More January Activities

 Emily bought this beauty kit with some of her Christmas money (thanks Aunt Jamie!).  The boys were taking a nap, so we got out our kitchen ingredients and made some face masks!  Love Annie body language - completely true to her.  She gets so embarrassed by us, especially Emily who (((gasp))) wanted to pose with the container!

 Some type of honey, brown sugar, oatmealy mix that really *did* make us more beautiful!

 Love that shiny smooth smiling face!!!

 Mitchell has learned the art of stool-moving.  As soon as he hears me in the kitchen, I hear the little patter of feet running to the coloring corner, the scrape of a stool, and the running patter coming closer and closer, ending with a PLOP, and a "I help!"  He is right there with me no matter what else is going on in the house!

 My boys making pseudo-Puerto Rican bread - it's actually Cuban bread that we cut in half, lather with butter, and grill on George to make such a yummy side dish with pretty much any dinner!  The only problem is limiting our serving sizes because we all love it so much!  Yes, adding cheese is yummy too!

 Doing puzzles, with the door closed against a little 2 year old that loves to HELP!

 A very typical Emily outfit - the more patterns and bling, the better!!!



January Gingerbread Houses

 We just ran out of time in December, so we made our Gingerbread Houses in January!  We had some friends over to create with us.  Everyone took a partner and got to work!  This was the first time we designed on paper plates instead of cardboard covered in foil, which is the preferred way!  Mitchell and I finally cut our loses with building and decided to just decorate squares with as much candy and frosting as we could!

Ben and Reese with their multi-leveled creation - love this kiddo!  I've gotten to teach his Sunday School class a few times and really enjoy him!

 Abby and Emily - their houses held together so well, especially with all the sugar!  Emily is all about more and more and more candy!

 Addison and Kim - love them!  Very orderly and traditional. :)

 Andy and Annie - no, he can't have a house that hasn't been shaped and pieced together!  Their house was definitely the most detailed and had the best leftover pieces for me to sneak from!

 Mitchell and his little buddy, Aspen - hanging out while I did the dishes.

 Poor Mitchell's black eye - this was the worst one I've had despite all of my kiddos head bonks - it was colorful for a good two weeks!!!

 Playdough is most definitely the favorite activity in our home, assuming you are under 18!  The kids have a blast with it (and will clean up pretty much any part of the house first to be able to play!!!).