Well Christmas has come and gone but we had a nice one.  We managed to squeeze in a gingerbread house.  It was the first one we have tried and we were all pleased with it, although one of the walls fell over and one half of the roof slipped a bit.

During his last night at our house, Solomon filled the kids stockings.  The boys are hoping he will come back next year.

After Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas Eve church service, the kids finally got to open their stockings.

Adelaide really liked these cloth dolls.

The boys were really happy with their walkie-talkies, although using them has proven a little difficult.  The press the button to talk, lift to listen thing is a little tricky!

We said good-bye to Solomon.

On Christmas morning Solomon had gone back to the North Pole, but the kids were so excited they hardly noticed!

Adelaide was especially excited to finally be celebrating her first Christmas!

Naturally, she was an old pro at opening gifts.

Santa brought the boys personalized super hero capes and masks.  They have their initial on the back.  Here is Austin doing his best super hero pose.

Austin got several new hats to wear around.

Since Christmas is over we have been trying to get settled back in to a normal routine.  We have put away the new things and taken down the Christmas decorations.  The kids have been playing with their new toys.

Since Austin always wants to paint but I don't always want to get out the mess (!) I got him a couple of the books that you just add water to the colors at the bottom and then paint.  They worked surprisingly well.

Austin was nice enough to share with his big brother.

Gavin is very excited that we are supposed to have snow tomorrow.  I'm happy there's no school so we don't have to leave the house.  Happy New Year everyone!

I think we are all in the Christmas spirit around here.  Cookies are made, presents wrapped, schools over for a couple of weeks and we have even fit in a couple crafts.  Austin made this very cute snowman.

I love the eyebrows.  Those pieces were supposed to be scraps (they came out of the middle of the buckles from the shoes) and Austin put them on and told me they were his eyebrows.  His hat is also on upside down!  Austin was very proud of his snowman and we hung him up and he makes a very nice decoration.

Solomon colored the boys a picture of a Christmas tree.

Austin found these reindeer antlers with blinking lights.  He really likes them!

Solomon switched the chairs from the kid-sized table in the school room with the chairs to the dining room table.  He was nice enough to put Austin's booster seat back on as well as the things Austin has hanging from the back of his chair.  The boys thought this was very funny!

Austin had his school Christmas party this week.  He picked up bows with a candy cane.

This took quite a bit of skill but once he got the hang of it he did great!

Adelaide enjoyed watching the festivities.

She even danced around with the teacher.  Someone should probably warn her about French guys...

Austin used his bows to make a wreath.  He enjoyed peeling the paper off the sticky part.

Wednesday afternoon Gavin informed me that he wanted to take cupcakes to his alumni class on Thursday to celebrate his birthday.  So I stayed up late to make cupcakes for him.  Then it snowed and alumni was cancelled.  Gavin was very good about it though...of course, he was so excited about the snow I think it helped.  Crazy child played for hours outside Thursday, then went out at 7:00 a.m. today to play again.  Anyway, Austin's class got the cupcakes this morning.  That made Austin very happy!

Since today was Gavin's official birthday (it kind of seems like he's had several) we had dinner of his choice: mac n'cheese, steak, canned pears and salad.  Then he got to open presents.  First he opened a shirt from his Nana.

Then he got a really cool paper airplane kit.

But then, he got what he was really hoping for...and more!  Star Wars toys!  He's been wanting them for a couple of months now since he watched the movies with Dad and he hasn't even gotten one.  He was just about as excited as I've ever seen him!  (I think Dad was pretty excited too!)

This is when he looked in a bag that had a bunch of Star Wars figures in it.

Needless to say, it was a good day to turn seven!

Solomon is up to his tricks again tonight, making a mess while cutting out paper snowflakes.

I expect Gavin will be up at the crack of dawn to play with his new toys.  I think we are all looking forward to some free time this next couple weeks.