Gingerbread House

The kids and I decorated our first gingerbread house today.  It turned out a lot better that I expected and the kids loved it!

I guess this will probably turn into a tradition.  Joe said he didn't want anything to do with it, so we did it while he was at work.  Tomorrow we are making sugar cookies for Santa!

Opening Ornaments from Grandma

Grandma Hoffman gets the kids ornaments every year.  Lexi gets angels and Chris gets snowmen.  They are always so excited to open them!

Dave and Buster's

Corey and Julie wanted to surprise us this year with a little trip for Christmas.  We got a babysitter and they picked us up.  We knew we were going somewhere around Denver, but we had no clue where!  After a stop off for appetizers and gas, we were on our way.  When we got close to the place, Julie and Corey were messing around acting like they were lost.  We made a lot of u-turns and  there was some yelling :)  Anyway, we finally made it.  None of us had ever been to Dave and Buster's.  It is kind of like an adult arcade.  Julie thought you had to be 21 to get in, but we soon found out there were a lot of families there.  They have a big restaurant and then a huge game room.  At first we didn't know what to think, but we warmed up pretty quick.  We played lots of games.  There were quite a few that all 4 of us could play and that was really fun.  We laughed so hard!  I loved playing air hockey, especially with Joe.  By the time we were done playing games and decided to eat dinner, it was 11 pm!  The food was great!  Between the 4 of us, we won almost 5,000 tickets.  We gave ours to Julie and Corey to get whatever they wanted.  They ended up getting a Dave and Buster's sweatshirt for us. 

Lexi and Chris Decorate Their Own Trees!

We decided to let the kids each get their own Christmas tree this year to decorate.  Here is what they came up with!

Things Kids Say

Here is how a conversation between the kids and I went the other day.
Lexi: "Mommy, what is this called?"
Me:  "A Blow Pop."
Lexi:  "Did you have one of these when you were a kid?"
Me:  "Yes Lexi, I have had a lot of Blow Pops.  Some even when I wasn't a kid."
Lexi:  "You mean when you were a teenager?"  Starting to get sassy.
Me:  "Yes, some when I was a teenager.  Teenagers are still kids, though."
Lexi:  "No, they aren't."  Her sassy voice is in full force now.  And we go back a forth a few times.  Chris decides to join in.
Chris:  "There was a boy one at Chipotles the other day and it was a boy teenager."  He swings his hips back and forth and does his smirk.
I have to laugh, calling the teenager "it"!  They can be "its" sometimes, I am sure!

Power Outage!

Last night, our power went out.  It is the 2nd time in about 4 weeks!  The first time was because a car hit a transformer.  We are not sure what happened last night, but I am guessing it wasn't fixed correctly the first time!  It went out last night just as the kids and I were sitting down to eat dinner.  It is Joe's late week, so he was still working.  I carefully walked around trying to find the lighter to light some candles.  The kids were getting scared.  We couldn't see anything!  After the candles were lit, I went to the basement to get the lantern for better lighting.  We finished dinner and the kids decided to do a puzzle.  I got a few pictures I will post below.  Poor Joe, got home from work and nothing was warm :(  The kids and I went with him to Burger King to get something to eat and then the kids played for a bit.  The power was still out and we didn't want to go home.  I was gone most of the day yesterday, so I didn't turn the heat up very far.  It got cold in the house fast!  It was out for a total of four hours and the temperature in the house was 54 when it came back on.  Lexi didn't get to do her homework, so I guess we will have extra to do tonight!

I was using night mode on the camera to get some different effects.

I thought this one looked pretty cool.

I turned on the flash.  Look at that smirk!

Fun, fun!

I just remembered something.  When the power was out a few weeks ago, it was only out for about 30 minutes.  Lexi was so excited it was turned on so fast.  She wrote the utility company a nice letter, thanking them for turning it on so quickly.  She also drew some pictures.  Well, she was not happy last night!  I wonder if she will write them and tell him how unhappy she was this time!

Thanksgiving

We had a nice, low-key Thanksgiving with family and friends.  Connie came from Nebraska and Julie and Corey came from Pueblo West.  It is a nice change when you don't have to cook EVERYTHING!  We usually over do it and are so exhausted by the time the day arrives.  We had (have) plenty to be thankful for.

Julie and Corey relaxing after dinner.

Throwing Chris on the couch.

Lexi and Grandma taking a reading break.  Not sure why they are in Chris' room?

Joe and I.

Joe with Mom (Grandma).

Cute picture of them.  We should have added Chris to the mix!

The kids loved crawling all over Corey.

Trying to keep Corey from leaving!  They don't get to see him very often, so they enjoyed their time.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!