December fun!

One of our Christmas traditions the kids really look forward to is to make a gingerbread house. Years ago, before the advent of my children, I would put in hours making my own house and decorating it inside and out with lights and everything. But since children have come along I've found the Costco pre-made kit to be much more enjoyable and far less stressful for everyone involved! The kids had so much fun decorating everything.

Nathan and Grace worked together on the roof. At first Grace would get mad every time Nathan or I tried to stick any candy on. She would immediately pull it off and put it back in the bowl. I finally had a stroke of inspiration and asked her if she wanted to eat a piece. She did and then happily helped us put the rest of the candy on the house!

Maddie worked very hard to squeeze the thick, hard frosting onto the house. She made everyone promise that no one would "snitch" any candy!

The final results! What a cute house kids! This was the best the house looked because in less than 48 hours Grace had picked off ALL of the candy! The first 24 hours the frosting was still pretty soft but the second day she would come to me and tell me "finger hurt" and I knew what she had been up to! The hard, dry frosting didn't seem to slow her down too much though! Maddie felt pretty bad about the stripped down house so I told the kids that we might try and decorate again a few days before Christmas. We'll see how long round two lasts!

Some new additions

It has been way too long since I blogged last but I do have an excuse which I will get to in a minute. John and Bethany's wedding was wonderful and sad in that we had to say goodbye to them since they decided to move across the country to Massachusetts. After the wedding Keri and Jeff packed up their family and took them back to Washington and life got back to normal, well for a minute anyway.

Right after Keri and Jeff got home came the happy announcement that they are expecting a baby on April Fool's Day next year - an excellent due date for an unexpected addition! Now, anyone who knows how my sister and I operate will know what happens next. One month later I was not surprised to find out that I am also pregnant!!! My due date is June 3rd. All of our children are between 12 days and 9 months apart, so these little cousins will be no exception at approximately 8 weeks apart!

The happy news got even better when a month later Steve and Sarah announced that they are joining the parenting parade too. Sarah is due on July 2nd! These cousins are going to have a ball when they all get together! My parents are thrilled with the idea of 3 new grand babies next year! We'll all keep them busy.

So anyway, I haven't been blogging because I haven't been feeling well but I think the morning sickness is finally starting to fade and I'm starting to feel a little more human again! Yay!!