Gingerbread Houses

December is such a busy month! All the family and friends and all the activities don't leave much time for blogging! And of course we have pictures galore!

Every year the Packards get together for the annual Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses. This year to my surprise Christopher was ready to join in the architectural fun instead of just eating the candy. This last year his artistic talents have really shined! I'm amazed by his imagination and his attention to detail. Especially for a 4 and half year old. He's better than me! I have no artistic ability. Stick figures and one dimensional flowers are my forte.

However the best part was everything that he used to build with he also tasted. A little frosting here and some for me, a little frosting there and more for me, candy here and a lick for me. He was so involved it was great watching! Almost like he wasn't consious that he was eating everything after decorating with it. And he was the LAST ONE DONE!! But here's the masterpieces!



This is how Mason spent his time while we made Gingerbread Houses. He laid under the table and cried. Unfortunately when he wakes up he is sooooo onery. It's better to just ignore him. He has "2" written all over him!

Billy Building his "Tank"

My Little Creation. Told ya, No Creativity coming out of my veins.

It was Oma's & Opa's Anniversary so they made a Anniversary Cake for their Gingerbread House. LOL Can't wait till their 50th!

The Finished Tank

This is Billy's little Bro. I couldn't leave this one out!! LOL

Hunting Christmas Trees

So we took the boys & Makenna on our annual hunt. We took them up in the wilderness in the cold snow to hunt the perfect new member of our family to join us for Christmas. And they had a blast!!

They have so much fun every year searching for the right Christmas Tree for Daddy to cut so we can bring it home and decorate it. I've been a little bahumbug this year about Christmas so we're just now getting our tree. We only had one minor set back...we forgot Mason's coat. But we had an extra one of Billy's coats. You'll have to see the pics, it's kinda funny!! lol

ENJOY!!

Kenna mostly loved the puppies more than anything!

The Girls!!

Yes, This is Mason all Cuddle in Daddy's Coat!

THE TREE
One thing about cutting your own tree is you have to look below the surface and see it's..."potential"!
I'll post the finished product once we get done decorating it. Billy's good at see things with great potential that may be rough around the edges when you first look at it. I think that's why he married me!! LOL

Thanksgiving

As the holidays roll in Life gets so hectic and busy. We had a great Thanksgiving! Relaxing, well fed and not overstuffed! Which is great news for Billy. I come from a split family so my Thanksgivings have always consisted of more than just 1 meal. This used to kill Billy. He was so used to just one meal of eating till he couldn't eat anymore that the first several years of being married he did that everytime we ate! LOL But now I think he's got it down. And now that we have a schedule figured out, well sorta. It makes that wonderful day so much more relaxing.

We started out at Johnsons for our 1st feast of the day! I am so blessed to have my grandparents around and want to take full advantage of spending whatever time I have with them. Billy's grandparents all passed away when he was younger. It wasn't till I married him that I realized how lucky I am. It was great to have all the family there and get to see the "twins" for the first time. The baby boy ( I totally just forgot his name) looks just like Charlie! I know this day was so hard for Katie! You could just see the pain she feels. She's been very blessed through this trial of her life and I pray that her heart can heal and that the rest of the family will not hold grudges againsts our Father in Heaven for the trials that have been placed upon them. It's so easy to blame the one who has always loved unconditionally and given you everything. But the true culprit is the devil behind all those ill feelings.

We got so caught up eating and visiting that the only pics we got were of Makenna outside by the creek. We have one of each of our kids at around this same age in the same spot.


I did find some pics we took of Great Grandpa J and one of the twins. Why can't I remember his name? Grandpa if you see this your gonna have to leave a comment and tell me what his name is! I won't ever forget Emma's name since we almost names Makenna, Emma. lol I love the Grandpa-baby pics. They are so precious!

After Johnson's we went to my Dad's for dinner feasting! Dinner was delicious, of course. And Nobody's Pumpkin Pie beats Janet's! The kids don't see a lot of my dad so it was nice to spend time there so they could get to know him better.

Even though it wasn't Packards year Billy still wanted to stop and see his parents so we headed up there around 6:30ish. They were just sitting down to eat, we thought they were eating much earlier in the day, but I did get to enjoy Oma's stuffing! It is the best!!

There's always one or two things you look forward to eating every Thanksgiving and I got all of them! Oma's stuffing, Janet's Pie and I made the best Yams ever!!