Preschool, Kindergarten and Gingerbread Houses

Blake's Preschool class did a little Christmas presentation on the last day of class before the winter break.

All the parents and siblings were invited to come and listen to the songs they prepared.

Blake was so happy to be up front waiting to get started.

The kids all sang ...Jingle Bells, Once there was a Snowman and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

After each song Blake told me to clap.

We were buddy!

After the songs all the kids gave us a secret Christmas present they had made for us.

Blake did a great job keeping a secret...

 

I had no idea he made this lovely Christmas plate!

It was a great surprise.

Ryan loved the little chairs...just his size. 

I loved putting together Tate's Kindergarten Christmas party.

I found a cute idea for a "Mixed Up Snowman Snack."

Pretzel sticks for arms, orange Mike 'N Ikes for the nose, chocolate chips for the buttons, marshmallows for the body, and Rolo's for the hat.

Melted Snowman for the drink.

And a chocolate snowman for a treat.

 My phone stopped working so I wasn't able to get pictures of the games we did; but, the kids made reindeer food to put out Christmas Eve, used pipe cleaners and fruit loops to make candy canes, played a Christmas memory game and colored a reindeer.

The day of the party it started snowing really hard.

I think by the end of the day we had got about 5 inches of snow!

I was a bit nervous to have to drive in it, but it wasn't slick and I made it in time for the party and Tate and I made it home in one piece. 

This is one of Tate's creations.

I thought it was very inventive to use a gift box as a frame for his picture. 

He helped himself to all the bows for a little extra pizazz!

Our FHE Gingerbread Village Making Night:

-I tried to give us a jump start and get the houses assembled before the kids came upstairs.

-I had just about got them all together when they came up.  Some didn't have as much time to dry, so we dealt with collapsed roofs. 

-The boys got two houses to decorate and got right to work. 

-Ryan got right to work eating everything! 

-Blake stuck with decorating for a little while until he just started eating the candy. 

-Tate was detail oriented and did a nice job decorating his houses. 

The finished houses:

The Big Bad Wolf must have come along and blew Ryan's down. 

I was hoping these would be a nice centerpiece until Christmas Eve...

The next morning I woke up to Tate and Blake eating their houses for breakfast.