Christmas 2016

We had a very festive Christmas Season. It was fun seeing everything through Elliot and Emilia's eyes. So much seemed new for Elliot and of course everything was a first for Emilia. Before I recap our Christmas Celebrations I want to share one other item of interest.

Levi had his first violin recital. He had only had his real violin a short time, but he did a nice job being in front of everyone. He played the E string concerto.

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa and the cousins on that side of the family.

  On Friday the 23rd we celebrated Christmas at Nana and Papa's house. 

Opening Presents on Christmas Eve. The kids had gifts from us, Gram and Poppy, and Aunts and Uncles on the Carnahan side to open.

 We had our traditional Christmas Eve meal at a Mexican restaurant. 

We then dressed up and headed to church for the candlelight service. It was a very nice service, but I was worn out from wrestling a wiggle almost one year old and keeping a 3 year old wrangled. Kyle sang in both the 4 and 7 o'clock services so he stayed at church. The kids and I headed home to watch elf and eat popcorn and mint m&m's, which may be a new tradition as this was the second year for it. 

Christmas Morning

After we opened gifts we headed to Princeton to Grandma and Grandpa's.

Christmas Bingo

We still had one more celebration to attend at Grandma Kolb's on December 26th! We had so much fun this Christmas, but we definitly were ready to rest and recoop as we moved into the new year.

Grinch Party

The students of Carnahan Academy planned a Grinch Party for Friday, December 9. It made for a fun day for the family. The kids worked hard Monday - Thursday so that their regular work was out of the way. Along the way Levi especially planned out the party. He made a list of all the elements a Grinch Party would need. He made a pin the heart on the Grinch Game, drawing the Grinch and cutting out hearts. He had Landon make a music playlist on Spotify, and made sure I had a plan for snacks.

We started the party by making Grinch Cookies.

 I used a gluten free drop cookie recipe, then added the food coloring and red hearts. While the cookies were baking we played the game.

 With the last tray of cookies in the oven we gathered around while Kyle read, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

Then we made pizzas for lunch.

Then we made pizzas for lunch.

After lunch the kids watched the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas. While they were watching the movie in the basement, I made Grinch Punch. Grinch Punch is one scoop of lime sorbet and Sprite. It was fun letting the kids guess what ingredients were in Grinch Punch. They also enjoyed the cookies.

During rest time Elaine helped me make gluten free sugar cookie dough. We baked a few of them and froze the rest of the dough. The kids then each decorated 2 cookies a peice after rest time. Kyle joined in too.

The Grinch Party was a success!

Kicking off the Christmas Season

Landon, Elaine, and Levi sang with the Kids Choir at the Family Worship Night to kick off the Christmas Season. Then we headed over to the Vanderburgh 4-H center to look at the lights and see Santa. It was a neat display. We were shocked Emilia would go to Santa!