School holiday parties are no easy task when you have three children under one roof. I feel like I miss out on most of the event(s) because I'm running around to three different classrooms in three different areas of the school. I need a new system, but I desperately want to be part of three festivities. If anyone has any suggestions for juggling three parties at one time, I'd appreciate it. Karson's teacher had asked me to pick up the pizzas and cookies for her classroom. I never managed to get any pictures of her class because once the party got started, the teacher dimmed the lights and the kids watched a movie. Her class did a $5 gift card exchange. I really like the idea of gift cards, fun and inexpensive.
Once I got everything set up with Karson's class, I made my way down to Miles's classroom (on the opposite end of the school). They were playing a pass the ornament game when I arrived. Once they received the ornament, the kids sat down at their seats to ice a sugar cone green and decorate it like Christmas tree. Once Miles began decorating, I headed over to Isaac's class.
I donated a huge bag of M&M's for Isaac's class. They had a pizza party and decorated gingerbread houses. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but Isaac had his jacket on upside down. I thought it looked awfully weird when I saw him. His class did a book exchange. He ended up with the book we'd purchased but later decided to trade it with his friend Cooper for his book. I ran back and forth for a few minutes before deciding to sign both the boys out of there classrooms and taking everyone down to Karson's class. Whew, it was a whirlwind event, much like the fall parties. I've got to have a new plan by the time spring parties roll around.
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The Gingerbread House tradition continues at the Deaton house.
Karson and I found a village at Walmart with four different houses. This was a great solution with three detailed house decorators. We've purchased different brands of houses in the past, but I plan to purchased the WILTON brand again next year, clearly the best. The box included the right amount of everything--from icing to candy decor. And, most of the gingerbread pieces were still intact and not crumbling.
I couldn't get Miles to put any clothes on for the occasion so I told him I would not take a picture of him, only his house. **I look forward to the day when my boys actually CARE about wearing clothes and aren't constantly in their underwear. Part of me wants to start enforcing a clothes rule, but that really seems silly when their dad also walks around in his underoos most of the time.** So, I need to know readers thoughts about the matter of clothes or no clothes in the house? If yes, then why and what rationale do you use? If no, whew, I'm not the only one with half-clothed children 99% of the time (Karson and myself not included).
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| Miles got his head in the picture for the finished product. He spent a lot of time and detail on his house. |
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| Isaac meticulously placing every candy piece in its proper place. |
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| Karson diving into her finished product. The cookies actually tasted good but were hard as rocks. |
I'm beginning to think I'm one of those abnormal moms who actually likes having the kids home for holidays and breaks. I realize it's an adjustment for some and getting out of routine can cause stress. I only make that statement because I hear complaints from more moms than not, and the comments usually come up at the school parties. Call me crazy but I look forward to lazy days at home (especially when it's cold) and not having ANYWHERE to be. I'm not judging these moms ~ maybe they are just trying to find common ground or make conversation ~ but I have pretty awesome kids and truly enjoy having them home with me.
The Christmas craziness started on Christmas Eve morning at Pops and Meme's house. Karson got some Barbie things like a golf cart, a Barbie photo fashion doll, a Ken and some Ken clothes. She also got some clothes for herself.
Miles could hardly wait to get into his presents. I think the SIZE is what impressed him the most. He carefully stacked all his gifts in the corner beside the piano. He got two large True Heroes sets, Playdoh and some big lego blocks.
Miles enjoyed every second of Christmas Eve.
The Playdoh dentist set was lots of fun for everyone =). We drilled cavities, made braces, teeth and toothpaste. Say cheese!
Christmas morning began at 4:15 a.m. at our house. Eeeek. I didn't know it would come THAT early. The kids were super excited to rip open all their gifts and see what Santa had brought them. Karson got an iPod touch. She is getting to that age where it's trickier to buy for her. She's almost to big for toys but a little to young for just clothes and shoes (they don't really excite her at all). She's a miser when it comes to money and rarely spends any of hers. I got her a new outfit, some Color Bloomz, Barbie clothes, a Zoingo Boingo pogo ball, a new diary, an iPod case and a few other knick knacks.
Miles got some Lego's and Playdoh sets, but Isaac got the biggest surprise of all.
Santa left him some arrows and note stating that his present was in the garage.
He got a new Ping Pong table. I cannot tell you how many hours of ping pong have been logged since Christmas Day.
Isaac is a good little ping pong player and is getting better and better each day. Who knows, maybe there will be a ping pong club (or team) by the time he's in high school? Around 6 a.m., we made a mandatory announcement that everyone must get back in bed. Matt and I were at our limit opening up boxes and calming down super over-stimulated children. We needed rest. Christmas morning, take two, began around 11 a.m. We headed over to Matt's parents house for brunch and to spend time with them and the uncles opening gifts.
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| Not sure what time this picture was taken? Probably sometime between 5 and 6 a.m. Christmas day. |
