christmas...for crying out loud

Apparently I'm just never gonna get caught up on here. I need to stop taking pictures I guess. Stop having so many occasions in a row.

For the last month or so I've been making Levi clean his own bathroom. I don't know what happened, but suddenly he was just making horrible messes in there every day and I got sick of it. So, now he's supposed to clean it once a week. This was his first time cleaning and he rather enjoyed himself. He hasn't complained about it yet. And each time he gets a little better.

The smell of the cleaner was the only thing he had a problem with so this was our solution.
This was a premature "I'm done!" proclamation. Followed by my reply of, "no no no..."

Gracie helped a little where she was allowed. Like I said, he seems to enjoy the added responsibility. Why, just this evening Levi told me, "I have a lot of work to do after school tomorrow." I said, "oh yeah? like what?" And he said, "Well, I need to clean my bathroom, for one." I agreed that he did need to do that, but told him he could wait until the next day when he didn't have school. That's too much responsibility and growth for one day!

We had our second year tradition of making Christmas cookies with Miss Rachel. This year though, the men were on leave so they joined in the fun. And they took over the gingerbread house project. And trust me, it was a project. Notice the hot glue gun.
Ok yes...there's proof. I am not a kitchen type person. I don't own a rolling pin. We had to use a travel coffee cup.

In the end the men managed to keep the house standing. I guess the icing that came with it was not doing it's job. So they tried hot glue...didn't work. The end result was lots of toothpicks.

"sneaking" some cookie dough

That enthusiastic baker had to change his clothes a couple times.

Cookie dough missing? You have no proof.

Just as last year, most of the decorating fell to myself and Rachel. Levi and Gracie were in and out of the scene. It's kinda fun though, to sit and chat with a friend while you ice cookies.

Photo opp!

The next several pictures represent what happens every time I say, "Let me get a picture of you two."

That boy.... Such a horrible and hilarious face he's pulling.

Now onto Christmas eve and morning. Man, I am so behind in the times. The kids are opening their box from Grandma Connie on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning came and all the presents were opened by 8:50am. It was actually a pretty low key Christmas. Gracie and I were both still recovering from Strep Throat. And, on top of that Gracie woke up with tiny red dots covering her entire body. So, I didn't take a ton of pictures. But both kids were very excited and very rewarding, as always, to give gifts to.

Gracie was a pro at opening gifts. She and Levi both would say, "It's...it's...it's..." as they tore the paper away. Then they would exclaim, "It's a doll house!" or whatever the present may be, once it was revealed. They're pretty fun to watch.

This was Levi's favorite present, I would guess. It was top on his wish list. It's a Power Ranger Mega Zon...yeah that's right.

This is an awesome tent/house Gracie got from Papa. So cool. It's practically a little clubhouse. She and Levi kept settling in there with the portable dvd player and kickin' back to watch a show in Gracie's living room.

That was our Christmas. Not too much hype and not too much hubub. Still fun and family time though. Poor little Gracie was a real trooper through our month of sickness. She had strep, and this allergic reaction nonsense. Thankfully she really didn't seem to notice much of it. She still was a delightful little cuddle bug, and pulled off her role of Christmas Princess.