This holiday season has been so much fun. The kids, especially Charlie, are really old enough to understand the season and get excited about it this year, and I have taken full advantage of all the fun things to do.
First off, we made Christmas cookies! We started out including Evie in this endeavor, but soon realized that it would be better off finished during her nap time. Charlie, however, was a great helper.
This is his "I'm making cookies" face.
Charlie wanted to make gingerbread men for his teachers, so we did. As I was concentrating on decorating, however, I looked up and noticed that half of our men were missing their arms (and Charlie was chomping away happily). I asked him what he was doing and he responded that he was making a soccer team, and since his gingerbread men were soccer players, they didn't need their arms. I protested, but he assured me that his teachers love soccer. Let's hope he is correct!
A better eater than helper.
We spent one very cold morning at North Park, and despite it being a little crazy trying to corral my two crazies there, we enjoyed lots of Christmas activities. First up was story time with Santa. Charlie loves for people to tell him stories, and this was quite magical for him.
Little Miss got a little stir-crazy during story time. :)
Next, we went to check out the trains with Ryan and Grayson. I think my two could have stayed in here all day. They inspected each area very carefully and just loved seeing each train chugging around. Thanks to Thomas the Train, Charlie knows lots of train lingo, and I love hearing his train talk. :)
We followed it up with a wild lunch at Chick-Fil-A...
...and finished up our morning with a peak at the amazing gingerbread village.
This picture makes our trip look deceptively calm.
We also did the Kindermusik Christmas sing-a-long. They especially loved making "snow" out of Kleenex. So random, but fun!
And we had our playgroup Christmas party at the McDonough's...
Charlie played a lot, but Evie was very focused on her ice cream cone/Christmas tree decorating (aka candy hoarding).
Group photos just did not work!
Another activity we did this year was to buy angel tree gifts for kids. I tried to explain this to them as we were picking gifts for kids who didn't have any toys. Charlie found this so hard to believe and really wanted to know who these kids were. He started guessing which of his friends it might be, which I found particularly hilarious. I don't think any of them are in need of any toys! Charlie was a good helper in the toy aisles at Target and had strong opinions about what a 4-year-old boy would like. Evie also had strong opinions, but was very distressed when "her baby" was delivered to someone else. Maybe she will understand a bit better next year. :)