Neighborhood Christmas

Whew, it sure has been a whirlwind month!!! It is just now that I am sitting down to review all of the pictures and activities that have consumed us the last three weeks. But don't get me wrong. It was the best Christmas so far, and I wouldn't have traded ANY of the stuff we did. It was awesome. I'm going to do a series of posts with pictures of our recent activities. So, here goes

Our Christmas celebration kicked off on FRIDAY, December 21st. Daddy came home, we enjoyed a wonderful home cooked dinner together, and got started making some desserts for our neighborhood Christmas party and our Christmas Eve dinner. The boys were AWESOME helpers. We made Oreo Truffles, chocolate covered pretzels, and made some peppermint fudge (which was a BIG fail!). After our hard work we took a trip around some surrounding neighborhoods to look at the Christmas lights and listen to carols. On Saturday night, Miles and I dropped the boys off at Mimi's and headed to Hard Rock Hotel for the annual Duke City Christmas party. It was a great night out. My father-in-law is so wonderful to his employees and everyone had a great time. 

On Christmas Eve-Eve (Dec 23rd), I made a big pot of taco soup and our sweet neighbors came over for some wine, dinner, and a cookie exchange  We have been so blessed by the people on our street. Between the Leymons, Lauers, Jacksons and us we have NINE kids. :) Four of those kiddos were born within 2 months of each other. It was such a great night, and we really enjoyed getting together. I put together a little cookie decorating station for the older kids, and they all decorated (er-ate) some cookies for Santa 

(er-themselves). 

In order by age we have Charlotte, Mason, Britton and Amerie. I think Char was scared that Mason was coming for her~! 

Pretty sure that Charlotte put him in his place!! 

In this picture we have Max and Madeline (left and right, obviously) who are two months apart in age, and Miles and Jace (middle) who are 10 days apart. Here they were eating their gourmet meal of mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and Capri Sun! 

After dinner we set up the cookie decorating station. Caden (far right) was really into it!!! 

Here was one of the kiddo's creations. The sprinkles were a hit! 

As usual, we were all pretty busy and engrossed in our discussions, so I forgot to get a group shot. Oh well, next time!!! Brian and Melissa, Chris and Trisha, and Jeremy and Rosie--you are awesome!! Thanks for such a great night!