Building a Gingerbread House

Mommy, Grandma and Lon built a Gingerbread house. It was so much fun! There are, of course, no pictures of Mommy because Mommy took the photos!

Lon was excited about putting the bead-es on the icing. The best part is going to be on the 27th when Lon and Drew get to SMASH the house!

Molbaks!

Every year we try to get to Molbaks for their Festival of Pointsettias. They have a poinsettia tree, and this year, several other trees to take pictures in front of! They also have tastes of Kringle, coffee and tea. It is very nice.

Our favorite Penguins!

The Poinsettia tree!

Time with GiGi

A little pre Christmas reading with Grandma and GiGi. Lon is in his new Christmas Jammies, under a new blanket from Mommy's secret sister. It is so soft and comfy.

A little later he woke his GiGi up to read him a story. He loves his GiGi and he loves being read to.

Thank you, Godmother!

In the mail there came a wonderful box! A big box with presents Lon could open RIGHT NOW! Godmother Carol sent him LOTS of little packages that added up to one wonderful gift! His very own Nativity! One he can play with, one that is all his!

He plays with it, moves the figures all around. He has the Holy Family, Shepards, Three Wise Men and lots of fun assorted animals. The angel on the top of the stable can be pressed to play Away in the Manger, which he does. Often. It lights up too!

Thank you very much Godmother Carol! It is a wonderful gift!

THE TREE!

Lon is ready to pick out the perfect tree! We have been getting ready by reading Merry Christmas Curious George. In the beginning of that book, George and the Man in the Yellow Hat go to pick out a tree.

Look over there Dad, I think I see a really good one!

No, none of these will do for our house! Too Short.

From up here I can get a better view! Let's look over there.

The one Lon picked out!

The same tree in our house!

LIGHTS! Yes, I did put on Bubble Lights. I LOVE bubble lights!

I think this is the real reason Lon picked this tree. It's little Who Curl on top.

Time to get out the ornaments!

There is a bare spot over here, let me hang them up!

The tree, finished? This is with the flash on.

With the flash off.

I am sure there will be a few more ornaments that find there way to the tree. And the sweeper will be put away!

Piloting Daddy's Car

Mark called me from the car to come out and see what Lon was doing! Lon insisted on wearing the headphones!

Lon loves playing in the car!

The Last Baby Gym!

Wednesday was our last Baby Gym of the year. We did sign up for the class again starting in January.

One of the nice things about this class is that alot of the kids are also signed up for next time too. This, I think, is good for Lon.

Lon would not take off his coat, it was really cold in the room that morning.

Playing Hookey with Miss Sarah!

Monday, Miss Sarah got to take off from school. I got a phone call as I was getting into the car to run some errands. What are you doing and can I come too? We did some shopping, then tried to go to the Post Office. HA! We thought that coming back a little later would be best, to pass the time we played in the park.

I did take a Video of the slides, this time at the correct angle, but at the moment I can not get it to load.... we will keep trying!

Then we went back to the post office. I think this photo says it all! But we got it done. Everyone who is getting mail, should have it by now! WHEW!

Sunday Baking

Lon playing while Mommy works!

On Sunday, the 8th, we did some baking.

We made Tassies, little pecan ones and cheesecake ones too. Yes, of course, we used LOTS of sprinkles. I had not thought to put sprinkles on them before! They look and taste SO much better with sprinkles!

Then I boiled up some sugar and butter for toffee! Lon can not help with that, it is scary for me to have liquid that HOT that I have to handle! I do not want Lon anywhere near it!

cooling in the pan

This year, instead of plain old pecans, we used a combination of chopped dried cranberries and pistachios on top of the bittersweet chocolate.

New cookies for this year are S'mores cookies. A brown sugar cookie with added graham crackers, baked until almost done, add a couple marshmallows to the top, bake a few more minutes, top with a Hershey's chocolate and SPRINKLES!

Lon can fit into the space where I keep my mixer. Yes, I change the little rugs in the kitchen to Christmas ones.