christmas projects

this year i had to up the ante a little bit with our christmas projects...i would definitely say going through peak is easier with babies than toddlers/young children.  at least they took two naps a day as babies, and i got a break!  now, it's projects, projects, projects all day long!  we read, do max's workbook and pace's upstart, do projects, play outside, watch movies, play inside, make messes...phew!

gingerbread village.  max took the time to hand place each sprinkle upright on the roof of one of his houses.

painting sun catchers.  the boys loved this one and especially loved hanging them on windows all over the house.

silly bubbles during bath time.

making bead sun catchers.  this was really cool--these plastic craft beads melt in the oven, so we made a couple of christmas trees for the boys, then a couple random colored ones.  later the boys said they looked like a snowstorm and sun and stars.

we painted christmas shirts.  i made stencils from christmas clip art i found online and the boys had fun painting them.

we finally got some snow with accumulation!  the boys and i went outside to play and shovel the driveway to find our neighbor had already snowblowed it for us!  less work, more play for us!

the boys love dumping snow down the drain.  pace's truck stayed pretty busy making snow deliveries.

"stained glass" nativity scenes.  i loved these so much, i decided to have our nursery kids do this, too. it was definitely a little messier in nursery than at home, but they turned out pretty cute.

we spent another morning making snow flakes and "candy cane whirlpools" to hang from the loft ceiling.  the boys loved it so much, they wanted some hanging above their beds, too.

i had to document this because this is the first time, ever, one of my kids has asked for a band-aid.  pace has always screamed like i was cutting off his toe if i tried to give him a band-aid, and max followed what pace was doing.  somewhere along the line, they realized band-aids actually do help a little, in some cases.  those big brown eyes...my heart!

i don't know why i even try to clean during the day.  i cannot even say how many times i've folded the blankets or picked up the pillows back on the couch.  max loves playing "castle" in this basket and always throws out the blankets i keep in it.  he asked me to take lots of pictures of him opening and closing his door.