat for breakfast to get us all in the mood for Santa.  Ryland and Reed were so excited to see Santa on their plates.

 

 

I found the Santa pancake idea on Pintrest, and John Chris and I had fun putting them together.

 

 

Later that afternoon when Reed and John Chris napped, Ryland and I worked on a little baking.  We have the cutest gingerbread cookie cutters that assemble to create a three dimensional reindeer, sleds, snowmen, and trees.  Since the dough had to be chilled for a few hours, we were really excited to get started.  After a few failed attempts to cut out the shapes, we decided to go another route.

 

Reindeer poop!  It was so obvious to me at this moment that God knew what he was doing when he blessed me with boys. Ryland and I laughed hysterically and couldn't wait to try them.

 

We all got dressed in our "handsome" clothes and headed to church. Unfortunately, church was packed when we arrived, and the sanctuary was already at max capacity.  We decided to come back for the next service, so we had about an hour to burn.  Just enough time to swing by the grocery store for Vanilla Bean ice cream and deliver a few gifts.

 

The later Christmas Eve service was completely full as well, but we were there in time to find seats.  The music was beautiful and the lighting of the candles to Silent Night was absolutely breathtaking.  It is my favorite moment at church every year.

 

We headed home to get the last little things together for Santa.  Ryland and Reed spread the reindeer food all over the side yard to make sure the reindeer were full for their long night.

 

 

One last attempt to capture a cute picture of the boys in their Santa pajamas and rain boots 

 

 

We headed out to take another look at the beautiful Christmas lights.  Reed requested to see Santa, so we drove to the over the top house in our neighborhood.  They have a huge Santa sitting in a chair with about a million lights all over their house and yard.

 

Ryland was out.

 

We couldn't go to bed without leaving Santa some delicious cookies and a Coke.  Lizzie and Pops had a Christmas Eve present for us to open, and it was a cute glass plate just perfect for Santa's treat.  Ryland also wanted to leave Santa the pictures he and Reed had colored earlier.

 

 

 

Cookie Maker

It was just Reed and myself tonight while the older boys went hunting.  We got started with some Christmas cookie making.  I just adore spending one on one time with my little Reedo.  He is funny and such a sweetheart.  This evening he refused to wear pants, so we just went with it.

 

 

We mixed up a delicious batch of sugar cookie dough to make green Christmas trees in the cookie press. We went ahead and baked one batch just for a taste test.  Reed's favorite part was mixing the flour.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was somewhat calm and relaxing this year. We slept in, worked on the bathroom a little, and finished up some last minute Christmas projects. We attended service at church and enjoyed the wonderful Christmas music. Ryland's favorite part was holding his own candle, and Reed enjoyed flirting with the mother and daughter behind us. As you can tell from the cheesy smile and facial expression above, they were in a very silly mood when we came home.
We made chocolate chip cookies for Santa and sprinkled reindeer food in the backyard. Right before bed, we said our good-byes to our elf, Tom. This was a little sad, but we will see him next year. Time for bed!

Cookies & Cocktails

The Pearsons hosted Cookies & Cocktails party with a cookie exchange. It was great to visit and check out their new kitchen. It looks awesome! Reed loved the bench seat that was just his height.
Ryland and the other kiddos had a blast decorating the snowflake and Christmas tree sugar cookies. Of course his favorite part was the sprinkles.

There were about 20 children at the party, so everywhere you turned you found kids playing. Ryland and Reed loved the mini retro kitchen.

This is Ryland's attempt to snap a picture of Morgan Leigh.

After the sugar cookies kicked in, the place to play was on the bean bags. Jumping from the ottoman to the bean bag was the entertainment finale. We knew it was time to wrap up before someone got hurt. It was a great way to spend the cold, rainy afternoon with friends.

Blue icing

John Chris and I are trying to get the garage cleaned out and organized, so we can start parking inside. Ryland is a great helper but likes to organize and clean in his own way. We thought that a cookie with a little blue icing would take his mind off the project and give us a chance to wrap it up. Being the smart child he is, he went straight for the blue icing. I have to admit he takes after his mom with the sweets. I would have done the same thing.
It is frustrating to eat a cookie when you aren't much taller than your puppy. It is a hard life.

Cooper was watching the cookie pretty darn intently. He was just waiting for a chance to snatch it from Ryland.

End result, the cookie was great for taking Ryland's mind off the cleaning and organizing, but it created another issue with Ryland and Cooper.

First Oreo

An Oreo cookie came with Ryland's meal for lunch. He was pretty darn curious and tried a bite. He likes the cream filling but not the actual cookie.

I love watching him explore new things. It is too funny how he has taste preferences so young. Can you tell he enjoyed the Oreo?