'Twas the Day Before Christmas . . .

. . . and it was raining in Salt Lake City.  I felt sad for my children's lack of a white Christmas, so we took a cue from Pinterest and made our own "snow clay."

It's just a bunch of shaving cream mixed with a bunch of corn starch.

It starts out fairly sticky and hopeless-looking.  But we stuck with it.

Soon the kids had mixed it well enough that it had the snow-like properties we had been promised.  Here they are making snowballs.

Then it began to get really dry and crumbly, so we made the best of a bad situation and made snowdrifts.

And I reassured the kids that we would just throw their jammas in the laundry, but perhaps that reassurance went a little too far.  As you can see James began to coat himself in the stuff.

What's perhaps the funniest part of this whole activity is that six hours later it was snowing like it would never quit.  And indeed, it snowed for several days.

Still, it was fun to have the first snowstorm of Christmas in our own kitchen!

Too cool . . .

. . . for school.

Collasal Christmas Post!

Chad and I got a start on Christmas the night before.  We had a lot more prep work than we had counted on and will definitely start earlier next year!  Still, we got good work done.  See our stockings hung by the chimney with care?  I was pretty proud of our wrapping job on the kids' gifts.  Each year they get three gifts:  something to read, something to wear, and something for fun.  It helps us to keep spending under control and it's a good reminder of the Nativity story - Jesus got three gifts, and so do you!

Our family and friends supply the extra Christmas toy madness.  We are so blessed to have so many people in our lives who love our kids!

First thing in the morning the kids get started on their stockings.  While James is most psyched about toys . . .

May gets really excited about the candy.  Although the general rule is, "It's your candy, eat it when you want," we had to stop her this year for fear she would hoarf it all up before breakfast.

There were shocking things in our stockings!  Actually, this picture captures James perfectly pre-sneeze.  Super funny, right?!?!

 So within 10 minutes James had emptied and admired everything in his entire stocking.

 Meanwhile May was still eating candy.

So Daddy dug into his stocking.  Check out the sweet shades he received!  Note May in the corner of the picture, still eating candy.

 More candy.

 A little elf left Daddy a love note in his stocking.  How adorable is that?

An hour into Christmas and May's stocking is laying on the floor only half emptied while she admires and plays with the toys from the top.  I don't blame her for savoring the experience.  I just think it's really so funny how differently your kids can turn out.

 May got this schnazzy compact mirror in her stocking.  It was quite a hit.

She also got a new notebook, which she immediately put to use.

Meanwhile James and Daddy got to work on the world's most worthless kids' car construction kit.  I'm sorry I ever bought that thing!  It was impossible to put together and then promptly fell apart.  Fortunately, in the Christmas overload he never noticed it went "missing."

 Christmas breakfast!

After breakfast it was back to presents.  Now time to unwrap what was under the tree.  James was most excited by his new Bat Cave.  Can you tell that he's jumping up and down?

May was, of course, more deliberate in her unwrapping.

She received this sweet DIY flower hair accessory kit from her uncle and aunt, and sat right down to open it up and get to work.

 I'm telling you, she really enjoyed that kit.

Daddy and James really enjoyed the Bat Cave.  The best part was when Han Solo and Chewie showed up to give Batman and Robin a hand catching the Penguin and the jawas.

 Then it was time for Christmas mass, and the kids couldn't look cuter!  They sat through mass so nicely and sang along with all the carols.  What angels!

Every holiday we enjoy cold platters for lunch.  It's a nice respite from baking and then we can help ourselves as we see fit.  This Christmas was no different with veggie spears . . .

 cucumber-cheese sandwiches . . .

 banana bread . . .

 and Chad's favorite, pretzel sticks with fig-marscapone dip.

We were fortunate enough to have a white Christmas, so after lunch we went sledding at the park (which is full contact so no pics) and then messed around in the backyard with our new snow paints (thanks, Great Aunt Mary!)

I was super happy about the snow, as it rained for most of Christmas Eve day and that just seemed, well, un-Christmas-y.

 Beet red potato soup for dinner.  This has become a real tradition at our house.

I loved keeping it simple this year with soup, salad and breadsticks.  Let's face it, by this point the kids were stuffed full of candy (especially May) and Chad and I were exhausted.  It was nice to sit down to a quaint little dinner and reflect on all the blessings of our day.

"Make and Take" Party

James came up with the phrase "Make and Take" to describe his ideal birthday party.  It would be a party where his guests would make crafts and art projects and then take them home as their party favors.  To set the creative tone, Chad provided pattern blocks from school as we waited for our few guests to arrive (James chose to keep it small and selective this year - one friend from his current kindergarten class, one friend from preschool, and one friend from outside of school.)

The first thing our guests did was decorate paper party favor bags with Star Wars stickers and a variety of drawing tools.

We had a suncatcher station where they filled frames with glass beads to be melted in the oven.

At another station the kids painted unfinished wood "treasure boxes."

After a short lunch break (waffles, fruit and scrambled eggs), the kids assembled candy necklaces.  Their options were candy beads, lifesavers, and short lengths of red vines.

While they diligently worked away I got the cake ready.  (Isn't it pretty?!?!?)

But the kids didn't want any cake.  They wanted to finish their candy necklaces.  This was by far the most successful of the art activities.

Finally it was time to light Darth Vader's saber and sing a song to the birthday boy.

Making a wish . . . .

Nailed it!

Time to eat huge pieces of cake and reflect on the morning's fun.

Of course we did presents, too.  James was pretty thrilled with them - we have some friends with mighty good taste.

Happy Birthday, my big six year old!